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March 24, 2016

Capitol Weekly

Greg Campbell has been a legislative staffer for more than 20 years, and his current gig is at the top of the heap – chief of staff to Assembly Speaker John Pérez. The youthful Campbell knows the terrain — he’s about 40 and looks younger – and has worked in various leadership capacities through four speakerships and has become an institutional part of the Assembly’s power structure. The chief of staff is part political operative, part employee manager, part soother of the caucus and part communications strategist, characteristics that have to be coupled with solid social skills. It also helps to have a crystal ball: Having a sense when dormant issues are ready to draw public attention is indispensable. He’s back on the job after recuperating from major surgery. Gov. Brown had called and asked if there was anything he could do. Ever the political staffer, Campbell said yes, sign the speaker’s bill to expand Medi-Cal coverage. “I’m doing great because I have health insurance,” he told the governor.

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August 13, 2015

Capitol Weekly

As Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins’ top aide, Greg Campbell is at the top of the Assembly’s pecking order and that’s not unfamiliar turf, since he also was chief of staff to former Speaker John Pérez and he’s been in the Capitol for more than 20 years. Campbell has the responsibility to meet the politics and policy agendas of the speaker, execute the speaker’s will, keep out the riffraff, spot holes in legislation and resolve the needs of rival interests – and lawmakers – in key bills. We’ve said that the chief of staff is part political operative, part employee manager, part soother of the caucus and part communications strategist. The chief also needs to have good political antennae and head off political storms before they get out of control.

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August 19, 2014

Capitol Weekly

Greg Campbell, the newly named chief of staff to newly elected Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins of San Diego, has been a legislative staffer for more than 20 years, including as top aide to a succession of Democratic speakers. If anybody knows the Assembly inside and out, it’s Campbell. The chief of staff is part political operative, part employee manager, part schmoozer of the caucus and part communications strategist, all characteristics that have to be coupled with solid social skills and the ability to say the most important word in the chief of staff’s vocabulary – “no.”