The Valley Chronicle - Hemet High grad Chris Campbell unanimously conf

Unanimous voice votes land Campbell a new job: assistant secretary of the Treasury for financial institutions

[caption id="attachment_5588" align="alignright" width="423"] Photo credit: Live stream of Campbell nomination hearing by U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs
Campbell was unanimously confirmed on the floor of the Senate Aug 3.[/caption] ■ By Melissa Diaz Hernandez / Editor Two sets of unanimous voice votes approved Hemet High graduate Chris Campbell as the new assistant secretary of the Treasury for financial institutions. It took one vote July 27 by the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and a second on Aug. 3 on the Senate floor. Campbell, a product of the Hemet Unified School District, graduated from University of California, Santa Barbara, and went on to earn an MBA from Thunderbird School of International Business. After his confirmation, The Valley Chronicle asked Campbell how it felt to come from Hemet and be where he is today. “I am so grateful to Secretary Steven Mnuchin for the opportunity to serve with him at the Department of Treasury,” said Campbell. “Having come from humble beginnings from Hemet, California, I know first-hand how difficult life can be. I watched my mom sacrifice to help raise my siblings and me. I hope to bring the values I learned as a child and the skills I learned as an adult working in both the private and public sectors to the new position at the Treasury. This really is a great nation, and I am very honored to be able to continue my public service at the Treasury,” he said. On July 18, Campbell shared some of his personal background with the reviewing Senate banking committee: “I come from the humblest of beginnings,” he said. “I lived most of my childhood in poverty, really never thinking that I would be afforded the opportunities that have been presented to me over the last two decades.” Prior to his recent appointment, Campbell had been working as staff director for Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee. Also during his July 18 confirmation hearing while discussing his qualifications, Campbell told the committee: “Overseeing the Republican efforts on the committee has required not only policy knowledge and experience, but also the ability to manage different people with varying skill sets and expertise. And I believe we’ve been successful,” said Campbell. “In the last Congress alone, the Finance Committee reported [out] a record number of bills – several dozen in fact – all of them bipartisan. And the vast majority of those bills were eventually signed into law. “I can’t take credit for everything the Finance Committee has accomplished while I’ve been there. The credit belongs to Chairman Hatch, Ranking Member Wyden, and Sen. Baucus, who was chairman when I first started there, and all of the members on both sides of the dais. But, once again, during my time on the committee – and throughout all my time in the Senate – I have sought to leave a mark and build a reputation for being an effective advocate, a bipartisan facilitator, and a strong leader.”