Robert Cruickshank is a progressive strategist currently based in Seattle. From 2007 to 2010 he was Public Policy Director at the Courage Campaign, a leading statewide advocacy organization based in California. He is also a writer at Calitics.com, which covers California politics, and the founder of the California High Speed Rail Blog. Robert is also finishing a PhD in US history at the University of Washington, where he studies left-wing movements in the San Francisco Bay Area during the 1960s and 1970s.

Councilmember Lindsey Horvath was appointed to the West Hollywood City Council to fill the vacant seat of former City Councilmember Sal Guarriello who passed away in April 2009. Councilmember Horvath is an Entertainment Advertising Executive at Cold Open. She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame where she earned a bachelor's of arts degree in Political Science and Gender Studies. She is a resident of West Hollywood and has been a community leader on a variety of issues.

Councilmember Horvath is the past President of the National Organization for Women, Hollywood Chapter; former President of the National Women's Political Caucus, NWPC-LA Westside; former chair of the City of West Hollywood's Women's Advisory Board; Board member of the West Hollywood Democratic Club; advocate for A Window Between Worlds; Board member of the Women's Reproductive Rights Assistance Project; member of Planned Parenthood; member of Human Rights Watch; member of Amnesty International; and a member of the Human Rights Campaign.

Councilmember Horvath has also served on the Steering Committee for the West Hollywood Women's Leadership Conference; the West Hollywood Plan B Access Committee; as well as the Producer of VDay & Until the Violence Stops Festival; Co-Founder of OBJECT: It's How You Say It; and a community partner for the Equality for All Campaign.

Brian is the founder and publisher of Calitics.com, the leading progressive California politics blog. Since 2005, he has been writing, commenting, and organizing in the world of California politics.

After practicing as an attorney for a few years, Brian returned to school to get his master's degree in public policy. Over the last several years, he has worked with candidates and proposition campaigns to connect with grassroots and netroots progressives. Some notable campaigns include Mark Leno for California Senate and, currently, Kamala Harris for Attorney General.

Rebecca Saltzman is the Campaign Director at The Next Generation (TNG), a full-service campaign consulting and management, and issue advocacy firm, specializing in environmental and progressive issues in the Bay Area and across California. At TNG, she works on strategy, messaging, fundraising, field and management for Proposition 19, which would control and tax cannabis in California. She also works for several local candidates, including Victoria Kolakowksi, who if elected as Alameda Superior Court Judge would become the first transgendered trial court judge in the country.

Prior to joining TNG, Rebecca worked for four years as Chief of Staff of Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the largest national member-based organization promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research.

Outside of work, Rebecca is a public transit and smart growth advocate. In 2008, Rebecca chaired the No on KK campaign committee in Berkeley, helping to defeat this anti-transit ballot initiative with 77% of the vote. She writes a blog, Living in the O, which focuses on Oakland community, politics, and planning, and she can often be found covering meetings at Oakland City Hall, the AC Transit boardroom, and other regional agencies. Rebecca is the President of East Bay Young Democrats and serves as a 16th Assembly District associate member on the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee and the California State Democratic Central Committee.

Rebecca graduated with a BA in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, where she co-founded the school’s chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy and the student-run, harm reduction based Drug Resource Center. She worked with Grassroots Campaigns after graduating, leading an office that raised more than one million dollars for the Democratic National Committee.

Thomas A. Saenz returns to MALDEF as President and General Counsel. Previously, as Counsel to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Saenz honed his leadership skills by serving on the four-person executive team to the mayor, where he provided legal and policy advice on major initiatives. During his four-year tenure with the City of Los Angeles, Saenz helped to lead the legislative effort to change the governance of Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the effect of which has been to take the City a step closer to securing a quality education for all students in Los Angeles. Saenz also served as the lead liaison on labor negotiations, with a goal of addressing serious financial challenges in partnership with the City’s workers.
Saenz had previously practiced civil rights litigation at MALDEF for 12 years. During that time, he was a leader in the successful challenge to California’s unconstitutional Proposition 187, and he led numerous civil rights cases in the areas of immigrants’ rights, education, employment, and voting rights. Saenz achieved several victories against ordinances unlawfully restricting the rights of day laborers, served as lead counsel in the 2001 challenge to California’s congressional redistricting, and initiated the employment discrimination lawsuit resulting in a $50 million settlement with Abercrombie and Fitch.
Saenz has been recognized on numerous occasions for his work. He was selected as one of Hispanic Business Magazine’s “100 Most Influential Hispanics” in October 2009. In June 2009, the ACLU Foundation of Southern California presented Saenz with the Social Justice Award and the Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior (IME) Ohtli Award in 2008. In 2007, Saenz received the Peace and Justice Award from Instituto de Educacion Popular del Sur de California; the Latino Law Students Association of Yale Law School Public Service Award in 2007; and the Mexican American Bar Foundation Professional Achievement Award in 2006.

Sally Lieber was elected to the California State Assembly in 2002 to
represent the 22nd Assembly District, the Heart of Silicon Valley.
She served as the Assembly's Speaker pro Tempore, only the third woman
to hold this position since 1849. Before election to the State
Assembly, Sally served on the City Council and was Mayor of the City
of Mountain View and served as a Santa Clara County Commissioner.

As a State Assemblywoman, Sally authored landmark legislation on human
trafficking, raised the State's minimum wage and won significant
environmental battles for cleaner air in California. She worked
extensively on issues of women in our state prisons, gender equity, empowerment of people with disabilities, special education and workplace safety.