Sen. Brian Jones, the minority leader in the state Senate, opened a new district office in Scripps Ranch on Wednesday while touting a new approach by Republicans in Sacramento.
“We’re calling ourselves the loyal opposition because we love California,” he said during brief remarks to the crowd in his new office. “There’s nothing wrong with California — just some of the policies coming out of Sacramento.”
After speaking in the office, he strolled through a parking lot crowded with hundreds of community leaders and lined with tables staffed by nonprofit organizations that operate in his 40th Senate District in north and east San Diego County.
Jones said San Diego is benefiting from strong and growing relationships across the aisle in the state Senate.
“For the first time in history the president pro tem and the minority leader are both from San Diego County,” he said, citing a good working relationship with Sen. Toni Atkins.
Jones said the Republican caucus is focused on bringing down the cost of living in California, addressing homelessness and fixing the broken home insurance market.
He took some of the credit for San Diego’s new homeless camping ordinance, saying that while state legislation he introduced didn’t pass, the idea he introduced was adopted by the City Council
“The city of San Diego is now taking my idea and making it work,” he said.
Jones said he wasn’t concerned about the issues roiling national politics and wanted to focus instead on what is possible to achieve in California.
