Matthew Gilbert "Marty" Martínez (February 14, 1929 – October 15, 2011) was an American politician who served as the

U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from from 1982 to 1993 and from 1993 to 2001, both as a member of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Martínez switched parties to become a Republican after being defeated in a 2000 primary.

Early life

Martínez's family moved to

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when he was young, and he attended

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. In 1949 he graduated from Roosevelt High School. From 1947 to 1950 he served in the

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, achieving the rank of private first class. In 1956 he received a certificate of competence from the Los Angeles Trade-Technical College. For the next fifteen years he owned and operated a custom furniture upholstery company and worked as a building contractor.

Political career

He began his political career in 1971 when he became a member of the Monterey Park Planning Commission, and served until 1974 when he was elected to the Monterey Park

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

. He served until 1980, including two terms as mayor in 1974 and 1980.

State assembly

In 1980, Martínez defeated incumbent

Jack R. Fenton Jack R. Fenton (August 7, 1916 – November 6, 2007) was an American politician who represented California's 51st State Assembly district and California's 59th State Assembly district 16 years in the California State Assembly. He was part of the ...

in the Democratic

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California's 59th State Assembly district California's 59th State Assembly district is one of 80 California State Assembly districts. It is currently represented by Republican Phillip Chen of Yorba Linda. District profile The district encompasses most of the more Republican lea ...

. He was elected to the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature (the upper house being the California State Senate). The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, Califor ...

with no major-party opponent.

Congress

In 1982

George E. Danielson George Elmore Danielson (February 20, 1915 – September 12, 1998) was an American Democratic politician and judge from California. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1971 to 1982. Early life and career Born in Wausa ...

left the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

to take the bench. Martínez won the

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to succeed him, and was reelected nine times by varying margins. In his first term in Congress he was assigned to the

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. In the 99th Congress (1985–87) he

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the

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on Employment Opportunities. In 1991, he became the Chairman of the Human Resources Subcommittee. In 1992, Martínez was named to the

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, and served on the Subcommittee on International Security, International Organizations and Human Rights.

Defeat

In 2000, Martínez was defeated in the Democratic primary by liberal State Senator

Hilda Solis Hilda Lucia Solis (; born October 20, 1957) is an American politician and a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for the 1st district. Solis previously served as the 25th United States Secretary of Labor from 2009 to 2013, as pa ...

62% to 29%. She charged that he was out of touch with his district when he voted to ban

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and opposed

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. (He was both

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and a member of the

National Rifle Association of America The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent Gun politics in the United States, gun rights ...

.) While he had been a reliably Democratic vote on most issues throughout his congressional career, after his primary loss Martínez began to vote overwhelmingly with Republicans. On July 27, 2000, Martínez switched to the Republican Party, arguing that the Democrats had abandoned him. There was no Republican candidate on the ballot in the district for the 2000 election, and Martínez declined to attempt a write-in candidacy, though he remained critical of Solis and promised to stay active in the Republican party. His term in Congress ended on January 3, 2001, at the end of the

106th Congress The 106th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from January 3, 19 ...

Family

Martínez was married to Elvira Yorba Martinez, with whom he had five children: Matthew Adrian, Michael Gilbert, Diane, Susan, and Carol Ann. His daughter, Diane Martínez, served in the State Assembly from 1992 to 1998.

Death

On October 15, 2011, Martínez died at his home in

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. He had suffered from congestive heart failure.

Memberships

San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley (), sometimes referred to by its initials as SGV, is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, with the city of Los Angeles directly bordering it to the west and occupying the vast majority of the southeastern ...

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

*Hispanic American Democrats *

National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) is the 501(c)(4) non-partisan leadership organization of the nation's more than 7,000 Latino elected and appointed Latino public officials in the United States. NALEO is ...

Communications Workers of America The Communications Workers of America (CWA) is the largest communications and media labor union in the United States, representing about 700,000 members in both the private and public sectors (also in Canada and Puerto Rico). The union has 27 loc ...

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Latin Business Association
*Monterey Park

Chamber of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to a ...

* Navy League (director) *

Rotary International Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. The self-declared mission of Rotary, as stated on its website, is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and p ...

"Matthew Gilbert Martinez." Marquis Who's Who TM. Marquis Who's Who, 2008. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC. (Fee) Document Number: K2013018942

References

External links

Biography
from the ''

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'' * *
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