Duvall's time in state office
“I’m a red-neck businessman turning into a libertarian,” freshman state Assemblyman Mike Duvall told the 24 people attending his first Yorba Linda town hall-type meeting recently.
The two-time mayor said the transformation is due to “what’s going on in Sacramento,” and he later explained, “One of the things I hate in government is screwing the good guy and rewarding the bad guy.”
Duvall was elected to the 80-member Assembly last year from the 72nd District, which includes western and central Yorba Linda and all or parts of six other cities.
A 38-year resident, Duvall has run an insurance business for 30 years and was elected to the City Council in 2000. In 1993, he chaired the committee charged with updating the city’s original low-density 1971 General Plan.
“When I first got to Sacramento, I didn’t have a clue what to do,” a candid Duvall said; but he quickly got into the thick of legislative matters as a member of the budget, insurance and transportation committees.
Duvall contrasted his six council years—“I was more effective behind-the-scenes”—with his first Assembly year—“I am more effective on the floor”—by citing examples.
On council, Duvall said he worked in closed-door committee meetings to refinance $18 million Black Gold Golf Course bonds to 4.25 percent, saving $87,000 interest annually.
In Sacramento, Duvall spoke about his gardener’s truck to kill a high-priority Democratic bill for a $2,500 surcharge on V-8 engines, “a tax on the state’s hardest-working people.”
And Duvall said his floor work helped extend the “baby drop-off” law’s penalty-free period from 48 hours to seven days, noting, “I took heat from GOP leaders on that one.”
Although Duvall’s a sure bet to win two more two-year Assembly terms and he’s bought a house four miles from the Capitol, the genial lawmaker looks to return to Yorba Linda when his legislative career ends.
Unlike some in the Sacramento crowd, Duvall explained, he has non-political ties to his hometown, including a successful insurance firm and a thriving business he and his wife Susan recently purchased from her father.
Anyone attending a Duvall event expects superior story telling, and he didn’t disappoint, with an account of a visit to the governor’s smoking tent, his imitation of Arnold’s voice and cigar habit and kidding from legislators about Yorba Linda’s oleander issue.
The two-time mayor said the transformation is due to “what’s going on in Sacramento,” and he later explained, “One of the things I hate in government is screwing the good guy and rewarding the bad guy.”
Duvall was elected to the 80-member Assembly last year from the 72nd District, which includes western and central Yorba Linda and all or parts of six other cities.
A 38-year resident, Duvall has run an insurance business for 30 years and was elected to the City Council in 2000. In 1993, he chaired the committee charged with updating the city’s original low-density 1971 General Plan.
“When I first got to Sacramento, I didn’t have a clue what to do,” a candid Duvall said; but he quickly got into the thick of legislative matters as a member of the budget, insurance and transportation committees.
Duvall contrasted his six council years—“I was more effective behind-the-scenes”—with his first Assembly year—“I am more effective on the floor”—by citing examples.
On council, Duvall said he worked in closed-door committee meetings to refinance $18 million Black Gold Golf Course bonds to 4.25 percent, saving $87,000 interest annually.
In Sacramento, Duvall spoke about his gardener’s truck to kill a high-priority Democratic bill for a $2,500 surcharge on V-8 engines, “a tax on the state’s hardest-working people.”
And Duvall said his floor work helped extend the “baby drop-off” law’s penalty-free period from 48 hours to seven days, noting, “I took heat from GOP leaders on that one.”
Although Duvall’s a sure bet to win two more two-year Assembly terms and he’s bought a house four miles from the Capitol, the genial lawmaker looks to return to Yorba Linda when his legislative career ends.
Unlike some in the Sacramento crowd, Duvall explained, he has non-political ties to his hometown, including a successful insurance firm and a thriving business he and his wife Susan recently purchased from her father.
Anyone attending a Duvall event expects superior story telling, and he didn’t disappoint, with an account of a visit to the governor’s smoking tent, his imitation of Arnold’s voice and cigar habit and kidding from legislators about Yorba Linda’s oleander issue.
posted by Jim Drummond at 12:00 PM
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