[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 59 (Monday, May 15, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E829]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               HONORING THE RETIREMENT OF ALAN F. CLAYTON

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. GRACE F. NAPOLITANO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, May 15, 2006

  Mrs. NAPOLITANO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and pay tribute 
to Alan Clayton, who recently retired after more than 24 years of 
distinguished public service. His leadership in numerous advocacy 
efforts has helped to improve the life of Latinos in the United States, 
especially for my constituents in the 38th Congressional District and 
throughout California.
  Alan Clayton has been working in public policy and civil rights since 
1985. Over the next two decades, he held a wide and lengthy variety of 
positions fighting for equal opportunity, advocating fair 
representation, and defending key programs. He has most recently worked 
as the Director of Equal Employment Opportunity for the Los Angeles 
County Chicano Employees Association since 1994. His work has been 
recognized by civil rights organizations, Latino employee groups, and 
many local agencies.
  In 1985, while he was a State civil rights representative for the 
California League of United Latin American Citizens, Alan filed a 
petition with the Governor and legislature over the lack of 
representation for Latinos in California State Government. His work 
lead to a joint legislative task force on the issue, and further 
efforts resulted in a redistricting for Los Angeles that better 
reflected representation for the Latino community.
  On behalf of the Los Angeles County Chicano Employees Association, 
Alan filed a complaint against the California Department of Health 
Services in 1987 for their systematic discrimination against Latinos in 
their hiring and promotions. The complaint was settled in 1992, 
resulting in the successful allocation of funds towards equal 
opportunity recruitment.
  Alan has also been a leader in advocating for Latino empowerment in 
the redistricting of the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles 
Unified School District. These redistricting efforts in 1991 lead to 
the election of a second Latino to the Los Angeles Unified School 
District Board and a third Latino to the Los Angeles City Council.
  His work on civil rights continued in 1997, when he began a five year 
effort fighting for a state senate bill that would allow extended 
outreach to minority groups and women in recruitment programs conducted 
by public sector agencies.
  Through his role as Director of Equal Employment Opportunity at the 
Los Angeles County Chicano Employees Association, Alan co-drafted and 
was the principle advocate for the Schiff-Cardenas Juvenile Justice Act 
of 2000. It has since provided over 550 million dollars of new money 
for juvenile programs administered both by probation departments, 
governmental agencies, and community based organizations. Since 2001, 
Alan has played a leading role in increasing representational fairness 
in Los Angeles County, both through ballot efforts to expand the Board 
of Supervisors, and through work that has increased the Latino 
community's ability to elect candidates of their choice for both the 
school district and city council.
  Mr. Speaker, today I would like to personally acknowledge and 
congratulate Alan Clayton for his many years of dedicated work. I ask 
my colleagues to join me and the many organizations in applauding his 
important efforts on behalf of California's Latino community. I wish 
him and his wife Diane continued success, health and happiness in the 
future.

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