California Legislative Candidates - Where do they stand on ferrets?

Most of these candidates have been contacted at least once. They need to hear from multiple people. If you click on the candidate’s image it will link you to usually their Facebook page. I like to use Facebook messages because it shows if the message was viewed. Please send them a message mentioning you are interested in ferret legalization. Please keep us posted, send me an email at CLIFFNotes@legalizeferrets.org and let me know if you received a response.

1st Assembly District

2nd Assembly District

Megan Dahle

R – Incumbent
Sent her a facebook message and never received an answer

Elizabeth Betancourt

D – Sent her a Facebook message and received a prompt, positive response.

Jim Wood

D- Incumbent
Sent him a facebook message and never received an answer

Charlotte Svolos

• R- I sent her a message on her web form and never heard back

3rd Assembly District

4th Assembly District

James Gallagher

R- Incumbent. He has previously unsubscribed from any attempt to contact his office

James R. Henson

D – Could not find a way to reach him, let me try again.

Cecilia Aguiar-Curry

Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, I was not able to reach her campaign

Matthew L. Nelson

I sent him a Facebook message and got a very positive response. He said he’d stick with us!

5th Assembly District

6th Assembly District

Frank Bigelow

R- Incumbent. As an assemblyman he has always ignored our requests. But his personal Facebook page showed up, so I sent him the invitation.

Kevin Kiley

R – As an assemblyman Kevin Kiley has always kept his distance from us. No way to reach him.

Jackie Smith

D – Very gracious, Jackie Smith says she supports us, send her a donation!

7th Assembly District

8th Assembly District

Kevin McCarty

D – Sent him a message off his web form, never heard back.

James O. Just

Libertarian and very pro ferret legalization!

Ken Cooley

(D) Sent him a message on his campaign website and never heard back.

Cathy Cook

(R) Sent her a message on her Facebook campaign page and never heard back.

9th Assembly District

10th Assembly District

Jim Cooper

(D) Sent him another request on Facebook. Our 2018 request was still there, ignored

Eric M. Rigard

(R) Sent him an email and never heard back.

Marc Levine

(D) We had such a terrible experience at his office that I’m not going to contact him.

Veronica "Roni" Jacobi

(D) Sent her an email and she accepted an invitation to join this group and talk to California ferret lovers!

11th Assembly District

12th Assembly District

Jim Frazier

(D) Sent him a message on his campaign website’s form and never heard back

Debra Schwab

(R) I can’t find anyway to contact her

Heath Flora

(D) Sent him an email invitation but never got a reply.

Paul Akinjo

(D) Sent him a Facebook Message on January 4th which has been seen but not responded to.

13th Assembly District

14th Assembly District

Carlos Villapudua

(D) Sent him a Facebook message and never heard back.

Kathy Miller

Sent her a Facebook message. Never heard back.

Tim Grayson

(D) Sent him a message on his web form and never heard back.

Janell Elizabeth Proctor

I couldn’t find anyway to contact her campaign but now I found her Facebook page and sent her the request. 

15th Assembly District

16th Assembly District

Buffy Wicks

Wicks (D) Sent her a Facebook message. The one from 2 years ago is still there. She said she is a dog friendly office, so we had hope. But I think she is one of the Legislators who doesn’t want to break with the Sierra Club and HSUS. Oh, how I wish she’d learn about ferrets and have a little courage.

Sara Brink

(NPP) Sent her an email and never heard back.

Rebecca Bauer-Kahan

(D) Sent her a Facebook message on January 29th. The message has been seen but never no answer.

Joseph A. Rubay

(R) Sent him a message on Facebook. And he responded:

Hello Pat …. I support you hundred percent I have joined your group… I believe in small government and the right of the individual to pursue their happiness.

17th Assembly District

18th Assembly District

David Chiu

(D) Sent him an email invitation request

Starchild

 

On the ballot but no way to reach this candidate

Rob Bonta

(D) Sent his campaign an email and did not hear back.

Stephen Slauson

(R) I can’t find a way to contact this campaign.

19th Assembly District

20th Assembly District

Phil Ting

(D) Sent him a Facebook Message and never heard back.

John McDowell

(R) Sent him a message on Facebook, I think it was the right page!

Bill Quirk

Bill Quirk (D) Sent him a Facebook Message. Got a pretty quick message back:

Thank you Pat for your note. I will have my Capitol staff look into this. As I am sure you are aware, all of our work right now is centered on COVID-19.

Alexis Villalobos

• (D) Sent him a Facebook Message and got a quick response:

Hi, Pat! Thanks for reaching out. I’ll do my best to get back to you soon. In the meantime, please check out our campaign website at http://alexis2020.com/

21st Assembly District

22nd Assembly District

Adam Gray

(D) There is no way to contact him except by phone.

Joel Campos

(R) He wasn’t listed the first time around, so I’ll contact him now and hope for the best. 

Kevin Mullin

(D) Sent him a Facebook message. Our Facebook message was still there from 2018 never responded to.

Mark Gilham

(R) Sent him a Facebook message and never heard back.

23rd Assembly District

24th Assembly District

Jim Patterson

(R) Not able to reach his campaign

Marc Berman

(D) Sent him a Facebook message and never heard back.

Peter Ohtaki

(R) Sent him a Facebook message and never heard back. 

25th Assembly District

26th Assembly District

Alex Lee

(D) Sent him a Facebook message and never heard back.

Bob Brunton

(R) Sent him a message on his website and never heard back.

Devon Mathis

(R) We’ve reached out to him a few times without success. Sent him a Facebook message. Late Reply:  Pat, Mr. Mathis looks at legislation primarily coming out of his district after hosting policy pods.

Drew Phelps

(D) Sent him a message off his web page and never heard back.

27th Assembly District

28th Assembly District

Ash Karla

(D) Sent him a message off his web page and never heard back.

G. Burt Lancaster

(R) Sent him a message on his personal Facebook page and never heard back.

Evan Low

(D) Sent him a message on his Facebook page and never heard back.

Carlos Rafael Cruz

(R) No way to reach this candidate

29th Assembly District

30th Assembly District

Mark Stone

(D) Sent him a message off his campaign website and never heard back.

Shomir Banerjee

(R) His website isn’t all up, so sent him a message on his personal Facebook page and never heard back.

Robert Rivas

(D) Sent him a message on his personal Facebook page and never heard back. 

Gregory Swett

(R) I was not able to reach this candidate.

31st Assembly District

32nd Assembly District

Joaquin Arambula

(D) I could not find any way to reach this assembly member

Fernando Banuelos

(R) No way to reach this candidate.

Rudy Salas

(D) Sent him a Facebook message and never heard back.

Todd Cotta

(R) Sent him a Facebook message and he responded:

Will you put it this way I have no reason to oppose the legalization of ferrets. I haven’t seen any reason to call them dangerous except the fact that I don’t want to see ferret owners releasing them into the cities unfettered.

33rd Assembly District

34th Assembly District

Thurston “Smitty” Smith

• Smith (R ) Sent him a Facebook message and he replied:

Hi Pat – thank you for sending this over.

Rick Herrick

(R )Sent him a message off his website and never received an answer.

Vincent Fong

(R) Sent him a message off his website. His website looks promising as someone who would help the little guy. But he never replied.

Julie Solis

(D) Sent her a chat request off her website and she promptly replied and joined our group.

35th Assembly District

36th Assembly District

Jordan Cunningham

• (R) Sent him a message off his website and never heard back. 

Dawn Addis

(D) Sent her a Facebook message and she promptly accepted and joined our group!

 

Tom Lackey

Sent his campaign an email invitation and never heard back.

Steve Fox

Sent him a Facebook message. Our message to him from the 2016 campaign was still in his Facebook inbox, seen and never responded to. Message quickly received:

Thank you for messaging the Steve Fox campaign on Facebook,I’ll forward him this message to his email right now. We never heard back.

37th Assembly District

38th Assembly District

Steve Bennett

(D) Sent him a Facebook message. His website prominently lists support from the Sierra Club so we’re especially not getting our hopes up. Never heard back.

Charles W. Cole

(R ) Sent him a Facebook message and never heard back.

Suzette Martinez Valladares

(R ) Sent her a message off her website and never heard back.

Lucie Lapointe Volotzky

(R ) Sent her a Facebook message and never heard back.

39th Assembly District

40th Assembly District

Luz Rivas

(D) Sent her a message on her Facebook page. She did read and answer our 2018 Facebook message.

Ricardo Benitez

(R ) Sent him a message on Facebook and never heard back.

James Ramos

(D) Sent him a Facebook message and never heard back.

Jennifer Tullius

(R ) Sent her an email and never heard back.

41st Assembly District

42nd Assembly District

Chris Holden

(D) Sent an email to his campaign, never received a reply.

Robin A. Hvidston

(R) Sent an invitation to her Facebook page and never heard back.

Chad Mayes

(I) Sent him a message on his Facebook page and never heard back. 

Andrew F. Kotyuk

(R) Sent him a message on his Facebook page and never received an answer.

43rd Assembly District

44th Assembly District

Laura Friedman

(D) Sent her a message off her website. She has been one of the few legislators to meet with us, seems sympathetic but much more aligned with the “animal rights” people, those who discourage pet ownership.

Mike Graves

(R) I can’t find anyway to contact this candidate

Jacqui Irwin

(D) Sent her a Facebook message and never heard back.

Denise Pedrow

(R) Sent her a message on Facebook and never heard back.

45th Assembly District

46th Assembly District

Jesse Gabriel

Sent him an email and never heard back.

Jeffi Girgenti

Must have won as a write in candidate and I can’t find any info on him.

Adrin Nazarian

(D) One of the nicer and more accessible members of the legislature, Sent him a Facebook message but didn’t hear back.

Lanira K. Murphy

(D) She did respond that she will support us! I will try to get back in touch with her!

47th Assembly District

48th Assembly District

Eloise Reyes

(D) Sent her a Facebook message and never heard back.

Matthew Gordon

(R) Sent him a message off his web page and never heard back.

Blanca Rubio

(D) No way to send her campaign a message

49th Assembly District

50th Assembly District

Ed Chau

(D) Sent him a Facebook message. I still see our 2018 question to his campaign has been ignored.

Burton Brink

(R) Sent him a Facebook message. He did answer when we sent it to him last year so he does respond to us little guys!

Richard Bloom

(D) I hear his name a lot! Can’t remember if it is for the right reasons. I think a lot of good people have worked for him. Sent him a Facebook invite.

Will Hess

(D) At first he didn’t respond, but I saw his post on another group, asked why he didn’t answer and he promptly replied:

Pat Wright I will stand up for Ferret rights too! 

51st Assembly District

52nd Assembly District

Wendy Carrillo

(D) Sent her a Facebook message. Our last message for the previous election is still there, unread. And who takes this kind of photo?

Freddie Rodriguez

(D) Sent him a Facebook message and never heard back.

Toni Holle

Holle ( R ) Sent her a message on Facebook and she quickly joined!

53rd Assembly District

54th Assembly District

Miguel Santiago

(D) Sent him a message on Facebook and never heard back.

Godfrey Santos Plata

(D) Sent him a Facebook message – he sounds like an interesting guy! We have a quick response!

Hi there Pat — I appreciate you reaching out. This is definitely a new issue to me, as I don’t own any pets, let alone ferrets. I’d love to learn more about the issue, what’s contentious about it, and I appreciate you sharing some of these resources with me. If you or others are active particularly in the LA area, I’m happy to hear more via Zoom or another conferencing platform. Let me know! -Godfrey

Sydney Kamlager

(D) Neither her Facebook page nor Twitter page would work for me the first time, just sent her a Facebook message. 

Tracy Bernard Jones

(D) Sent him a Facebook message and never heard back.

55th Assembly District

56th Assembly District

Phillip Chen

(R) Sent him a Facebook message and never heard back.

Andrew E. Rodriguez

(D) Sent him a Facebook message and never heard back.

Eduardo Garcia

(D) Sent him a Facebook message and never heard back.

America Figueroa

(R) Sent her a Facebook message and got a lengthy and positive response back.

57th Assembly District

58th Assembly District

Lisa Calderon

(D) Sent her a message off her web page but never received a response.

Jessica Martinez

(R) Sent her a message off her web page and never received a reply.

Cristina Garcia

(D) Sent her a message off her Facebook page and never heard back.

Margaret Villa

(G) Sent her a message off her Facebook page and never heard back.

59th Assembly District

60th Assembly District

Efren Martinez

(D) Sent him a message off his Facebook page and never heard back.

Reggie Jones-Sawyer

(D) Sent him a message off his Facebook page and never heard back.

Sabrina Cervantes

(D) Seems like there is no way for someone outside her district to contact her

Chris Raahauge

(R) Sent him a Facebook message and never heard back.

61st Assembly District

62nd Assembly District

Jose Medina

(D) Sent him a message off his web page and never heard back.

Ali Mazarei

(R ) Sent him a message off his web page. I see Mr. Mazarei all over Facebook and get his emails, but he didn’t reply.

Autumn Burke

(D) Sent her a Facebook message. Our Facebook message from 2018 is still there, seen and ignored. She is the poster child of legislators ignoring the little guy.

Robert A. Steele

(R) Sent him a Facebook message. And accepted and joined our group!

63rd Assembly District

64th Assembly District

Anthony Rendon

(D) Sent the campaign an email as per the instructions on his web site. And never heard back. 

Maria D. Estrada

(D) Sent her a message on Facebook. She responded, “Thank you for reaching out Pat and I will look into.” Then she joined our group.

Mike Gipson

(D) Sent him a message on his Facebook page. Our 2018 message was still there, unseen.

Fatima S. Iqbal-Zubair

(D) Sent her a message on her Facebook page and never heard back.

65th Assembly District

66th Assembly District

Sharon Quirk-Silva

(D) Sent her a message on her Facebook page and never heard back.

Cynthia Thacker

(R) Sent her a message on her personal Facebook page and never heard back.

Al Muratsuchi

(D) Sent him a message on his website. He knows ferret people, has always been polite but we’ve never made any progress with him.

Arthur C. Schaper

(R) Sent him a message on his personal Facebook page and he replied with a thumbs up!

67th Assembly District

68th Assembly District

Kelly Seyarto

(R) Sent him a message on his Facebook page – and got this great reply:

Hello Pat, Thank you for the information. I have a hard time understanding why environmental groups would oppose having ferrets as domestic pets. I am open to explore these types of issues that may seem small to some but are, in fact, very important to others. No issue too small! I look forward to reading up on this and finding out more. Thanks again for contacting me.

Jerry Carlos

(D) Sent him a message on his Facebook page and never heard back. 

Steven Choi

(R) Sent him a message on his Facebook page and never heard back.

Melissa Fox

(D) Sent her a Facebook message and a request for a video chat that we could broadcast on Facebook.

69th Assembly District

70th Assembly District

Tom Daly

(D) Sent an email to his campaign and never heard back.

Jon Paul White

(R) Can’t find a way to contact this candidate

Patrick O'Donnell

(D) Sent him a message on his Facebook page and never heard back.

David W. Thomas

(R) Can’t find a way to contact this candidate.

71st Assembly District

72nd Assembly District

Randy Voepel

(R) I had a long presentation for him at one his town halls. He is a nice guy. But he truly believes that ferrets kill chickens so I’m not going to ask him anything.

Liz "Elizabeth" Lavertu

(D) Sent her a message on her Facebook page and never heard back.

Diedre Nguyen

(D) No way to reach this candidate unless you want to “Donate Now.”

Janet Nguyen

(R) Sent a message to her Facebook page and didn’t hear back.

73rd Assembly District

74th Assembly District

Laurie Davies

(R) There is no way to reach this candidate

Scott Rhinehart

(D) Sent him a message on his Facebook page. We know people who know Mr Rhinehart and are working on his campaign. But we didn’t get a response. 

Cottie Petrie-Norris

(D) Sent her campaign an email and never heard back.

Diane Dixon

(R) Sent her a message on her Facebook page and never heard back.

75th Assembly District

76th Assembly District

Marie Waldron

(R) Sent her a message on her Facebook page. She fits the demographic of someone who would support us. We need people in her district to make our case.

Karen "Kate" Schwartz

(R) Sent her a message on her Facebook page and never heard back.

Tasha Boerner Horvath

(D) Sent her a Facebook message. This is kind of awkward. She came to our aid as a city councilwoman in Encinitas. We gave her assembly campaign $1000 last time around. But we couldn’t get an appointment with her office. They always had a reason why not. So…she’s smarter than most but is her integrity being compromised by the company she keeps in the Capitol?

Melanie Burkholder

(R) Sent her a message on her Facebook page and she responded right way. She is pro ferret legalization and we did a zoom chat with her.

77th Assembly District

78th Assembly District

Brian Maienschein

(D) Sent him a message on his Facebook page. He’s been around San Diego a long time and we’ve never received a response from him in the past. Let’s try again. I did, never heard anything.

June Yang Cutter

(R) Sent her an email invitation to the group but never heard back.

Chris Ward

He has ignored every effort to contact his campaign by email or phone. There are lots of ferret owners in this district, which makes it more disappointing. 

Sarah Davis

(D) Sent her a message on her Facebook page and she responded:

It is a pleasure to talk to you. and thank you for bringing this important issue to us. We look forward toward working together bring this issue to the State Assembly..

79th Assembly District

80th Assembly District

Shirley Weber

(D) She is my Assemblywoman. Although she is highly regarded by her peers, her office has ignored my requests for meetings the past two years.

John Moore

(R) Sent him a message off his website contact form but I don’t think it worked

Lorena Gonzalez

(D) I don’t think contacting Assemblywoman Gonzalez would be worthwhile but other people are welcome to try.

John J. Vogel

(R ) Sent him a message off his web page and never heard back.

State Senate Candidates

1st State Senate District

3rd State Senate District

Brian Dahle

(R) He has long ignored us. No easy way to contact him – just forget about it!

Pamela Dawn Swartz

(D) Sent her a message on her Facebook page and never heard back.

Bill Dodd

(D) Sent an email to his campaign, info@billdodd.com and never heard back

Carlos Santamaria

(R) Sent him a message on his Facebook page and never heard back.

5th State Senate District

7th State Senate District

Susan Eggman

(D) Sent her a message on her Facebook and never heard back.

Jim Ridenour

(R) Sent him a message off his website and never heard back.

Steve Glazier

(D) Sent him a message off his website and never heard back.

Julie Mobley

(R) No way to contact this candidate unless you want to donate or volunteer. That’s not good!

9th State Senate District

11th State Senate District

Nancy Skinner

Sent her a message off her Facebook page and never heard back.

Jamie Dluzak

Sent him a message and haven’t heard back.

Scott Wiener

(D) He knows ferrets, seemed interested and then disappeared. Sent him a message on his Facebook page

Jackie Fielder

(D) Sent her a message on her Facebook page and never heard back.

13th State Senate District

15th State Senate District

Josh Becker

(D) Sent him an email and did not hear back.

Alexander Glew

(R) Pro-Ferret legalization and all around great guy!

Dave Cortese

(D) There is no way to reach this candidate unless you make a donation.

Ann Ravel

(D) Sent her a message on her Facebook page. She did respond, knows important people who have had ferrets and seems receptive. More info expected. We did a zoom conference with her which I totally screwed up. I’d like to do another after she is elected, which I think she will be!

17th State Senate District

19th State Senate District

John Laird

(D) “John Laird was Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency from 2011-2019” well, that doesn’t look promising. But I sent him a message on his Facebook page anyway and got this response:

Pat, Thank you for reaching out. We will be passing this request along to John. Please reach out with any additional questions. Sincerely, Jill @ Laird for Senate Campaign Team

Vicki Nohrden

(R) Sent her a message on her Facebook page and didn’t hear back.

Monique Limón

(D) Sent her a message on her Facebook page and did not hear back. She has long ignored us as an Assemblymember.

Gary J. Michaels

(R) Sent him a message on his Facebook page and didn’t hear back.

21st State Senate District

23rd State Senate District

Scott Wilk

(R) Sent message on his web form, https://wilkforca.com/#contact and never heard back

Kipp Mueller

(D) Sent message on his web form, https://www.kippforsenate.com/contact-us and never heard back

Abigail Medina

Abigail Medina (D) Sent her a message on her Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/voteabigail and got a quick reply:

“Thank you for reaching out. When I ran for Assembly back in 2016 someone also shared this information. I’d like to learn more about ferrets.”

Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh

(R) Sent her a message on her Facebook page and never heard back.

25th State Senate District

27th State Senate District

Anthony Portantino

(D) Sent him a message off his website and never heard back.

Kathleen Hazelton

Sent an email to her campaign, info@kathleenhazelton.com and never got a reply.

Henry Stern

(D) Sent a message to his Facebook page and never heard back.

Houman Salem

(R) Sent him a message to his Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/salem4ca/ and got a quick reply:

Hell Yeah, we should legalize ferrets. I completely agree with you. This is not an issue that the government should be involved in, you should be able to own a ferret as a pet. I will join your FB group when I get a chance.

29th State Senate District

31st State Senate

Ling Ling Chang

(R) Sent her a message off her web page and never heard back

Josh Newman

(D) Sent him a message off his Facebook page and didn’t hear back.

Richard Roth

(D) No way to reach him if you are out of his district. 

Rod Taylor

(R) I was not able to locate this candidate. 

33rd State Senate

35th State Senate District

Lena Gonzalez

(D) I sent her a Facebook message on Aug 23rd and was invited to call the office and discuss ferrets! Information to their office is on their way. If you live in her district, please contact me!

Elizabeth Castillo

(D) I sent her a Facebook message on Aug 23rd. She responded:

Hi I’m not familiar with the laws about ferrets but know of friends who have had them as pets.

Steven Bradford

(D) Sent him a Facebook message on Aug 23rd and never heard back.

Anthony Perry

(AIP) Sent him a message off his website on Aug 23rd and never heard back.

37th State Senate

39th State Senate

Dave Min

(D) Sent him a Facebook message on Aug 23rd and never heard back.

John Moorlach

(R) Our experiences with Mr Moorlach over the years has not been positive. I don’t find him authentic and don’t see any reason to contact him.

Toni Atkins

(D) No way to contact her if you are not in her district.

Linda Blankenship

(R) Sent her a message off her website and never heard back.