State Assembly and campaigns

Upon graduating from UCLA, Wallentine joined the victorious campaign of California State Assembly candidate Jim Morrissey and became a member of Morrissey's staff as his Legislative Director in the California State Capitol.^[1][2] He joined the Dole-Kemp campaign for President in 1996.^[1][2] In 1997, Wallentine became chief of staff to Assemblyman Roy Ashburn.^[1][2] During his tenure there, he also served as a consultant for Chris Mitchum for Assembly in 1998 and as an associate with Steve Presson Associates in 2000.^[1]

State senate

Eight and a half years later, Wallentine became chief of staff to State Senator Bob Dutton, where he served for 15 months before taking the same position for State Senator George Runner three months before Runner was elected to the Board of Equalization.^[1] Wallentine worked with Morrissey, Ashburn, Dutton, and Runner on enabling greater job creation in the private sector, reforming welfare, increasing criminal penalties (with particular emphasis on child predators), and increasing government accountability by cutting regulations and reducing bureaucracy.^[1][2]

Board of Equalization

After the resignation of Barbara Alby on December 31, 2010, Wallentine was sworn in as acting Member of the Board of Equalization to serve until Runner took office on January 3, 2011, at which point he became Runner's Chief Deputy at the Board.^[2][5][6] Consequently, Wallentine became the record-holder for the shortest tenure of a California constitutional officer, surpassing Governor Milton Latham, who held the record for 150 years.^[3][4]

During his tenure in office, Wallentine released an assessment practices survey report for Nevada County^[5] and announced emergency rainstorm tax relief in Mariposa County.^[6]