Laura Richardson
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Laura Richardson | |
---|---|
55th district | |
In office December 4, 2006 – September 4, 2007 | |
Preceded by | Jenny Oropeza |
Succeeded by | Warren Furutani |
Personal details | |
Born | Los Angeles, California, U.S. | April 14, 1962
Political party | Democratic |
Education | University of California, Los Angeles (BA) University of Southern California (MBA) |
Laura Richardson (born April 14, 1962) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for California's 37th congressional district from 2007 to 2013. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
She previously represented the 55th district in the
Background
Richardson was born in
Richardson was previously married to Long Beach Police Chief
Early political career
This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. (December 2016) |
Richardson served on the
Richardson established the Sixth District Master Plan, a strategic guideline for development in the area. Other significant accomplishments during her council tenure include securing the first funding for alley maintenance by the city of Long Beach, initiating the planning process for a Senior Transportation Program in the Central Area of Long Beach.
While serving on the city council, Richardson joined the staff of Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante and served as his Southern California director for five years.
California Assembly
This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. (November 2023) |
Richardson served as the assistant speaker
U.S. House of Representatives
This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. (November 2023) |
Committee assignments
- Committee on Homeland Security
- Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies
- Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications(Ranking Member)
- Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
Caucuses
- Congressional Black Caucus
- Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (Associate Member)
Political positions
Iraq War
This section's factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. (March 2013) |
In 2003, Richardson said she believed
Prisons
Richardson supported AB 900 to create 40,000 more prison beds in California at the cost of $7.4 billion.
Environment
Richardson has faced some harsh scrutiny for not co-sponsoring Rep. Henry Waxman's global warming legislation. As a result, Greenpeace has mounted a public awareness campaign about her position.[5]
Immigration
Richardson does not support building a border fence. She does support some path to citizenship for certain illegal immigrants.
2008 presidential race
Laura Richardson endorsed
FISA Amendments Act
Richardson voted in favor of a controversial update to the
Political campaigns
In the run up to the 2008 election, Richardson came under fire for sending out an anti-LGBTQ mailer against a lesbian candidate in 1996 during her run for the 54th Assembly District, accusing her opponent of being, "committed to a radical gay rights agenda.
Redistricting for the 2012 elections significantly altered California's congressional map. Richardson had previously represented portions of inland Los Angeles and inland Long Beach, all of Carson, Compton and Signal Hill, as well as parts of other municipalities. However, her old district was split almost in half, with the bulk of her territory becoming the 44th District. While Richardson's home in Long Beach was drawn into the new 47th District, she moved her residence into the 44th district because its demographics were more similar to the old 37th; like the 44th, it is majority black and Latino. Fellow Democrat Janice Hahn, who had previously represented the neighboring 36th District, had her home drawn into the 44th as well. The California Democratic Party endorsed Hahn for the seat.[8] In the all-party primary, Hahn defeated Richardson with 60 percent of the vote to Richardson's 39 percent—which was all the more remarkable since, on paper, the district's demographics were more favorable to Richardson.
On November 6, 2012, Hahn easily beat Richardson by 20 percentage points.[1]
Controversies
Richardson was accused of receiving preferential treatment by a bank when it rescinded an erroneous foreclosure of her house, but was cleared of wrongdoing by the
After her election to the California Assembly, Richardson purchased a home in Sacramento with no money down[11] and a subprime mortgage. According to county records, Richardson received a default notice and Notice of Trustee's Sale in late 2007. In December 2007, Richardson was behind in payments by more than $18,000.[12] According to the couple that sold the home to Richardson, Richardson was not maintaining the home. Sharon Helmar has stated: "The neighbors are extremely unhappy with her. She didn't mow the lawn or take out the garbage while she was there. We lived there for a long time, 30 years, and we had to hide our heads whenever we came back to the neighborhood."[13]
The real estate broker who bought Richardson's Sacramento house at the foreclosure sale accused her of receiving preferential treatment because her lender had issued a notice to rescind the sale. James York, owner of Red Rock Mortgage, said he would file a lawsuit against Richardson and her lender, Washington Mutual, but settled out of court with the terms not disclosed. Richardson had not been making payments on the property for nearly a year, and had also gone into default on her two other houses in Long Beach and San Pedro. Richardson, D-Long Beach, has said that the auction should never have been held, because she had worked out a loan modification agreement with her lender beforehand and had begun making payments.[14]
The House Ethics Committee, following the recommendations of the Ethics Office, found no wrongdoing other than by Richardson's Mortgage Broker, who was referred to the Justice Department for mortgage fraud, which was widespread at the time the mortgage was made. Mistaken foreclosures despite paid-up recovery agreements, such as the one that happened to Richardson, were also becoming rampant during this period.[15][16][17]
Richardson also initially did not disclose a loan from a strip club owner when on the City Council, public records show.[18]
Richardson was speaker of the House pro tempore during the November 29, 2010 lame-duck session of Congress. She initially refused to recognize, then relented to allow committee ranking member Steve Buyer to talk despite the failure of the committee chairman to appear. She was seen discussing with the House parliamentarian and aides how to handle the failure of the committee chairman to appear to present his bill under rules and procedures that minorities in both parties have often denounced when out of power in the House, as Boyer did when recognized in this instance.[19]
On November 3, 2011, the Los Angeles Times reported that Richardson would face an ethics inquiry related to possible illegal use of staffers.
On November 4, 2011, Richardson claimed that the House Ethics Committee, composed of five members from the Democratic Party and five members from Republican Party, singled her out for investigation because she is African-American. The Ethics Committee leaders did announce that the vote to establish a four-member investigative subcommittee was unanimous.[20]
Decisions of House committee and full House
On August 1, 2012, the House Ethics Committee issued its report about accusations of improper use of staff. It found that Richardson had broken federal law, violated House rules and obstructed the Committee's own investigation. She was found guilty on seven counts of violating House rules by improperly pressuring her staff to campaign for her, destroying evidence and tampering with witness testimony. Richardson was ordered to pay a fine of $10,000 within four months and promised to require staffers who work on her campaign to sign a waiver stating that they haven't been pressured to do so.[21] The committee also called on the full House to reprimand Richardson.[22]
The following day, the full House duly voted to accept the Committee report and
See also
- List of African-American United States representatives
- Women in the United States House of Representatives
- List of United States representatives expelled, censured, or reprimanded
- List of American federal politicians convicted of crimes
- List of federal political scandals in the United States
References
- ^ a b "PolitiCal". Los Angeles Times. November 7, 2012. Archived from the original on April 15, 2019. Retrieved January 3, 2013.
- ^ Mitchell, John L. "Racial issues take a back seat in 37th, 'Multiracial support has Laura Richardson poised to represent a largely Latino district. Her take: 'We are a new America, very diverse'". Los Angeles Times, July 3, 2007; accessed July 16, 2007.
- ^ Kapochunas, Rachel. "Early Brush With Racism Set Rep.-Elect Richardson on Political Path". Archived from the original on 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2007-08-24.
- ^ "Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress - Retro Member details". bioguideretro.congress.gov. Archived from the original on 2019-08-05. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
- ^ Puente, Kelly. "Lukewarm response to Safe Climate Act" Archived 2011-06-13 at the Wayback Machine, Long Beach Post-Telegram, December 8, 2007.
- ^ demcd.xls Archived 2008-07-03 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ https://www.presstelegram.com/2007/05/19/gay-rights-becomes-issue-in-race-for-house/
- ^ Trygstad, Kyle (2012-02-13). "California Democratic Party Endorses Janice Hahn over Laura Richardson". Roll Call. Washington, DC. Archived from the original on 2012-02-13. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
- ^ Jonathan, Allan (July 2, 2010). "Report: Ethics panel clears Richardson". Politico.com, Capitol News Company LLC. Archived from the original on 2010-07-05. Retrieved 2010-11-19.
- ^ Office of Congressional Ethics (August 6, 2009). "Report and Findings Transmitted to the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on December 2, 2010. Retrieved November 20, 2010.
- ^ Viles, Peter (May 21, 2008). "Report: California Congresswoman walked away from $578K mortgage". L.A. Land. Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 25, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-21. Richardson borrowed the $15,000 for the closing costs from the seller.
- ^ Capitol Weekly: The Newspaper of California State Government and Politics Archived 2008-05-25 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ York, Anthony (May 20, 2008). "Foreclosure tale shows that nobody is immune from crisis". Capitol Weekly. Capitol Weekly Group. Archived from the original on May 25, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
- ^ Maddaus, Gene (June 9, 2008). "WaMu giving Richardson a break?". Daily Breeze. Los Angeles Newspaper group. Archived from the original on 2008-10-12. Retrieved 2008-06-09.
- ^ Phillips, Carlin (Feb 1, 2010). "Wrongful Bank Foreclosure: Bank Forecloses Despite Paid-Up Loan Modification Agreement". Blog Category: Wrongful Foreclosure. Phillips & Garcia P.C. Archived from the original on 2011-03-02. Retrieved 2011-06-30.
- ^ Cutts, John (May 16, 2010). "Some Foreclosed Homes for Sale Might Be Due to Bank Errors". Real Estate Pro Articles. Archived from the original on 2010-12-31. Retrieved 2011-06-30.
- ^ Daysog, Rick (July 1, 2011). "Wrongful home foreclosures rare - but devastating". Sacramento Bee. Archived from the original on July 3, 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-30.
- ^ Canalis, John (June 14, 2008). "Representative late revealing two loans for homes". Press Telegram. Archived from the original on 2008-12-02. Retrieved 2008-07-09.
- ^ Malcolm, Andrew (November 30, 2010). "'This is why the American people have thrown you out of power:' Rep. Steve Buyer". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2010-12-04. Retrieved 2010-11-30.
- ^ Margasak, Larry (November 4, 2011). "Ethics committee to investigate Rep. Richardson". The Associated Press. Associated Press.
- ^ Yager, Jordy (August 2012). "Ethics Committee finds Rep. Laura Richardson guilty on seven counts". THe Hill. Archived from the original on 3 August 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
- ^ Pershing, Ben (August 1, 2012). "Ethics panel says Rep. Laura Richardson broke federal law, obstructed probe". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on June 23, 2015. Retrieved August 1, 2012.[1] Archived 2016-12-01 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ John H. Cushman, Jr. "House Reprimands Richardson" Archived 2012-08-10 at the Wayback Machine, New York Times, August 2, 2012; accessed December 1, 2016.
- ^ "House reprimands Richardson". Politico. August 2, 2022. Archived from the original on February 15, 2014. Retrieved August 7, 2022.
External links
- United States Congress. "Laura Richardson (id: R000581)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- U.S. Congresswoman Laura Richardson's official U.S. House website
- Laura Richardson Political History
- Biography Video of her time spent in Long Beach
- Join California Laura Richardson
- Appearances on C-SPAN