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Phil Angelides

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California State Treasurer Phil Angelides

Philip Nicholas "Phil" Angelides (IPA: æn.dʒε.'lid.ɪs) (born June 11, 1953 in Sacramento, California) is the California State Treasurer and the Democratic nominee for Governor of California in the 2006 elections. Angelides and his wife, Julie, reside in Sacramento with their three daughters - Megan, 27, Christina, 22 and Arianna, 17.[1] His eldest daughter, Megan Garcia-Angelides, is the campus coordinator for her father's campaign. [2]

Angelides' passion for politics was ignited in 1971, during his freshman year at Harvard University, when he met political activist Allard Lowenstein.[3] Angelides began his career in politics early, running for Sacramento City Council against a popular incumbent in 1973, as a college student (he lost). He ran again for City Council in 1977 (and lost) - these races, however, fostered relationships with political and business mentors that lead to later opportunities. He was an early supporter and fundraiser of the eventual 1988 Democratic Presidential Nominee, Michael Dukakis, and maintains a strong friendship with him to this present day. His work with Dukakis led him to serve as the chairman of the California Democratic Party from 1991 to 1993. He helped to lead not only Bill Clinton to become the first Democrat to carry California in 28 years but also having California be the first state to elect two female senators in the same election, Democrats Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein.

After losing in the general election on his first attempt as State Treasurer, in 1994, he was elected to office as a Democrat in 1998 and re-elected in 2002. A graduate of Harvard University, Angelides worked for a number of years for the state of California's Housing and Community Development agency (from 1975 to 1983), and later in the private sector as a land developer. He was appointed president of AKT Development Corp. (a company owned by one of his business and political mentors, Angelo Tsakopoulos) in 1984, and in 1986, founded his own land development company, River West. Angelo Tsakopoulos, Angelides' former business partner, is also a significant campaign donor to California office-holders, who, together with Angelides as chair of the California Democratic Party in the early 1990s, disbursed millions to Democratic candidates. Tsakopoulos has donated over $3,200,000 to Angelides' campaigns beginning in 1993 and in the 2006 gubernatorial race, has donated $3,750,000 to Mr. Angelides with his daughter, Eleni Tsakopoulous-Kounalakis donating $1,250,000. [4]

Angelides' development firm, River West, is most known for their development, Laguna West, located outside Sacramento in Elk Grove, California. Laguna West was one of the first developments designed along the principles of New Urbanism. For his efforts, Angelides was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Congress for the New Urbanism on June 11, 2005. Critics, however, have cited another development by River West, Lexington Hills, which violated the Federal Clear Water Act by filling in wetlands without federal permission [5] and that Laguna West has not lived up to its promise of New Urbanism, with changes to the development making it virtually undistinguishable aesthetically and environmentally from other suburban communities. Supporters cite that it is an innovative and ecologically sound community with a variety of houses for low-income families and seniors which encourages pedestrian travel and that neighborhood property values have increased, with an Apple Computer plant opening nearby shortly after the development of Laguna West.

As Treasurer, Angelides is a trustee of the California Public Employees' Retirement System and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (the nation’s first and third largest public pension funds[6]). He has worked to increase standards for disclosure and financial reporting and has made efforts to direct CalPERS into investing in socially concious businesses and urban development, as well as environmentally conscious energy sources.[7] [8] For example, on April 7, 2006 CalSTRS board members unanimously supported Angelides’ motion to divest from Sudan to pressure an end to the government backed Genocide in Sudan.[9] Angelides has also called for reducing tax breaks for corporations and individuals earning $500,000 or more per year, in a plan to earn revenue to increase funding for public K-12 education and higher education. With this plan, Angelides also plans to repeal and halt increases made in the tuition fees of the University of California system, and the California Community College system. [10] He has stated his opposition to sending National Guard troops to the California-Mexico border and wants to seek closer ties with the President of Mexico, Vicente Fox, claiming that it will help both the economies of California and Mexico.[11]

A centerpoint of Angelides' gubernatorial campaign has been his outreach efforts to youth and students, encouraging them to vote and take part in the political process. Angelides expressed his support to increase high school funding by $200,000,000 to hire more counselors in high schools and middle schools as well as increasing admission quotas for the UC and CSU systems by 20,000 students. He has stated that he would "seriously consider" lowering the minimal voting age from 18 to 16 if elected governor. [12] [13] [14]

On July 7, 2006, Angelides expressed his support for homosexual rights, and pledged to legalize same-sex marriage if elected governor, stating "I would sign the marriage equality bill because I believe if we can get behind people to build a lasting relationship, that is a good thing." [15]

Gubernatorial campaign

In early 2005, he announced his intention to run against Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 2006 election, having made little secret of his ambition for the Governor's Office from the time that Schwarzenegger was elected in 2003. [16] On April 29 2006, Angelides was endorsed by the California Democratic Party at the California State Democratic Convention in Sacramento. Despite this, polls from around that time showed that his opponent in the race, California State Controller Steve Westly, had an advantage in the primary. Angelides' campaign built momentum since the California State Democratic Convention, winning the endorsements of the Sacramento Bee [17] and the Los Angeles Times, [18] two of California's largest newspapers, and the California League of Conservation Voters [19], after a head-to-head debate with Westly. He also received the endorsement of the liberal San Francisco Bay Guardian [20]. A Field Poll held on June 2, 2006 had Westly leading Angelides by one percentage point, 35% to 34% with 26% undecided. [21]

Angelides was also endorsed by Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, Former Massachusetts Governor and 1988 Democratic Nominee for President, Michael Dukakis, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, the California Teachers' Association, the California Professional Firefighters, the California Sierra Club, California League of Conservation Voters, California NOW, Vote the Coast and Clean Water Action. Following his primary defeat on June 6th, California State Controller Steve Westly endorsed the victorious Angelides as did Assemblyman Mark Leno and San Francisco Supervisor Fiona Ma.

On May 22, 2006 in Santa Monica, Angelides announced his support for Vinod Khosla's Clean Alternative Energy Initiative (prop. 87) which, if enacted, would assess oil company profits by $4,000,000,000 over the next ten years and use the proceeds to invest into research for alternative energy such as ethanol. The measure makes it illegal for oil producers to pass the cost onto consumers.[22] It also would reduce California's oil dependency by 25% over the next ten years, and would increase the use of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.

On May 23, 2006 Angelides wrote Barbara Boxer, a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, urging her to support net neutrality.[23]

Throughout the campaign, Westly and Angelides were both accused of engaging in negative campaigning. Angelides presented himself as a more progressive and liberal candidate, and accused Westly of working too closely with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, whom Angelides shall face in the November elections. Westly accused Angelides of being an anti-environment real estate developer. Westly's ads in that matter were later criticized by the executive directors of Vote the Coast, Sierra Club, California League of Conservation Voters, and California Coastal Protection Network in a letter saying "All of the environmental organizations who do endorsements believe Phil has the vision to be the greenest governor California has ever had. Don't let Steve Westly's attacks prevail over the environmental movement's best judgement in this election." Garry South, Westly's campaign manager, who also presided over Gray Davis' rather negative campaigns in 1998 and 2002, was also criticized over using such tactics, with the environmental groups chiding him for using "false accusations."

On June 6 2006, Angelides won the Democratic primary over Westly with 48 percent of the vote over his opponent's 43 percent. [24]

Trivia

  • In a 2000 episode of The Simpsons entitled "Pygmoelian," there is a character who takes Moe's picture for the Duff calendar, introduced by Duffman as "Duff's Vice President in charge of calendars and fake IDs, Phil Angelides." When asked about the episode, the real-life Angelides acknowledged Simpsons creator Matt Groening as "a friend" and said "By the way, that made me very popular among my three daughters. It raised my hip status among all my daughters and their friends." [25] [26]
  • According to seized Enron emails, during the California energy crisis, Jeff Dasovich, Enron's Director for State Government Affairs[27], called Angelides a "chowder head" and said that he was throwing a "tantrum" after Angelides wrote a letter to the president of the CPUC, urging the commission to end direct access for large business energy consumers.[28]

References

  1. ^ http://www.smartvoter.org/1998jun/ca/state/vote/angelides_p/bio.html
  2. ^ http://www.angelides.com/students/welcome.html
  3. ^ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/28/ING6EJ0UHT1.DTL]
  4. ^ http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/ca/election/story/14246572p-15064424c.html
  5. ^ http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:SyKrqfZRkN8J:www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/14262135p-15075522c.html+laguna+west+wetlands&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=7
  6. ^ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/04/13/BUG2DC78FJ1.DTL&type=business
  7. ^ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2000/01/17/MN22704.DTL&hw=Angelides+emphasizes+housing+human+rights&sn=001&sc=1000
  8. ^ http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2006/04/angelides_celeb.html
  9. ^ http://www.sacbee.com/content/business/story/14240215p-15060060c.html
  10. ^ http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060525/news_1n25phil.html
  11. ^ http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_3867857
  12. ^ http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:EL-gGgcRq4EJ:sf.indyvoter.org/voterguide+%22seriously+consider%22+angelides+16&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1
  13. ^ http://www.smartvoter.org/2006/06/06/ca/state/vote/angelides_p/paper1.html
  14. ^ http://www.californiachronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=4609]
  15. ^ http://insidebayarea.com/localnews/ci_4024840
  16. ^ http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050316/news_1n16phil.html
  17. ^ http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/editorials/story/14255222p-15070591c.html
  18. ^ http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/elections/editorials/la-ed-governor14may14,1,3674918.story
  19. ^ http://www.ecovote.org/news/angelides.html
  20. ^ http://www.sfbg.com/endorsements/33end-state.html
  21. ^ http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20060604-9999-1n4elect.html
  22. ^ http://www.yeson87.org/page/content/aboutus/
  23. ^ http://angelides.com/issues/net-neutrality.html
  24. ^ http://vote.ss.ca.gov/Returns/gov/00.htm
  25. ^ http://basie.blogspot.com/2005/05/basie-interview-with-ca-treasurer-phil.html]
  26. ^ http://www.animationartist.com/General_News/MarNews00/marnews00.html
  27. ^ http://www.lawseminars.com/htmls/seminars/resca/faculty.htm
  28. ^ http://www.enronemail.com/
Preceded by California State Treasurer
1999–Present 		Succeeded by
incumbent
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