Min’s Secret Weapon in CA 47

It’s Holiday Party season for many Democratic Clubs and I was able to venture out to the DPOC party Monday night in Irvine.  Supervisor Katrina Foley was there, Congressional candidates Joe Kerr and Dave Min were there.  No one from CA-45 made it.  It was nice to see some familiar faces after a long pandemic.

I was hoping to see some folks from the Joanna Weiss campaign as I’m a voter in CA47, but no luck.  Weiss is making the case that she, not Min, is the best candidate to hold the seat.  From Politico, this:  Weiss, who founded a women’s grassroots political group in Orange County, has pitched her ability to galvanize suburban women who were key to flipping the once-conservative bastion blue in 2018.  And in Weiss’s own bio, this: Joanna’s passion has always been her community-based, pro bono legal work fighting for domestic violence survivors, seniors on fixed incomes, and special needs students.

Now, those traits seem compelling.  Min will easily have a lock on the significant Asian-American vote in CA-47, particularly Irvine.  But Weiss doesn’t have an exclusive on galvanizing suburban women or fighting for domestic violence survivors.  There, before me at the DPOC party, is Jane Stoever, a professor at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, where she directs the UCI Law Domestic Violence Clinic and the UCI Initiative to End Family Violence.  Jane is a mom of three kids who all attend school at Irvine Unified’s excellent public schools.  She’s been a DPOC Central Committee member for years. Jane shows up at meetings.  She contributes to the issues the party deals with.

And she is Dave’s wife.

Over the years, you see couples that define a strong marriage partnership that extends into the political world with strong support for one another.  Sharon Quirk-Silva and Jesus Silva in Fullerton.  Beth and Solly Krom in Irvine.  Mike Levin and his wife Chrissy Levin in South County to name a few.  Dave Min and Jane Stoever are part of this mix.

Jane’s been active in several campaigns galvanizing suburban women while managing a demanding career.  Her extensive experience teaching domestic violence clinics and in the areas of domestic violence law, family law, feminist legal theory, and clinical legal theory.

Here’s her UCI Bio for more:

Professor Stoever teaches Family Law and Legal Ethics and directs the UCI Law Domestic Violence Clinic, which represents abuse survivors in civil, criminal, immigration, and policy interventions in abuse. She also directs the interdisciplinary UCI Initiative to End Family Violence and co-chairs the Orange County Domestic Violence Death Review Team. Her scholarly work focuses on the multiple oppressions abuse survivors face and explores ways that the law can better respond to complex experiences of intimate partner abuse. Her recent publications address firearm fatalities, reproductive coercion, and technology-enabled abuse, and her scholarship includes the book The Politicization of Safety. She has advised the Obama and Biden administrations on domestic violence policy and has received awards for her service and advocacy, including the “Everyday Hero Award” from her county’s Bar association, a Congressional “Woman of the Year Award,” the “Justice for Children Leader Award,” and the UCI “Inclusive Excellence Spirit Award” and her city’s “Outstanding Supporter of Prevention Award” for her work in local high schools on abuse prevention and intervention. Professor Stoever previously taught at Georgetown University Law Center, American University Washington College of Law, and Seattle University School of Law; served as a judicial clerk; and worked at legal aid offices and as a live-in staff member at a shelter for homeless families. She received her J.D. from Harvard Law School and her LL.M. from Georgetown University Law Center. At Harvard Law School, she was a student attorney at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau.

 I’ve always thought Jane was the Min campaign’s secret weapon. Because she is.  If you don’t think Jane has tremendous influence over Dave and issues that women care about, you’d be wrong.

There is no way Dave’s campaign moves forward without Jane’s full support.   And she does.