Sally Havice Takes on Corruption in Campaign for State Senate

Former State Assemblywoman Sally Havice is a candidate for State Senate in June.

By Tammye McDuff

Sally Morales Havice has lived her entire life in southeast Los Angeles. She was born in Los Angeles. Throughout her career as a college professor, school board member and State Assemblywoman, Sally has always dedicated herself to improving the quality of life of the constituents she represents, improving the business climate, and helping to provide an education to her students. In 1989, Havice ran for and was elected a seat on the ABC Unified School District Board of Education, where she served until her election in 1996 to the California State Assembly. Havice was overwhelmingly re-elected to the Legislature in 1998 and 2000. After being termed out of the state legislature, she returned to her profession as a teacher at Cerritos College.

Havice is a force to be reckoned with; she states “I began my campaign to do battle against corruption. Since then, more scandals in Sacramento have come to light: Calderon, Wright, and Yee to name a few on what seems to be an ever growing list.” One of Havice favorite quotes is by Edmund Burke: “For evil to thrive it takes only good men to do nothing.” Havice agrees with this and has adopted her campaign slogan as “The only thing worse than corruption is ignoring it.”

Hews Media Group [HMG]: Who is Sally Morales Havice?
Sally Havice [SH]: I am a proud mother of three sons and a grandmother of 12. For 30 years I have taught English composition and literature as well as speech communication; served as Interim Dean of Liberal Arts and as the Community Liaison for the Cultural Performing Arts and acted as President of the Cerritos College Faculty Association. I have been a member of the Faculty Senate and honored by being elected Outstanding Faculty Senator. Currently, I serve as the campus representative to the California Community College Association (CCA-CTA), member of the Cerritos College Federation of Teachers (CCFT), and the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges (FACCC). I have committed my life to education.

[HMG]: What is your personal philosophy?
[SH]: I have a philosophy that doesn’t seem t o generate a lot of enthusiasm in interviews I have given of late, with various organizations. My philosophy is everything begins and ends with education. Everything revolves around this.

[HMG]: If elected what solutions will you offer to connect education; retraining and readiness to correct the unemployment crisis?
[SH]: As you know, California has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country and much needs to be done to restore our golden state to its previous prominence in education, business and industry. Our children, our families and our neighborhoods need to be kept safe by reliable well-trained public safety professionals including law enforcement and firefighters, and we must be sure that our money is directed to provide the possible equipment they need to keep us safe and come to our aid. Our schools need to provide clear pathways and readiness to colleges and universities.
[HMG]: Why did you decide to throw your hat into the race for 32nd district?
[SH]: I was kind of ‘sniffing’ around for awhile. I was unhappy with the corruptness that has been going on and who we had running. When I began to have all the issues of dishonesty, and to see someone be so neglectful of the office they had been supposedly voted into, was horrifying. Important significant legislation has been ignored. It is time for a woman to come in and take charge.

[HMG]: What are your primary concerns?
[SH]: The reason why we have a two year cycle is for the first year you write the legislation and the second year you have oversight hearings. But this is not being done. Sacramento just keeps passing laws without follow-up or follow through. I have an issue with passing a bill just because someone somewhere has a problem. I want to see that all this ‘gifting’ is banned. And if a legislator runs a bill, I want to introduce a list of all the special interests groups that have supported them.

Havice has authored legislation to:

Establish California’s landmark anti-bully law, the Community -School Based Safety and Mentoring Program for school campuses.
Enhance child privacy laws
Create the Rivers and Mountain Conservancy for the San Gabriel Valley and southeast Los Angeles County cities (over 50 cities and public agencies) to bring state funding for more parks and open space for the area residents
Eliminate the high cost of flood insurance by providing flood protection for the cities along the San Gabriel, Los Angeles Rivers and their tributaries
Provide funding access for the preservation and restoration of wildlife natural habitat.
Encourage the improvement of the business climate.
Provide funding for teacher preparation programs for students interested in teaching.