Chuck Poochigian

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chuck Poochigian
California State Senator
In office 1998 – 2006
Preceded by	Kenneth L. Maddy
Born	May 31, 1949 (1949-05-31) (age 59) Fresno, California
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Debbie Poochigian
Profession	Politician

Charles S. "Chuck" Poochigian (born May 31, 1949) is a former Republican California State Senator. He campaigned unsuccessfully in 2006 for California Attorney General, losing to former Governor Jerry Brown in the November general election.

Contents 1 Personal background and early career 2 California State Assembly (1994-1998) 2.1 Notable authored bills 2.2 Assembly committees 3 California State Senate (1998-2006) 3.1 Notable authored bills 3.2 Senate committees 4 2006 Attorney General Campaign 5 References 6 External links 6.1 Official

[edit] Personal background and early career

Born in Fresno, California, Poochigian is a third generation Armenian-American resident of the San Joaquin Valley. His family has farmed there since 1912.

In 1972, he earned his B.A. in Business Administration from California State University, Fresno. He was also a member of the Delta Upsilon Fraternity. In 1975, he earned his J.D. from Santa Clara University. He served six years as a member of the California Air National Guard.

From 1975 until November 1988, he practiced general civil and business law in a two man partnership. He and his wife, Debbie, married since 1977, have three grown children.

He got his start in politics in 1978 working on the campaign of then-State Senator George Deukmejian, who was running for Attorney General. While practicing law, Chuck served as a county chairman for President Ronald Reagan’s 1984 campaign and a number of other political campaigns.

From 1985-1987, he served on the California Fair Employment and Housing Commission as an appointee of Governor Deukmejian. In 1988, he was chosen to serve on the senior staff of Governor Deukmejian. Poochigian served as the Chief Deputy Appointments Secretary, assisting the Governor in the selection of key administration officials and members of over 375 state boards and commissions.

In 1991, Governor Pete Wilson named him the Appointments Secretary. While serving on the Governor's senior staff and overseeing the appointments unit, he assisted the Governor in the evaluation and selection of candidates for judicial appointments.

[edit] California State Assembly (1994-1998)

In 1994, Poochigian was first elected to the California State Assembly to represent the 29th Assembly District with 67.7% of the vote and was reelected in 1996 with 67.8% of the vote.

In his first Assembly term, he served as the chairman of the Assembly Appropriations Committee, as a member of the Republican Caucus Leadership (1995-1997), and as a member of the Budget Conference Committee (1995 and 1996). Additionally, he served as the Assembly's representative on California's Little Hoover Commission, having been appointed by both Republican and Democratic Speakers of the Assembly.

The California Journal named him the Republican "Rookie of the Year" in 1996 (out of a class of 22). The Journal also rated him among the top 5 legislators in the 80-member State Assembly in the following separate categories: Effectiveness, Integrity, Intelligence, Problem-solving, Potential, and Overall. In March 1998, the California Journal also recognized him as one of the top 5 Assembly members in the categories of Integrity and Hardwork.

[edit] Notable authored bills

AB 1397: Violence Suppression Program (introduced: 1995)

Established the Weapons and Violence Suppression Program, overseen by the Department of Justice. The program focuses on identifying and apprehending career criminals and gang members that are involved in violent crimes and repeat offenders who use weapons, firearms, and explosives.

AB 2768: Tulare County Rural Crime Prevention Demonstration Project (1997)

Established a joint powers agreement between the Tulare County District Attorney's Office and the Tulare County Sheriff's Office. The program targets resources towards the apprehension of people committing agriculture related crimes and stolen property.

[edit] Assembly committees

• Appropriations
• Transportation
• Budget
• Natural Resources
• Water, Parks and Wildlife

[edit] California State Senate (1998-2006)

In 1998, he was unopposed in seeking election to represent California's 14th Senate District, which included portions of Fresno, Tulare, and Kern Counties. In November 2002, he was again re-elected without opposition to the reapportioned 14th Senate District which now includes all or portions of Fresno, Madera, Mariposa, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Tuolumne Counties. Poochigian has received numerous awards for his service, and was named the most effective Senator (excluding the Pro-Tem) by Capitol Weekly in 2006 ^[1]. His second term ended on 1 January 2007.

[edit] Notable authored bills

Senate Bill 1605: Expansion of COPS Program (2000) Increases the $100 million Citizens Option for Public Safety (COPS) program receives to $212 million for one year. The program will provide a minimum grant of $100,000 to each city police chief and county sheriff so that they will be able to hire additional law enforcement personnel. The remaining funds will be allocated based on population.

Senate Bill 39: Juvenile and Adult Jail Construction (2001) Appropriates $400 million to the Board of Corrections for the construction and renovation of local jails. It authorizes the Board to fund the construction, expansion, renovation, and reconstruction of city and county adult and juvenile detention facilities on a competitive basis. Priority is given to cities and counties that are forced to release offenders early due to federal and local court ordered jail population caps.

Senate Bill 118: State Certification of Drug Treatment Facilities (2001) Requires the Department of Drugs and Alcohol to certify and license drug treatment facilities.

Senate Bill 166: School Safety (2001) Requires school agencies to expel students who bring explosives on campus for a minimum of one year (bringing California into compliance with the Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994).

Senate Bill 173: Reserve Peace Officers (2001) Provides for the reimbursements to reserve peace officers for training expenses from the Peace Officers Training Fund. Previous law, provided for full-time peace officers but not for reserve officers.

Senate Bill 659: Juvenile Court Placement Options (2001) Adds county jails to the list of places that are acceptable to commit a minor who turns 18 during court proceedings. This allows juvenile courts greater flexibility to handle wards who turn 18.

Senate Bill 736: COPS Extension (2001) Makes the Citizens Option for Public Safety (COPS) program and the Juvenile Crime Prevention Program permanent. This bill passed unanimously in both the Assembly and the Senate, and was supported by every law enforcement group in California.

Senate Bill 824: DNA Specialists (2001) Creates a partnership between the Attorney General, California State University, and University of California for the establishment of DNA training to students and employees of crime laboratories. It also created a DNA forensic specialist certificate.

Senate Bill 1047: Criminal Street Gangs (2001) Makes it easier to convict gang members who carry loaded weapons in public. It did this by modifying what "an active participant in a criminal street gang" is defined as, so prosecutors do not need to prove three separate elements to increase penalties that result in felonies.

Senate Bill 1533: Airport Security (2002) Allows general aviation airports to acquire access to additional federal grant funds for security upgrades.

Senate Bill 899: Comprehensive Workers' Compensation Overhaul (2004). Comprehensively reformed California's dysfunctional workers’ compensation system. Since SB 899, costs and premiums have come down dramatically. California employers have saved $15 billion from what they would have paid absent the reforms. ^[2] These savings have fueled economic growth, creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs in California.

[edit] Senate committees

• Agriculture
• Appropriations
• Elections, Reapportionments, and Constitutional Amendments
• Joint Legislative Audit, Vice Chair
• Public Safety, Vice Chair
• Revenue and Taxation
• Rules-Joint Rule 40

[edit] 2006 Attorney General Campaign

In the California state elections of 2006, Poochigian was defeated by Jerry Brown, the former governor of California and incumbent mayor of Oakland, for the position of California Attorney General, receiving 38.2% of the vote, to Brown's 56.4%. On August 2006, the National Journal's "Hotline" featured the race as one of the country's top 15 down-ballot races to watch.^[3]

Poochigian's campaign ads attacked Brown on the increasing crime rate in Oakland, as well as his decades-long career in opposition to the death penalty and in support of soft-on-crime policies. Poochigian's campaign posted campaign commercials on youtube.com and his official campaign site, as well as on broadcast and cable television, and statewide radio. The first campaign commercial began: "There have been some classical fictional crime fighters: Batman, Dick Tracy, Sherlock Holmes, and Dirty Harry. But for sheer audacity, one stands alone . . . Jerry Brown." The second campaign commercial titled "Good for Business?" accused Brown of failing to address Oakland's increasing crime rate, shooting, burglaries, and autotheft during his tenure.

Poochigian's campaign was characterized as one of the most aggressive and creative down-ballot races in 2006. A post-election Los Angeles Times article stated: "[T]he famously collegial Poochigian, 57, proved reliably feisty, hitting Brown hard for Oakland's skyrocketing murder rate and a past littered with Moonbeam moments during his long-ago stint in Sacramento and lefty pronouncements while he was a talk radio host in the 1990s. More recently, Poochigian pounced on Brown's handling of Oakland employees' sexual harassment charges against Jacques Barzaghi, Brown's longtime aide and former roommate." ^[4] The campaign was also featured by the Wall Street Journal ^[5] and others for its use of emerging technology, such as MySpace ^[6], YouTube, and other online mediums, to reach out to voters and mobilize activists. During the campaign he won the endorsement of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Former Governors Wilson and Deukmejian, the California State Sheriffs' Association, the California Peace Officers' Association, and over 50 individual elected sheriffs and district attorneys.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

[edit] Official

• MySpace Campaign Site

Preceded by Kenneth L. Maddy	California State Senator 14th District 1998–2006	Succeeded by Dave Cogdill
Preceded by Bill Jones	California State Assemblyman 29th District 1994–1998	Succeeded by Mike Briggs