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Saturday evening my wife and I attended a fundraiser BBQ for California State Senate candidate Rod Wright (pictured above, to my left). Rod has been one of the unsung heroes of the struggle for fairness in family law. He is currently in an election battle to get back into the California Senate. He won the Democratic primary in June, and is favored to defeat a Republican challenger in November. Having him back in Sacramento will be a big step forward for our movement. Some observations and comments:
1) Rod has been out of the Senate for almost 6 years now, and I had wondered if he still had the same passion for fatherhood issues as he had back then. My question was answered pretty quickly — with a gleam in his eye, Rod told me some of his plans for family law-related legislation when he gets back to Sacramento.
Among other things, Rod is interested in doing more to reform the child support system. One of his ideas is to make it easier for fathers who are paying their child support to avoid having to be a part of the state child support collection system. We also discussed the problem of domestic violence restraining orders, and the way they are commonly used as custody maneuvers in divorce litigation.
2) In May I asked my readers to donate money to Rod’s election campaign. On Saturday, Rod and his associate Cine D. Ivery asked me to thank the many readers who donated to Rod before the June primary election. Both Rod and Cine were surprised and moved at the multitude of letters and donations they received from all over the country. For those who would like to donate, click here. Cine can be reached at Cine@rodwright4senate.com.
3) In his speech, Rod talked about the many different organizations, including labor unions, who endorsed him and help him win in June. Many of these labor unions, including about Longshoremen’s Union and many other male-dominated unions, should be fertile ground for the fatherhood movement’s message. Many of the men in these unions have had family law problems, particularly child custody and child support problems.
Fatherhood issues have sometimes been misportrayed as being a cause for white conservatives only. Because labor unions are on the left politically and are often heavily black and Latino, they could be valuable allies.
4) Rod said that there are currently 175,000 prisoners in California. Many of these are incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses. In the past, he has worked to help keep these prisoners connected to their children and families. He told me he was interested in doing more to help these incarcerated fathers, including efforts to ensure that they do not leave prison with crushing child support arrearages that will prevent them from successfully reintegrating into society. I discussed this problem in my co-authored column Schwarzenegger Should Sign Bill to Reduce Prisoner Recidivism (Riverside Press-Enterprise, 9/21/05).
5) One of Rod’s guests was former USC star running back Sam Cunningham, who set many records which still stand. Cunningham (pictured above, to my right) also played 10 years in the NFL.
When I was a kid, my father told me the story of Cunningham’s brilliant performance against Alabama in 1970 — a performance often credited with speeding the integration of college football in the South. Legendary Alabama football coach Bear Bryant scheduled a game against USC in 1970, and Cunningham ran wild over the Alabama defense. Alabama’s football team was integrated shortly afterwards.
Jerry Claiborne, a Bryant assistant, said, “Sam Cunningham did more to integrate Alabama in 60 minutes than Martin Luther King did in 20 years.” When I told Sam how my father admired him, he promised to send my dad an autographed photo.
6) Rod was one of the pioneers of paternity fraud laws, and in 2002 got AB 2240 through the California legislature. It was subsequently vetoed by then-Governor Gray Davis (see my co-authored column Preserving Paternity Fraud, Orange County Register, 10/3/02), but it helped pave the way for the eventual passage of AB 252, another example of Michael Robinson’s good work.
In speaking about his time introducing reforms into a hostile California legislature, Rod describes himself and his staff as, “The first guys who hit the beach at Normandy–taking all the hits.” It was absolutely true.
Sacramento veteran Stan Diorio served as Wright’s Chief of Staff from 1996 to 2002 and has been pivotal in many of the achievements in family law in California. To read a brief history he wrote about Rod Wright’s contributions, click here.
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