West Hollywood resident Brent Roske, the creator of the political drama web series “Chasing The Hill,” says he’s ready to chase the real thing.
Roske recently announced he will run as an independent Congressional candidate for California’s 33rd District in the June 2014 primary. He’ll face off against 20-term lawmaker Henry Waxman.
“The fact is, I don’t think Waxman is a bad guy,” said Roske, who has actually offered to share the job with Waxman for the first year of his term as part of his “2 for 1, $4k” campaign. “I think he got elected the year I was born — he’s had enough time — and he simply doesn’t represent this district anymore. He should run in Maryland, which is where he lives,” said Roske.
Roske says, if he wins, he’ll split his salary, which is currently $174,000, and the job with Rep. Waxman, who’s spent 38 years in Congress.
Waxman’s response: “I also appreciate Mr. Roske’s novel proposal and will think about it some more, but I suspect there would be workability issues,” he recently told Roll Call.
Roske has been a movie director in Los Angeles for 15 years, but recently took on a higher profile with “Chasing The Hill,” which hit the web in mid-May and starred Richard Schiff, the veteran actor who played White House communications director Toby Ziegler for seven seasons on NBC’s “West Wing.”
“You could say that ‘Chasing The Hill’ was my research time on whether or not to run for office, or at the very least, how I could start transitioning from the entertainment industry into civic work,” Roske said. “After years of discussion I’ve decided that throwing my hat in the ring is an honest way to start this path.”
Roske says his show, like his campaign, is “party agnostic.”
“I would be the only independent in the House and I’m running specifically to bring the parties together to help fix a broken system and in turn restore the American public’s faith in US Government,” he said.
Roske has also promised he won’t spend more than $4,999 on his campaign because “I don’t believe campaigns should cost as much as they do and 2) keeping it below $5k keeps this out of FEC oversight. I have nothing to hide so I’ll still be disclosing all financials of both past and present.”
The primary will be held on June 3, 2014. The top two finishers move on to the Nov. 4, 2014 general election.
Eight candidates vied for the two spot in last year’s June primary. Waxman defeated independent Bill Bloomfield with 54 percent of the vote against Bloomfield’s 46 percent.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the 33rd Congressional district includes West Hollywood.
