Raul Justo Bocanegra (born July 13, 1971) is an American politician, and a former member of 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 ...

. He is a Democrat who represented the 39th Assembly District, encompassing northeastern

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...

. Bocanegra was first elected to the assembly in 2012, but was narrowly defeated in his 2014 bid for reelection by political outsider and fellow Democrat Patty Lopez. He reclaimed his previous assembly seat after defeating Lopez in 2016. Before being elected to the assembly, he was an urban planner and chief of staff to his predecessor

Felipe Fuentes Felipe J. Fuentes III (born May 25, 1971) is an American lobbyist, former politician, and businessman who served as a member of the Los Angeles City Council for the Los Angeles's 7th City Council district, 7th district from 2013 until his resigna ...

. A native of the

, he graduated from San Fernando High School. On November 27, 2017, Bocanegra announced he would resign, effective immediately, as a result of sexual harassment allegations.

2009 groping incident

In 2009, Bocanegra worked as a staff member for then assembly member

. In October 2017, Elise Flynn Gyore, who worked as a staffer for a state senator at the time, alleged that Bocanegra "put his hands into her blouse" outside of a bathroom at a night club in Sacramento. Flynn Gyore did not know Bocanegra at the time. The next day, she reported the incident to the Senate sergeant who conducted an investigation which concluded that it was "more likely than not that Mr. Bocanegra engaged in

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

behavior that night". In October 2017, Flynn Gyore made her allegation public. The revelation of the incident prompted the California Legislative Women's Caucus to call upon the

legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...

to review the incident and "immediately enforce, for once, the bodies’ zero-tolerance policies." An editorial in the ''

Los Angeles Daily News The ''Los Angeles Daily News'' is the second-largest-circulating paid daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California, after the unrelated ''Los Angeles Times'', and the flagship newspaper of the Southern California News Group, a branch of Colorado ...

'' called for Bocanegra's resignation and condemned those who knew about the groping yet helped him rise in his career. The group, We Said Enough, called on him to resign. Local activists, including former assembly member Patty López, who defeated Bocanegra in 2014 and lost to him in 2016, demonstrated outside Bocanegra's district office.

Los Angeles Unified School District Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a State school, public school district in Los Angeles County, California, United States of America. It is the largest public school system in California in terms of number of students and the List ...

Board Member Kelly Gonez issued a statement saying "It’s not enough to admonish a staffer or legislator to stay away from his victim," and commending Gyore for speaking out.

Elections

2014

2016

References

External links

Campaign website

Join California Raul J. Bocanegra
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bocanegra, Raul Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly Politicians from Los Angeles Living people American politicians of Mexican descent Hispanic and Latino American people in California politics 1971 births People from Pacoima, Los Angeles Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in California University of California, Los Angeles alumni 21st-century members of the California State Legislature