There will be no honeymoon for new Assemblyman Berryhill

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For more than two years, Bill Berryhill of Ceres has been wanting to serve in the state Assembly.

For a time, it appeared he would easily slide into the seat held by Greg Aghazarian of Stockton, who is being forced out by term limits.

Then, in the final moments, a competitor emerged, fellow farmer John Eisenhut. The 25th District contest became a surprisingly close -- and, unfortunately, mean-spirited and expensive -- race. Eisenhut collected more votes in Stanislaus County; Berryhill won by almost 4,700 votes overall because he carried San Joaquin County so strongly.

Monday, Berryhill will be sworn into the job he's wanted for so long -- and there won't be much of a honeymoon. While the legislative session always begins in early December, it usually adjourns immediately and no serious work begins until after the holidays.

That cannot -- or should not -- happen this year, because the new Legislature is inheriting an $11 billion budget problem left unresolved by the outgoing body. If they wait until January, legislators will make their task even more difficult.

In spite of the budget challenge, Berryhill said in a conversation this past week that he's eager to get started. And he has an edge, in that he's more familiar with Sacramento and the Capitol than most of the 28 Assembly freshmen.

His father, the late Clare Berryhill, was a state legislator and state director of Food and Agriculture. Bill's older brother, Tom, is starting his second term in the Assembly, representing the neighboring 25th District.

Bill Berryhill not only is assuming Aghazarian's seat, he's also going to use the same district office in Stockton and has hired Aghazarian's chief of staff, Carl Fogliani, who also happened to be Berryhill's campaign manager. It's not an unusual arrangement for legislative aides to take leaves from their Capitol jobs to work on campaigns, and then return.

Berryhill has some predictable priorities: agriculture, water and, following the Republican mantra, a strong economy, translated to mean no new taxes or regulatory burdens.

His 11 years on the Ceres school board give him a thorough understanding of how the Legislature's decisions affect school districts. He believes the state should cut the strings on categorical funding, which limit how schools can spend that money. He says he will oppose efforts to restrict charter schools and home schools.

What areas is he the least knowledgeable about? Health care and insurance, he says.

Berryhill also wants to tackle governance issues, things such as reforming the initiative process and the state budget process.

Like his brother and most valley legislators, Berryhill hopes to educate his urban colleagues, most of them Democrats, about modern farming practices. That is something accomplished through personal contact. Berryhill accompanied several incoming legislators to dinner last week, and the majority of the group was Democratic. That's a good start, reaching across the aisle even before the session begins.

Because Berryhill lives and farms in Stanislaus County, we're confident he will pay more attention to the southern portion of his district than did Aghazarian, who was seldom seen south of the San Joaquin-Stanislaus county line.

An interesting aside: One of the 12 finalists in this year's American Heritage Scholarship Program is William Berryhill, Bill's older son, who is a junior at Central Valley High School. The essays, due just before the election, were on the topic of whether political parties help or hinder the political process. What did the younger Berryhill conclude? He supported parties, according to his father. The scholarship awards will be announced Thursday.