Pat Wiggins

Patricia A. Wiggins (born April 19 1940 in Pasadena, California) has been a California State Senator since 2006. She represents the 2nd Senate District that was previously held by Wesley Chesbro. She was previously a member of the California State Assembly, representing the 7th Assembly District from 1998 until 2004. Prior to that, she served on the Santa Rosa city council. She is a Democrat.

Background

Wiggins is a second-generation Californian and a resident of Santa Rosa since 1985. She is married to Guy Conner, a computer software engineer, with whom she has two stepsons, Jim and Steve Silverman, and three grandchildren. Pat was an accomplished parachutist, having been raised in a family of daredevils. Her father, Ralph Wiggins, was the stuntman responsible for the wing-walking maneuvers in Robert Redford's classic movie, The Great Waldo Pepper, and her mother Grace was one of the first women ever to parachute.

tate Assembly

Wiggins represented the 7th District (Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties) until she was forced out of office by term limits in December 2004. She served as Chair of the Local Government and Banking Committees

In 2000, as an Assemblywoman, Wiggins founded the Legislature's Smart Growth Caucus (www.assembly.ca.gov/sgc), which grew to include 47 of the legislature's 120 members over the next few years. She is the author of AB 857 (statutes of 2002), the most comprehensive state land use planning legislation in thirty years. AB 857 established California's spending priorities for future growth to help prevent sprawl, and to promote compact development and greater social equity. She is also the author of legislation to facilitate farmworker housing, to promote mixed use development, and to increase funding for agricultural protection.

Other legislative initiatives included:
*AB 2878 (2001), which would have required cities to swap a portion of their sales tax revenue with counties for a portion of the counties' property tax revenue.
*AB 1268 (initial version) (2003) which would have established statewide urban growth boundaries and inclusionary zoning.
*AB 2924 (2004) which would have provided grants to install solar panels on publicly subsidized housing developments.

In October 2001, then Wiggins brought together representatives of Napa County and all of its cities and urged them to plan collectively for the area's long-term housing needs. Local officials agreed, and went a step further by agreeing to work together on a comprehensive, county-wide land-use plan. Wiggins provided support throughout the process, which to date has resulted in significant agreements among the governmental entities involved. A comprehensive plan is expected in time for the next housing element cycle in 2007.

tate Senate

Wiggins was elected to the California State Senate in November 2006. As a first-term Senator, Wiggins chairs the Senate Standing Committee on Public Employment & Retirement, the Senate Select Committee on California's Wine Industry, and the Joint Legislative Committee on Fisheries & Aquaculture.

In August 2008, Wiggins became involved in a controversy when a video was posted on YouTube, showing an African-American pastor testifying about what he argued was the need to include ethnic minority concerns in developing regulations, who was suddenly interrupted when Wiggins interjected, "Excuse me, but I think your arguments are bullshit." [cite video|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb7pkKc0peQ|title=Senator Pat Wiggins Wigs Out (See 1:45 in video)|people=Joint Hearing of the California State Senate Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications Committee & California State Assembly Natural Resources Committee on the Air Resources Board Draft Scoping Plan|medium=TV|publisher=California Channel|location=California State Capitol|year=August 6 2008] [cite news|url=http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/capitolalertlatest/014491.html|publisher=The Sacramento Bee|title=Wiggins swears at committee witness|date=2008-08-10] [cite news|url=http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20080811/NEWS/747158625/0/NEWS&title=Wiggins_profanity_aimed_at_pastor|title=Wiggins profanity aimed at pastor|publisher=Santa Rosa Press Democrat|date=2008-08-11] [cite news|url=http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=46231&provider=topStories|title=Senator to Pastor: "Your Arguments Are Bull*#@!"|last=Hoffman|first=Deborah|publisher=ABC News 10|date=2008-08-11] [cite news|url=http://www.kfbk.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=&article=4081205|publisher=KFBK|title=Senator Pat Wiggins Wigs Out|last=Moffitt|first=Bob|date=2008-08-11] [cite news|url=http://katygrimes.blogtownhall.com/2008/08/11/state_senator_wigs_out.thtml|title=State Senator Wigs Out|date=2008-08-11|publisher=Townhall.com|date=2008-08-11|last=Grimes|first=Katy] [cite news|url=http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=72138|title=Lawmaker tells pastor arguments are 'bull----'|date=2008-08-11|publisher=WorldNetDaily] [cite news|url=http://www.politickerca.com/jeffmitchell/1733/state-senator-tells-local-pastor-his-argument-was-bull-during-hearing|title=Senator stuns local pastor by saying that his argument was 'bull----' during hearing|publisher=Politicker|date=2008-08-11|last=Mitchell|first=Jeff] [cite news|url=http://www.fresnobeehive.com/opinion/2008/08/political_winners_and_losers_o_1.html|title=Political winners and losers of the week|last=Boren|first=Jim|publisher=The Fresno Bee|date=2008-08-11] [cite news|url=http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2008/08/11/news/local/doc48a0d076c69a1198578327.txt|title=Sen. Wiggins swearing at pastor caught on video|last=Ryan|first=David|publisher=Napa Valley Register|date=2008-08-11] [cite news|url=http://www.calitics.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6627|title=The Famous Wiggins B.S. Video|publisher=Calitics|last=Leubitz|first=Brian|date=2008-08-11] [cite news|url=http://www.flashreport.org/index.php?doDate=20080811|publisher=FlashReport|title=Senator Wiggins swears at Pastor in Committee|date=2008-08-11|last=Fleischman|first=Jon]

References

* [http://www.wiggins4senate.com/ Campaign web site]
* [http://www.sen.ca.gov/wiggins/ State web site]