Matt gonzalez for mayor biography

Matt Gonzalez, 1999. Photograph by Elizabeth Ross.

SHORT BIO

Matt Gonzalez was born in McAllen, Texas. He received his B.A. at Columbia University and J.D. from Stanford Law School. After a decade as a deputy public defender in San Francisco Gonzalez served a term on the 11-member Board of Supervisors. He thereafter co-founded a civil rights law firm Gonzalez & Leigh LLP, which was active from 2005-2012, and was Ralph Nader’s running mate in 2008 on an Independent ticket. In early 2011, he returned to the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office as Chief Attorney. 

Since 2006 he has exhibited artworks in a variety of Bay Area art venues including Park Life, Guerrero Gallery, Adobe Books, Incline Gallery, and Johansson Projects. He has shown with Dolby Chadwick Gallery since 2014.

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LONG BIO

Early Years

Matthew Edward Gonzalez was born on June 4, 1965 in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, in the city of McAllen, Texas (pop. 35,000 in 1965), nine miles north of the U.S. — Mexican border and 250 miles south of San Antonio, Texas. At the time of his birth the family lived in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Gonzalez’s mother Oralia Martinez Rendon is a native of Jalisco, Mexico. His father Mateo Gonzalez was born in Laredo, Texas and worked for Brown & Williamson Tobacco, a subsidiary of British American Tobacco. Although Gonzalez Sr. began selling cigarettes out of his car in the late 1950s he rose to an executive position in the company, during which time the family lived in Puerto Rico, New Orleans, Baltimore, and Louisville. When the younger Gonzalez was eleven years old, the family relocated to McAllen, Texas. Gonzalez Sr. left the tobacco company after 20 years of employment and started an import/export medical equipment company with his wife that primarily did business with Mexico.

Gonzalez attended Milam Elementary School, Lincoln Jr. High School, and McAllen Me

From dKosopedia

Categories: Green Party people | San Francisco

Biography

Matt Gonzalez is the former Supervisor and candidate for mayor of San Francisco. He was born in McAllen, Texas in 1965, lived his first five years in Puerto Rico, became an Eagle Scout in his youth, and later graduated from Columbia University (B.A. - 1987) and Stanford University (J.D. - 1990) law school. In 2000, he was elected to represent District 5 (the Haight, Western Addition and Inner Sunset) on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, of which he was made President by his peers in 2002. In 2003 he advanced to a run-off election against fellow Supervisor Gavin Newsom in the election for San Francisco mayor, a race which he lost narrowly. Gonzalez is a member of the Green Party and remains one of its more prominent political office-holders.

In 2004, Gonzalez elected to retire from politics rather than seek re-election. He further turned heads by endorsing the presidential ticket headed by Independent candidate Ralph Nader over fellow Green candidate David Cobb. He had endorsed Democratic representative Dennis Kucinich during the primary season.

Organizational Endorsements - 2003 Mayoral Race

Sierra Club

Bernal Heights Democratic Club

Deputy Sheriffs Association

Local 2, Hotel Employee Restaurant Employee Union

San Francisco Bay Guardian

San Francisco Bay View Newspaper

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555

San Francisco Bicycle Coalition

AFSCME 3299

Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club

San Francisco League of Conservation Voters

San Francisco Motorcycle and Scooter Coaliton

SEIU, Local 790

Frontlines Newspaper

United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Union Local 101

CCSF'S AFT2121

San Francisco Tenants Union

Tenant Associations Coalition of San Francisco

San Francisco Green Party

DogPac

International Socialist Organization

San Francisco Neighborhood Antenna-Free Union

New Mission News

United Transporati

Photo of Matt Gonzalez by Nick Bygon, 2008.

Art & Politics: The Matt Gonzalez Reader collects various interviews, opinion editorials, essays, art reviews, and other writings by Matt Gonzalez on issues related to art and politics, many of which are no longer in print or otherwise available online. The postings are reprinted from their original place of publication, including monographs and catalogs published by art galleries, which include:

Matt Gonzalez was born in McAllen, Texas. He is a graduate of Columbia University and Stanford Law School. He is a former president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and served as Ralph Nader’s vice-presidential running mate in 2008 on an Independent ticket (in California, they won the nomination of the socialist Peace & Freedom Party). Gonzalez has worked as the Chief Attorney in the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office since early 2011.

In 2014, Gonzalez began exhibiting his artwork with Dolby Chadwick Gallery in San Francisco. His collage works are in the permanent collection of the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento; Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts at the Legion o

Here are the stories of the people, the real people, in their own words, with nothing censored or changed. This book is a tribute to all the people who sacrificed so much and worked so hard to make San Francisco's dream come true. Including stories, photographs, essays, letters, interviews, and letters by District Six Supervisor Chris Daly, San Francisco Green County Council members Kim Knox and Marc Salomon, President of the Board of Supervisors and former candidate Matt Gonzalez, SF Progressive editor Aaron Barnes, beat poet Diamond Dave, as well as many, many others, "Go, Matt, Go!" captures the energy and enthusiasm of a city willing to fight for what it believes in.