A new generation of politicians are ready to take over

Jenny Marder

Brooke Adams has come a long way since she reigned as Huntington

Beach High School’s homecoming queen. Now, seven years later, she’s

hoping to be elected to a much higher office.

Adams, 25, hopes that voters will oust Gov. Gray Davis and elect

her, making her California’s youngest governor.

“Experience in conjunction with a younger generation who has fresh

ideas and who brings them to life would create a movement of change

and action and difference,” the Huntington Beach native said. “I want

to make a difference. I want to bring leadership back.”

Sleek, sophisticated and sharply dressed in a knee-length business

skirt, stiff button-down blouse, designer high heels and small

crystal earrings, Adams is exactly what you’d expect from the

quintessential popular-girl-turned-politician. She is poised and

articulate, with a firm handshake and a bright smile.

Adams does not balk at the field of 133 candidates running for

governor of California. In the end, the serious ones will rise to the

top, she believes.

The three main tenets of her platform are individual freedom,

personal responsibility and smaller government.

“Individual freedom entails the right to succeed or fail without

an overabundance of government interference,” Adams said. “Personal

responsibility is about taking responsibility for yourself -- for

your obligations and commitments, both socially and economically.”

She hopes that an era of personal responsibility will replace the

“me first” mentality of her parents’ generation, which she sees as

largely responsible for the current fiscal crisis.

“The older generation hasn’t provided leadership,” Adams said.

“They’ve had a $38-billion party and they’re sticking our generation

with the bill.”

She also advocates a flat-rate income tax, fewer regulations on

businesses and decreased government spending. If elected, she will

roll back the car tax, put an end to programs she considers wasteful

and limit government services to illegal immigrants.

She doesn’t see her age as an obstacle, but rather the reason she

is suited for the job.

“In California, our ship is sinking, we’re totally in debt, it’s

exhausting and Democrats, Republicans, different parties, they’re

arguing over who did it,” Adams said. “We’re sinking, guys, and our

generation’s going to go under. We’re inheriting this. When the older

generations die off, we’re the ones who are going to move into

office, so why not sooner.”

Adams’ political career actually began her sophomore year in high

school, when she was elected vice president of the student body.

She was also heavily involved in her father’s 2002 campaign in the

recall of Judge Ronald Kline, who was accused of possession of child

pornography and molestation. Her father, John Adams, replaced Kline

as an Orange County Superior Court judge.

“I’m living, I’m working, I’m paying taxes like everyone else, so

why is it fair to say I’m not experienced enough,” Brooke Adams

asked.