(Editor’s note: Five Democrats are vying for their party’s nomination in the 41st Assembly District primary election on June 6. Last week we profiled Jonathan Levey and Kelly Hayes-Raitt; this week we feature Julia Brownley, Barry Groveman and Shawn Casey O’Brien. Articles on the two Republicans competing for their party’s nomination’Tony Dolz and Adriana Van Hemert’appear on page 5. The seat is currently held by Fran Pavley, who is termed out this year after six years on the job.) Julia Brownley knows that she will have “big shoes to fill” if she wins Tuesday’s Democratic primary and is elected to represent the 41st Assembly District in November. With the endorsement support of State Sen. Sheila Kuehl and State Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, Brownley hopes to continue their fight for environmental protection and universal health care. But the Democratic candidate is, first and foremost, a leader in education, currently serving her third term on the Santa Monica-Malibu School Board and third time as president. “My expertise is education,” says Brownley, a Santa Monica resident. “I want to be to education what Fran has been to the environment and what Sheila has been to health care.” Her involvement in the city’s school system began at the local level as PTA president at Grant Elementary, where her children attended school. She says she knew she could make a stronger impact, and ran for school board president in 1992, but lost. She ran again in 1994 and was elected. “The school board job is the best job I’ve had,” says Brownley, who holds a B.A. in political science from George Washington University and an MBA from American University. Last year, she helped organize the “Caravan for Kids,” sending more than 5,000 parents, teachers and students to Sacramento to fight Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposal to cut school funding by $2 billion. Brownley, who is also endorsed by the California Federation of Teachers, has fought to raise academic achievement for all students, reduce the dropout rate, and increase school funding to reduce class sizes and pay for arts, music and after-school programs. “I’m really appalled at where California is with regard to education,” Brownley says, adding that she believes the state needs to “invest in community colleges and UCs, in research and cutting-edge technology.” She is “motivated by service,” said Louise Rishoff, Pavley’s district director, at a recent meet-and-greet in Topanga. “She helped make the Santa Monica school district a model for excellence.” Brownley believes that she and Pavley are “cut from similar cloth in a lot of ways,” as they are education advocates with a passion for the environment. She praises Pavley’s “green” accomplishments, calling her the “quintessential environmental goddess for the state of California.” Brownley traces her own environmental passion back to the 1970s when she was in Washington, D.C., working for Williamson Stuckey, a “moderate Democrat” who served in Congress from 1967 to 1977. “He introduced me to the importance of environmental concerns and open spaces,” she says. She went on to work for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, specifically on the dangers of lead-based paint in urban neighborhoods. In 1980, Brownley moved to San Francisco where she worked in product marketing and branding before moving to Santa Monica in 1983. “I consider myself a native Californian,” says Brownley, who was born in South Carolina and grew up in Virginia. “I’m here for the rest of my life.” When she relocated to Santa Monica, she worked as a product manager for Steelcase, a leading office furniture manufacturing company, but the job required a lot of travel and Brownley wanted to spend more time at home. “It wasn’t my passion,” she says, which is why she left the job to work for the school board. As president, she promoted her district’s policy to replace older diesel buses with buses that run on cleaner, alternative fuels. She recently won board approval to ban pesticides and herbicides at school sites and to incorporate “green” building objectives into all future plans for district facilities. Endorsed by the California League of Conservation Voters, Brownley links environmental issues with transportation, which she considers a regional issue. The crisis in the transportation system is “really is about finding financing,” says Brownley, who believes that state and city officials must unite “to ensure we’re getting every federal and state dollar.” She wants to join Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky in expanding current bus and rail transit systems in Los Angeles. She is particularly enthused about the impending construction of a light-rail line along the Exposition Corridor from downtown L.A. to Culver City (and eventually on to Santa Monica), to relieve pressure on the 10 Freeway. “Within a six-year cycle, finding funding [for the light rail] is really doable,” she says. Brownley is emphatic about the importance of partnerships, whether it’s working with local workers, nonprofit organizations or state officials. “My moral compass is justice,” she says. “I strongly believe there is no justice without economic justice.” Brownley was an active supporter of the Living Wage Campaign for hotel workers in Santa Monica, marching with them to support union organizing drives for the Doubletree Hotel, which is on district-owned property. She convinced the school board to adopt a labor peace policy at the hotel. She also helped create a partnership between her school district, Blue Cross and the Venice Family Clinic to start a health clinic at Santa Monica High to provide free health care and counseling to students. “I think we have hit the proverbial wall with regards to health care,” says Brownley, who is endorsed by the California Nurses Association. “I believe California has a strong responsibility to lead in this issue. I believe all Californians should have access to health care.” If elected, Brownley says she would partner with Kuehl to pass single-payer universal health care (SB 840), make sure that all children are covered and work to lower the costs of prescription drugs. Should she become the next state assemblywoman, she foresees her biggest challenge as “hitting the ground running and being effective right away,” adding that “I think I will do those things, but it’s about building relationships and trust.” “Restoring trust back into the government” is another key element of Brownley’s campaign. She supports Assemblywoman Loni Hancock’s “California Clean Money and Fair Elections Act” and wants to work with Hancock to minimize the influence of “big money” on the California political process. Brownley also wants to work with State Sen. Debra Bowen, who is running for secretary of state, on fail-safe voting systems. In November’s statewide elections, Brownley says she hopes the Democrats can retain a strong majority in the state legislature, and gain a Democratic governor. “That will provide a more effective landscape to move ahead on more significant legislation,” says Brownley, who is endorsed by the California Democratic Party as well as many local Democratic groups including the Palisades club. “I really see the Palisades community as my own community,” she says. “I know many people in the Palisades by virtue of living in Santa Monica.” She adds that she plans to follow in Pavley’s footsteps in terms of “accessibility,” or Fran’s involvement in the community. “I just want to have a seamless transition when it comes to that.” Brownley admits that her marketing background has been helpful in the last 15 months, as she has been campaigning and, essentially, selling herself. Her days are “nonstop” and, lately, spent phone banking, precinct walking and doing interviews with the press. She has raised more than $400,000 and her goal is to reach a half million. At 53, Brownley says, “I’ve never worked harder.” She usually gets up around 5:30 or 6 a.m. so that she can spend a little time with her son before he leaves for school. Fred, 18, is a senior at Santa Monica High School, and will enter UC Berkeley in the fall. Her daughter, Hannah, is a sophomore at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania. Brownley, who is divorced, winds down at the end of the day by “hanging out with my son, having dinner, and reading the paper.” She adds, “I’m really hoping that June will bring both my son and me a new journey.”
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