Strickland to Serve as Whip in Assembly

Tony Strickland, one of two Ventura County freshmen Assembly members, has been awarded a Republican leadership position in Sacramento.

As one of three minority whips, the Camarillo Republican will be a key GOP vote-counter in the Assembly and will corral fellow Republicans’ votes for or against legislation.

Assembly Republican leader Rod Pacheco (R-Riverside) made the selection Monday. In addition, Pacheco has appointed Strickland as vice chairman of the Assembly’s Ethics Committee, which investigates legislator misconduct.

Strickland will share whip responsibilities with fellow first-termers Dave Cox (R-Sacramento) and Robert Pacheco (R-Walnut), who is not related to the Republican leader.

Though Strickland is a freshman legislator, he said Monday that his earlier work as a legislative aide in Sacramento taught him the political ins and outs of lawmaking.

Being minority whip is “a matter of articulating your philosophy and our Republican philosophy on all the bills that come through,” Strickland said. “I have to persuade members why a specific bill deserves to be voted for or voted against.”

Whips generally work as either arm-twisters or consensus-builders, said Mike Madrid, press secretary for Rod Pacheco.

“What Tony has shown, at least in Rod’s mind, is an ability to bring people together,” Madrid said. “He’s a consensus-builder.”

Strickland, 28, said he was honored to be appointed as a junior member of the Republicans’ leadership team. The challenge for him as whip, he said, will be to work with Democrats to move bills through the Legislature while still advocating the GOP philosophy.

“I feel very confident in my capabilities to get along with other members,” Strickland said.

Madrid said that with Strickland’s experience as a staffer, this latest leadership appointment will probably not be his last.

“In this time of term limits and of high turnover in the Legislature, it’s a value-added to have a lawmaker who already knows the process,” Madrid said. “He’s probably a few steps ahead of the learning curve here, and that will serve the people of Ventura County well.”

Political consultant John Davies called Strickland’s appointment a “huge opportunity” for him and a sign of the influence that aides-turned-legislators will have in the age of term limits, which restrict Assembly members to three two-year terms and senators to two four-year terms.

“They’re going to be given positions of power because they know the halls and can get something done,” Davies said.

But, he added, Strickland faces a tough job in wrangling votes among a minority caucus that has historically had difficulty reaching consensus. Also, Democrats have a 15-seat edge over Republicans in the Assembly.

As vice chairman of the Ethics Committee, Strickland will serve on a panel that meets only when complaints arise against Assembly members, which is a rarity. With four Democratic members and four Republican, this is the only committee with an equal number of legislators from both parties. Assemblywoman Helen Thomson (D-Davis) will lead the panel.

Being named whip is the second intraparty appointment for Strickland, whose district includes Oxnard, Camarillo, Moorpark and Thousand Oaks. Last week, Rod Pacheco tapped Strickland for the GOP’s education task force, which will formulate Republican proposals on education reform and present them as prospective legislation.

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Ventura County’s other freshman legislator, Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), will chair the Assembly’s Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee. She is one of seven freshmen appointed last week by Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles) to lead Assembly committees.

Jackson, 48, represents Ojai, Ventura, Santa Paula and most of Santa Barbara County.

Both Jackson and Strickland, along with the rest of the Assembly members, are awaiting their nonleadership committee assignments. Strickland has said he would like to serve on the higher-education and agriculture committees. Jackson has expressed interest in judiciary, higher education and health.