Ken Maddox: Can’t wait to represent Costa Mesa

Paul Clinton

It’s not a question of whether he will win re-election. For

Assemblyman Ken Maddox, it’s only a question of when.

Maddox, who would represent Costa Mesa if he wins on Nov. 5, said

he has already laid down plans to relocate his district office to the

city.

“I’m anxious to get this election out of the way, so I can move my

district office [to Costa Mesa],” Maddox said jovially. “There’s a

lot going on there.”

The assemblyman, known for his sense of humor and easy-going

manner, is running for the 68th Assembly District, which was

realigned in 2001 with the latest Census data. Democrat Al Snook, who

lost to Maddox in 2000, and Libertarian Douglas Scribner, who lives

in Costa Mesa, both hope to unseat the incumbent.

Maddox has held the seat since 1998, when he was first elected,

but has never represented Costa Mesa.

Maddox, a reserve Tustin police officer, has succeeded in Orange

County politics in large part by billing himself as a law-and-order

conservative supported by police and other public-safety groups.

Oddly enough, he has also laid an environmental plank in his

political house.

Earlier this year, Maddox introduced a bill, which successfully

passed in September, that requires the Orange County Sanitation

District to implement full treatment of its waste water by 2013.

Maddox was a co-author on the bill with Assemblyman Bill Campbell

(R-Orange).

During his most recent term, Maddox served as vice-chairman of the

Assembly’s insurance committee.

Maddox’s history of running for, and winning, public office dates

back half a dozen years. He was elected to his native Garden Grove’s

City Council in 1996, after involving himself in several community

groups. Maddox left the dais after only two years to run for the

Assembly.

As a member of the Republican minority in his house of the

legislature, Maddox joined conservative lawmakers in opposing Gov.

Gray Davis’ budget, which he cited as one reason the state is facing

a $24-billion shortfall.

“Next year’s budget is just going to be as stinky as this year’s

budget,” Maddox said. “We saw no real cuts. It’s placing a Band-Aid

on a hemorrhage.”

Maddox also criticized Davis for being “slow to react” to the

state’s energy crisis.

In the last legislative session, Maddox cited two bills he worked

to pass that had an immediate effect. He introduced a bill that

allowed mothers to drop off unwanted newborns at local emergency

rooms without facing prosecution for negligence.

He also jointly sponsored the bill that would require law

enforcement agencies to use the Amber Alert System to inform the

public when a child is abducted.

*

KEN MADDOX

AGE: 38

FAMILY: Married to wife Crystal, with two children

COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES: Reserve police officer in Tustin. Active

member of the Garden Grove Chamber of Commerce. Maddox said he is

still learning the city of Costa Mesa and hopes to buy a home in the

city.

EDUCATION: Earned a bachelor’s degree in communication arts from

Cal Poly Pomona. Graduated from the Los Angeles County Sheriffs

Academy. Received a master’s degree in management from National

University in 2000.