Roy Arthur Ashburn (born March 21, 1954 in Long Beach, California) is the California State Senator representing the 18th District, which includes Kern, Tulare, Inyo and San Bernardino Counties. The Republican legislator, who was first elected to the Legislature's upper house in 2002, is currently serving his second four-year term. Ashburn previously worked as a California State Assemblyman for six years and a Kern County Supervisor for 12 years.
Ashburn was appointed Vice Chairman of the Senate Republican Caucus within weeks of being sworn into office. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Defense and Aerospace Industry, Vice Chair of the Rules Committee and the Public Employees and Retirement Committee, and presides over the Appropriations, Government Modernization, Efficiency & Accountability, and Transportation & Housing committees.
Ashburn's work in the California Legislature has included:
Author of "Valley Fever Vaccine Legislation," provides funding to eradicate the deadly disease.
Author of "Welfare-to-Work Act of 1997," which reformed California's welfare system
Author of "ERAF Reform," a proposed measure that would force the state to return more local property tax dollars to cities and counties
Only two years into his term in the State Senate, Ashburn was the Republican candidate in California's 20th congressional district in 2004. He was the strongest Republican to run in the 20th in more than a decade. He was a decided underdog against the Democratic nominee, former state legislator Jim Costa. The 20th is a heavily Democratic, Latino-majority district, and the district's previous incumbent, Democrat Cal Dooley, had held the seat without serious difficulty for 14 years. However, the Republicans more money into the race than was expected for such a heavily Democratic district. Ashburn claimed Costa would vote to raise taxes; in a play on Costa's name, he aired ads saying "Costa's gonna cost ya!" In the end, Ashburn was defeated, taking 46 percent of the vote to Costa's 54 percent.
"I've gotten I don't know how many questionnaires for Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Politics and so on. I throw those in the trash. I'm just not interested in that."1
On Saturdays from 4pm to 6pm Pacific, Ashburn hosts a political radio show on KERN 1410 AM as a means of communicating with his constituents.
Footnotes
^ Pollard, Vic (2006-02-26). "WikiWorld", The Bakersfield Californian, pp. A1. Retrieved on 28 March 2006.
