Julie Griffiths, a highly regarded GOP political consultant, is leaving Fresno for Sacramento to take a job with a Southern California Assembly member.

Griffiths is well known in Valley Republican circles. She moved to Fresno four years ago from Washington D.C., to run Mike Villines' campaign for Assembly. He won and she stayed on as Villines' district director as he rose to become Assembly GOP leader. She also pitched in on some local races, including helping Fresno City Council Member Jerry Duncan in his unsuccessful run for mayor earlier this year.

Griffiths' stock jumped this year as she ran Republican Danny Gilmore's apparently successful bid for a South Valley Assembly seat. Gilmore's opponent, Democrat Fran Florez, still hasn't conceded, but things look good for Gilmore who holds a 2,164 vote lead with not many ballots left to count.

Republicans have long coveted the seat, held for the last six years by termed-out Democrat Nicole Parra. Fran Florez is the mother of state Sen. Dean Florez.

"We've taken a stab at that [seat] for a long time and Julie was able to put a ground game together that matched the Florez ground game," said Michael Der Manouel Jr. chairman of the Lincoln Club of Fresno County, a GOP group. "Julie is an exceptional political organizer. One of the very best here in the Central Valley."

Her departure means the Valley's "very, very thin" bench of skilled GOP political consultants is now even thinner, Der Manouel Jr. said.

The cupboard is nearly bare because there's not much money to be made running races here, compared with other California cities, he said.

"We have very few high dollar races here," he said. "Mayor and county board of supervisor [races] only come along every so often."

Griffiths originally planned to leave after the Villines race -- but became "entrenched in the community," she said.

After 20 years of campaign work, Griffiths is looking forward to getting involved in policy.
Her new boss is Joel Anderson, R-Alpine, who represents eastern San Diego County in the Assembly. As his chief of staff, Griffiths will run Anderson's office, taking a key role in pushing his legislation.

He is best known for pushing a bill through last year that prohibits the state's two public pension funds from investing money in Iranian companies involved in energy or defense.