White House Makes Stone Irresistible Offer

SACRAMENTO — Nine months after California Sen. Jeff Stone rejected an offer to be the Assistant U.S. Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, the White House made Stone an offer he could not refuse.

On Friday, Nov. 1 Stone will become the Western Regional Director of the United States Department of Labor in the Trump administration.

“I will be back on a winning team,” Stone told Uken Report in a telephone interview. “I’m feeling invigorated. It is a way of serving my country.”

The Western Region of the Department of Labor includes the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

Stone will have a San Francisco-based office. He will be there once a week, or once every other week, he said. His permanent residence will be in Las Vegas.

The first White House offer was contingent on Stone selling his Innovative Compounding Pharmacy. He would not budge. His new position allows Stone to retain his pharmacy — and ultimately keep people employed, which was one of his primary concerns.

Stone said his job will be to support Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia to promote the training of America’s workforce and protecting the interests of America’s wage earners, job seekers, and retirees.

“I’m very excited,” Stone said. “I put up the good fight in Sacramento, but it was difficult to get anything done in a Democrat-controlled Legislature.” Stone was one of 11 Republicans in the state Senate.

For context, Democrats currently hold more than two-thirds of both the state Senate and state Assembly.

“I will be 64 in January,” Stone said. “I wanted to leave on top. I left on my own terms. It’s been a good run for a minority member.”

In the past month, Gov. Newsom signed into law at least two of Stone’s bills

Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 569, which will allow pharmacists to dispense controlled a substance without a security form during a declared disaster, Stone’s office announced on Friday.

Newsom also signed legislation Stone authored that will allow boats driven by intoxicated individuals to be impounded for up to 30 days.

Stone was elected to the State Senate in 2014 and re-elected in 2018.  Stone’s foray into public service began in 1992 with his election to the Temecula City Council. In 2004 Stone was elected to serve on the Riverside County Board of Supervisors.

As he leaves for the position in the Trump White House, Stone endorsed Temecula City Councilman Matt Rahn to fill out his term in the 28th Senate District.

A Special Election is expected to be called in conjunction with the March 2020 Primary.

Stone told Uken Report that he is confident Rahn will emerge victorious.

California’s 28th Senate District, which is entirely in Riverside County, stretches from the vineyards of the Temecula Valley to the Colorado River and includes the cities of Blythe, Canyon Lake, Cathedral City, Coachella, Desert Hot Springs, Indian Wells, Indio, Lake Elsinore, La Quinta, Murrieta, Temecula, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage and Wildomar.