SAN RAFAEL – Mark Leno's campaign for State Senate today announced Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-CA), who was elected in April to represent the 12^th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, citing Leno's commitment to privacy and consumer rights issues.

"In the Legislature, I saw first hand, Mark Leno's courage in standing up against the corporate interests that try to buy their way into Sacramento," said Congresswoman Jackie Speier.  "When financial institutions and banks work against the financial privacy of banking customers, Mark Leno never waivers.  Mark is a class act, stands on principal and never ducks a vote.  Mark has proven to be an uncompromising progressive voice in Sacramento, and I'm proud to endorse Mark Leno for State Senate."

"I am deeply honored to have the support of Congresswoman Jackie Speier in my campaign for the State Senate," said Assemblyman Mark Leno.  "Her achievements on behalf of consumers, children, and patients are a personal inspiration, and her support means the world to me."

In 2001, when then-State Senator Jackie Speier authored SB 773, landmark consumer privacy legislation, Assemblyman Joe Nation failed to vote on the measure.  He subsequently introduced his AB 1775, which the San Francisco Chronicle editorialized at the time, "reads as if it were written by industry to protect existing information-sharing practices—while presenting a facade of privacy protection." (The San Francisco Chronicle, "Rhetoric and Reality," May 7, 2002.)

Assemblyman Mark Leno has worked to bring the rights of consumers, tenants, and patients to the forefront in Sacramento.  He has authored bills to limit corporate executive compensation in for companies in bankruptcy, ensure employees know their rights to the federal earned income tax credit, safeguard seniors from eviction, protect airline passengers stranded on the runway, and he was principal co-author of SB 840 (Kuehl), The California Universal Healthcare Act.

In the 3^rd Senate District democratic primary, Leno faces incumbent Carole Migden and former Assemblyman Joe Nation.  The district includes all of Marin County, southern Sonoma County, and the eastern portion of San Francisco.

Speier's endorsement adds still more momentum to Leno's surging campaign that has received the recently-announced endorsements of Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, Marin County Supervisor Susan Adams, and organizations including the1 California Professional Firefighters (CPF), California Teachers Association (CTA), California Federation of Teachers (CFT), California Statewide Law Enforcement Association (CSLEA), Democracy For America (DFA), Progressive Democrats of Sonoma County, as well as the United Auto Workers Region 5. 

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