Assembly assignments signed and sealed

S.J. Cahn

Newport-Mesa’s two assemblymen, John Campbell and Ken Maddox,

received their committee assignments for the 2003-04 session last

week. And there were no surprises under the Democratically controlled

Capitol tree.

Maddox, it appears, will be the busier of the two. He will serve

on the Agriculture Committee (possibly because those in Sacramento

are confused by his political tag: R-Garden Grove), the Environmental

Safety and Toxic Materials Committee, the Governmental Organization

Committee (which has a lot of members, strangely enough), the

Utilities and Commerce Committee (a hotbed lately, given the energy

crisis) and as vice chairman of the Insurance Committee.

On that last committee, he’ll be able to order around his fellow

Newport-Mesa lawmaker. The Insurance Committee is one of just two

Campbell is on; the other is Utilities and Commerce, which gave him a

noteworthy platform from which to attack Gov. Gray Davis’ energy

policies in the last few years.

THE WRITING’S ON THE WALL STREET

Newport Beach’s Rep. Chris Cox, known as one of the more brainy

and policy-oriented players on Capitol Hill, reinforced his image

last week in an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal.

Cox’s piece, “Settle the Score,” focused on the Bush economic

plan, which is in flux with the appointments this month of John Snow

for Treasury secretary and Stephen Friedman as the top White House

economic advisor. Cox presses that the appointments signal “a

redoubled commitment to pro-growth tax policy,” which should be music

to his constituents’ ears.

But more importantly now, he writes, is the filling of other

vacancies. And, keeping with his focus on the material matters of

government, Cox looks to openings at the Congressional Budget Office

and the Joint Tax Committee.

“Virtually every modern-day inanity in the tax code can be traced

to the flat-earth revenue estimation approach these congressional

agencies employ,” Cox writes. “From the absurd 10-year phaseout of

the death tax (and the even more absurd restoration of it one year

after full repeal), to the unindexed growth of the Alternative

Minimum Tax (AMT) -- not to mention the damagingly high marginal tax

rates on individuals -- congressional scoring is to blame.”

He also points out, since this is politics after all: “By their

charters, neither ... is supposed to be partisan. But decades of

Democratic control over their staff and their approaches has left an

anti-growth bias deeply ingrained in both.”

Putting the right people into these positions, he concludes, “For

President Bush and his new economic team, nothing will be more

crucial to their success.”

ANOTHER NEW COX TEAM MEMBER

Chris Cox hasn’t just been busy penning pieces for the media

lately. He has also hired a new communications director, Kate

Whitman.

Whitman has worked in the Bush White House, the Department of

Labor and was most recently press secretary to Craig Benson, who

scored a surprise win for the New Hampshire governor’s seat this

fall.

The announcement goes long on Whitman’s New Hampshire knowledge

(she’s also served as communications director for the state’s

Republican Party). If Al Gore were president, one can only imagine

the “Cox for president” talk that would have started. But given the

Republican tenant in the White House, the early primary connection

isn’t quite as exciting.

Strangely, the announcement does not mention what a little

investigation pulls up: Whitman is the daughter of former New Jersey

Gov. Christine Todd Whitman.

And as late as this past summer, Whitman’s name was in the air for

a run at a New Jersey House seat.

Whitman is the second voice change for Cox in recent months. In

September, he brought Amy Inaba Freyder aboard as his California

press secretary. Whitman will handle his national, state and local

media dealings from Washington and serve as his press secretary for

the House Policy Committee, which Cox chairs.