Laura Friedman

Laura Friedman (born December 3, 1966) is an American politician serving in the California State Assembly. A Democrat, she represents the 43rd Assembly District, encompassing the cities of Glendale, Burbank, La Cañada Flintridge, portions of Los Angeles, including Los Feliz and Little Armenia. and the unincorporated community of La Crescenta-Montrose.

Laura Friedman
Member of the California State Assembly
from the 43rd district
Assumed office
December 5, 2016
Preceded byMike Gatto
Mayor of Glendale, California
In office
April 2011 – April 2012
Preceded byAra Najarian
Succeeded byFrank Quintero
Glendale City Councilmember
In office
2009–2016
Personal details
Born (1966-12-03) December 3, 1966
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse(s)Guillaume Lemoine
Children1
ResidenceGlendale
Alma materUniversity of Rochester
OccupationPolitician

Prior to her election to the Assembly in 2016, Friedman was a member of the Glendale City Council.[1] She also served as Mayor of Glendale from 2011 to 2012.[2]

Career

Since 2000, Friedman has owned and managed a small business (PlanetGlass.net), a web-based art glass dealership. Between 1998 and 1999, Friedman was the Vice President of Development at Cort/Madden Company. Between 1994 and 1997, Friedman was the Vice President of Development at Rysher Entertainment, where she oversaw the production of approximately ten feature films annually as well as extensive television programming.[3] In 1995, Friedman was the co-producer of the Warner Brothers release It Takes Two.[4] In 1996 she was associate producer of House Arrest; executive producer of Foxfire; executive producer of the family film Zeus and Roxanne; and associate producer of the independent film Aberration, which was released by LIVE Entertainment.

In April 2011, Friedman became the mayor of Glendale, California.[5]

Assembly career

After serving seven years on the Glendale City Council, including a term as the Mayor of Glendale, Laura Friedman was elected to the California State Assembly in 2016. During her first term in office, Laura authored a package of bills to establish landmark water efficiency standards, strengthen environmental sustainability, improve access to higher education, health care, and transportation alternatives, and create new avenues for communities to tackle the affordable housing crisis. In addition, she secured $20 million in funding for the completion of the Glendale Riverwalk Project, which for the first time will provide a safe bicycle and pedestrian connection from Glendale to Griffith Park. She has been tapped for several leadership roles in the legislature and currently serves as the Assistant Speaker pro Tempore for the Assembly and the Chair of the Assembly Select Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. As the Chair of the Joint Rules Subcommittee on Sexual Harassment Prevention and Response, she's led a historic bicameral and bipartisan reform of the legislature's response to sexual harassment that's become a model for other states and local governments.

She also introduced the California legislative bill, AB-44, which made the sale and manufacture of new fur products illegal in California. It was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom on October 12, 2019, in Sacramento.[6][7]

2016 California State Assembly election
See also: California State Assembly election, 2016
California's 43rd State Assembly district election, 2016
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Laura Friedman 33,276 31.9
Democratic Ardy Kassakhian 25,357 24.3
Republican Mark MacCarley 16,551 15.9
Democratic Andrew J. Blumenfield 13,309 12.8
Republican Alexandra A. Bustamante 6,524 6.3
Democratic Dennis R. Bullock 4,294 4.1
Democratic Rajiv Dalal 3,173 3.0
American Independent Aaron Cervantes 1,873 1.8
Total votes 104,357 100.0
General election
Democratic Laura Friedman 106,186 64.5
Democratic Ardy Kassakhian 58,561 35.5
Total votes 164,747 100.0
Democratic hold

2018 California State Assembly election
See also: California State Assembly election, 2018
California's 43rd State Assembly district election, 2018
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Laura Friedman (incumbent) 58,310 100.0
Total votes 58,310 100.0
General election
Democratic Laura Friedman (incumbent) 125,568 100.0
Total votes 125,568 100.0
Democratic hold

2020 California State Assembly election [8]
2020 California's 43rd State Assembly district election
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Laura Friedman (incumbent) 88,541 75.6%
Republican Mike Graves 24,258 20.7%
No party preference Robert J. Sexton 4,264 3.6%
Total votes

Personal life

Born to a Jewish family,[9] Friedman was raised in South Florida. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Rochester in New York.[10] She is married to Guillaume Lemoine, a professional landscape designer.[3] The couple has a daughter, Rachel, born in 2013.

References
  1. "City of Glendale website".
  2. Levine, Brittany (April 9, 2012). "Mayor Laura Friedman baffled by colleagues' indecision". Glendale News-Press.
  3. "Qualifications". Votelaurafriedman.com. 2009-01-09. Archived from the original on 2011-08-29. Retrieved 2011-11-05.
  4. Klady, Leonard (1995-11-20). "It Takes Two". Variety. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  5. "Laura Friedman's Biography". Vote Smart. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  6. "Bill Text - AB-44 Fur products: prohibition". leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.
  7. Kaur, Harmeet. "California becomes the first state to ban fur products". CNN.
  8. https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/sov/2020-primary/sov/complete-sov.pdf
  9. Arom, Eitan (January 6, 2017). "Jewish state legislators ready to make an impact". Jewish Journal.
  10. "Biography at City of Glendale website".
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