Toni Atkins
Member of the California State Assembly from the 76th district
Incumbent
Assumed office December 6, 2010
Preceded by	Lori Saldaña
Member of San Diego City Council from the 3rd district
In office December 4, 2000 – December 8, 2008
Preceded by	Christine Kehoe
Succeeded by	Todd Gloria
Acting Mayor of San Diego
In office July 18, 2005 – December 5, 2005
Preceded by	Michael Zucchet (acting)
Succeeded by	Jerry Sanders
Personal details
Born	(1962-08-01) August 1, 1962 (age 49) Wythe County, Virginia
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Jennifer
Domestic partner	Jennifer LeSar
Residence	San Diego, California
Alma mater	Emory and Henry College Harvard University
Website	atkinsforassembly.com

Toni G. Atkins (born August 1, 1962) is an American Democratic politician and a member of the California State Assembly from San Diego's 76th district. She formerly served on San Diego City Council, leaving office in December 2008 due to term limits. She currently serves as the Assembly's majority whip.

Personal life[link]

She was born in Wythe County in southwest Virginia. She earned a BA in political science from Emory and Henry College, focusing on community organizing. She later attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Atkins relocated to San Diego in 1985.

Atkins is a lesbian. She is one of eight openly LGBT members of the California Legislature, alongside Speaker John Pérez (D–Los Angeles), Assemblymembers Tom Ammiano (D–San Francisco), Cathleen Galgiani (D–Livingston), Ricardo Lara (D–Bell Gardens) and Rich Gordon (D–Menlo Park), as well as Senators Christine Kehoe (D–San Diego) and Mark Leno (D–San Francisco). She lives in the South Park neighborhood with her spouse Jennifer.^[1]

San Diego City Council[link]

When she first came to San Diego, ahe joined the staff of Womancare Health Center as Director of Clinic Services. She then served for a number of years as council representative and policy analyst to City Councilmember Christine Kehoe. When Kehoe was elected to the state legislature, Atkins was elected to Kehoe's City Council seat on November 7, 2000. She was reelected in March 2004, without the need for a November runoff.

In April 2005 Mayor Dick Murphy resigned after criticism of his handing of the city's fiscal problems.^[2] Councilmember Michael Zucchet, who was deputy mayor, took over, but three days later, resigned along with Councilmember Ralph Inzunza after they were convicted of wire fraud and Hobbs Act violations. In an emergency vote on July 19, Atkins was chosen by the other five council members to take over as mayor pro-tem for one week. On July 25 they reaffirmed their choice and designated Atkins deputy mayor to serve until Jerry Sanders was sworn in as mayor on December 5.^[3] Atkins was the first openly lesbian mayor of San Diego.

Whilst on the council, she represented the City of San Diego at the San Diego Chapter of the League of Cities as well as on the board and executive committee of the Metropolitan Transit System. She sat on the San Diego Association of Governments (SanDAG) Regional Housing Working Group, as an alternate to the Transportation Committee and the Regional Planning Committee, and the City/County Joint Homeless Task Force. She continues to serve on the San Diego River Conservancy as an appointee of former California State Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson. She lists among her priorities affordable housing, workers' rights, neighborhood revitalization and redevelopment of San Diego's older urban neighborhoods.

State legislature[link]

She was elected to the State Assembly in November 2010, receiving 57.7% of the vote.^[4] She represents the 76th Assembly district.

In 2012 she introduced AB 1522, a bill to prevent the granting of financial support and other spousal rights to abusive spouses. The bill was inspired by the case of a San Diego woman who was ordered to pay legal fees and spousal support to her ex-husband even though he was in prison for abusing her.^[5]

Recognition[link]

Atkins is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Gay and Lesbian Leadership Award from the national Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund in honor of her recent service to the city of San Diego as deputy mayor.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Campaign website

v t e Members of the California State Assembly Speaker of the Assembly: John Pérez (D) Speaker Pro Tempore: Fiona Ma (D) Majority Leader: Charles Calderon (D) Minority Leader: Connie Conway (R)        Wesley Chesbro (D)    Jim Nielsen (R)    Dan Logue (R)    Beth Gaines (R)    Richard Pan (D)    Jared Huffman (D)    Michael Allen (D)    Mariko Yamada (D)    Roger Dickinson (D)    Alyson Huber (D)    Susan Bonilla (D)    Fiona Ma (D)    Tom Ammiano (D)    Nancy Skinner (D)    Joan Buchanan (D)    Sandré Swanson (D)    Cathleen Galgiani (D)    Mary Hayashi (D)    Jerry Hill (D)    Bob Wieckowski (D)    Rich Gordon (D)    Paul Fong (D)    Nora Campos (D)    Jim Beall (D)    Kristin Olsen (R)    Bill Berryhill (R)    Bill Monning (D)    Luis Alejo (D)    Linda Halderman (R)    David Valadao (R)    Henry Perea (D)    Shannon Grove (R)    Katcho Achadjian (R)    Connie Conway (R)    Das Williams (D)    Steve Knight (R)    Jeff Gorell (R)    Cameron Smyth (R)    Felipe Fuentes (D)    Bob Blumenfield (D)    Julia Brownley (D)    Mike Feuer (D)    Mike Gatto (D)    Anthony Portantino (D)    Gil Cedillo (D)    John Pérez (D)    Holly Mitchell (D)    Mike Davis (D)    Mike Eng (D)    Ricardo Lara (D)    Steven Bradford (D)    Isadore Hall (D)    Betsy Butler (D)    Bonnie Lowenthal (D)    Warren Furutani (D)    Tony Mendoza (D)    Roger Hernandez (D)    Charles Calderon (D)    Tim Donnelly (R)    Curt Hagman (R)    Norma Torres (D)    Wilmer Carter (D)    Mike Morrell (R)    Brian Nestande (R)    Paul Cook (R)    Kevin Jeffries (R)    Jim Silva (R)    Allan Mansoor (R)    Jose Solorio (D)    Don Wagner (R)    Jeff Miller (R)    Chris Norby (R)    Diane Harkey (R)    Martin Garrick (R)    Nathan Fletcher (I)    Toni Atkins (D)    Brian Jones (R)    Marty Block (D)    Ben Hueso (D)    V. Manuel Perez (D)    Democratic (52)    Republican (27)    Independent (1) California State Legislature California State Assembly California State Senate

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Sam Duffie Hinton (March 31, 1917 – September 10, 2009) was an American folk singer and marine biologist, best known for his music and harmonica playing. Hinton also taught at the University of California, San Diego, published books and magazine articles on marine biology, and worked as a calligrapher and artist.

Biography[link]

Sam Hinton was born March 31, 1917 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was raised largely in Crockett, Texas,^[1] and after graduating high school he studied zoology for two years at Texas A&M,^[2] helping to finance his education via singing appearances. Leaving college, he moved to Washington D.C. to stay with his parents, where he worked as a window decorator for a department store and did scientific illustration for the Smithsonian in the evenings. While in Washington he and his two sisters Ann and Nell formed a semi-professional singing group called "The Texas Trio," and performed locally. In 1937 the group visited New York City to win a Major Bowes' Amateur Hour competition, at which time he was invited to join the travelling Bowes troupe as a single act.^[3] Hinton left school to tour the country with the troupe, finally settling in Los Angeles three years later, where he enrolled at UCLA to study marine biology, and met his wife, Leslie. During his stay in Los Angeles, he landed a role in the musical comedy Meet the People alongside then-unknowns including Virginia O'Brien, Nanette Fabray, and Doodles Weaver.^[4] After graduating from UCLA in 1940, Hinton was appointed director of the Desert Museum in Palm Springs, California, where he served from 1942 to 1944,^[5] moving on to San Diego, California in 1944 as Editor of Illustration at the University of California Division of War Research (UCDWR), a University of California-wide wartime laboratory that was located at Point Loma. In 1946 he was appointed Curator of the Thomas Wayland Vaughan Aquarium Museum at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego, and served there until 1964.^[6] In 1965, Hinton moved to the upper campus and became UCSD's Assistant Director, Relations with Schools, and in 1967 he became Associate Director. Despite his professional duties, he has continued performing throughout his life.

In 1947 Hinton recorded 56 songs, including "Buffalo Boy" and the "Barnyard Song" for the Library of Congress.^[4] His first commercial recording, "Old Man Atom" (by Vern Partlow) followed on Columbia in 1950.^[7] Over the next several years he also made a number of singles for Decca's Children's Series, and in 1952 issued his first LP, Folk Songs of California. After three more efforts for Decca – 1955's Singing Across the Land, 1956's A Family Tree of Folk Songs and 1957's The Real McCoy – he moved to Folkways^[8] for 1961's Whoever Shall Have Some Good Peanuts and 1967's The Wandering Folksong. None of Hinton's musical projects distracted him from his academic duties, however, and from 1948 onward he taught UCSD courses in biology and folklore; for the National Education Television network, he also hosted a 13-part series on folk music, and for several years even wrote a regular newspaper column, "The Ocean World," for the San Diego Union. Hinton additionally co-wrote two books on marine research, Exploring Under the Sea and Common Seashore Animals of Southern California.^[9]

In 1957, Hinton founded the San Diego Folk Song Society.^[10] He made what many contend was his final public appearance at the May 11, 2002 San Diego Folk Heritage Festival, and the daylong event at the Children's School in La Jolla was permanently renamed the Sam Hinton Folk Heritage Festival.

Bibliography[link]

Books

• Seashore Life of Southern California; an introduction to the animal life of California beaches south of Santa Barbara. University of California Press, 1969.
• Exploring under the sea. Illustrated by Rudolf Freund. Garden City, N.Y., Garden City Books, 1957.
• History of the Scripps institution of oceanography. Compiled by Sam D. Hinton. La Jolla, 1951.

Books illustrated by Hinton

• Raitt, Helen. Papers, 1936-1985 bulk 1952-1954, 1973-1976. (correspondence, notes, manuscripts, and other materials concerning the Capricorn Expedition, Tonga, and her work as owner and editor of Tofua Press.) Original illustrations by Hinton.
• Hedgpeth, Joel Walker, Common seashore life of southern California. Illustrated by Hinton. Edited by Vinson Brown. Healdsburg, Calif., Naturegraph Co., c1961.

Discography[link]

• Sam Hinton: Master of the Solo Diatonic Harmonica
• The Library of Congress Recordings, recorded in 1947, released in 1999
• Sam Hinton Sings the Song of Men, Folkways Records 1961
• "Singing Across The Land with..." - Sam Hinton 12" LP Decca #DL-8108 1955
• The Wandering Folksong, Folkways Records FA2401 1966
• I'll Sing You a Story, Folkways Records 1972
• Whoever Shall Have Some Good Peanuts Smithsonian Folkways 2006

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Sam Hinton

• Sam Hinton Website
• List of works by Sam Hinton
• Collection of videos of Sam Hinton
• Sam Hinton Discography at Smithsonian Folkways