We caught up with Mr. Cox by phone. Some excerpts:

Q. What’s the first issue you would tackle if elected?

A. The corruptive influence of special interests. Voters across the state get what’s going on in Sacramento. The big union bosses and the big corporate bosses control Sacramento — big oil, big tobacco, big pharma, big telecommunications. Go down the list and look at what they give to candidates to the Legislature. You’ll see why Sacramento is broken.

Tell me about the Neighborhood Legislature.

It makes every campaign to the Legislature door-to-door, person-to-person.

Right now, to run for the Legislature you’ve got to have tons of money or you have to have tons of connections or you’ve got to sell your soul to funders. With tiny districts, which is what the Neighborhood Legislature is all about, we’ll have true small campaigns where voters get a say.

Are people going to want to devote time to that?

It’s funny you mention that. I’ve spoken to 100 rotary clubs.