Assembly’s Changing of the Guard

Hannah-Beth Jackson won’t be sworn in as the 35th District’s new assemblywoman until Monday, but she literally took office Friday.

Boasting that she has saved thousands of taxpayer dollars in an unusually amiable transfer of power, Jackson accepted the keys to the Santa Barbara district office of outgoing Assemblyman Brooks Firestone.

On hand for the changing of the guard were several of Jackson’s newly hired aides, who will work in Sacramento and Santa Barbara. Jackson said she also intends to open and staff an office in Ventura, which, along with Ojai and Santa Paula, is within 35th District boundaries in Ventura County.

Firestone, a Republican, said it was rare for departing legislators, especially those of opposing parties, to assist their successors, much less offer them their district offices.

“There are some who take this partisan thing too seriously,” he said.

Das Williams, who worked for Jackson’s campaign, agreed.

Transitions are “very ugly,” he said. “Usually it involves shredding of documents.”

In addition to the office he has occupied for four years, Firestone was more than eager Friday to leave behind several thick files of unshredded--and unfinished--casework for his Democratic successor.

“I don’t want to tell you how happy I am,” Firestone told Jackson, who had just described a 16-hour workday she had Thursday.

The state will continue to pay the $2,200 monthly rent on the 1,800-square-foot, four-office suite--a cost Jackson called “pretty reasonable” for downtown Santa Barbara. Having to do little more than change the name on the door, Jackson said she is saving the state money by moving into an existing lawmaker’s office.

Leading Jackson’s team of aides will be chief of staff Teresa Stark, who previously worked for Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles) and state Sen. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) when she was in the Assembly.

Jackson’s campaign manager, Janice Rocco, will also work in the Capitol office and probably will be joined by a third aide.

The main district office will be managed by attorney Cameron Benson, who has worked for the Environmental Defense Center in Santa Barbara. Christine Lyon, a fund-raiser for Jackson’s campaign, will serve as a field representative.

Another staff member may be hired for the Santa Barbara office, said Rocco, adding that when Jackson opens a Ventura office it also will be staffed full time.

“Ventura deserves to have the same kind of access,” Jackson said.

To fulfill her Assembly duties, Jackson will curtail her family law practice.

“The firm is staying open; my involvement is going to be minimal,” she said.

She is prohibited from using her law offices--in Santa Barbara and Ventura--for legislative business.

On Friday, Firestone also showed Jackson the special legislator’s license plate that she will receive as the Assembly member for the 35th District:

A 35.

“With the way I drive, I’m not so sure I want a simple license plate like that,” said the 48-year-old Jackson, who grew up in Boston, a city with a reputation for bad drivers.

Jackson will commute weekly to Burbank Airport because there is no direct flight from Santa Barbara to Sacramento. Jackson said she and Sen. Jack O’Connell (D-San Luis Obispo) are working to reinstate a direct flight.

“It really is a bear, and it makes travel to and from the district very tough,” she said.

As Jackson begins at least two years of back-and-forth trips to Sacramento, the 62-year-old Firestone is retiring to a more relaxed schedule at his vineyards in Los Olivos. He and his wife, Kate, plan to spend the next three months marketing the Firestone-label wines throughout the country.

“I think that the system was designed for people to take a turn at government and then return to their occupation,” Firestone said, looking out the window of what is now Jackson’s first-floor office. “On a day like today, farming looks pretty good.”

Advising the political novice, Firestone encouraged Jackson to concentrate on the “outside game” of serving her constituents and avoid the politics of the statehouse.

“Beware the inside game,” he told her.

Firestone further advised Jackson to distinguish herself by becoming a specialist on a few issues.

“I think that Hannah-Beth is very well prepared to find those issues and pursue them,” he said. “I look forward to watching her career.”