38 Facts About Laura Richardson

Laura Richardson was born on April 14,1962 and is an American politician who was the US representative for from 2007 to 2013.

Laura Richardson previously represented the 55th district in the California State Assembly for the 2007 term until she was elected to the House of Representatives for in a special election on August 21,2007, to fill the vacancy resulting from the death of Juanita Millender-McDonald.

Laura Richardson was reelected to represent that district in 2008 and 2010.

Laura Richardson ran against fellow Democratic Congresswoman Janice Hahn in the 2012 Congressional elections cycle.

Laura Richardson was born in Los Angeles and lives in Long Beach.

Laura Richardson was raised by a single mother after her parents divorced when she was two.

Laura Richardson's father was black and her mother was white.

Laura Richardson was previously married to Long Beach Police Chief Anthony Batts.

Laura Richardson graduated with a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1984.

In 1996, Laura Richardson received her MBA from the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business.

Laura Richardson served on the Long Beach City Council from 2000 to 2006.

In 2004, Laura Richardson won a second term outright on the first ballot.

Laura Richardson established the Sixth District Master Plan, a strategic guideline for development in the area.

Laura Richardson served as the assistant speaker pro tempore in the Assembly.

Laura Richardson was the first African-American and South Bay representative to achieve this position.

Laura Richardson was chair of the Select Committee on Proposition 209-Equal Opportunity.

In 2003, Laura Richardson said she believed weapons inspections in Iraq should have continued, and that she did not favor an invasion.

Laura Richardson was asked by anti-war groups to support a Long Beach City Council resolution declaring the city's opposition to the Iraq War.

Laura Richardson did not support this resolution, but cosponsored a resolution declaring support for local members of the National Guard.

Laura Richardson argued that once Saddam Hussein was caught and executed, American troops should have come home.

Laura Richardson pledged to oppose any new spending for war in Iraq.

Laura Richardson co-wrote AB 43, the bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in California.

Laura Richardson supported AB 900 to create 40,000 more prison beds in California at the cost of $7.4 billion.

Laura Richardson has faced some harsh scrutiny for not co-sponsoring Rep.

Laura Richardson voted in favor of a controversial update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act on June 20,2008.

Laura Richardson easily won a full term in 2008, and was reelected in 2010, in both cases against only nominal Republican opposition.

Laura Richardson had previously represented portions of inland Los Angeles and inland Long Beach, all of Carson, Compton and Signal Hill, as well as parts of other municipalities.

Laura Richardson was accused of receiving preferential treatment by a bank when it rescinded an erroneous foreclosure of her house, but was cleared of wrongdoing by the House Ethics Committee, in accordance with the recommendations of the Office of Congressional Ethics.

In December 2007, Laura Richardson was behind in payments by more than $18,000.

Laura Richardson had not been making payments on the property for nearly a year, and had gone into default on her two other houses in Long Beach and San Pedro.

Mistaken foreclosures despite paid-up recovery agreements, such as the one that happened to Laura Richardson, were becoming rampant during this period.

Laura Richardson initially did not disclose a loan from a strip club owner when on the City Council, public records show.

Laura Richardson was speaker of the House pro tempore during the November 29,2010 lame-duck session of Congress.

Laura Richardson initially refused to recognize, then relented to allow committee ranking member Steve Buyer to talk despite the failure of the committee chairman to appear.

Laura Richardson was seen discussing with the House parliamentarian and aides how to handle the failure of the committee chairman to appear to present his bill under rules and procedures that minorities in both parties have often denounced when out of power in the House, as Boyer did when recognized in this instance.

On November 4,2011, Laura Richardson claimed that the House Ethics Committee, composed of five members from the Democratic Party and five members from Republican Party, singled her out for investigation because she is African-American.

Laura Richardson was found guilty on seven counts of violating House rules by improperly pressuring her staff to campaign for her, destroying evidence and tampering with witness testimony.

Laura Richardson was ordered to pay a fine of $10,000 within four months and promised to require staffers who work on her campaign to sign a waiver stating that they haven't been pressured to do so.