Editorial

John Campbell pretty much came out of nowhere.

He was a mere political neophyte with no deep party ties to speak of

when he announced he was running to replace termed out Republican

Assemblywoman Marilyn Brewer.

At the time he made his announcement, we watched and waited, positive

a bigger fish would emerge and snatch that coveted prize away from the

Irvine car dealer.

But that never happened. And Campbell, the political unknown, sailed

to victory, first in the March primary and then in the November general

election, to take a seat in the state Assembly.

All the while, we wondered just what type of leader Campbell would

turn out to be. We are getting reasons to be optimistic.

If his first days on the job are any indication, the voters are going

to be pleasantly surprised by their assemblyman.

In a day and age when voters are treated to mostly career politicians,

ones who are deeply entrenched and beholden to the powers that be,

Campbell seems to be someone who works hard on behalf of his

constituents.

Take our current power crisis, for example.

Campbell has dug deep into the fray as a member of the Energy Costs

and Availability Committee and is working on ways to solve the power

crunch that threatens consumers with rolling blackouts and skyrocketing

electric bills.

“I like to try and fix problems,” he told a Daily Pilot reporter

recently.

Now that’s a trait we’d like to see all of our elected leaders adopt.