Liu is aiming for the Senate

GLENDALE — Former Assemblywoman Carol Liu is looking to change California but knows she can’t do it alone.

Liu, who was termed out of the Legislature in 2006, is looking to return to Sacramento next term to replace retiring state Sen. Jack Scott, whose exit was also dictated by term limits.

Her race for the open seat in California’s 21st District, which covers Burbank and Glendale, has turned into a referendum on education and public safety, two issues she expounded upon Monday.

“I’d like to sit on the committee on education,” Liu said about the committee Scott now chairs. “I’d love to chair the committee, but short of that, I certainly want to be on that committee. It’s been a passion of mine now for many years, but it’s partly frustrating. I don’t know how we can fix the system because we have been through so many reforms in this state.”

Liu was born in Berkeley and raised in Oakland to a fourth-generation Californian mother and father who emigrated from China before World War II. She attended public schools in Northern California, graduating from San Jose State in 1963. She later earned a teaching and administrative credential from the UC Berkeley School of Education before entering a 14-year public school teaching career.

Liu was first elected to public office in 1992 as a member of the La Cañada Flintridge City Council, and her eight years there included two terms as mayor. She has served as a PTA president, president of the Pasadena City College Foundation Board and sits on the board of trustees of the UC Berkeley Foundation.

During her six years in the Assembly, from 2000 to 2006, Liu, a Democrat, championed a number of school measures and hopes to carry on the mantle from Scott, who built his legislative career on reforming education from kindergarten to college.

It can be difficult for one legislator to “dramatically affect state government,” she said recently.

“One person can make a difference, but it’s in the best interest to have many friends and start a movement together,” she said. “It is more powerful to have more votes of people who support your position, but that doesn’t mean you as an individual cannot set the tone or the pace for the goal you can achieve.”

Still, Liu, 67, said her hands will be largely tied by Sacramento’s entrenched bureaucracy, the end result of which might necessitate smaller reforms over “big picture” legislation to address systemic problems plaguing the state.

But that won’t mean Liu will not address those concerns, especially as it relates to public safety and the state’s ballooning prison budget.

In July, California spent more than $300,000 on the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations than on education spending in the University of California and other state schools, according to the most recent filings from the state Controller’s Office — an issue she said needs to be addressed.

“We don’t spend enough on kids today,” Liu said. “It’s a matter of values. There needs to be reform everywhere. We have to look at who we’re incarcerating. We don’t want to put people in jail for minor drug and alcohol addictions.

“One of the most frightening things I heard recently was when I was speaking to a teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District, and she said to me, ‘I can tell who is going to jail at third grade.’ If people can determine that, then we as a society have to determine something like that.”

Liu advocates not using ankle bracelets to contain suspected criminals.

Her opponent in the race is Pasadena Republican Teddy Choi, against whom Liu feels confident considering the region’s political landscape.

According to recent polling she cited, Democrats are a 19.5% favorite in the district. Despite that seeming advantage, Liu still plans to use the campaign services of Scott, admitting that she lacks the outgoing senator’s name recognition in Glendale and Burbank.

“She’s a very good person, and I’m supportive of her candidacy,” Scott said. “I will be glad to do whatever it is she asks me to do.”

Liu also continues to raise vast sums of money, filling up her campaign coffers to the tune of $349,171, according to state filings. A portion of that has come from telecommunication and energy companies, such as $20,325 from AT&T; and $10,950 from Southern California Edison.

Recently, she came under scrutiny for donations received from industries controlled by the California Public Utilities Commission, which is chaired by Liu’s husband, Michael Peevey.

But Liu deflected such criticism, noting that she tends to raise money from “practically everybody, from both sides.”

“Its dialing for dollars,” she said. “I have to raise money.”

?JEREMY OBERSTEIN covers business, politics and the foothills. He may be reached at (818) 637-3215 or by e-mail at jeremy.oberstein@latimes.com.