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John Burton was a leading liberal force in government and politics for sixty-seven years. In 1956, he volunteered on his brother, Phillip's, successful campaign for the California Assembly, and he had been active in politics ever since. Mr. Burton won an Assembly seat in 1964, and he held assorted elected offices for thirty-six of the next forty years. He twice served as chairman of the California Democratic Party. In 2004, he founded John Burton Advocates for Youth, a policy and research organization focused on the betterment of young adults who "age out" of the foster care system. As a lawmaker, he authorized the first bill that entitled autistic children access to special education programs in California. He played important roles in promoting early political careers of former U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and former U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer. Ms. Pelosi has described Mr. Burton as "the chief architect of the Democrats' dominance in California." Mr. Burton resided in San Francisco. Andy Furillo covered crime and punishment and also sports, politics and other beats during his 44-year newspaper career in California for the Sacramento Bee, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and other papers. He won several awards, including the Heywood Broun Award in 2002 for his investigation into a Sacramento neighborhood's deterioration into poverty and crime. Furillo, a native of Downey, CA, is the author of The Steamer: Bud Furillo and the Golden Age of LA Sports. He is an alumnus of Cerritos College and a political science graduate of UC Santa Barbara. |
