Santa Barbara Conservative Republican Club Features Former Democrat Speaker

by Christy Lozano

Santa Barbara Conservative Republican Club Features Former Democrat Speaker

On Saturday February 15th, the Santa Barbara Conservative Republican club hosted California State Senator Gloria Romero.

She was, until recently, a Democrat.

In fact, she is the former California State Senate Majority Leader. She was the first woman to be elected to that leadership position and made national news when she left the Democrat Party to join the Republican Party… and to endorse Donald Trump for President.

She grew up in a house full of Democrats, where the Kennedy name was sacred, so to make the change was not easy. Gloria did not recognize the Democrats she once knew. Romero famously said, “I did not leave the Democratic Party, the Democrats first left me.”

Gloria Romero

The former state senator recounts that she read classic books as a child. She especially liked Little Women and said the books motivated her to push through hard things and become an overcomer. Her mother had to leave school early (in the 6th grade) to go to work to help her family. Growing up, both her parents worked hard to provide for her.

Gloria is a forceful advocate for parental school choice and education reform. Her message is a breath of fresh air.

Gloria holds a PhD in Social/Personality Psychology and is a Professor Emeritus at California State University, LA. She is the author of California’s groundbreaking Romero Open Enrollment Act, which is also known as the “Parent Trigger” law. This law provides opportunities for school choice for parents of children trapped in chronically academic failing schools. She authored the book, “Just Not That Likeable: The Price All Women Pay for Gender Bias.”

Ms. Romero was elected to the 24th Senate District in 2001 and served as Senate Majority Leader from 2005 to 2008. Prior to serving in the Senate, she held the post of Majority Whip in the California State Assembly from 1998-2000 and served on the LA Community College Board of Trustees from 1995-1998 and the LA Elected Charter Reform Commission in 1998. Additionally, she held the post of California Director of Democrats for Education Reform, a political action committee dedicated to making education reforms in the Democrat Party.

Gloria explained how difficult it was for her to change over to the Republican Party, especially since she did not know whether she would be welcomed. She said she was received by Republicans with the warmest of welcomes, love, hugs, and support. Romero related that her father supported the Democrats because “it was about the American worker”; her father worked for the railroads. He would always say that “the union bosses have nothing in common with the rank and file.” She wondered what her parents would think today about her becoming a Republican, but she knows the lessons they had about what it means to be an “American worker” would have meshed with their values.

Gloria spoke about the importance of focusing on candidates' character, policy, and principles, rather than subjective opinions or characterization in the media. The legislative author stressed the need to put the party lines aside and look at the “person” running to determine if they have the right motives, and a heart for the people.

She believes many Democrats feel the way she does about how the Party had left her, as if they are caught in the middle of something they really do not like but worry that admitting something is wrong with the Party would implicate them.

When asked if she supported President Trump’s dissolving of the Federal Department of Education, she replied in the positive. She had written about in an article in The Wall Street Journal: Department of Education: A Bad Idea Whose Time Has Gone. She called the Department of Education simply “a middleman” that allows the State of California to blame its bad decisions on Washington. To remove the middleman, would be to put responsibility back on the state for decisions about what it does for education.

Gloria said that rather than being a blue state, she believes California is a “Golden State.” When asked how we fix California, she said she hoped there would be an amazing slate that would overcome the jungle primary, which is an election in which all candidates for elected office run in the same primary regardless of political party. The top two candidates who receive the most votes advance to the next round, similar to a runoff election.

She opined that the successful organization and coordination of a slate of candidates in California that featured people like Steve Hilton and Richard Grenell, as well as great candidates from both sides, could overcome this system. These would be “people elected by the people, for the people.”

Just as President Trump is working that way on a National level.