25 Facts About Laura Wells

Laura Wells was born on January 2,1948 and is an American political activist, perennial candidate, and financial and business analyst.

Laura Wells is a former candidate for US Representative for California's 13th congressional district in the November 2018 election and the Green Party in the 2010 governor's race in California.

Laura Wells supports making significant changes to Proposition 13 and to the current super-majority voting rule in the Sacramento legislature.

At the last 2010 gubernatorial debate in California, which excluded all third party candidates, Wells was arrested upon attempting to enter the building to watch the debate.

Laura Wells earned her BA from Wayne State University in 1969, where she was a scholarship student, majored in foreign languages, and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa society.

Laura Wells earned a Masters of Education at Antioch University, and later worked in finance, business analysis and computer programming.

Laura Wells has resided in California for more than 30 years.

Laura Wells has one daughter, Natalia, born in Oakland, now a musician and graduate of the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Laura Wells is engaged to Charles Goodwin, a former probation counselor in the juvenile division.

Laura Wells has served in numerous county and state-level leadership positions in the Green Party of California since she registered with the Green Party in 1992.

Laura Wells was a founding member of the Green Party County Council in Alameda County and co-founder and managing editor of the national Green Party newspaper, Green Focus.

In 2006, Laura Wells served on the executive committee of the "IRV for Oakland" campaign while running for state controller.

Laura Wells helped garner support for IRV from US Representative Barbara Lee of Oakland and other local representatives of most political parties in Oakland, including Greens, Libertarians, Peace and Freedom, Republicans, and Democrats.

In 2002 and 2006, Laura Wells ran campaigns for state controller, receiving 419,873 votes in 2002, the most ever for a Green Party candidate in a statewide partisan race in California.

In 2009, Laura Wells appeared on the Fox News program "Your World" several times to discuss tax fairness in California.

Laura Wells has participated in ten international delegations to Canada and South America to study innovations in participatory democracy and new constitutions, and has broadly worked in a range of volunteer and professional capacities for community and labor organizations, including Pesticide Action Network, Women's Economic Agenda Project, and SEIU United Healthcare Workers.

In January 2010, Laura Wells announced her candidacy for governor of California in the 2010 election.

Laura Wells' campaign emphasized the California budget and tax issues, particularly Proposition 13, passed during Jerry Brown's tenure as governor, which she says must be changed, in part because it primarily benefits corporations over individuals.

Laura Wells favored lowering the margin needed to pass a budget and raise taxes in the state from two-thirds to a simple majority.

Laura Wells supported increasing funding for education, and the use of a 'split-roll tax' to keep cap residential property taxes while allowing higher property taxes for businesses.

Laura Wells has addressed the difficulty that third parties have in running candidates for state elections:.

Laura Wells opposes government bailouts of large corporations and banks and proposes the creation of a State Bank for California which could partner with local banks and credit unions, and potentially improve their ability to lend.

Laura Wells has been endorsed by San Francisco for Democracy and numerous elected officials, described at her campaign website.

On October 12,2010, Laura Wells was given a ticket to watch the California gubernatorial debate at Dominican University in San Rafael by a friend of hers and used it to enter the building.

Laura Wells was initially allowed in, but upon being recognized as the Green Party gubernatorial candidate, she was approached by security and asked to surrender the ticket on the grounds that it was not issued to her, but to her friend.