Candidate for
Representative; Congressional District 32

What I Stand For

I want to represent the citizens of the 32nd District not only as members of our Los Angeles community, but as members of our one common human community. My campaign focuses heavily on international issues not merely for the sake of those issues themselves, but because I want to promote an expanded ethic of global citizenship, planetary patriotism, and allegiance to humanity. That is the underlying truth which can empower us to transform our visions for a more hopeful human future into reality.

They say that people don't care about each other any more. They say that people feel helpless and disillusioned with politics as a means of change.

I do not believe it.

I believe you do care. I believe you open the morning paper and read about thousands of your taxpayer dollars squandered to rent an empty building, or the latest massacre of women and children in a place you may never have heard of, and you are sick to your stomach. I believe that you want to make a difference, but you don't know how.

I want to be your voice. I want to create change. At the risk of sounding cliche, I sincerely want to make the world a better place.

I know about community. My wife, Kitty, and I have been actively involved in both St. Monica's and St. Agatha's Catholic churches, and we've been youth mentors at the Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA) Youth Center since 1993. I also believe that each of us is part of a larger, global community.

The United States of America is supposedly the most advanced nation on Earth. We have the opportunity -- nay, the responsibility -- to step forward, to show the world that humanity is worth fighting for.

Everything we do, from reforming LAUSD so our children can have a decent education, to providing universal health care so we can sleep knowing our families will be taken care of, to taking a stand against the slaughter of innocent people on the other side of the globe makes a difference.

It all matters, and it is all important, and, together, we can make it happen.