State Sen. Ted Lieu (left) was in favor of a bill that would have allowed university admissions officers to consider race, gender and ethnicity in admissions. Gov. Jerry Brown (right) vetoed the bill.
Kyle McCarty
Special to Mustang News
A critic of administrative pay in higher education, state Sen. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) won overwhelming support from his fellow democrats in an early test of who will replace Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) in the U.S House of Representatives.
At a pre-endorsement conference, Lieu won 73 percent of the vote, the Los Angeles Times reported. This means Lieu is likely to gain the official endorsement of the California Democratic Party, a crucial advantage in the primarily Democratic 33rd District.
California Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) has also endorsed Lieu’s bid for the U.S. House of Representatives, the Los Angeles Times reported.
California’s 33rd congressional district includes Beverly Hills, Bel Air and some of Los Angeles’ beach communities. The district’s seat opened after incumbent and almost 40-year congressional veteran Henry Waxman announced on Jan. 30 that he would retire.
In August 2011, Lieu introduced a bill that sought to limit the pay of university presidents to 150 percent of the salary of the California Supreme Court’s Chief Justice. The bill was never brought to a vote, but the California State University Board of Trustees voted to cap presidential raises at 10 percent of the previous president’s salary in January 2012. Lieu spoke to the Board of Trustees in favor of salary caps at the meeting where the restrictions were enacted.
Lieu also voted in favor of creating an “Athlete Bill of Rights” in California’s higher education system in 2012.
In addition, Lieu was in favor of a bill that would have allowed university admissions officers to consider race, gender and ethnicity in admissions. Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed the bill.