As a long-time business owner, a single father who raised two sons in Contra Costa County, and a public official, I understand the issues that matter to Contra Costa families. I am honored and humbled to have the opportunity to serve as your representative.

Whether it was balancing California’s budget, establishing the fourth bore of the Caldecott Tunnel, securing funding for projects like eBART and traffic relief projects like the Highway 4 expansion, or holding government accountable when millions were wasted on the Bay Bridge, I’ve fought for our families and communities.

In just 5 years as your Member of Congress, I held 100 town halls and office hours, responded to over 505,000 constituents, and helped more than 4,500 people navigate government problems. I am proud the nonpartisan Congressional Management Foundation recognized our office as a model in Congress for excellence in constituent service, transparency, and accountability. In a highly partisan environment, I've found commonsense solutions – successfully passing 28 initiatives into law and 19 measures in the U.S. House. 

In Congress, I am also fighting to:

• Hold President Trump accountable;

• Protect Medicare and Social Security, and increase access to affordable health care coverage;

• Ensure students receive a quality education and are not strapped with crushing debt;

• Safeguard the environment and combat climate change.

Throughout my time in public service, my work has been largely centered on two things: restoring the public’s trust in government and addressing inequality. Both of these important ideals can be seen in the bills I introduce, the committees I sit on, and the work I do every day for Contra Costa families. The American people need and deserve a government that works for, not against them.

I was born in Duluth, Minnesota in a snowstorm, the first of two siblings.   My dad was a navigator on a bomber in the South Pacific during WWII.  My mom worked in the war industry.  They met later after the war.  My dad studied engineering at the University of Minnesota.  Eventually after my sister (Lawyer/Judge) and brother (Wildlife Biologist)  were born, we settled in Lansing, Illinois, a working-class neighborhood south of Chicago.

I was quite active in sports during high school.  I was on the track, cross county and swim teams  As a member of the Cross-Country team my sophomore year, I was the first to earn a letterman jacket in my H.S. class despite being smaller than even all the women.   I was MVP in Cross County my senior year.  I set the 2-mile record in Track my senior year and also was able to break 5 minutes in the mile 4:58.  I also played baseball in the summer and my Connie Mack team won the South Side Chicago championship after my junior year. 

Meanwhile, I was also on the H.S. honor Society both my Junior and Senior Years despite a rather lifelong poor memory for names.  My memory caused me to be very organized and as a lifetime Ralph Nader fan, critical thinking has been my greatest skill.

I somehow managed to be accepted into the elite Northwestern University after High School. I suspect this happen because of a convergence of two new situations. First, I had chosen a new field Science Engineering desperate for student majors. Secondly, this was the first year Blacks were accepted as students in the school’s 100 plus years of existence. Much later, I realized that I had also benefitted from Affirmative Action. I and a high school classmate were the first students, in anyone’s memory, from our poor working-class neighborhood who had been accepted into Northwestern.

I was in college during the height of the anti-Vietnam war movement with a low draft number staring me in the face. I was mostly clueless and never got really involved against the war. I was working off campus as a student engineer when Kent State happened. I missed all the campus actions, or maybe I might have become an anti-war activist sooner.  I probably did do some small things in college that were signs of my activism to come. I actually completed my 5-year Science Engineering program, but never graduated or ever practiced Engineering. Never had any regrets about that.

My activist days actually began in earnest when I was the last of the draftees in October 1972. After training at Ft. Polk, LA and Ft. Gordon, GA, I was assigned to the U.S. Army Signal Corp in South Korea. I sponsored a Korean orphan in Pusan and in Wonju, I became involved with a nearby World Vision orphanage. This led me to investigate corruption in the Korean orphan situation.

This would eventually lead me on a path of investigating the U.S. support of the South Korean dictatorship of Park Chung Hee. In 1974, I extended my time in the Army for another year time to stay in Korea. I then began exposing the U.S. support of the dictatorship in letters to Congress and President Gerald Ford. Each of my letters were usually signed by 5-6 other soldiers. On my 4-page letter to the President, I collected over 100 signatures from my base.

I was also applying to stay in Korea to both marry my Korean Language teacher Un Chong and travel around Korea as a civilian.  During a fake military exercise with most of my base personnel scattered across distant Korean hillsides, I was abruptly and secretly removed from Korea in July 1975 by the U.S. Military command at the demands of the Korean Government.

Separated for 1½ years, Un Chong was finally able to come to the U.S. We were married in February 1977 in SF by a United Methodist minister at an elderly Mormon woman’s home with Quakers.   I graduated from Heald Technical College and worked at National Semiconductor for over 6 years.

When I learned later in 1979, of my wife’s sexual harassment by her Director at the SF Community College ESL Division, I joined her in a long a 6-year lawsuit. Radical Woman in SF and WOASH (Woman Organized Against Sexual Harassment) helped create a dynamic support team to help my wife in her struggle and in exposing the reality of sexual harassment to the general public. These were the early years of the sexual harassment movement. We were also both involved with the San Jose NOW.

In September 1985, my wife died from the severe emotional stress that had aggravated and seriously damaged her health. As my wife spent her final days in the hospital, two key witnesses to some of my wife’s sexual harassment were discovered. My wife died believing that she had won her long struggle for justice.

But justice and the legal system often are at odds. Laws passed to protect corporations and government entities quickly stole most the potential money damages from my wife’s case, causing our latest attorney to quit. Eventually, I was able to find another attorney, but I was forced to settle without the trial my wife and I had wanted. This lawyer then embezzled all the money.  Later, I did receive $50K from a lawyer trust fund a $30K malpractice lawsuit settlement.  I used the money to purchase the Peace House where I still reside.

In March 1989, I joined a caravan to El Salvador. Returning after 3 months,  I eventually helped bring 4 Salvadorian adults into U.S. including my wife to be. A year later we were able to bring her 3 young children to the U.S. The children are now all grown. I had a cordial divorce with my wife 20 years ago. However, I am still close with everyone.  For 20 years I was a gardener/handyman for various families until I retired in 2012.

I have been a Peace and Social Justice Advocate most all of my adult life. This has been my vocation, my purpose in life. I have never been paid for my vocation. I have contributed my own money and time to my vocation. I have primarily acted independently, but often in coordination with other groups or organizations. I have been official members of some groups, but also so closely active with some that I would qualify as an active member. 

After being kicked out of Korean in 1975, I was involved with the Korean Human Right’s struggle. When my wife was severely sexually harassed, I became active in that movement.   After involvement with a rent control initiative in Sunnyvale, I ran unsuccessfully for City Council on behalf of renters.

I am currently mostly active with 4 groups: Veterans For Peace, Code Pink , Oscar Grant Committee and Our Revolution Contra Costa. I have been less active recently, but more in the past, with Diablo Greens, Mt. Diablo Peace & Justice Center, Crosses of Lafayette and ACCE of Bay Point.

I am involved with Veterans For Peace and Code Pink for past 7+ years fighting against my country’s illegal immoral Drone Assassination Program in the greater Middle East. I have been involved in nearly monthly vigils at both Beale AFB (home of the Global Hawk spy drone) and Creech AFB, Nevada (home of the Predator and Reaper attack drones). I have been arrested for civil disobedience countless times at these bases.

I am active with the Oscar Grant Committee especially these past 3-4 years. The OGC works with and on behalf of families who have had their loved ones senselessly murdered or attacked by local community police officers. We have been active in helping a number of local Bay Area families. OGC involves itself in community meetings, events and city council meetings on behalf of the families.

I am a member of the Diablo Greens, attending meetings and supporting various Green Party, Peace & Freedom Party candidates against Corporate controlled Democrats and Republicans. I was active in supporting Jill Stein for President in 2016 after the Democrat Party’s shenanigans and their super delegates gave corporate Hillary Clinton the nod over Bernie Sanders as Democrats nominee for President. In past Presidential elections, I have supported Ralph Nader, my childhood hero and whom I consider the greatest American ever!

I have been involved with the local Bay Point chapter of ACCE (Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment).

After several years of involvement, When the Bay Point Residence Association dissolved with the election of several members to the Ambrose Park District and appointments to the Bay Point MAC, I soon became involved with the Bay Point Garden Club.

In late 2007, when Loaves and Fishes had closed down its food operation for the homeless and needy, I used my home equity funds to personally feed a community of over 20 people at a local park Monday thru Friday for a number of months. Eventually, Loaves & Fishes returned to Bay Point later in 2008. I sent letter signed by about 35 of my homeless community to the Bill Gates Foundation asking that they consider possibly financing a high school in Bay Point whose teens had to travel many miles to another town’s High School. The Gates Foundation rudely rejected our plea exposing their foundation’s fake concerns  and possible corruption!

I secured permission from Ambrose Park District to build a community garden in a vacant lot next to the community center, With my home equity money and a loan from the District, I and many of my homeless community friends built the garden in just over a month. For 5 years, I financed and managed the garden with help from friends and community volunteers until the Park District took the garden away from me.. This was clearly done in retaliation for my successful efforts in saving the community pool from destruction. The Pool has since been remodeled, but sadly the community garden has mainly been neglected and ignored by the Park District as I predicted.

I have been involved with the Crosses of Lafayette project since its founding in 2006. I built, painted and erected 75 of the first 300 crosses. That first New Year’s Eve, I helped lead a night long candlelight vigil display by each of the then 1000 crosses. The Crosses of Lafayette, now with 4000 crosses represents over 8000 American young men and women who have died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both wars are clearly illegal according to our Constitution and International Law.

I have been involved in a number of environmental actions along with Idle No More, Extinction Rebellion and other groups to call the public’s attention to the rapidly approaching Climate Catastrophe. I was arrested at Monsanto Headquarters in Woodland over their environment poisoning with Round-up’s Glyphosate and their GMO terminator seeds terrorism of farmers.

Became involved with Nuremberg Actions (NA) a few days after September 1, 1987 when Peace activist Brian Willson was run over and assaulted by an ammunition train at the Concord Naval Weapons Station. I soon became a full-time member of the two-year 24/7 vigil action in front of the Naval base. Brian’s words became our rallying cry “We are not worth more; They are not worth less!” With over 500 hundred arrests, we blocked every military ammunition train for 2 years along with countless weapons trucks. These weapons were mostly destined for right wing dictatorships oppressing their own people in Central America. Eventually, I became the NA support Peace House manager.

I am a 9/11 truther! Since the release of the 9/11 Commission report in 2005 which I consider a flat out confession by my government, I have offered an unclaimed reward of $100,000 to the first person who can prove or at least demonstrate to my satisfaction that my government did not plan, manage, execute and cover-up the events around the September 11, 2001 attacks. My website is http://www.911reward.org.