Pitching from the right

Just a couple years ago, Sara Myers spent a good amount of time

cramming for political science tests.

From January to March 2, Myers tried to cram more hours into the

day to rally volunteers and voters onto the John Campbell for state

Senate bandwagon.

In her short time since graduating from Pepperdine University,

she’s worked for Bill Simon, then Campbell, then Simon for the recall

campaign, and now Campbell again. With Campbell’s campaign

headquarters on Bay Street and Newport Boulevard having been entirely

cleared out Friday, Myers is now preparing for the real race in

November.

Assistant City Editor Mike Swanson caught up with Myers, donned in

a Deerfield Academy of Young Republicans sweatshirt, as she moved the

last few chairs out of the former war room.

What got you started with working on political campaigns?

I started right out of college. I volunteered on various campaigns

and precincts and doing the general, basic volunteer duties during

college, but right after I graduated, I worked on Bill Simon’s

general election campaign as a finance assistant. From there, I

actually went up to Sacramento and worked for John [Campbell] for a

year in the capitol office. Then I left to work on the recall, but

afterward [Campbell] said he needed a campaign manager, so ...

What about Campbell’s politics and personality attracted you to

working on his campaign?

I don’t think that I would work for anyone else in the building.

John is one of those people who wants to do things, and he’s going to

put himself in the middle of any major issue that’s going on. In his

freshman year, when he got to the capitol, the energy crisis was

hitting and he was the only freshman, I believe, on the three major

committees that were dealing with the crisis. So he was full-bore in

the middle of it. Just hearing those stories when I was interviewing

and asking him questions about what I’d be involved in and what my

level of involvement would be in the office, they were just ready to

give me whatever I could handle, and having John tackle the major

issues means that his staff is going to be involved in it as well. As

a part of a staff, you can’t ask for anything else. You don’t want to

deal with someone who’s, you know, sitting back and kind of along for

the ride. He’s a mover. He enjoys it. He doesn’t do it for selfish

reasons. He does it because he believes he can really make a

difference in the issues he gets involved in and he doesn’t just

scratch the surface. He knows about the details of the issues and

really wants to find a solution.

What are some differences between working for Campbell and working

for Simon?

Well, my roles in the campaigns are very different. I was doing

finance for Simon and right out of undergrad, totally fresh, and they

were very nice to hire me on. On the Simon campaign, I was really

just involved in the finance side. Obviously, I saw different things,

because I ended up traveling with Bill somewhat and working with him

on major donor communication and that sort of thing. But being here,

I’m involved in everything, and overseeing things. My relationship

with both candidates are different. I went back to work for Bill

during the recall, and really enjoyed that more because I saw him on

more of a daily basis and had more interaction with him, but working

with John, I see him every day and talk to him every day, regardless

of the time of day. It’s just a different level.

Many expected Campbell’s toughest haul to be in the primary, and

that the actual election will be an easier win. Are you approaching

November with as much enthusiasm as you did heading into March? What

do you expect to be different?

The campaign is not going to stop being as active in the community

with trying to get John’s name out there. As we all saw, voter

turnout this spring was horrible. It was really disappointing after

the recall, when you saw so many new people becoming involved,

volunteering and just engaging themselves in the process. Now, with

the low turnout, we really have to work hard to get out John’s name.

I mean, clearly, the people in the 35th [district] wanted him to be

their next state senator, at least the Republicans. We really have to

make sure we get his message out to the people who didn’t have the

ability to vote for him in the primary. Our race and our

communications were pretty much, obviously, focused on the voters who

could vote for us in the primary, so we’re definitely going to be as

active going forward in reaching out to all voters in the 35th.

What do you see as the single most important issue to Newport

Beach and Costa Mesa voters? What’s Campbell’s stance on this issue?

I think the biggest problem we’re facing is obviously coming from

the budget. The budget affects everything. I think the biggest issue

is really flexibility, and how local governments can spend their

money. John has worked hard on this over the last couple of years. He

actually introduced a bill last year that would have basically

eliminated unfunded mandates. The state places so many mandates on

local government and schools, and by the time it gets down to the

local level, schools and local governments don’t have the flexibility

to say, ‘Hey, this program is more important to us; we need to fund

this,’ or ‘Our citizens want this.’ But, the government forces them

to spend it on this program or that program, so, obviously, the more

local control you have of the funds, the more responsibility and the

more actual accountability there’s going to be in how the funds are

spent, because the people will directly see the results of where the

money’s going. Right now, with the priority being determined in

Sacramento, it really places local governments in a bind. The problem

is, they don’t have the ability to actually spend their money on what

they want to because state government controls a lot of it.

What’s the most exhausting aspect of putting a campaign together

for a major political candidate?

No single aspect is really exhausting, it’s just the combination

of everything that you do. You’re trying to organize a huge volunteer

network. I mean, the 35th is a long district. It runs from Dana Point

up to Seal Beach, parts of Westminster and Garden Grove. It’s a huge

district that’s very diverse, and trying to find enough people to get

out to various areas and really spread John’s message, and try to

educate people on who he is and what he believes in, is a hard job.

It’s hard to raise money, even though this is a very wealthy

district. We’re fortunate that John is an excellent candidate. He’s

very disciplined and motivated, and the staff can’t do it. At the end

of the day, the candidate’s going to make the difference in how the

election turns out. And John, from Day 1, said, ‘I’m focused on doing

this, I’m going to do this, this is my priority.’ Obviously, he has

his Assembly duties, but whenever he wasn’t in Sacramento or wasn’t

at a state obligation, he was working on the campaign. When you

combine all the aspects together, it’s exhausting for everybody

involved.

Does it take a thick-skinned person to do your job? How do you

deal with the deluge of negative comments from opponents in most

battles?

You just have to understand that it’s not personal. A lot of it’s

not personal. At the end of the day, everyone’s trying to win, and if

they feel like they can win by saying something, whether it’s true or

not, chances are likely that they’re going to do it if they think

it’s going to affect the outcome. That doesn’t reflect upon you,

though, and what you’re trying to do. They just have their own game

plan, and they planned it according to what they think your weakness

is and how they can best attack you. You just have to have the

confidence and the fortitude to say, ‘We developed a good game plan.

If we stick to that, and stick to our principles, we know we’re going

to have the best outcome, whether it’s win or lose.’ You have to know

that you’re prepared and you have to know that your candidate’s

prepared, and that you’re disciplined enough to not succumb to some

of the lashings.

What’s your favorite part of the job?

Meeting people and seeing how they interact with John and just the

political world, because I think a lot of people are intimidated by

it. I think that when people have the one-on-one experience of

meeting a candidate and actually talking to them, and seeing their

reaction, and getting all their questions in, that’s the most

fulfilling thing, because you know people are actively engaged. It

lets you know that they’re interested in the process and the

candidate and they want to make sure that the person that they’re

going to elect is really working for their priorities and working to

do what they want done. That’s all you want out of government. You

want to make sure that the people you elect are doing the things you

want them to do. The election process is about finding the right

candidate who fits your priorities, and so seeing the interaction

between the people and the candidate is absolutely the best part.

What’s your funniest memory of the campaign? Any delirious moments

among the staff when things got really busy?

I can’t think of one moment that really stands out, but on a

campaign we get sort of delirious all the time. Honestly, in the last

two months, it’s happened every day, because you’re in here from 7

until whenever your last event is, and then you’re preparing for the

next day. Those last two months had really been just a continual

delirious state of just trying to get to March 2.

Any aspirations to get into politics yourself?

None whatsoever. I love politics and the way it all works, but I

want to continue doing the kind of work I’m doing now.