The Bee endorses a Republican Assemblyman who’s effective when he focuses on the work | Opinion

As a rookie member of a Republican caucus that is deep in the minority at the state Capitol, Assemblyman Joe Patterson steadily evolved into a legislator who made himself heard on a variety of issues by the end of 2023. The former mayor of Rocklin and graduate of Sacramento State, Patterson was easily elected by voters in 2022 to represent California’s 5th Assembly District. The heart of the district, which encompasses Placer and El Dorado counties, is Patterson’s own Rocklin.

In the legislature, Patterson was part of a GOP push that ultimately led to the passage of a significant bill that gained Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature and will enact harsher punishments for repeat child sex traffickers.

Republicans like Patterson found vulnerability within majority party Democrats whose rigid liberal ideology rejected Senate Bill 14, which asked an important question: Shouldn’t child sex trafficking be classified in California as a serious felony? Former Assembly Public Safety chair Reggie Jones-Sawyer and others embarrassed themselves by blocking a floor vote on this question until Newsom and new Speaker Robert Rivas intervened.

Patterson is realistic about his role in the outcome. He says SB 14 never would have been enacted without Newsom. That’s true. The Republican minorities in the legislature are too small to be determinative, but they demonstrated last year that, on some issues, they can be persuasive.

When he focuses on the issues — instead of fanning the flames of culture wars that only exacerbate divisions within Rocklin and the broader Placer County community — Patterson can be a thoughtful spokesman for an opposing view to the Democratic supermajority.

“I think I’ve been able to walk the line of being able to advocate for my perspective that is completely contrary to the majority (party),” Patterson said recently.

Patterson earns our endorsement because of the work he did last year and because he does not have an adversary who presents a real challenge to him in the March primary. His most serious opponent is Democrat Neva Parker, a Capitol staffer who is smart and sincere but not yet able to articulate a compelling case for why she should be the person who unseats Patterson.

Meanwhile, Patterson did have legitimate accomplishments last year:

His Assembly Bill 889 was signed into law by Newsom and it requires schools to warn parents at the beginning of the school year of the dangers of synthetic drugs. Patterson’s AB 890 was also signed by Newsom and requires people granted probation for “controlled substances offenses” to complete a fentanyl and synthetic opiate education program.

Patterson wanted to further increase incarceration times for major fentanyl dealers and child sex traffickers, and his Assembly Bill 229 would have made strikable offenses out of domestic violence, human trafficking and rape of an intoxicated person (that bill was killed in committee). He says he will work with any Democrat who wants to stem the tide of fentanyl abuse; he says he does not believe that users should do jail time; and wants to get Narcan in schools.

At his best, Patterson is a smart, reasonable politician who puts in the hard work to craft legislation that deserves to be considered.

But last summer, he also was associated with a group called Protect Kids California that, as reported by The Bee, supported bills that would have compelled school districts to out kids who changed their pronouns and blocked transgender girls from competing in sports programs. We understand that there is a difference of opinion on transgender rights and parental notification in Patterson’s community. But Patterson marginalizes himself in the Capitol as a credible policy mind if he plays to the circus of school board chambers back home.

As an example, Assemblywoman Lori Wilson of Suisun City sought to allow family courts to take into consideration whether a judge in a parental custody dispute could take into consideration whether parents accepted the sexual identity as expressed by their child. Patterson sought the transgender limelight. “I’ll keep speaking out on legislation like this and keep getting scoffed out on the floor,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter) about Assembly Bill 957. Gov. Gavin Newsom ended up vetoing the bill fearing unintended consequence. But there is no upside for Patterson to burn precious political capital on a bill like this.

Patterson can be a “no” on Democrat-initiated climate legislation. But like many Republicans, he is willing to engage on the issue. Last month, he wrote this for The Bee Editorial Board: “As the state strives for a greener future, we cannot ignore the potential financial strain on families already wrestling with affordability challenges,” Patterson wrote.

We hope that Patterson continues to emerge as a serious legislator crafting policy that benefits all Californians. When he chooses that path over culture war politics, the Rocklin assemblyman stands out at the state Capitol.