Candidate for
Member, Democratic Party County Central Committee; County of Los Angeles; Assembly District 43

I hope to bring to the Committee a pair of opposites: experience and ignorance. I have an extensive education and a broad life experience to bring to the Committee as a lawyer, Viet Vet., actor, active Union member, life long Democrat, pilot amd mountain climber. And yet, on the other hand, I am new to active party politics with no hidden agenda, or personal ambitions. I became involved because I was appalled at our invasion of Iraq, and once involved, again at the lack of courage of many of our Democratic candidates.

I do not believe "Liberal" is a dirty word. I do not believe our Candidates should fear controversies based on honestly held beliefs. Compromise is indeed essential in politics, but that compromise must be transparent, reflecting an honest appraisal of what is the best that can be attained for the constituency, not hidden within a self-serving career agenda. I don't want to follow a Republican-type dogma that governs by 50% + 1, but I do want a Democratic agenda that is premised on the belief that OUR government has a positive role to play in the lives of the citizenry it serves, not a passive one in which monied interests shape public policies intended to place the public in a dependent relationship to Corporate interets.

Our Government was constituted, among other goals to "promote the general Welfare," not to enrich the few, or to protect Multi-national Corporations at the expense of American citizens, or to further the careers of those who have termed out. I'd like to play a part in redressing the current imbalance.