Carol Liu was born in Berkeley, California and raised in Oakland, California. She is the product of a family with a family plan. The plan was that the boys would become doctors or dentists and the girls would become teachers or nurses. This plan began with her grandfather who, because he was the eldest male in the family, was, essentially, assigned the role of going to medical school. He attended the University of California at Berkeley and chose to be a dentist.
Carol followed the family plan and attended U.C. Berkeley and San Jose State college and entered the teaching profession. Her brother became a dentist. Teaching seemed to be a perfectly logical choice and had a family benefit in that it allowed three months off during the summers to work or spend time with children, when the time came. Liu utilized the family plan as she and her husband raised two boys and one girl.
Carol Liu worked as a teacher for the Richmond School District for seventeen years and then entered administration for five years. She strayed from the path when her husband's job eventually transferred him to Southern California. Then someone had the bright idea of suggesting that she run for the City Council.
She won and joined the Council in 1984. After two four year terms, she decided to run for the State Assembly and successfully served two three year terms before running for the State Senate where she is currently serving her first term and planning a run for a second term in 2012.
Her public work as an Assemblywoman reflects her passion for education developed during her career in education. Today she is on six committees. Her primary work is on the Education Committee. She also serves on the Senate Budget Committee, and the Banking and Human Services Committee. Her work on the Human Services Committee includes work on laws and efforts to improve the Criminal Justice Committee. She combines her passion for education with her work in the Criminal Justice Committee. She believes the so-called corrections system should better reflect the words, corrections and rehabilitation, as opposed to simply, punishment.
She reminds her colleagues that the state spends over $50,000 per year housing and caring for women prisoners. At the same time, thousands of dollars are spent housing the prisoner's children in the Foster Care program. If more money could be spent on rehabilitation efforts, the recidivism rate and the Foster Care money would decrease substantially.
In trying to rehabilitate the criminal justice system, she says the Prison Guards have a powerful lobby and they fight for the use of the money to maintain their jobs. If you rehabilitate too many prisoners, then the need for guards would diminish.
Within all of the special interests, sometimes the fact that Government exists to serve the underserved gets lost. The Haves don't have the needs, but they often have the power. She says change is needed, but change is a slow process that doesn't happen overnight. The job of a legislator is to find their passion and keep plugging along for positive results that help the people.
To that end she loves what she does since it allows the teacher in her to continue helping others.
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