Tom Ammiano

Infobox Politician
name = Tom Ammiano


imagesize =
caption =
nominee = the California State Assembly
from the 13th district
party_election = Democratic
election_date = November 4, 2008
opponent = Harmeet Dhillon (R)
incumbent = Mark Leno (D)
office2 = Member of the
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
from District 9
term_start2 = 1994
term_end2 =
predecessor2 = "district created in 2000; prior terms were on city-wide seat"
successor2 =
birth_date = birth date and age|1941|12|15
birth_place = Montclair, New Jersey
death_date =
death_place =
restingplace =
restingplacecoordinates =
nationality = United States
party = Democratic
partner = Tim Curbo (deceased)
children =
residence = San Francisco, California
alma_mater = Seton Hall University
San Francisco State University
occupation = Politician
profession = Schoolteacher, stand-up comedian
religion = Roman Catholic


website = [http://sfgov.org/site/bdsupvrs_index.asp?id=7251 Supervisor Tom Ammiano]
footnotes =

Tom Ammiano (born December 15, 1941), is an American politician and LGBT activist from San Francisco, California. Ammiano is a Democrat and a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors representing District 9, including parts of the Mission District, Bernal Heights and Portola neighborhoods.

In 2008, he is a candidate for the California State Assembly from the 13th district, for which he received the nomination of the Democratic Party in the June 3rd primary.

Personal life

Ammiano was in a 16-year domestic partnership with a fellow schoolteacher, Tim Curbo, who died of complications from AIDS in 1994. He has one daughter and is now a grandfather.

Political career

an Francisco Board of Education

In 1980 and 1988, Ammiano ran for the San Francisco Board of Education, and was elected in 1990. He was subsequently elected its vice-president in 1991, and then president in 1992.

As president of the Board of Education, Ammiano was successful in his efforts to include a gay and lesbian sensitivity curriculum for all students in the San Francisco Unified School District. He helped to make San Francisco public schools' sexual education curriculum, which begins diversity and sensitivity training in kindergarten, one of the most diverse and inclusive in the United States.

an Francisco Supervisor

Among his accomplishments on the Board of Supervisors is the creation of the San Francisco Health Care Security Ordinance, which was passed by a unanimous vote of the Board of Supervisors and signed by Mayor Gavin Newsom on August 7, 2006. This makes San Francisco the first city in the nation to provide universal healthcare access. [ [http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=1073 The Bay Area Reporter Online | Mayor signs healthcare measure ] ] [ [http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=0b2488df5b1ab64819e7c50626faece7 San Francisco Leads Nation with Health Care For Uninsured - NAM ] ] [ [http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/news_in_brief/universal_health_care_060620.shtml] Dead link|date=May 2008] Ammiano is also the main architect of the city's Domestic Partners Ordinance, which provides equal benefits to employees and their unmarried domestic partners. It also requires companies that do business with the City and County of San Francisco to provide the same benefits. Ammiano was the first Supervisor ever to participate in Bike to Work Day.

1999 mayoral campaign

In the San Francisco mayoral race of 1999, Ammiano mounted a successful write-in campaign in the November election, preventing the incumbent Willie Brown from achieving a victory without a run-off. While he lost that second election in December, Ammiano's campaign galvanized progressive voters in San Francisco and had a major impact on the composition of the new, more liberal Board of Supervisors the next year. Ammiano ran for mayor again in 2003, but did not win enough votes to make that run-off after Superversior Matt Gonzalez entered the race, taking progressive voters from him.

Controversy

In 1999, Ammiano came into conflict with some in San Francisco's Catholic community when the Board of Supervisors, at Ammiano's request, granted the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a charity group of drag queen nuns, a street-closure permit for Castro Street for their 20th anniversary celebration on Easter Sunday.cite web |url=http://www.catholicleague.org/catalyst/1999_catalyst/599catalyst.htm |title=Catalyst |accessdate=2006-10-08] cite web |url=http://catholic-sf.org/040299.html |title=Catholic San Francisco |accessdate=2006-10-08] cite web |url=http://www.thesisters.org/sistory.html |title=Sistory (history on The Sister's main site |accessdate=2006-10-29] [Editors (1999-03-29). " [http://catholic-sf.org/032699.html Supervisors’ vote: Reactions varied, passionate and in large numbers] ". "Catholic San Francisco".] [Editors (1999-04-10). " [http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=9990 Mock Nuns Hold Easter Party Despite Protests] ". "Catholic World News."] Some believe the controversy, which was repeatedly brought up by Ammiano's Catholic detractors, may have hurt his 1999 mayoral bid among San Francisco Catholics.

Further reading

*Kevin Fagan and John Wildermuth. "Ammiano's Long Road From Jersey Kid to Mayoral Candidate," "San Francisco Chronicle", November 13, 1999.
*Erin McCormick. "Ammiano's career as an 'inside outsider,'" "San Francisco Examiner", December 7, 1999.

References

External links

* [http://www.sfgov.org/site/bdsupvrs_index.asp?id=7251 San Francisco City Government profile page]
* [http://www.alternet.org/story/793/ Campaign Without Precedent: Tom Ammiano's Run for San Francisco Mayor]
* [http://gaytoday.badpuppy.com/garchive/people/080299pe.htm Tom Ammiano for Mayor of San Francisco!]