Judy Chu

From KeyWiki

Judy May Chu is a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the 32nd district of California.

Chu was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for California's 32nd District in July 2009. She immediately got to work representing the interests of her constituents, voting on several environmental bills and working through the night on her first day in office, during a marathon debate on important healthcare reform legislation as part of her first assignment on the House Education and Labor Committee, where she served on the Subcommittees on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education and Healthy Families and Communities.

In the 112th Congress, Rep. Chu serves on the House Judiciary Committee, where she is a member of the Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security and the Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet subcommittees. She is also a member of the House Small Business Committee, where she is leading the Contracting and Workforce Subcommittee as the Ranking Democrat and serves on the Economic Growth, Tax and Capital Access Subcommittee. In 2011, she was elected as the Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC).

Congresswoman Chu is also a strong advocate for effective, humane and progressive immigration reform, having been an original co-sponsor of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR-ASAP) bill introduced by Rep. Luis Gutierrez in 2010.^[1]

Background

Judy Chu is the second of four children of Judson and May Chu, who were married in 1948 in their ancestral home of Xinhui, Jiangmen, Guangdong. After getting married they moved to Los Angeles, near 62nd Street and Normandie Avenue, where Chu was born and grew up until her early teen years, when the family moved to the Bay Area.

She is married to California State Assemblymeber Mike Eng.

Education/teaching

Rep. Chu earned her B.A. in mathematics from UCLA and her Ph.D. in psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology.^[2]

Chu taught as a psychology professor at the Los Angeles Community College District for 20 years, including 13 years at East Los Angeles College

Career

Chu was elected to the Monterey Park City Council, where she served as Mayor 3 times. From there, she was elected to the California State Assembly, where she was Chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee, which has control over all legislation with a fiscal impact to the state. While in the Assembly, she introduced and helped pass the most successful tax amnesty bill in the nation, which was estimated to bring in $300 million but actually brought in $4.8 billion in revenue for the state budget without raising taxes. She was then elected to the State Board of Equalization, California’s tax board.^[3]

EMILY's List

Chu has been supported by EMILY's List during her campaigning.

In 2009, with her special election victory in California’s 32nd congressional district, Rep. Judy Chu became the 80th woman that EMILY’s List has helped elect to the U.S. House of Representatives. WOMEN VOTE! ran an extensive direct mail program to reach out to 24,000 voters throughout the 32nd district, helping Chu rise above a crowded primary field and cruise to a general election victory.^[4]

Federation for Progress

The Federation for Progress was another attempt to create a new Marxist united front organization, much like similar efforts of the People's Alliance and the National Committee for Independent Political Action.

The FFP put a half-page ad in the "socialist" oriented weekly newspaper, In These Times in the July 14-27, 1982 issue, p. 8, entitled: "A natural follow-up to June 12: A national conference July 30-August 1 at Columbia Un., in New York City".

It was a follow-up conference to the major "anti-defense lobby" march and protest in New York on June relating to the U.N. Second Special Session on Disarmament.

The FPP Interim Executive Committee consisted of;

• Judy Chu - Professor Asian-American Studies, Los Angeles
• Michio Kaku- nuclear physicist
• Frances Hubbard - teacher of community health and social medicine, City University of New York \
• Dr. Arjun Makijani - nuclear disarmament activist
• Manning Marable - Professor of Political Economy
• Musheer Robinson - Executive Director, Black and Latin Workers Health & Safety Resource Center, Newark, NJ
• Tony To - Federation For Progress National Staff
• Kitty Tucker - Non-Nuclear World, Supporters of Silkwood

Cesar Chavez walk

Thousands of people from across Southern California joined the 4th Annual Cesar E. Chavez Walk in East Los Angeles on Saturday, April 6, 2002 --marking the ninth anniversary of the legendary farm worker and civil rights leader's death and the 40th anniversary of the United Farm Workers.

Walkers who assembled Saturday at East Los Angeles College Stadium for the walk included Chavez's widow, Helen, other Chavez family members and UFW President Arturo Rodriguez. Also participating were Hollywood figures including Martin Sheen; Jackie Guerra, Pete Leal, Austin Marquez, Edward James Olmos; Esai Morales; Mike Farrell; Ed Begley, Jr.; Marisol Nichols; Richard Coca, Evelina Fernandez, Mike Gomez, Sal Lopez, Dyana Ortelli, Jose Luis Valuenzuela; and Michele Greene.

Many elected officials also joined the walk, including U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis, state Sen. Richard Alarcon, Sen. Gloria Romero, Sen. Nell Soto, Speaker of the Assembly Herb Wesson, Assemblymembers Marco Firebaugh, Judy Chu and Paul Koretz, and Board of Equalization member John Chang.

After a brief welcome by emcees Sid Garcia (ABC7) and Nancy Agosto (KMEX-TV), participants traveled a five-kilometer route through the neighborhood before returning for free music and entertainment.

Sponsors supporting the 4th Annual Cesar Chavez Walk included ABC7, KMEX, La Opinion, Super Estrella and L.A. County Supervisor Gloria Molina.^[5]

Mexican-American support

According to a Special Convention Discussion: Mexican American Equality, for the Communist Party USA's 2010, 29th National Convention in New York;^[6]

Mexican Americans are heavily involved in the labor upsurge in leading the peoples struggles, indeed the model for many advances have come from the Mexican American-led Los Angeles County Federation of Labor in building coalitions, reaching out to youth, and focusing on unity. The Mexican American-led Federation played the leading role in prioritizing multi-racial representation in recent special Congressional elections, when it successfully supported African American Laura Richardson and Chinese American Judy Chu, over progressive pro-labor Latinos. Organized labor is now a major force for immigration reform and against repression with increased Mexican American participation on all levels in growing numbers of international unions and support for workers centers.

Presentation to Obama's sister

In June 2008, Communist Party USA leader and Executive Director of Cesar E. Chavez National Holiday, Evelina Alarcon presented a poster from the organization to Barack Obama's younger sister Maya Soetoro-Ng at a gathering in East Los Angeles^[7].

Addressing a largely Latino audience in East Los Angeles yesterday, Dr. Maya Soetoro-Ng shared stories about her childhood with her older brother, Barack Obama, and the effect he has had on her life. Held in El Sereno’s Hecho en Mexico restaurant, the event drew more than a hundred enthusiastic community activists, local elected officials, and regular citizens...

Clearly "designed to draw support to her brother’s presidential candidacy" from two key voting blocs—women and Latinos— the event was organized by State Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero, State Senator Martha Escutia (ret.), State Board of Equalization Chair Judy Chu, Los Angeles City Controller Laura Chick, Los Angeles City Councilmember Ed Reyes, and Los Angeles Unified School District Vice President Yolie Flores-Aguilar^[8].

Socialized health care

At an August 29 2009 Health Care Educational Forum, town hall at the City of Hope medical center in Duarte, hundreds of people gathered to discuss various health care proposals coming out of Congress.

The vast majority of the crowd that filled the hall applauded enthusiastically as Rep. Judy Chu, D-El Monte, made her statements supporting health care reform.

"We must have a public option," remarked Chu at the beginning of the panel discussion.

With multiple unfinished reform bills waiting in Washington, the newly elected Congresswoman has placed her support behind one bill, H.R. 3200. She put on the town hall in order "to clear up the misconceptions of the bill, but, secondly, give people a chance to give their input about the bill."^[9]

Moderator was Assemblymember Dr. Ed Hernandez, O.D. (D-57th)

Panelists were;^[10]

• Dr. Robert Ross, CEO, California Endowment (Invited)
• Dr. Steve Tarzynski, Pediatrician, Los Angeles
• Marie Torres, Ph.D., Altamed Health Services, El Monte

&Ernie Powell, AARP of California

Congressional Progressive Caucus

In 2011 Judy Chu was a vice chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.^[11]

Budget cuts protest

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is among the scheduled speakers at a downtown rally march 23, 2011, to protest proposed federal budget cuts, which organizers claim would hurt the city and county governments and attempts by small businesses to avoid layoffs.

Reps. Maxine Waters, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Karen Bass, Laura Richardson and Judy Chu, Councilman Richard Alarcon, actors Tim Robbins and James Cromwell and actress Mimi Kennedy were among the other scheduled speakers for the rally at the Edward Roybal Federal Building, set to begin at 2:30 p.m.

The cuts would cost Los Angeles $571 million and Los Angeles County well over $1 billion, according to Sophia Esparza of the Southern California Workforce Partnership, one of the rally's organizers.^[12]

Staff

The following have worked as staff members for Judy Chu:^[13][14]

External links

• Chu's website with the House of Representatives
• Chu's campaign website

References