Carole Migden

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Carole Migden (born August 14 1948) represents the third district in the California State Senate. The Third State Senate district covers parts of San Francisco, all of Marin County and parts of Sonoma County.

Political office

Democrat Carole Migden represents the 3rd District in the California State Senate, which includes parts of San Francisco, Sonoma County, and Marin County. She was previously a member of the California State Assembly (1996-2002) and Chairwoman of the California Board of Equalization (2002-2004), the nation's only publicly-elected tax commission. She also served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (1991-1996). She also chaired the San Francisco Democratic Party for eight years and is a member of the Democratic National Committee.

Carole Migden is the Chairperson of California Senate Labor & Industrial Relations Committee and the Chairperson of the Senate Majority Caucus. She was previously the Senate Appropriations Committee Chair. She is the only Lesbian state official in Northern California and one of just ten woman Senators.

State legislature

In the State Assembly, Migden served for five years as Chairwoman of the Assembly Committee on Appropriations. She was the first woman and the first lesbian to chair that committee. She also served for four years as a conferee on the state's Joint Budget Conference Committee, which writes the final version of California's state budget. As a member of the State Assembly, Migden authored legislation to create California's domestic partner registry, promote children's health, preserve the old growth Headwaters Forest, increase accountability in K-12 schools, protect borrowers from predatory and deceptive lending practices, protect consumers from manipulation by energy generators, and promote the use of emergency contraception.

Migden authored the ‘‘Clean Water Act’’ in 1999 that imposed tougher penalties on industrial polluters dumping harmful toxins in California waterways. She also authored the Headwaters Forest and SF Wetlands/Cargill legislation that enabled the state preservation of the ancient Headwaters Forest and restoration of the San Francisco Baylands into a wildlife habitat and recovery of endangered species.

Over the last seven years Migden has authored legislation for domestic partnership in California providing benefits to the LGBT community and unmarried senior citizens. Assembly Bill 26 in 1999 marked the first time in the nation a state legislature passed a domestic partnership statute without forcible intervention of the courts. (Assembly Bill 26).

Migden’s SB 565 provided for the legalization of the transfer of property between domestic partners without reassessment for tax purposes (Senate Bill 565) and provided for the filing of domestic partner income-tax returns under the same status as married couples. (Senate Bill 1827).

During her time on the Board of Equalization, Migden strengthened property rights for same sex couples, helped level the playing field between brick and mortar establishments and online retailers, and protected California's precious open space.

In 2005, Migden's SB 663 closed tax loopholes allowing corporate giants to put millions in offshore tax shelters and depleting the state of revenues. (SB 663). Migden has authored legislation to improve foster care that created new programs such as transitional housing, increased savings accounts, and adoption incentives for parents adopting teenagers.

Migden has authored legislation providing for rapid HIV testing (AB 1263), protection of health care workers from needle injuries (AB 1046) and enabling of HIV positive people to have healthy children (SB 443). Before entering the assembly, as a San Francisco supervisor, Migden strengthened HIV/AIDS prevention, service delivery programs, protection of the health budget and created innovative safe-sex programs.

In 2002 Migden authored legislation (AB 1860) requiring the state to provide information regarding the “morning after” contraception to female victims of sexual assault. Migden passed legislation (AB 673) creating a state wide DNA data base for rapists, murders, and other violent crimes.

Staunchly opposed to the war in Iraq, Migden became one of the first critics of the war and passed a Senate resolution making California the first state in the nation to formally oppose the surge of troops in Iraq.

Marin

In the fall of 2007 Migden helped resolve a five-year- standoff between Marin county and the state of California regarding property taxes taken by the State and diverted to fund education deficits. With rising property tax values, the state decided to withhold an additional 4 million of county generated tax revenues to pay for programs for troubled children throughout California. Marin officials claimed the state was forcing the county to shoulder an unfair degree of state oriented funding. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed two bills pushed forward by Migden to resolve the issue. Migden's third bill passed and resulted in cutting the amount of surplus funds the county will annually pay to the state by half. The bill resulted in an extra 1.9 million a year for Marin County and a total return of 24.7 million to the area.

Migden spent her first night in California on a Marin houseboat and in 2006 passed SB 1701 which allowed Sausalito houseboats to be legally moored on Richardson Bay for the first time since 1865.

Controversy

Since joining the Senate in 2004, Migden has had three chiefs of staff. Staff members commonly referred to serving under Migden as "combat tours." Migden has been rated the worst member to work for in the Capitol Weekly which conducted a staff survey. The San Francisco Examiner has called Migden "Sacramento's scariest boss." She has been repeatedly reprimanded for her hostile behavior in the state Legislature, including verbal attacks on peace officers who are charged with keeping lawmakers safe.

When Migden was chairwoman of the powerful Assembly appropriations committee, which determines whether hundreds of bills live or die, Migden routinely held fundraisers during committee lunch breaks, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. When Migden headed the Senate Appropriations Committee, she put her title on a fundraiser invitation. In 2005, Migden pressed the "aye" button for Guy Houston, a Republican, in the California Assembly of which Migden was no longer a member.

Personal Life

A native of New York City, Migden was born August 14, 1948. Migden is a member of the Jewish faith. After moving to San Francisco, she became very active in community service.

Marriage

In February 2004, she married Cristina Arguedas, a criminal defense attorney and her partner since 1985, in a ceremony at San Francisco City Hall officiated by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. That marriage was later annulled by the California Supreme Court.

Leukemia

On May 23, 2007, Migden announced that she was diagnosed with leukemia in 1997 (about a year into her first assembly term). She was only expected to live 3-5 years after her diagnosis.

Migden underwent rigorous and difficult chemotherapies for several years before finally becoming a participant in clinical trial which ultimately got FDA approval for Gleevec which has proven to be a watershed cancer drug. She has been in complete remission for several years.

Driving History

On May 18, 2007, Migden was involved in an automobile accident where she crashed her SUV into a sedan, which was stopped at a red light. There were no serious injuries and no citation was written. Migden was given a Breathalyzer test, which showed that she was not drunk. Migden claims that she may have suffered from an adverse response to her Leukemia treatment that lead her to drive erratically. 911 tapes released in August show other drivers who saw her during her 30-mile trip along I-80 were panicking as they reported seeing her hit the center divider, and repeatedly come close to hitting other cars, before finally hitting one. One motorist claimed Migden told her "You can't talk to me like that. I'm a senator."Migden voluntarily ceased driving as she continued to undergo treatment and as medical tests are pursued.

In May 2007, Migden said "I owe an explanation to the public and myself and, in particular, the person I hurt.

On August 10, 2007, Migden entered a no contest, also known as nolo contendre, plea to charges of reckless driving related to the May 18, 2007 incident. Migden paid a $710 fine and is required to participate in two years of court probation. A no-contest plea is the same as a guilty plea except it cannot be used in a civil lawsuit to establish liability.

In 1996, Migden ran a stop sign by the State Capitol and crashed into a 1990 Dodge Spirit owned by Teresa Latham. The crash injured Latham and destroyed Latham's car. Latham claimed that Migden did not "seem concerned at all about the situation.

Awards

In 1999, Migden, a lesbian, received the National Center for Lesbian Rights' "Lesbian Leadership Award". In 2000, she was recognized with the "Affordable Housing Leadership Award". In 2001, Migden was named "Legislator of the Year" by the California National Organization for Women. In 1999 she also received “Legislator of the Year” honors from the California School Employees Association.

In 1998 Migden was named “Rookie of the year” award by the California Journal. She took top honors in the categories of most integrity, most intelligence, hardest working, most ambitious, and most influential.

Migden was also awarded the "Geraldine Johnson Award" for outstanding support of the labor community; and received "Cape Crusader Award" from California Alliance for Pride and Equality.

Migden has received leadership awards from prominent environmental and civil rights organizations. She continuously received high honors in California Journal's annual rankings, including "Quick Study" in 2002.

Election 2008

Migden currently faces three opponents in her bid for renomination in 2008. They are Assemblyman Mark Leno, SF Police Commissioner Joe Alioto Veronese, and former Assemblyman Joe Nation from San Rafael.

The race is expected to be one of the costliest legislative races, with some media outlets estimating that the race will be very expensive. Migden came into the race with several million dollars in the bank from past races, but it the ability of the campaign to use that money is now in question. A complaint to the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), California's version of the Federal Elections Commission alleges that Migden improperly moved much of her money around and didn't accurately report her money situation. Richie Ross, Migden's campaign consultant, called the issues in the complaint legitimate, saying, "There's no excuse, and she will have to take her legitimate lumps. I know it, and she knows it. However, on March 6, Migden filed a legal challenge against the FPPC, claiming that the campaign finance law was unconstitutional.

References

External links

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Last updated on Wednesday March 12, 2008 at 07:47:15 PDT (GMT -0700)
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