Yesterday Republican Assemblyman Roger Niello officially jumped into the State Senate Special Election in District One, the Republican-dominated district in the greater Sacramento Area that had been represented for many years by the late Dave Cox, who recently passed away after a long bout with cancer.
Niello has been serving as a member of the State Assembly since 2004, and served for some time as Vice Chairman of the Assembly’s key Budget Committee. Neillo talks about his campaign priorities in the video at the bottom of this blog post.
It is clear that a major theme of Niello’s will be carrying on the work of Dave Cox. Cox, just before he passed away, endorsed Niello and made major contributions to Niello’s campaign committee — and the press release announcing Niello’s candidacy contained a quote from Cox’s widow, Maggie:
“Dave knew that Roger would be the only choice to continue on his legacy of public service – of ensuring that every person that lived in his district would be listened to, cared for, and represented. This feels very personal to me, and Dave and I endorsed Roger before Dave passed away”.
Roger currently resides with his wife, Mary in Fair Oaks. They are proud parents of 5 grown children and have 4 grandchildren.
The primary election to fill the 1st Senate District vacancy has been consolidated with the November 2nd general election, with the top vote-getters in each major party moving on to the special general election, to be held on January 4th, 2011.
So far two prominent other politicos have jumped into this special election – conservative Republican Assemblyman Ted Gaines, and Rancho Cordova Mayor Ken Cooley, a Democrat. Also mulling a ran is Acting Board of Equalization Member and former Assemblywoman Barbara Alby, a Republican.
August 26th, 2010 at 12:00 am
Roger looks like the kind of bro who will tax me. Put an egg in your shoe and beat it.
McClintock has endorsed Gaines.That says it all.