The race for the state Assembly

Alex Coolman

In 1992, Bob Vondruska was working hard but just scraping by. It

seemed to him that the government was taking such a large piece away from

his livelihood that there was hardly enough left to take care of the

basics.

“I was reaching a breaking point where I was tired of being taxed to

death and having my freedoms taken away,” he said.

A newspaper article about Libertarians opened his eyes, he said.

“I realized that this is the party for me,” he said. “Up to that

point, I didn’t have a political life.”

Today, Vondruska takes his politics very seriously. He’s the candidate

for the 70th Assembly District seat occupied by Marilyn Brewer (R-Newport

Beach), and he’s running a campaign that is more coherent and focused

than that of most third-party figures.

Ask Vondruska what he would do differently in Sacramento, and he

responds with all the restraint of a linebacker charging toward a

particularly vulnerable quarterback.

“The budget that was passed by the Assembly this past June?” he asks.

“It was totally unnecessary.”

What specifically does he object to?

“Every part of it. Just about everything, I would get rid of,” he

said.

That means slashing public education funding, of course. And Vondruska

is fine with that idea.

Also on the chopping block would be most gun laws and restrictions on

the use of drugs.

They’re changes that would seem extreme even to most conservatives,

but Vondruska thinks they would make positive changes, even on the

streets of Costa Mesa, where he works.

“It would get rid of a lot of the gang violence and the crime that’s

associated with it,” he said.

None of these positions are different from the line that most

Libertarians are following in this election, but that seems to be because

Vondruska has found a party that’s a good fit for his beliefs.

“I completely agree with our platform,” he said.