By Karen Ocamb

Ironically, state Controller Steve Westly's biggest problem today -- instant name recognition -- may contribute to his winning the Democratic gubernatorial primary this June. He has an opportunity to introduce himself as a fresh face, a fiscally moderate longtime progressive with hi-tech entrepreneurial experience and a commitment to transparency. Unlike his Democratic opponent, state Treasurer Phil Angelides, and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, for instance, Westly has released two decades worth of tax information and doesn't back away from potentially embarrassing questions.

Westly was unaware of rumors that the handsome, well-groomed candidate might be gay, but told IN how he would respond if anti-gay forces used that rumor to attack him during the campaign. "I'm not gay but I'm very proud of a 29-year relationship with the gay and lesbian community in California," he said. "I've stood up for these issues because they're basic issues of civil rights. And if you have one political bone in your body or one bone that cares about justice, you should join us in this fight. Because it is a fight and we all need to stand up together and be counted and I'm proud that I've stood up for 29 years."

Westly's progressive values were instilled early. Born Aug. 27, 1957, in Arcadia, Calif., Westly's family moved to the San Francisco Bay area the following year. At 13, he experienced his first searing understanding of discrimination

"I'd gone to a white middle school and then I went to a very integrated high school," Westly told IN during an interview before attending a Martin Luther King Day event. "A lot of the other kids said we can't go there, and my parents said public school is the best thing in the world because learning is not just about academics, you have to learn to be with other people. And I went to a fairly tough integrated school -- it incorporated a city called Menlo Park and a city called East Palo Alto. A few years later, East Palo Alto was the murder capital of the United States, so there was a lot of racial violence. It had a profound impact on me -- it made me a better person."

When he went to Stanford University in 1974, Westly asked to be in the African American-themed dormitory -- the Ujamaa House. Ujamaa is the fourth principle of Kwanza that honors the value of cooperative economics. The dean of students told Westly he was the only white who asked to join Ujamaa. "I was on a very political path," he said.

That path led Westly to the divestiture in South Africa movement, the protest to end apartheid in South Africa by demanding that all entities withdraw their investments until the government gave blacks equal rights and freed Nelson Mendela from prison.

Westly also protested the presence of corporate recruiters on campus that discriminated, including those like IBM that refused to hire gay people. "We stood up and said to the administration, 'This University should not be condoning any company that comes here and shows prejudicial behavior against gay and lesbian students.' It took an eight-year fight before the university finally relented." This is the same student protest that Judge Samuel Alito slammed during his confirmation hearings to be on the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1977, Florida orange juice shill Anita Byrant's "Save the Children Crusade" joined forces with Rev. Jerry Falwell's new Moral Majority to launch the anti-gay, Christian Right movement that now dominates the national political scene. It was also the year Westley ran for student body president.

"I had an LGB plank in my platform because it was something I felt strongly about," Westly said. "It was one of the civil rights issues of the time. We worked very closely with the gay student union to say, 'Look what are the issues that matter to you?' We were about being a progressive group running for student body president at Stanford -- it was about apartheid, it was about women's rights, it was about environmental issues, recycling on campus -- and it was one of the issues of the day. There was persecution of a lot of gay undergraduate and graduate [students] who were being denied housing because they did not have heterosexual partners. We stood up and said this is prejudice, discrimination." He won the election.

Westly graduated the next year with a B.A. in History and went to work as a legislative aide for Rep. Leo Ryan, the San Francisco Congressmember who was killed at the airport in Jonestown, Guyana on Nov. 18, 1978, after trying to rescue 900 members of the San Francisco-based People's Temple. They committed mass suicide under instructions from Rev. Jim Jones that same day.

Undeterred, Westly continued on his political path, next working in the Solar and Conservation Office of the Energy Department in the Carter Administration. He subsequently returned to Stanford Graduate School of Business while also getting elected Northern Treasurer of the California Democratic Party at age 23.

After graduating with his MBA in 1983, Westly became the new business manager for Sprint Telecommunications, and three years later, he became an investment banker. His Democratic Party activism also deepened, holding party positions like a parallel career. After a 1991 stint in the city of San Jose's Office of Economic Development and teaching at Stanford Graduate School of Business, Westly joined the burgeoning Internet boom, first in 1994 as director of Netcom, an early Internet service provider, and eventually in 1997 at eBay where he was senior vice president for marketing, business development, and international. With the money he made during the Internet gold rush, Westly and his Chinese wife, businesswoman Anita Yu, set up the Steve and Anita Westly Foundation.

Westly was elected California State Controller in 2002. During that very difficult race against conservative GOP state Sen. Tom McClintock, Westly won by only 21, 424 votes. He once again demonstrated his progressive mettle by publicly endorsing marriage equality at a time when the LGBT community was pushing AB 205, the expanded domestic partnership bill Gov. Gray Davis signed with much fanfare in September 2003.

"I was maybe the very first statewide office holder to stand up and say I support marriage equality," Westly said. "Others hemmed and hawed; others waited until it was safer. I stood up in 2002 without equivocation and said, 'This is part of my platform. Count on me. I will be a strong voice for you -- not just here -- but around the country.' I think people respect someone who stands up and says what they believe and I have done that consistently. People know that Steve Westly is going to be a progressive Democrat, fighting for the social values we care about, and who is a fiscal moderate. That is a very, very powerful combination."

Westly also "walks the walk" by having numerous openly LGBT staffers, including his Chief of Staff Ross LaJeunesse, Communications Director Russ Lopez, Political Director Steven Aronowitz, Press Secretary Nick Velasquez, and LGBT campaign Chair Yashar Hedayat, who also sits on the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network board. Westly also has strong LGBT endorsements, including the current and past L.A. Police Commissioners: Wells Fargo Regional President Shelley Freeman, and Dean Hansell, managing partner of the international law firm LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae, respectively.

"I endorsed Steve because he has extensive public and private sector experience, a demonstrated track record of achievement, particularly in the worlds of finance and business, and because of his strong and voiced convictions regarding a host of social issues that are very important to me, such as his championship of stem cell research, complete and equal rights for all, the right to privacy and choice, and the practical use of the safety net," Freeman told IN. "In short, Steve Westly is a capitalist who understands that social capital and capacity is just as important as economic capital and capacity."

Hansell, who is also president of the board of Information Technology Commissioners for Los Angeles, told IN he endorsed Westly "not only because his stand on GLBT issues is much better than anyone else's, but because he is far savvier on economic and business issues, which we so much need."

Westly's experience, progressive values, and wealth -- the L.A. Times reported that his personal income exceeded $225 million over the last decade, with $24 million in his campaign war chest -- make him a formidable candidate. But the "X factor" that may help him win is the fresh face of hope he offers California, the face of a mixed-race family in an accepting society.

"I think my kids are going to grow up in a fantastic place where there will be very few questions asked about why they look a little different," Westly said. "If Dr. King could have looked at people like me running for governor in mixed race relationships, he would be astonished because I will look you in the eye and tell you, it's one of the greatest pluses I have. And I don't think he would have dreamed that 40 years ago."

For more information, visit www.Westly2006.com.