Karen Bass

Los Angeles Democrat Karen Bass vowed urgent action to address California's budget crisis Tuesday when she was sworn in as Assembly speaker, the first African American woman to lead a legislative body in U.S. history. Bass struck some of the few somber notes in a joyous celebration of the occasion, telling a chamber packed with well-wishers that "we have to respond to the current economic crisis the way we would a natural disaster."

When Los Angeles mayoral rivals Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti started scrambling last month to line up key supporters for the May runoff, Maxine Waters was near the top of the list for both - well worth any wining, dining or flattery that might be required. On Monday, Greuel reveled in her success in winning over the Democratic congresswoman from South Los Angeles at a joint appearance outside City Hall. It was the latest testament to the power of the black vote in the race to replace Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass takes pride in being a consensus-builder, a soothing and maternal let's-get-along kind of leader. Now please pardon the interruption -- Madam Speaker is ticked off. She simmered as efforts to tame California's $26.3-billion deficit threatened to shred the health and welfare safety net she helped stitch together as a Democratic lawmaker from Los Angeles.

Sabino Fernandez lost his job assembling auto parts three years ago. With that, he said, he lost his ability to sustain his family. "My American dream ended because at that moment I had no excuse to share with my family about why I was not able to provide food for the table," said Fernandez, 43, a resident of Compton. "Sometimes my children don't understand what's going on. All they want is something to eat. " Fernandez was among hundreds of people from Los Angeles-area communities who gathered Saturday to share their stories of hardship and to urge local members of Congress to push corporations to help fix the economy and devise ways to put people back to work.

In one of her last acts as speaker of the state Assembly, Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) quietly doled out 10% pay raises and promotions to 20 of her staff members. The raises, which Bass approved last week on her final day as speaker, come as California continues to grapple with an estimated $20-billion deficit. More than 200,000 rank-and-file state workers have been forced to take three unpaid furlough days each month, the equivalent of a 14% pay cut, to help balance the state's books.

The daughter and son-in-law of Assemblywoman Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) were killed over the weekend in a car crash near Los Angeles International Airport, officials said Monday. Emilia and Michael Wright, both 23, were married this year. They met while students at Loyola Marymount University, where Emilia was due to graduate in December. According to a California Highway Patrol report, Michael Wright was driving a 1997 Hyundai -- his wife was the only passenger -- about 4:20 a.m.

Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice) is known as one of the most serious members of Congress. Yet if you search for Harman's name on THOMAS, the Library of Congress' website, you come up with, amid substantive legislative proposals, these resolutions the congresswoman is cosponsoring: H.CON.RES.64: Urging the president to designate 2009 as the "Year of the Military Family. " H.CON.RES.109: Honoring the 20th anniversary of the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in the nation's capital and its transition to the Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure on June 6, 2009, and for other purposes.

Community activist Karen Bass achieved a decisive victory in the Democratic primary for the 47th state Assembly district by assembling a coalition that extended beyond the traditional base of African American voters to include Latinos and organized labor. That broader coalition, which allowed her to trounce two candidates who have long been part of the African American political establishment in the area, may signal a changing of the guard in South Los Angeles.

Anyone who knew Wilhelmina Bass might understand why her daughter Karen Bass, the Los Angeles Democrat elected Thursday as the next leader of the California Assembly, has devoted her Capitol career to making the state a better parent to its 80,000 foster children.

As her colleagues attended a budget-signing ceremony in Sacramento, state Assembly Speaker Karen Bass was a world away as she visited her alma mater in West Los Angeles on Friday morning to address a younger but no less demanding group. Inside a music classroom at Hamilton High School, less than 36 hours after state legislators ended months of intense budget negotiations, she pressed headphones to her ears and bobbed her head, a bewildered half-smile creeping across her face.

Eunha Yi is 71 and has back problems. But with threatened cuts to state and federal healthcare programs, how will low-income seniors like herself cope? she asked. It was a question that drew applause Sunday at a town hall meeting at USC that drew a packed audience of all ages eager for answers about health coverage. "Low-income seniors don't have many assets, and affordability is a big issue for us," said Yi, a Mid-Wilshire resident who came to the meeting with a group from the Korean Resource Center, a nonprofit social service agency.

Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice) is known as one of the most serious members of Congress. Yet if you search for Harman's name on THOMAS, the Library of Congress' website, you come up with, amid substantive legislative proposals, these resolutions the congresswoman is cosponsoring: H.CON.RES.64: Urging the president to designate 2009 as the "Year of the Military Family. " H.CON.RES.109: Honoring the 20th anniversary of the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in the nation's capital and its transition to the Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure on June 6, 2009, and for other purposes.

A state panel that governs legislative pay will review policies that allow lawmakers to receive per diem checks even for days when they are not in Sacramento. Chuck Murray, chairman of the California Citizens Compensation Commission, called for the inquiry in response to a Los Angeles Times report that Assemblywoman Karen Bass (D- Los Angeles) collected $141.80 per day this year for 29 days she was not in Sacramento. Four of the six commissioners who attended their annual meeting Wednesday questioned the practice.

The California legislative and congressional district races on this week's primary ballot fell mostly into two categories: those whose lopsided party registration means they were all but decided Tuesday and those in which November runoff battles are looming. A few fit in a third category: still too close to call. Because the Legislature drew many political districts in California to favor one major party or the other, most of the contested primaries Tuesday are in the first group.

Open seats and brisk primary challenges to some incumbent officeholders made for a handful of lively contests for congressional and legislative seats Tuesday, including the Democratic primary in a race to succeed former Assembly Speaker Karen Bass. In that race, Holly Mitchell, head of a child care advocacy group, with most of the vote counted Wednesday morning narrowly defeated Reginald Jones-Sawyer, an asset manager for the city of L.A., in a crowded race. Bass, termed out of the Assembly and running to succeed Rep. Diane Watson (D- Los Angeles)

Since Karen Bass announced her bid for Congress in February, the former speaker of the state Assembly has been missing from the chamber she once led more than she has been there. Bass nonetheless continued to collect the tax-free per diem payments that lawmakers are given to cover expenses associated with attending legislative sessions. Since mid-February, the Los Angeles Democrat has missed more than 60% of Assembly sessions, spending much of the time in her district. She was in the Capitol all last week and cast hundreds of votes as lawmakers raced to meet a key legislative deadline.

The storied political career of former Los Angeles City Councilman Nate Holden appeared to end Tuesday, as he conceded his attempt for the 47th Assembly District seat to activist Karen Bass. Elsewhere, the political muscle of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was evidenced again in Orange County as the only state legislator he endorsed, John Campbell, appeared headed to an easy victory over a candidate backed by the state's powerful prison guards union.

The first time Bong Hwan Kim met Karen Bass, they sat across the table from one another at Roscoe's House of Chicken & Waffles at Manchester and Main in South-Central Los Angeles. It was January, 1992, more than two months before the riots. Bass, executive director of the Community Coalition for Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment, was getting ready to launch a campaign against 15 liquor stores in South-Central, at least 10 of them Asian-owned.

The contest to succeed Congresswoman Diane Watson seemed all but settled even before it officially began. In February, when Watson, 76, a Los Angeles Democrat, announced her retirement plans and endorsed then-Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) a few days later, the congresswoman in effect cleared the field of strong competitors. She helped avert the type of bruising battle that marked her first campaign for the House seat nearly 10 years ago. At that time, the unexpected death of Democratic Rep. Julian Dixon touched off a contentious succession scramble that featured some of Los Angeles' best known African American politicians.

As termed-out former Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D- Los Angeles) focuses on her campaign for a seat in the House of Representatives, a competitive Democratic primary race is on to succeed her. In her economically and ethnically diverse Westside-Southwest Los Angeles district, Holly Mitchell and Reginald Jones-Sawyer are generally considered the front-runners. Also among the five Democrats on the June 8 primary ballot is Ed Nicoletti, a businessman and home builder from Westwood, who is campaigning hard.