Meet Tony Thurmond, 15th Assembly District Candidate

Dear El Cerrito Neighbors
I am grateful for the opportunity to co-host an Albany event for you to meet my friend, Tony Thurmond, who is seeking to represent us in our 15th Assembly District. When you meet him, I believe you will be greatly impressed.
I hope to see you at this event or at others that will happen in the future.
Please feel free to share this invitation with your friends in our newly drawn district. See  Map link: http://wedrawthelines.ca.gov/downloads/meeting_handouts_082011/map_20110815_ap_ad_15_certified.pdf   FYI, Nancy Skinner is termed out.   Thanks,   Francesco Papalia

For more information about Tony:  http://www.tonythurmond.com/

Meet Tony Thurmond, Candidate for California Assembly District 15

Saturday, March 22nd from 3:00-5:00
Albany Senior Center @ 846 Masonic Ave, Albany, CA 94706

Co-hosts: Diane Ichiyasu, Francesco Papalia, Bobbie Steinhart and Liz Vahlsing
Friends of Thurmond Democrat for Assembly

The California 15th Assembly District (AD) includes 12 cities: Albany, Berkeley, El Cerrito, El Sobrante, Emeryville, Hercules, Kensington, Oakland, Piedmont, Pinole, Richmond and San Pablo. That’s why we want you, a resident of one of these cities, to meet Tony Thurmond. Primary Election Day is June 3rd. Vote-By-Mail begins May 5th. We want voters to be ready!

Who is Tony Thurmond and why would you want to ask him about his campaign agenda?

We are confident Tony Thurmond is the leader we need to represent our 15th AD. As an elected Richmond City Council member, West Contra Costa County School District Board Member, and a non-profit director, Tony has the experience and leadership skills we need in the Assembly.
Among our shared concerns, he opposes fracking.  In fact, he was the courageous swing vote in blocking Chevron from being able to process heavily polluting tar sands oil in Richmond. Among other shared concerns, for which Tony is an advocate, are Prop 13 reform and Single Payer health care. 

Tony understands struggling families. His father never came home from Vietnam and his mother died of cancer when Tony was 6 years old. He was raised by a cousin; at times they needed public assistance. As a young man, his life experience prepared Tony to earn a Master of Social Service (MSS) degree from Bryn Mawr College and a professional social work career.

Tony works heart and soul to help people lift themselves out of poverty; he started a job training program for youth to install solar panels, initiated programs in the West Contra Costa Unified School District which reduced school suspensions by 27% district-wide, and he supported funding for health centers and social services in many schools.

Of the 120 members of the California Legislature, only 9 are African-Americans. We believe lawmakers need to hear from voices with experience representative of the diversity of Californians in the 15th AD.

Here are just a few names of community leaders who are endorsing him:
California Attorney General Kamala Harris, Congressman George Miller, California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, California Senator Mark DeSaulnier, Labor Leader and Civil Rights Advocate Dolores Huerta,  and the California Nurses Association.

For more information about Tony:  http://www.tonythurmond.com/