Paul Koretz (D-Los Angeles) announced his plans on August 2, 2007[1] to seek the Los Angeles 5th District City Council seat now occupied by Jack Weiss in 2009. Weiss is expected to run for Los Angels City Attorney against the current City Attorney, Rock Delgadio. It is also widely believed that former Los Angeles City Controller Rick Tuttle will also run for Weiss's seat. Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,290. ... Jack Weiss, is a member of the Los Angeles City Council representing the 5th district. ...

Prior to that Koretz represented the 42nd district in the California Assembly from 2000 to 2006, serving the maximum 3 terms allowed under California term limit law. The district includes West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Universal City, and the portions of the City of Los Angeles encompassing the Sunset Strip, Hollywood, Hancock Park, Los Feliz, Westwood, Brentwood, Studio City, Encino, Sherman Oaks, and North Hollywood/Valley Village. The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... West Hollywoods logo illustrates the citys borders. ... For other uses, see: Beverly Hills (disambiguation). ... Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,290. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... ... Hancock Park is a park in Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California which is the location of the La Brea Tar Pits, the George C. Page Museum of La Brea Discoveries, and LACMA. Hybrid view in Google Maps. ... Los Feliz (usually pronounced Loss Feeliss by most non-Spanish-speaking locals) is a neighborhood in the north-central region of the city of Los Angeles, California. ... Westwood is the name of the following locations in the United States: Westwood, California Westwood Village (in Los Angeles, California) Westwood, Iowa Westwood, Kansas Westwood, Boyd County, Kentucky Westwood, Jefferson County, Kentucky Westwood, Massachusetts Westwood, Michigan Westwood, Missouri Westwood, New Jersey Westwood Hills, Kansas Westwood Lakes, Florida Westwood Village Memorial... Brentwood is the name of several places in the world: Cities Brentwood, California, United States of America Brentwood, Essex, England, United Kingdom Brentwood, Maryland, United States of America Brentwood, Missouri, United States of America Brentwood, New Hampshire, United States of America Brentwood, New York, United States of America Brentwood, Pennsylvania... Studio City is a district in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, California. ... Encino is a neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles, California located in the San Fernando Valley. ... Sherman Oaks is a district of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, California. ... North Hollywood is a district in the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles, California. ... Valley Village, is a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. ...

Koretz's wife Gail[2] serves as Director of Public Affairs for Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center. They have one daughter, Rachel. The Koretz family currently resides in the Beverly-Fairfax District of the City of Los Angeles[3]. Kaiser Permanente is an integrated health maintenance organization (HMO), based in Oakland, California, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney R. Garfield. ... The Fairfax District is an area of neighborhoods in the City of Los Angeles, California, that is roughly bordered by West Hollywood on the north, La Brea Avenue on the east, West Hollywood and Beverly Hills on the west and Wilshire Boulevard on the south. ...

Background

The Koretz family history in Los Angeles back more than 50 years. Koretz's father escaped Nazi Germany's persecution of Jews in 1939 by emigrating to America. Korezt's father lived in what was then unincorporated Los Angeles or simply unincorporated West Hollywood prior to Koretz's birth. The family however, moved to what was sometimes referred to as the West Hollywood area (based upon USPO designation) of the City of Los Angeles prior to Koretz's birth[4]. National Socialism redirects here. ...

Koretz was exposed to social and political causes at an early age, having accompanied his father to a rally for JFK, and also joined his father on picket lines for union workersduring that period[5]. John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also referred to as John F. Kennedy, Kennedy, John Kennedy, Jack Kennedy, or JFK, was the thirty-fifth President of the United States. ...

Koretz grew up in what is now the 5th Council District of Los Angeles and was educated at local schools, graduating from Hamilton High School. He earned a bachelor's degree in History from UCLA in 1979, where he was a founder of the "Bruin Democrats"[6]. A lifelong democrat, Koretz served on the Los Angeles County Democratic Committee for more than 10 years. Koretz's early political life began while he was a student at UCLA during the 1970s, when he ran for a seat on the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education. Paul served as an aide to then-Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky in 1975, and then to then-L.A. City Councilman Marvin Braude in 1984. During this period he developed a close personal friendship with George Takei due to their similar political views. After his marriage to Gail, the Paul Koretz family moved less than a mile away from parent's home to an area where, by coincience, his father orignally lived upon moving to Los Angeles[7]. The title page to The Historians History of the World. ... Binomial name Ucla xenogrammus Holleman, 1993 The largemouth triplefin, Ucla xenogrammus, is a fish of the family Tripterygiidae and only member of the genus Ucla, found in the Pacific Ocean from Viet Nam, the Philippines, Palau and the Caroline Islands to Papua New Guinea, Australia (including Christmas Island), and the... Binomial name Ucla xenogrammus Holleman, 1993 The largemouth triplefin, Ucla xenogrammus, is a fish of the family Tripterygiidae and only member of the genus Ucla, found in the Pacific Ocean from Viet Nam, the Philippines, Palau and the Caroline Islands to Papua New Guinea, Australia (including Christmas Island), and the... Zev Yaroslavsky served on the Los Angeles City Council from 1975 until 1994, when he was elected to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. ... Marvin Braude (August 11, 1920—December 7, 2005)served as Los Angeles City Councilman for the 11th district from 1965 to 1997. ... George Hosato Takei (IPA: ) (born April 20, 1937) is an American actor known for his role in the TV series Star Trek, in which he played the helmsman Hikaru Sulu on the USS Enterprise. ...

Koretz also was the owner of an American historical and political memorabilia distributor that was one of the country's largest for several years[8].

West Hollywood

In 1984, Koretz forged to build the new City of West Hollywood from what was then unincorporated Los Angeles County. Koretz campaigned for the City's incorporation while managing the City Council campaign of Alan Viterbi and served as Mr. Viterbi's deputy after his election. Upon Viterbi's retirement in 1988, Koretz was elected to the West Hollywood City Council[9]. West Hollywoods logo illustrates the citys borders. ...

Koretz's commitment to the gay and lesbian community during his tenure on the West Hollywood City Council lead to the appointment of Kevin Norte to the City's Rent Stabilization Commission in 1992 where Norte[10] served as that commission's first openly gay chair for two one-year terms and Norte served on that commission until he and his domestic partner Don Norte[11] moved to the Melrose District[12] in Hollywood in 1999. Koretz then appointed former Log Cabin Republicans member and Equality California[13] leader attorney John Duran[14] to replace Norte as Koretz's appointee to the Rent Stabilization Commission. Duran then succeeded Koretz on the West Hollywood City Council. Kevin Norte was the City of West Hollywoods first openly gay chair of the citys rent control commission and a champion of tenants rights as a counselor for the Coalition of Economic Survival aka CES. Norte was appointed by then-City Councilmember Paul Koretz in 1992 where... Domestic partner or domestic partnership identifies the personal relationship between individuals who are living together and sharing a common domestic life together but are not joined in any type of legal partnership, marriage or civil union. ... Kevin Norte was the City of West Hollywoods first openly gay chair of the citys rent control commission and a champion of tenants rights as a counselor for the Coalition of Economic Survival aka CES. Norte was appointed by then-City Councilmember Paul Koretz in 1992 where... ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... // EQCA has sponsored and helped lobby for the passage of dozens of bills supporting gay rights in the United States in the California Legislature, including the nation’s first same-sex marriage bill approved by a legislative body (AB 849, the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act, authored by...

Also during his council tenure, Koretz played a major role on many high profile issues. In 1988, Koretz sponsored a city-wide ban on military-style assault weapons, which built momentum for a subsequent statewide ban. In 1996, Koretz co-sponsored the City's ban on "Saturday Night Specials." The city was the first to enact such a ban, which survived various legal assaults by the National Rifle Association. Koretz also sponsored an ordinance limiting handgun purchases to one gun per month in order to cut the resale of guns on the black market[15]. Koretz served as Mayor and City Councilman for twelve years before being elected to the State Assembly. This article concerns the National Rifle Association of the USA. For the UK organisation, see National Rifle Association of the United Kingdom The National Rifle Association, or NRA, is a non-profit group for the promotion of marksmanship, firearm safety, and the protection of hunting and personal protection firearm rights...

Koretz's former colleague on the West Hollywood City Council, Abbe Land, was a candidate for Koretz's seat in the California State Assembly, and faced former Los Angeles City Council member Mike Feuer in the June 6, 2006, Democratic primary. Land was defeated by Feuer, winning 36.3% of the vote to Feuer's 52.4%[16]. The California State Assembly chamber California State Assembly Chamber in the State Capitol The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. ... Michael Feuer(1958-) is a Californian politician and lawyer. ...

State Assembly

During his six years in the Assembly, Koretz served as the Chair of the Assembly Labor Committee since his first year in the Assembly. He also chaired the Assembly Select Committee on Gun Violence and the Assembly Select Committee on California's Nursing Shortage. Koretz was a member of the Health, Public Safety, Business & Professions, Insurance and Natural Resources committees[17].

Koretz introduced legislation in the State Assembly to increase the smoking age to 21 in order to make it harder for young people to gain access to tobacco products and prevent people from becoming addicted to tobacco. As a City Councilman, Koretz had authored West Hollywood's ordinance banning smoking in restaurants, and developed the strategy of making it a regional ban by having neighboring cities pass the same ban at the same time. This provided momentum to help pass then-Assemblyman Friedman's historic AB 13[18].

Koretz has been an environmental leader and activist for many years. He was the first Southern California Director of the California League of Conservation Voters and served as Administrative Director of the Ecology Center of Southern California. In the Assembly, he has introduced legislation requiring retailers profiting from the most commonly littered items to share some of the costs of removing trash from storm water runoff, and he is the joint-author of legislation to ban the use of dry cleaner solutions. These solutions have been found to be carcinogenic[19].

Koretz has also been a protector of Los Angeles County's health system, an unwavering champion of the gay and lesbian community and supporter of domestic partnership rights and benefits and a well-known opponent of animal cruelty. Crime prevention is also one of Koretz's top priorities. In 2005, he combined the two interests by proposing AB 1677, allowing not-for-profits to distribute condoms in California's prisons. This bill was vetoed in September, 2006. He is also a passionate advocate for the Jewish community[20]. A domestic partnership (known as Pairage) is a legal or personal relationship between individuals who live together and share a common domestic life but are not joined in a traditional marriage or a civil union. ... The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination...

In 2006, Paul Koretz introduced Assembly Joint Resolution 39, which called for the impeachment of George W. Bush [21]. Depiction of the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson, then President of the United States, in 1868. ... George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the 43rd and current President of the United States, inaugurated on January 20, 2001. ...

Post-Legislative Service

In June 2007, former Assemblyman Koretz was nominated by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez to the California Board of Podriatic Medicine.^[1] Fabian Núñez (D- 46th District) is the Speaker of the California State Assembly. ...