Paul Koretz
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Paul Koretz (D-West Hollywood) was elected to represent the California 42nd Assembly District on November 7, 2000, and was re-elected in 2002 and again in 2004. The district includes Koretz's home in West Hollywood, along with Beverly Hills, Universal City, and the portions of the City of Los Angeles encompassing the Sunset Strip, Hollywood, Hancock Park, Los Feliz, Westwood, Brentwood, Studio City, Encino, Sherman Oaks, and North Hollywood/Valley Village. Koretz has served as the Chair of the Assembly Labor Committee since his first year in the Assembly. Koretz also chairs the Assembly Select Committee on Gun Violence and the Assembly Select Committee on California's Nursing Shortage. Koretz serves as a member of the Health, Public Safety, Business & Professions, Insurance and Natural Resources committees. Koretz has announced that he will seek a seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Directors; West Basin Municipal Water District; Division 4 on November 7, 2006. Koretz also plans to seek Sheila James Kuehl's State Senate seat (Senate District 23) in 2008 because his current Assembly term is up at the end of 2006 and Kuehl's seat is up at the end of 2008 due to term-limits. Koretz's former colleague on the West Holywood City Council, Abbe Land, was a candidate for Koretz's seat in the California State Assembly, and faced former Los Angeles City Council member Mike Feuer in the June 6, 2006, Democratic primary. Ms. Land was defeated by Mr. Feuer, winning 36.3% of the vote to Mr. Feuer's 52.4%.
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[edit] History
Koretz was exposed to social and political causes at an early age, having accompanied his father to a rally for JFK, and also joined his father on picket lines for union workers during that period. Koretz's early political life began while he was a student at UCLA during the 1970s, when he ran for a seat on the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education. Paul served as an aide to then-Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky in 1975, and then to then-L.A. City Councilman Marvin Braude in 1984. During this period he developed a close personal friendship with George Takei due to their similar political views.
[edit] West Hollywood
In 1984, Koretz forged to build the new City of West Hollywood. Koretz campaigned for the City's incorporation while managing the City Council campaign of Alan Viterbi and served as Mr. Viterbi's deputy after his election. Upon Viterbi's retirement in 1988, Koretz was elected to the West Hollywood City Council.
Koretz's commitment to the gay and lesbian community during his tenure on the West Hollywood City Council lead to the appointment of Kevin Norte to the City's Rent Stabilization Commission in 1992 where Norte served as that commission's first openly gay chair for two-one year terms and Norte served on that commission until his domestic partner Don Norte and himself moved to Hollywood in 1999.
Also during his council tenure, Koretz played a major role on many high profile issues. In 1988, Koretz sponsored a city-wide ban on military-style assault weapons, which built momentum for a subsequent statewide ban. In 1996, Koretz co-sponsored the City's ban on "Saturday Night Specials." The city was the first to enact such a ban, which survived various legal assaults by the National Rifle Association. Koretz also sponsored an ordinance limiting handgun purchases to 1 gun per month in order to cut the resale of guns on the black market. Koretz served as Mayor and City Councilman for 12 years before being elected to the State Assembly.
[edit] State Assembly
Assemblyman Koretz has also devoted much of his time to anti-tobacco advocacy. Koretz introduced legislation in the State Assembly to increase the smoking age to 21 in order to make it harder for young people to gain access to tobacco products and prevent people from becoming addicted to tobacco. As a City Councilman, Koretz authored West Hollywood's ordinance banning smoking in restaurants, and developed the strategy of making it a regional ban by having neighboring cities pass the same ban at the same time. This provided momentum to help pass then-Assemblyman Friedman's historic AB 13. In addition, Koretz has been an environmental leader and activist for many years. He was the first Southern California Director of the California League of Conservation Voters and served as Administrative Director of the Ecology Center of Southern California. In the Assembly, he has introduced legislation requiring retailers profiting from the most commonly littered items to share some of the costs of removing trash from storm water runoff, and he is the joint-author of legislation to ban the use of dry cleaner solutions. These solutions have been found to be carcinogenic. Koretz has also been a protecot of Los Angeles County's health system, an unwavering champion of the gay and lesbian community and supporter of domestic partnership rights and benefits and a well-known opponent of animal cruelty. Crime prevention is also one of Koretz's top priorities. In 2005, he combined the two interests by proposing AB 1677, allowing not-for-profits to distribute condoms in California's prisons. This bill was vetoed in September, 2006. He is also a passionate advocate for the Jewish community.
Paul Koretz introduced Assembly Joint Resolution 39, which calls on the impeachment of George W. Bush [1].
[edit] Family Life
The Koretz family history in West Hollywood dates back more than 50 years. Koretz's father escaped Nazi Germany's persecution of Jews in 1939 by emigrating to America. Koretz grew up in West Hollywood and was educated at local schools, graduating from Hamilton High School. He earned a bachelor's degree in history from UCLA in 1979, where he was a founder of the "Bruin Democrats". A lifelong democrat, Koretz served on the Los Angeles County Democratic Committee for more than 10 years. Koretz also owned his own business, which for several years was one of the largest sellers of American historical and political memorabilia in the country. Koretz's wife Gail serves as Director of Public Affairs for Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center. They have one daughter, Rachel.
