Assembly Member Jeff Gorell’s District Director Ernie Villegas reacted to the California Citizens Redistricting Commission’s release of their final maps, stating “Jeff’s record as an independent problem-solver and fiscal reformer has great appeal with the district’s new voters. In addition, Jeff’s background as a Naval Reserve Officer makes him a natural to represent the high number of active, reserve and retired military personnel in the newly added communities of the district.”

Villegas added, “He will be proud to represent the only State Assembly district that is wholly contained within Ventura County.”

The addition of most of the city of Oxnard brings familiar neighborhoods to Gorell’s district. As a former Deputy District Attorney for Ventura County, Jeff Gorell has represented the community in hundreds of public safety cases, and is known by community groups and victim rights advocates. As a businessman, Gorell owned a company in Oxnard, and was a member of both the local Chamber of Commerce and Rotary.

Last year, Gorell achieved broad-based voter support across the political spectrum, earning a landslide 58% win over a well-known opponent in the November election.

The new district maintains Jeff’s strong political base in Camarillo, Thousand Oaks, and Moorpark. The new lines add most of Oxnard and the coastal areas of Port Hueneme down past the naval base at Point Mugu. Jeff’s existing communities in North Ventura and Los Angeles counties will be shifted to neighboring Assembly Districts.

District lines will not change until after the 2012 elections, and Gorell will continue to represent the entire current 37th Assembly district for his current term of office. He continues to be proud of all the communities that he was elected to represent, and his office will continue to be there for his constituents in cities such as Simi Valley, Castaic, Chatsworth, Fillmore and Ojai.

A third generation naval officer, Assembly Member Jeff Gorell was called back to active duty by the U.S. Navy on March 18th for deployment to Afghanistan. He currently holds the rank of Lt. Commander with the Navy (Reserve) as an intelligence officer and has previously served a tour of duty in Afghanistan shortly after the events of 9/11.

The new district now includes the Ventura County Naval base at Point Mugu where Gorell reported for duty before being deployed by the Navy to Afghanistan, as well as Port Hueneme near Oxnard.