Henry Waxman Has Competition, Brent Roske

The Santa Monica Freeway veins across Los Angeles County and chokes with bustle. Trickling in from Baldwin Hills, Prius hybrids, as brilliant as candied apples, pulse along its golden passage with kaleidoscopic effect. Painted primer grey and fanged with rust, tired old beaters wheeze out of Crenshaw into its knots of traffic and grumble. Caravans of caterers, convoys of craftsmen, office types, crammed into carpools throng to it like fire ants to a vine of dark licorice. Most snake their way into places like Culver City, "The Heart of Screenland," as it's known, penetrating into that throb called show business, where they are eventually absorbed. There is one man however, heading in an opposite direction.

Like most Angelenos who've made it big in show business, writer/director turned aspiring politico, Brent Roske is no exception; he isn't a Golden State native, and he's looking to go bigger. U.S. Congress bigger, as in he wants to be the next Representative for California's 33rd District.

At age 39, Roske vibes flash; the literal opposite of his opponent, the nearly four decade long incumbent, Congressman Henry Waxman. "He's going to be stepping down sooner than later," writes Roske in comments emailed to Cloture Club for this story, "and the people of this district are going to have to think about what's next when that happens."

Like something flung from the imaginings of a screenwriter however, Roske's campaign seems a bit quixotic. Showcasing what he calls his, "2 for 1" idea, Roske doesn't seem as intent on unseating Waxman as much as he just wants him to slide over for a year while the congressman teaches him the job, "I'm the only one in the country willing to be mentored by his predecessor," says Roske. While many political pundits would argue that there's a reason for that, Roske remains enthusiastically devout, "Sharing the job with your predecessor would create bi-partisan bridges and help take away the adversarial nature of Congress, which is why I'm running."

Oddly enough, Waxman himself, according to recent statements he made in Roll Call, hasn't entirely ruled out the proposal. He even commends Roske on it for its novelty, but then hedges, citing he might foresee some "workability issues" with it. "I think Henry is more amenable to the idea than he lets on," says Roske. Asked to elaborate on the congressman's remarks, Waxman's office did not wish to comment on this story.

Courtesy Brent Roske

As creator of, "Chasing the Hill," a tightly wrought, web based political drama with cult status, Roske's got plenty of profile. With no shortage of political heavyweights like Terry McAuliffe and former Governor Ed Rendell flocking to his project, Roske's juiced too, and apparently, between the world of professional politics and Hollywood, it flows in both directions. "If you go to Representative Waxman's website, he doesn't even have the entertainment industry mentioned under 'District Issues," says Roske, dinging Waxman, proving that it isn't all wine and roses between the two. "How can you 'represent' almost half a million Angelenos and not mention the entertainment industry?" he says.

Not strictly a Left Coast thinker, Roske is fiscally hawkish and socially liberal, "It's my cash and my body," he says. Dishing out other tangy rejoinders like, "If you give a man a fish, he stops printing resumes," Roske gives good quote too.

Running as an Independent, Roske is a native Minnesotan with a strong self reliant strain, "I joined the workforce at 15 at Burger King and have been working ever since," he says. As his campaign's centerpiece, is the issue of runaway productions, films which get made elsewhere on the cheap. "Los Angeles is the film capital of the world and I'd like it to stay that way," he says. Conceding that enticing productions to stay in California is largely a matter for state legislators and city officials, Roske's industry expertise is unmatched, "I've been a writer/director here for 15 years managing budgets and crews in the real world. I represent this district and am ready to serve as our next Congressman," he says.

With a picture on his website of himself with Senator Al Franken's arm draped over him, Roske epitomizes the essence of California politics, merging "This Town" theatrics with Westside cool. Nowhere is this surreal quality more evidenced than on the set of his breakout hit series, "Chasing The Hill," "We're going to film a scene where Governor Gray Davis is teaching David Hasselhoff how to be a better Governor," says Roske, adding, "David Hasselhoff is awesome." And with that, perhaps no truer words have ever found their way into print.

Brent Roske

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