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December 06, 2006
Bill Bruns , Managing Editor
"I feel like I've come full circle," Assemblywoman Fran Pavley told her audience at the Temescal Canyon Association's annual meeting on November 27. "I remember meeting with your board in Carol Leacock's house in 1999, when I was beginning my first campaign, so it's altogether proper that I'm here tonight," Pavley said, just two days before her third and final term ended in Sacramento.
"Pacific Palisades has been a great community for me to represent--I always feel right at home here," said Pavley, a Democratic who lives in Agoura Hills, where she was a school teacher and served as the city's first mayor before running for Assembly.
After six years of applying her calm but persuasive and tenacious personality to global-warming issues, Pavley has become recognized around the world for her ability to craft successful environmental legislation. And she plans to capitalize on that platform over the next two years as she "takes a sabbatical" from politics to speak out about environmental issues while preparing for a State Senate campaign in 2008.
"This is an exciting time to be involved trying to address global pollution," Pavley told her Temescal friends, noting that California--not the federal government--"has been taking the lead on climate change and pollution controls."
Last Thursday night, the California League of Conservation Voters honored Pavley with one of their "Environmental Leadership" awards, along with Al Gore for his film "An Inconvenient Truth," and the film's director, Davis Guggenheim, and producers Laurie David (a Palisades resident), Lawrence Bender, and Scott Burns.
"It was not just a great honor to be recognized by CLCV, one of the most highly-respected environmental organizations in the state," said Pavley, "but the timing seemed so fitting.
Global warming and climate change have been the signature issues of my time in the Assembly, and it was wonderful to go out on such a high note."
David Allgood, executive director of CLCV, said that Pavley was selected as "the author of not one, but two ground-breaking bills to reduce global warming [AB 1493 and AB 32]. Her courage to stand up to some of the country's largest industries and demand cleaner technologies has created not only a better California, but resonates across the state and, indeed, around the world."
In a letter to her constituents, Pavley said that she has been selected as a Distinguished Fellow at the UCLA School of Public Policy for the 2006-2007 school year. 'I am also considering offers to work as a consultant for an environmental organization.'
She noted that she will be be working with other states, the Congress 'and even other countries' on global warming, while monitoring the progress of her two landmark bills.
'In fact, this December I will fly to Washington, D.C. to address a conference of state legislators from the Midwest [who want legislative advice about her two bills], then travel to Mexico City to speak to their Congress. With the change of leadership in the House and Senate, I expect that global warming and energy independence will finally become important topics of discussion.'
Along the way, of course, she will be spending many hours campaigning for State Senate. 'This will take an incredible amount of resources and effort to win the June 2008 primary,' as she steps up to compete in a much larger district. The seat is currently held by Sheila Kuehl, who is serving her final term.
'In addition,' Pavley said, 'I am hoping that Speaker Nunez will appoint me to the Integrated Waste Management Board. My recycling bills and environmental education bill will all be implemented by the Waste Board, which will also have a role in emission reductions under AB 32.'
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