Political Briefing

Life after politics: In recent years, Sacramento-based GOP campaign consultant Carlos Rodriguez has guided some of the Valley’s best-known conservatives into office. Among his grateful clients: state Assemblywoman Paula L. Boland (R-Granada Hills) and state Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley).

But Rodriguez--a fast-talking, highly intelligent conservative with a taste for slash-and-burn attacks on opponents--recently decided to fold his firm and take at least a year off from politics. “I just got bored with the whole thing,” he said.

He can well afford a sabbatical. Last year, he managed the mega-bucks campaigns of two rich congressional aspirants: Calabasas businessman Sang Korman (who lost) and former Texas oilman Michael Huffington (who won). Huffington spent a record $4.5 million of his own money in capturing a House seat representing Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

To occupy himself away from politics, Rodriguez is helping to financially restructure an Oroville gravel company, which he hopes to sell at a hefty profit.

He said he is undecided about when--or even if--he’ll return to campaigns (“Probably I will. Because I’m a junkie”). But he is still giving informal advice to Wright and Boland, and insisted he will manage Boland’s reelection bid next year. “They’re my girls,” he said. “I adore Cathie Wright.”