Biography - Assemblyman Tom Umberg

Tom Umberg is serving his second term as the state Assemblyman
representing California's 69th District. As the only Democratic
representative from Orange County, Umberg represents most of the city of
Santa Ana and portions of Anaheim and Garden Grove.

A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Assemblyman Umberg has dedicated much of
his adult life to public service. After graduating with honors from
UCLA, he was commissioned by General Omar Bradley as a second Lieutenant
in the U.S. Army. Later promoted to Captain, Umberg served with the 2nd
Infantry Division near the DMZ in Korea. After graduating from the U.S.
Army Airborne School at Ft. Benning, Georgia, he served with the NATO
Southern European Task Force in Vicenza, Italy. Today, Umberg is a Major
in the U.S. Army Reserve serving as a paratrooper assigned to the John F.
Kennedy Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Several years following his military service, Umberg, a graduate of the
University of California's Hastings College of Law, was appointed by the
U.S. Attorney General as an Assistant United States Attorney with the
U.S. Department of Justice. Assigned to the newly created Federal Court
in Orange County, he maintained a 100 percent conviction rate prosecuting
large-scale drug dealers, gang members, white collar criminals, and civil
rights cases.

In only his second term as a member of the California State Legislature,
Umberg today serves as Chairman of both the Assembly Environmental Safety
and Toxics Committee and the Assembly Select Committee on Prison
Operations. He also serves on the Education, Transportation and Public
Safety Committees. In addition, Umberg has been appointed to the
California Council on Criminal Justice, the Assembly Economic Prosperity
Team (ADEPT), the State School Building Finance Commission, and the
California-Nevada Super Speed Train Commission.

Strongly committed to criminal justice issues, he has successfully
authored state legislation giving California the toughest hate crime laws
in the nation, increasing penalties for rape and the selling of drugs on
school grounds, deterring white collar criminals, and increasing the
rights of victims of violent crimes.

For his work in the State Legislature on behalf of education, Umberg has
been honored by the California School Boards Association as their
Outstanding Freshman Legislator of the Year, by the California PTA, and
the Education Coalition of California. He has also been honored for his
legislative activities by the California Coalition of Crime Victims;
Planned Parenthood of Orange County; the Anaheim American Legion; the
Santa Ana, Anaheim and Stanton City Councils; Orange County Bar
Association; the Hispanic Bar Association of Orange County; and a local
Orange County Tax-Fighter Group.

He and his wife Robin, who is a Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, and
their three young children make their home in Garden Grove.

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