THE TYGRRRR EXPRESS

At the 2009 Young Republican Convention in SImi Valley, I had the pleasure of seeing California State Senator Tony Strickland.

http://cssrc.us/web/19/default.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Strickland

Tony is only one half of a political power couple. His wife Audra, a California Assemblywoman, was also in attendance.

http://republican.assembly.ca.gov/member/37/

I had met both of them for the first time only one week earlier at the Reagan Library. All three of us spoke at the Simi Valley Women’s Republican Federated Golden Anniversary Gala.

At this event, both of them were speaking, and I was happy to be a spectator.

(My vocal chords were shot from addressing the crowd earlier in the day.)

On an apolitical note, the first impression one develops when meeting Tony Strickland is that he is tall. I mean very tall. He is 6 ft 6. For those who joke that he is tall enough to play professional basketball, research would tell those people that he actually does. In addition to his political duties as an elected represenatitve, he plays in the IBL.

The warmth that he has shown me after barely knowing me shows me that he is a man of character.

With that, I present State Senator Tony Strickland.

“I am a founding member of the Young Republicans. We created the Young Republicans in 1993.”

“Some know me from the legal case of Strickland vs Davis. I led the fight to have Gray Davis recalled.”

“Some people ask me what it is like to transition to the Senate from the Assembly. I tell them it is like the Bill Murray movie ‘Groundhog Day.’ It is the same thing over and over.”

“If we are going to fix this budget mess, we are going to have to fix the legislature.”

“Texas has a budget surplus. They have a part time citizen legislature. The legislature meets for three months every two years. They must be doing something right.”

“Texas Governor Rick Perry comes to California to take our companies. He offers them low taxes and incentives. California legislators have got to understand that 70% of something is better than 100% of nothing.”

“You cannot fund education and public safety without encouraging free enterprise.”

“California today would have been far different had Dan Lungren won the governorship.”

“I fought to get rid of many boards. These boards have people making over $100,000 per year, yet only meeting once or twice per month.”

“I eliminated the Integrated Waste Management Board. It was nothing but a p[olitical payback club.”

“This budget says that there does not have to be an automatic spending increase for every budget item. I fought for that.”

“I know that Republicans have different candidates, but I support Meg Whitman for Governor. She is wicked smart. I worked with her on the Mitt Romney presidential campaign race.”

“If you want a composite of the compassion of the IRS with the efficiency of the DMV, support the Democrats on health care.”

I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Tony and Audra Strickland. Like many people, they work long hours, yet still make time for their children.

I will be running into them at many more functions, especially as the campaign season starts up again. It is an honor to share the stage with them, and just as much of a pleasure to be a relaxed spectator soaking up their words.

The best part of their words is that substantive deeds back them up.

eric

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 20th, 2009 at 11:11 am and is filed under POLITICS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.