Candidate for
Superior Court Judge; County of Alameda; Office 21

Candidate for Superior Court Judge

Biography Dennis has devoted his entire life to serving the public and working to preserve individual civil liberties. Dennis was elected to the Board of AC Transit to represent Ward 4 which includes Castro Valley, Fairview, San Lorenzo, Ashland, Cherryland and the cities of Hayward and San Leandro. AC Transit is the third largest bus system in the country and has 68.9 million riders a year, serving 230,000 commuters on a daily basis. In this capacity, Dennis is working to improve access to public transportation for seniors and people with disabilities.

Dennis served as the Director of the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. The Department protects the rights of seniors, women, the disabled and minorities who face discrimination on the job, in housing, or public accommodations.

Under President Clinton, Dennis was the Director of the Office for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. As one of the top public officials in the Clinton Administration, Dennis was responsible for ensuring that civil rights laws were enforced including the Age Discrimination Act, Americans with Disabilities Act and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

While serving as Staff Attorney at the Asian Law Caucus, Dennis was a co-counsel in the famous civil rights case Fred Korematsu v. United States. Korematsu was convicted in 1942 for failing to obey World War II Japanese American internment orders. Dennis and the legal team successfully argued to overturn Korematsu's conviction.

Dennis was a member of the Advisory Board of Directors, Asian American Policy Review, for the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He previously served on the California Commission on the Prevention of Hate Violence, the White House Commission on Asian Americans and the Board of Directors for the Child Care Law Center, Coro Foundation, and the San Francisco Legal Aid Society. Currently, he is a Board member of Spectrum Community Services, a meal program for low income seniors in Alameda County.

Dennis Hayashi graduated from Occidental College and obtained his law degree from Hastings Law School.

He and his wife, Mary, live in Castro Valley.