California Assemblymember Kevin De Leon Reflects on His First Year in Office

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Sharon Kyle and Dick Price

As a first-time elected official, Assemblymember Kevin de Leon stepped into a big job this year. Named Assistant Majority Floor Leader at the start of his first term, Kevin supported the Assembly Democratic leadership team of Speaker Fabian Nunez and Majority Floor Leader Karen Bass in dealing with over 1,000 bills in his first term representing the 45th California Assembly District.

To recap his first year, we met with Assemblymember de Leon in his Highland Park office, in the Northeast Los Angeles community he represents. We arrived to find the Assemblymember sitting with a constituent, fellow Northeast Democratic Club member David Brunk, who had dropped in to share concerns. Kevin listened attentively until all of David’s concerns had been aired. Then it was our turn.

Acknowledging that his lack of experience as an elected official presented unexpected challenges, de Leon made us feel more like we were chatting with an old friend than sitting with the Assistant Majority Floor Leader of the State of California. He explained that he used his inexperience to gain knowledge and make inroads in Sacramento he would not have been able to make had he come to the office with set expectations.

“Because I came to the Assembly without ever being an elected official, I had to ask a lot of questions. I couldn’t say, ‘Well, we did it this way on the city council or that way on the county commission,’” the San Diego native said last Friday as he prepared to fly to San Jose to see his 13-year-old daughter Lluvia. “That was a good thing because I didn’t come with a lot of preconceptions about how things should work in Sacramento.”

He also relied on the experience of more seasoned members. Majority Floor Leader Karen Bass and Chief Clerk E. Dotson Wilson, among many others, provided invaluable insight and guidance as de Leon poured himself into learning the finer points of parliamentary procedure, an essential tool in shepherding hundreds of bills through the Assembly.

Now in the thick of negotiations between the Assembly’s Health Committee and Governor Schwarzenegger as they try to salvage some kind of healthcare reform this year, it appears that Kevin is a quick study.