Pat Wiggins

Patricia A. Wiggins (born April 19, 1940 in Pasadena, California) is a former American politician and member of the Democratic party. Wiggins served in the California State Assembly, representing the 7th Assembly District from 1998 until 2004, and in the California State Senate from 2006 to 2010, representing the 2nd Senate District. Wiggins previously served as a member of the Santa Rosa city council.

Background

Wiggins is a second-generation Californian and a resident of Santa Rosa since 1985. She is married to Guy Conner, a computer software engineer, with whom she has two stepsons, Jim and Steve Silverman, and three grandchildren. Her father, Ralph Wiggins, was the stuntman responsible for the wing-walking maneuvers in Robert Redford's classic movie, The Great Waldo Pepper, and her mother Grace was one of the first women ever to parachute.

State Assembly

Wiggins represented the 7th District (Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties) until she was forced out of office by term limits in December 2004. She served as Chair of the Local Government and Banking Committees. In 2000, as an Assemblywoman, Wiggins founded the Legislature's Smart Growth Caucus (www.assembly.ca.gov/sgc), which grew to include 47 of the legislature's 120 members over the next few years. She is the author of AB 857 (statutes of 2002), pertaining to land use planning. AB 857 established California's spending priorities for future development to address sprawl, and to promote compact development. She is also the author of legislation to facilitate farmworker housing, to promote mixed use development, and to increase funding for agriculture.

Other legislative initiatives included:

• AB 2878 (2001), which would have required cities to swap a portion of their sales tax revenue with counties for a portion of the counties' property tax revenue.
• AB 1268 (initial version) (2003) which would have established statewide urban growth boundaries and inclusionary zoning.
• AB 2924 (2004) which would have provided grants to install solar panels on publicly subsidized housing developments.

In October 2001, then Wiggins brought together representatives of Napa County and all of its cities and urged them to plan collectively for the area's long-term housing needs. Local officials agreed, and went a step further by agreeing to work together on a comprehensive, county-wide land-use plan. Wiggins provided support throughout the process, which to date has resulted in significant agreements among the governmental entities involved. A comprehensive plan is expected in time for the next housing element cycle in 2007.

State Senate

Wiggins was elected to the California State Senate in November 2006, and on August 23, 2009, Wiggins announced that she would not run for re-election in 2010.^[1] . In the Senate, Wiggins chaired the Senate Standing Committee on Public Employment & Retirement, the Senate Select Committee on California's Wine Industry, and the Joint Legislative Committee on Fisheries & Aquaculture.

Controversies

Speculation began in March, 2010, as to whether or not Wiggins may have suffered from dementia and if she was fit to continue serving as a California State Senator. This speculation was based on some events that happened in the last two years of Wiggins' tenure as a Senator:

During a Senate hearing on August 12th, 2008, Reverend Robert Jones was testifying that politicians needed to engage communities in California to discuss the impact of global warming. Wiggins interrupted Jones saying "excuse me, but I think your arguments are bullshit." Wiggins was not reprimanded.

On February 17th, 2010, during the Joint Legislative Audit Committee meeting, Wiggins was heard yelling over a water canister and scolding her Senatorial aide.

References

• Campaign web site
• State web site