Ex-Lobbyist for Teachers Named to Cal State Board
Alice Huffman, a retired teachers union lobbyist and political advisor to former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown Jr., was appointed to the California State University Board of Trustees on Monday by Gov. Gray Davis.
Under Huffman, the California Teachers Assn., one of the state’s biggest contributors to Democrats’ campaigns, enjoyed extraordinary influence in the Legislature in the 1990s and had direct access to Brown, now San Francisco mayor.
The CTA backed Davis for governor in the 1998 general election, but later the governor and union became estranged. They have since made up, and the union is fighting the proposed recall of Davis.
On the university board, Huffman, president of the California conference of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People and president of the California Black American Political Assn., will receive no salary.
She was named to a term that will expire in 2010, succeeding Laurence Gould Jr., whose seat has been vacant since 2002.
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