Stepping up to the plate for himself

Alicia Robinson

After knocking on doors and shaking hands on behalf of other

candidates for years, Mark Leyes decided it was time to make the

effort for himself.

Leyes is vying for the Republican party’s nomination for the 68th

District Assembly seat, against Van Tran.

A Garden Grove City Councilman who has worked with and for the

government in various jobs, Leyes said he’s ready to take a seat in

Sacramento himself.

“At some point I just kind of looked around and said, ‘Well, I

could support other candidates but I’m kind of tired of letting [the

other guy] do it,’” he said.

One of his abiding interests is economics, which he considers a

social science that all legislators should know.

“I wish that everybody had to take an economics course,” he said.

“I wish there was a better understanding of economics because there

is a result, a consequence to every action [legislators] do, every

fee they raise, every law they enact.”

His interest in politics dates back to high school, when his

civics class put aside their textbooks and instead studied a live

political lesson: Watergate.

“Although I think it would have been very easy for me to have

gotten very cynical about politics and government because of that, I

was very challenged by that and saw an opportunity to get involved

and make it better, make it more honest,” Leyes said.

Working for 60th District Assemblyman Bob Pacheco (R-City of

Industry), Leyes gets to deal with the business of government every

day, talking to constituents and doing casework on legislative

issues.

Even in former positions he was involved with the government. In

his job with the Orange County Water District he worked on

groundwater policy issues and helped draft bills that served as state

models for groundwater management, he said.

In 2000 he worked on a Republican voter registration drive and

he’s served on Garden Grove City Council for 14 years.

The city has come a long way during his tenure on council, he

said. The council expanded the city’s tax base without raising tax

rates, attracted new businesses and increased the efficiency of the

water department and sanitary district, he said.

“I’m very pleased with the fact that the city is in much healthier

financial shape than when I started,” Leyes said.

He has enjoyed serving on council, but he’s ready for the Assembly

now, he said.

“There’s other people that can do this job ... I can move on and

let somebody else have a chance,” he said.