Sat 13 Mar 2010
The New York Times ran a recent article that sounded remarkably similar to one I posted after conducting an interview with paradise Vernon Parker last summer. The good guys over at Exurban League picked up on the story and plugged NYT’s article. In the crowded primary race in CD-3, I still remain committed to Pamela Gorman but there are plenty of other excellent candidates including Parker. Here’s an excerpt from the NYT article and a paragraph I wrote last year:
A childhood lived among drug users and multigenerational public housing residents formed his vision, and a chance meeting with Lee Atwater, who was a Republican strategist, his politics. “I know people who’ve been so dependent on the government that they still find themselves in a trap — and that is the trust fund they have handed down to their children,” said Mr. Parker, whose he-can’t-be-50 face smiles warmly. – New York Times (3/10/2010)
But prior to his election to Town Council, not many people know that Vernon has a compelling life story. Parker was raised in a gang and drug-infested neighborhood in Long Beach California where many of his peers never made it out of high school or ended up dead or in a lifestyle of trouble. Young Vernon Parker was able to avoid that typical path but it wasn’t without a lot of sacrifice and determination. After graduating from the same high school portrayed in the movie Freedom Writers, Parker went on to college at California State Long Beach and ultimately, to law school at Georgetown University. That’s where he also met his wife, Lisa. – Sonoran Alliance (8/26/2009).








