I am a native Angeleno who was born and raised in the northwest San Fernando Valley. I grew up in Northridge and attended local public schools, from Darby Avenue Elementary through Granada Hills High and California State University Northridge.

My wife Maria also grew up here, and our children all attend public schools in Granada Hills and Northridge. After military service, I worked as a reporter and editor for daily newspapers in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Ventura, and Sacramento counties, and saw first-hand how the interests and needs of ordinary working- and middle-class Californians get run over by politics, at the local and state levels.

Maria and I chose to make our home here in the northwest Valley because we wanted our children to grow up in the same sort of community we had, and we are active volunteers - in everything from the PTA to youth activities to the Neighborhood Council - for just that reason.