LAT: California Assembly Speaker-elect Pérez has ties to deep pockets (crusader for the marginalized

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-perez28-2010feb28,0,3767623.story

The legislator, who has cultivated an image as a crusader for the marginalized and powerless, has also advocated for the powerful.

By Patrick McGreevy and Jack Dolan

February 28, 2010


Los Angeles Democrat John Perez will become speaker of the Assembly on Monday. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press / January 7, 2010)


Reporting from Sacramento - Supporters of incoming Assembly Speaker John Pérez say his rapid climb from rank-and-file lawmaker to one of the most powerful offices in the state is due to his intellectual prowess and unwavering commitment to the working poor.

But Pérez, a Democrat who was chosen as speaker in December and will be sworn in Monday, has something that left-leaning former labor leaders and freshman lawmakers usually lack: a financial pipeline to billionaire developers and white-shoe investors who rank among the most politically active power brokers in the state.

Forged during his years as an executive with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, those ties have helped fill his campaign coffers. They have also outraged consumer advocates. And two of his mentors from the union came under the microscope in recent political corruption investigations.

Many of Pérez's legislative efforts have been consistent with the image he has cultivated as a crusader for the marginalized and powerless. He said he's most proud of a bill that authorizes a study of foul drinking water streaming from taps in the small, poor city of Maywood in his district.

But he has also championed causes that seem directly at odds with his political persona.

In 2009, his first full year as a lawmaker, Pérez carved a lucrative exception into state law for billionaire developer Philip Anschutz. He also introduced a bill at the request of Enterprise Car Rental that would have helped boost the company's bottom line by stripping away a significant consumer protection.

FULL 3 page story at link.