‘Regular guy’ ready for 35th District

Alicia Robinson

Being a hard worker and a “regular guy” have kept 68th District

Assemblyman Ken Maddox in touch with his constituents, he said. And

with term limits ending his Assembly tenure, he wants to continue as

a legislator in the state Senate.

Maddox is battling Joe Snyder and 70th District Assemblyman John

Campbell to become the GOP candidate for the 35th District Assembly

seat in November.

Before he was elected to the Assembly, Maddox worked in law

enforcement. He joined the Army National Guard at 17 and worked in military intelligence for nine years. Then, after seeing deputy

sheriffs in action, Maddox decided to become one.

The transition from military to law enforcement was a smooth one,

he said. One of the best experiences he had was working with children

as a Drug Abuse Resistance Education officer.

Maddox is particularly proud of one particular arrest he made.

The L.A. County Sheriff’s homicide bureau had searched

unsuccessfully for a man suspected of kidnapping and murder who, it

turned out, was hiding out in Tustin. Maddox took up the

investigation, found the man at a motel and brought him in.

Maddox got his start in politics as a volunteer on various

congressional, state Assembly and state Senate campaigns. Wanting to

continue his public service, he later ran for Garden Grove City

Council and then state Assembly.

“I was running despite being given no chance of winning, and it

was just through hard work,” Maddox said. “I was willing to get up a

little earlier in the morning.”

The communication skills he learned as a police officer have

helped him as a legislator, and dealing with the same issues as his

constituents makes him a good representative of their interests, he

said.

“We talk about schools being overcrowded,” he said. “My daughter’s

school is overcrowded. Or the problems with the freeway; no one

drives me around. I’m just a regular guy.”

Maddox said his biggest accomplishments as an assemblyman are

being a coauthor of the state’s Amber Alert bill to protect children

from abduction, drafting a bill to allow unwanted newborns to be

dropped off safely and writing legislation to stop the dumping of

waste off the coast of Newport Beach and Huntington Beach.

“This has just been the most rewarding job I’ve ever had in my

life,” he said. “I really get to help people.”