This announcement probably doesn't come as a shock to anyone who's read the blog over the last few weeks.
In reality, however, I've found myself struggling ever since Jane Harman announced her resignation on February 7th. The next day, I received a call from Janice Hahn, asking me to endorse her. We had a very pleasant conversation, but in the end I told her I needed to wait to see who else would get in the race (Debra Bowen wouldn't announce for another week).
Before we hung up, I told her I'd be happy if either she or Bowen ended up replacing Harman in Congress.
At the time, I meant it. But over the last few weeks, as I've researched and written about both candidates, I no longer feel that way.
The choice between Debra Bowen and Janice Hahn, in fact, could not be more clear.
It's the choice between the
transformational vs. the
transactional, between having a
partner in congress or having a
broker, between having someone who is willing to
stand up for what is right in spite of the consequences or having someone who will be
buffeted by the competing wishes of special interests.
It is the difference between having as our advocate in Congress an experienced and nationally respected lawmaker who's
already represented our district for 14 years or having a
termed-out LA City Councilwoman looking for a place to land.
That's why today, without hesitation or reservation, I endorse Debra Bowen for Congress.
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In the late 1980's, Debra Bowen began her life of public service as a community organizer (a label decades away from being fashionable) who volunteered for her local Neighborhood Watch and Heal the Bay, where she helped stencil stormwater run-off warnings on drains that fed into the Santa Monica Bay. Using her training as a business lawyer, Bowen became intensely involved in environmental and neighborhood issues posed by an explosion of development in her home town of Venice.
On behalf of the Venice Town Council, she sued to stop developers from building a $160-million regional shopping mall at the western tip of Culver City. She formed community and non-profit groups that dealt with everything from responsible growth and development to creating a shuttle bus program that would mitigate parking and traffic congestion along the beach.
In 1992 she survived a
brutal campaign and won her first term to the CA State Assembly in what was then a Republican-leaning district. For the next 14 years she served in both the Assembly and the State Senate. From the very beginning, her time in the California State Legislature
would look very different than that of her peers.
On her office door is a sign that says she accepts no gifts--and she has been known to send staff members running down the hall to return gifts as simple as a single flower. She sees lobbyists as an information resource, but is wary of them. "The scariest thing for freshmen," she said, "is figuring out whom you can rely on, whose analysis you can trust, because you can't do everything yourself.
Bowen would go on to author the first-in-the-world law that put legislative information online in 1993, giving everyone immediate online access to information about state lawmakers’ bills, voting records, and more. In 1995, Bowen was the first California legislator to voluntarily put her campaign finance reports online. In 2001, she
took a leadership role during the Enron-generated energy crisis that caused rolling blackouts across California. That same year
she pushed through a state law that protected consumers by forcing banks to protect their customer's Social Security numbers.
During her tenure as Chairwoman of the Senate Energy, Utilities & Communications Committee and as Chairwoman of the Assembly Natural Resources Committee, Bowen earned her reputation as one of California’s leading advocates for conservation and environmental protection, receiving a 100% rating from the California Sierra Club and California League of Conservation Voters.
On social issues, NARAL Pro Choice has given Bowen a 100% rating, as has Equality California. In 2008, before the passage of Proposition 8, Bowen even
officiated at the wedding of several same-sex couples.
It was her work as California's Secretary of State, however, that brought Bowen to national prominence.
Only the sixth woman ever to hold Constitutional statewide office in California when she was elected in 2006, Bowen made headlines
within days of being sworn in when she ordered a top to bottom review of California's voting machines.
"We are going to do a top to bottom review of every voting system in use anywhere in California," Bowen said in an interview. "Yes, I would consider decertifying machines that my predecessor approved. Unfortunately, we've spent a lot of money on equipment that's not ready for prime time. Any Fortune 500 company would have sent those machines back with a letter saying they just don't do what they're supposed to."
Eight months later, under intense pressure from both state officials who had already invested $450 million in electronic voting machines and the manufacturers who stood to profit from them,
Bowen made good on her threat.
With only minutes to spare before a midnight deadline to determine whether the various electronic voting machines used by counties were reliable, California's bleary-eyed secretary of state concluded there was the potential for serious security breaches. She decertified the voting machines used in 39 counties, including Los Angeles County, whose InkaVote system could be reinstated in time for the February primary. She also imposed a slew of security protections for upcoming elections.
It was an astonishing and unprecedented act of political courage.
"She's one of the few people who, when they make a splashy decision like this, it's not about the headlines," Ned Wiggelsworth, a former policy advocate for Common Cause, which lobbies for campaign finance reform, said at the time. "It's about the issue."
In 2008, Bowen was awarded the John F. Kennedy Profile In Courage Award for her work to protect voting integrity in California. On the organization's website, the award is described as a celebration of "individuals who choose principles over partisanship – who do what is right, rather than what is expedient."
That phrase, more than any other, encapsulates why I'm supporting Debra Bowen.
I want someone who puts principle above partisanship. I want someone who will do what is right, rather than what is expedient.
I want Debra Bowen to represent me in Congress.
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