Primary Election Date: 06/05/2012
General Election Date: 11/06/2012

Who Am I?

TORIE OSBORN is an innovative leader who has guided some of the nation’s most effective non-profit organizations as they tackled tremendous challenges – including the early AIDS crisis, poverty and homelessness, and health care. She is recognized nationally for her community-organizing approach to solving problems and for being at the forefront of the major fights for social justice for 45 years.
Torie earned her MBA at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, and served as CEO for four nonprofit advocacy and philanthropic organizations. From 1997 through 2005, Torie Osborn was executive director of the Liberty Hill Foundation, one of the nation's most admired social-change foundations. Liberty Hill funds grassroots community organizing for environmental, social and economic justice in Los Angeles County.
In the mid-1990s, Torie Osborn served as executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in Washington DC, the nation's oldest gay and lesbian civil rights organization, and, from 1988 to 1992, at the height of the AIDS epidemic in Los Angeles, she led the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center. Throughout those years, Torie was a nationally respected leader in fighting AIDS, and in the LGBT movement for equality.
Since leading those organizations, Torie has served as a senior policy advisor to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on homelessness, poverty and economic development. She initiated the Mayor’s Office of Strategic Partnerships that implements joint projects between government and philanthropy. Torie also served as Chief Civic Engagement Officer for the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, and currently is senior strategist for California Calls, a network of 27 organizations throughout California committed to common-sense government reform – including fair tax and budget policy. In addition to her MBA from UCLA, Torie holds her B.A. from Middlebury College. She is a 25-year resident of Santa Monica, California.

Why Am I Running?

I’m running for office because I believe California is in deep trouble and needs the strongest possible leadership in Sacramento – leaders with a sense of urgency and clear priorities. I bring forty years of experience as a change agent and will be a strong advocate for education, the environment, civil rights and universal healthcare. In addition, with the skills I have gained as an organizer, an advocate, a coalition builder, a movement-builder and a non-profit CEO who has taken on tough issues at tough times, from AIDS and LGBT rights to poverty, I believe I can help tackle some of the difficult systemic issues that face California--tax and fiscal reform, governance reform, and restoring equality and opportunity. I’m not running to advance my career or to be just a good vote; I want to help move us through our current crises. At a time of the greatest inequality in our history, we need tough, innovative, collaborative leaders capable of standing up to special interests, thinking long term, advancing bold ideas, and linking to progressive organizing and advocacy outside government in communities most affected by our current economic and environmental crises.

Hold Me Accountable!

First: Be a fierce voice for changing the conversation in Sacramento on the budget: i.e.,stop the bloodletting of an all-cuts budget, and add revenues. My work the past two years has been on progressive taxation, and there will be at least two progressive tax measures on the November 2012 ballot, so the space will, I hope, be open for serious long-term tax reform. My long term goal (assuming, best case, that term limits reform is passed in June and I would have 12 years in the Assembly) is to be the legislator who carries reform of Prop 13. My first year, however, will be to see how to advance this change that must happen, to reinvest in education and our future again. I will be very strong on the budget. I hope to chair the Higher Education Committee -- what's happening to college students (140,000 on waiting lists who can no longer afford college; fees doubled in two years; cutbacks delaying graduation due to lack of classes available,etc) is unacceptable. I think that will be my best platform to move the tax issue forward.

Second: Jobs, jobs, jobs. I will be a creative and outspoken champion for economic recovery that benefits all Californians. That is a long-term effort, but I will look for immediate policies that help change the conversation so the 99% begin to be prioritized. That will mean helping restore the public’s support of public employees and rebuilding public sector jobs as a part of our economic renewal. I will also work to make sure we leverage infrastructure and other public dollars into greener, better jobs – for instance the billions of federal and bond transportation dollars coming to California over the next decade for mass transit, rail, and subway systems. There is no reason other than political will those dollars can’t be spent on rebuilding manufacturing centers in California, with pipelines and training links to underserved communities. I also think we need a smart focus on small business and start-up investment/incentives and in growing “sticky” industries (tourism, health, high-tech, creative/entertainment, biotech, logistics). In the private sector, we need to stop rewarding large corporations that are outsourcing jobs, underpaying taxes, and laying folks off and turn our attention to investing in small businesses and startups where 85% of new private sector jobs come from.

My DFA values:

Community: My campaign is fast becoming a grassroots movement. Young Leaders for Torie has been active (now morphed into Team VicTorie) for 15 months already; I have over 400 volunteers. We are inclusive, social-media driven and grassroots powered. We have monthly pot lucks. My goal is to build skills and confidence of volunteers along with a winning campaign. It's what I do! When people feel accountable to other people, they are more productive.

Security:As a lifelong social justice activist I deplore the growing military budget while dis-investing in education, economic innovation, infrastructure, the safety net. In California the equivalent of our misplaced national priority on military expenditures is over incarceration. California has built 23 prisons in 23 years and one new university campus. It's just wrong. I am campaigning on criminal justice reform (from ending three strikes to sentencing reform, to transforming from a punitive to a rehabilitative justice system). We will be more secure when we advance and achieve more equality. Studies increasingly show the correlation between great inequality and violence, mental health, addiction and health. The widescale social costs of economic insecurity are destroying our social fabric.

Liberty: As someone who has fought discrimination my entire life, I understand the importance of being able to be yourself. I have fought tirelessly for LGBT rights while I was the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center and as Executive Director of National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. I have organized multiple Marches on Washington and the historic 1993 Oval Office meeting of LGBT leaders with President Clinton. But freedom -- liberty -- is linked to the "inescapable web of mutuality" that ties us together. It's not just about individual freedom; it's about freedom of opportunity for all. That's why I've been a lifetime fighter for ALL to be free.

My Campaign is People-Powered!

My campaign is people powered. I have over 1700 individual donors, over 500 citizen endorsers, and over 400 volunteers. 68% of my 2450 donations are in amounts, $100 or less. My grassroots support provides me with the freedom I need from lobbyists and special interests. That independence will allow me to take on difficult issues without being beholden to any institutional power groups. I truly believe that people feel better about government when they have a stake in it. My brand is "powered by the people".

For the last two years I have been growing my grassroots army of young volunteers with a monthly meeting of young leaders. After a couple months we had to change the name to young leaders and young at heart, because some of our young at heart leaders objected. My leadership group and army of volunteers gives me great insights into politics and keeps me motivated. I held a Camp Obama style volunteer training a couple months ago and am planning another one for March. I want to invigorate my volunteers and show them that together we can help turn California around. This campaign is not just about electing me. It's about engaging others, particularly young people, in a mission-driven effort to show we CAN and will take California back -- from those who have blocked us for 30 years from funding education and investing in the future. Enough is enough!