Fabian Núñez
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Fabian Núñez (born December 27, 1966) is a Democratic politician and the Speaker of the California State Assembly.
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[edit] Personal life
Núñez was born in San Diego, but lived in Tijuana, Mexico until he was 8 years old. His parents, who were migrant workers from Mexico, became citizens sometime later. He was one of twelve children and spent the rest of his formative years in Logan Heights, a San Diego neighborhood.
As a youth, Núñez sold subscriptions for The San Diego Union-Tribune and worked as a gardener for his father's business on weekends.
At 31 years of age, Núñez earned bachelor of arts degrees in political science and education from Pitzer College in Claremont.
Núñez lives in downtown Los Angeles with his wife, Maria Robles, and their three children. Núñez and Robles were married twice. After the end of their first marriage in 1995, the couple remained divorced until being remarried in 2005. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, himself a former Assembly Speaker, was Núñez' best man at the second wedding.
From 1996-2000, Fabian Nunez served as the Political Director for the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and between 2000-2002, worked as the Government Affairs Director for the Los Angeles Unified School District.
[edit] Political career
Núñez was elected to the California State Assembly to represent the 46th District in 2002 and sworn in as the State's 66th Speaker on February 9, 2004.
In August of 2005, Núñez traveled to Mexico -- for the first time as an elected official -- to meet with the President of Mexico, Vicente Fox, and several high-level government officials and business leaders. The Sacramento Bee reported "California Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez met privately with Mexican President Vicente Fox at his government office here Thursday, hoping to strengthen ties that the Los Angeles lawmaker claims have deteriorated under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. After meeting with Fox, the Democratic speaker said he hopes to serve as a bridge to help foster understanding at the highest levels of California and Mexico governments." [1]
And, as reported in the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Speaker "invited Fox to address the California Assembly in Sacramento." [2]
Fox accepted the invitation and spoke to a special joint session of the California State Legislature. Prior to his speech, Fox meet privately with the Speaker.
In the two year legislative session which recently concluded, Fabian Nunez forged a strong working relationship with Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Governor signed into law major legislation sponsored by Nunez, including legislation to combat global warming (cosponsored with Assemblymember Fran Pavley), reduce the price of prescription drugs, raise the minimum wage by a dollar, reform the Los Angeles Unified School District (Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's proposal), and increase competition among cable television companies (cosponsored by Assemblymember Lloyd Levine). Some have criticized Nunez for sponsoring such major legislation because as Speaker, they believe he should allow other Democratic members to write the legislation and get the credit. Others have criticized the Governor for signing all of these Democratic favored legislative proposals because he is in an election year. Finally, others have criticized Nunez for campaigning on behalf of these measures in joint appearances with the Governor because he is a Campaign Co-Chair for Democratic gubernatorial challenger State Treasurer Phil Angelides. In the past, Nunez has campaigned with the Governor on behalf of the Governor's Strategic Growth Plan (infrastructure bonds) but has recently ended public appearances, along with Democratic State Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, possibly to appease his critics. Nevertheless he attended on October 27, 2006 a rally before a sprawling crowd on the campus of the University of Southern California for Phil Angelides' campaign for governor in the United States House elections on November 7, 2006.[3]
Some political analysts have written that there is a possible deal worked out between Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Speaker, and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. They have reported that Villaraigosa will not campaign vigorously for Phil Angelides, hoping Schwarzenegger will win, so that he can run for Governor in an open contest in 2010. At that point, the Governor would be termed out and the Speaker could run for Mayor of Los Angeles. All three have rejected this claim.
Due to term limits, Núñez can only serve as Speaker through 2008.
[edit] Newspaper Profiles
[edit] External links
| Preceded by: Herb Wesson |
Speaker of the California State Assembly February 9, 2004–present |
Succeeded by: Incumbent |
| Speakers of the California State Assembly |  |
|---|---|
| White • Bigler • Hammond • Wall • Fairfax • Stow • Farley • Beatty • Whiteside • Stratton • Moore • Burnell • Barstow • Machin • Sears • Yule • Ryland • Rogers • Shannon • Estee • Carpenter • Berry • Cowdery • Parks • LaRue • Parks • Jordan • Howe • Coombs • Gould • Lynch • Coombs• Anderson • Pendleton • Fisk • Prescott • Beardslee • Stanton • Hewitt • Young • Wright • Merriam • Levey • Little • Craig • Jones • Peek • Garland • Lyon • Collins • Silliman • Lincoln • Brown • Unruh • Monagan • Moretti • McCarthy • Brown • Allen • Setencich • Pringle • Bustamante • Villaraigosa • Hertzberg • Wesson • Núñez |
