Legislator Should Be Measured Against Needs of Constituents

I was both shocked and dismayed to read your Oct. 28 editorial, “Little Competition--Less Achievement,” wherein Orange County’s state legislators were so easily lumped into one category.

The writer was puzzled why I would pursue marine resource legislation from a landlocked district. What is more puzzling is the easy dismissal of my record of service.

The 71st Assembly District is predominantly a middle-income district whose residents work hard and have their taxes taken out before they can make a deposit at the bank. Their issues involve providing food, clothing, shelter, health and safety for their families, and I have pursued legislation to address their needs. To ask us to have the same standard and priorities as legislators from wealthier districts is also puzzling.

That’s why I successfully authored AB 198 implementing Proposition 98, bringing over $35 million in new funds to schools in my district and millions more statewide. When the Anaheim Union High School District found out they had been unfairly left out of the state budget and stood to lose $200,000, I located a bill and amended it at the last moment, thereby saving these funds.

I have brought needed changes to vocational education, blending academic curriculum with “hands-on” application for those students whose aptitude is better suited to learn by skills.

My first-in-the-nation, work-based residency program allows parents to enroll their K-8 child in the school district closest to their workplace or child-care facility, helping with the latchkey problem.

I joined with my constituents to oppose aerial spraying and, working with district cities and community groups, successfully authored AB 4209, which requires a long-term health study of the effects of malathion, notification of residents in their native languages and re-notice if spraying schedules are changed.

The “gill net legislation” you seemed so puzzled about was the successful Proposition 132 to preserve our marine environment, which belongs to all of us. Despite the “landlocked” nature of my district, as a Californian I was compelled to bring this issue to the people after repeated legislation I authored was killed by powerful commercial fishing lobbyists.

These are just a few of my efforts and issues that demonstrate hard work to address the concerns of my constituents. They are not special interests, but reflect bread-and-butter concerns, and my record is not deserving of being placed in a category of mediocrity.

Hold me to the standards and needs of my constituents, which is the standard I, or any other legislator, should first be held to.

DORIS ALLEN, Assemblywoman