Firestone to Seek State GOP’s No. 2 Post
Brooks Firestone, who until November represented part of Ventura County in the state Assembly, has announced that he will seek the vice chairmanship of the California Republican Party.
“I think that the historical values of the Republican Party are the best values of the country, and California, and Santa Barbara and Ventura,” Firestone said Wednesday. “Those have not been articulated adequately, and the party has tended to emphasize certain narrow issues that are of small interest to the voters.”
Firestone, a Los Olivos vintner, said he was on a wine-selling trip in Tennessee when he was first asked to run for the Republicans’ No. 2 spot.
“I heard the call,” he said. “We have lost elections, we have lost registrations and we have lost in the polls.”
The state GOP will select its leaders at its Feb. 28 convention in Sacramento.
Firestone faces opposition for the unpaid, two-year vice chairmanship from Los Angeles lawyer Shawn Steel, the party’s treasurer.
Firestone represented the 35th Assembly District, which includes Ojai, Ventura and Santa Paula, for four years before retiring in the fall.
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