USC in the Legislature (2013)

January 3, 2013 By Leave a Comment
University of Southern California

University of Southern California

In the 2013-14 class of legislators, three of the new Assemblymembers are graduates of southern California’s finest educational institution, the University of Southern California. They are;

  • Assemblyman Edwin Chau (49th District)
    B.A. in Computer Science and Sociology
  • Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia (58th District)
    Ph.D. Candidate in Public Administration
  • Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer (59th District)
    B.S. in Public Administration

Other current USC grads in the state legislature include Senator Ricardo Lara, and Assemblymembers Isadore Hall, Bob Blumenfield, Mariko Yamada, and Richard Gordon.

In other news, the 2013-14 class of legislators have also received degrees from Berkeley (5), Harvard (3), Yale (1), Columbia (1), and nine who graduated from that other school in Los Angeles.

 

Filed Under: 2012 Election, Current Research, JoinCalifornia, State Assembly, Top Stories

Recent Resignations

January 3, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Just to recap:

Bob Filner

On September 1st, Doug La Malfa resigned from the State Senate (at the end of the legislative session) in preparation for being sworn into Congress.

On December 3rd, Bob Filner resigned from Congress to become Mayor of San Diego.

On January 2nd, Gloria Negrete McLeod and Juan Vargas resigned from the State Senate to become Members of Congress. On the same day, Tony Cardenas resigned from the L.A. City Council for Congress.

Filed Under: 2012 Election, Congress, Current Research, State Senate

Steve Fox pulls ahead, will be sworn in Monday

December 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment

 

The door to Capitol Room 3149, which was to become the office of Assemblyman Ron Smith on Monday morning.

The Sacramento Bee is reporting that Steve Fox (D) pulled ahead of Ron Smith (R) in the Assembly District 36 race. The last minute update, released about 20 hours before the new Legislature is due to be sworn in, is guaranteed to shake up Monday’s celebrations. At the Capitol, Smith’s photo had been hung on the second floor with those of the other 2013-14 legislators and a sign identified room 3149 as his office.

Steve Fox

While Fox’s margin of 145 votes over Smith was not the smallest ever,it appears to have beat all races in the past three decades. The most recent election with a smaller margin of victory was 1980’s AD-26 race between Adrian Fondse and Patrick Johnston. In 1980, Fondse was sworn in as a member of the 1981-82 legislature (with a narrow lead that had disappeared before the Legislature returned in January to begin it’s work). Fondse served in the Assembly for 35 days, the shortest term for a legislator in the full-time legislature era.

There will likely be a recount in the Fox-Smith race, which could push out the final election results even further. What remains unclear is how a well-funded Republican (Smith out-fundraised Fox better than 10 to 1) was defeated in what had been a fairly conservative district.

Filed Under: 2012 Election, Current Research, JoinCalifornia, State Assembly, Top Stories