Torie Osborn literally ‘shouted from the rooftop’ last Thursday night when she brought her Assembly campaign to Bad Robot, the production company owned by movie director and television J.J. Abrams, a graduate of Palisades High. Speaking to supporters gathered on the outdoor patio atop the Bad Robot building on Olympic, Osborn said: ‘I’m running for this crazy job because the California dream, which has benefited three generations of my family, is careening off the cliff. Our state is in a profound crisis.’ Angered by the cumulative effects of consistent budget cuts at the state level and convinced that ‘California can lead again,’ Osborn said she felt compelled to ‘step up and do my little bit”Taking my turn in the barrel,’ as Sheila Kuehl put it.’ Osborn, a 25-year resident of Santa Monica, is competing in the June 5 primary against two other Democrats (South Bay Assemblywoman Betsy Butler and Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom) and Republican Brad Torgan, an attorney in West Hollywood. The top two vote-getters (even if one candidate happens to receive more than 50 percent of the vote) will advance to the general election on November 6. ’I’m in a very tough race,’ Osborn acknowledged, ‘but I’m the leading candidate and I’m the insurgent candidate, taking on the entrenched Sacramento machine. My last decade, I’ve been working mostly from the outside [for political change], but you need people on the inside who can carry legislation.’ She continued, ‘I have the broadest coalition of any Assembly candidate,’ noting that she has received contributions from 2,200 individual donors and has been endorsed by former State Senator Kuehl, L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa, City Controller Wendy Greuel, City Councilman Bill Rosendahl and various organizational leaders. Osborn, who has an MBA from UCLA, served as CEO for four nonprofit advocacy and philanthropic organizations. From 1997 through 2005, she was executive director of the Liberty Hill Foundation, which promotes social change in Los Angeles, and she was then a senior policy advisor to Mayor Villaraigosa on homelessness, poverty and economic development. Management, Palisadians Quay and Sharon Hays, who have long been active in Democratic politics, co-hosted last Thursday’s fundraiser at Bad Robot. ’As Californians, we need someone who’s smart, understands the true issues facing our state, is likeable enough to get all parties and interests to work together to get things done, and who has the support and endorsements of a wide coalition of political and businesses leaders and stakeholders,’ Quay Hays said.
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