Last updated on: 10/1/2010 | Author: ProCon.org

Peter "Pete" Barton Wilson, JD Biography

Title:
Former Governor of California
Position:
Not Clearly Pro or Con to the question "Should the Government Allow Immigrants Who Are Here Illegally to Become US Citizens?"
Reasoning:

“187 was a protest, the loudest, clearest taxpayer protest since the Boston Tea Party. 187 was, I think, remarkable. And it was scuttled by the courts… but hell, 187 would pass today, I think perhaps by a greater margin.”

“Working for Arnold, A Conversation with Schwarzenegger Co-chairman Pete Wilson, ” National Review Online, Aug. 19, 2003
Involvement and Affiliations:
  • Co-chairman, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s gubernatorial campaign, 2003
  • Former Governor of California, 1991 – 1999
  • Ran for President of the United States, 1996
  • U.S. Senator (R-CA), 1983 – 1991
  • City Mayor, San Diego, California, 1971 – 1983
  • California State Assemblyman, 1967 – 1971
  • Private Attorney, 1964 – 1967
  • Staff, Presidential Campaign of Barry Goldwater, 1964
  • Criminal Defense Attorney, 1963 – 1964
  • Staff, Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Richard M. Nixon, 1962 – 1963
  • Officer, Infantry Platoon Commander, U.S. Marines, 1956 – 1959
  • Sponsor of Californian Proposition 187
  • Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, sponsored the implementation of President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative
  • Named the Senate’s “Watchdog of the Treasury” for each of his eight years in Washington D.C.
  • Signed into law “Three Strikes,” (25 years to life for repeat felons), and “One Strike,” (25 years to life upon the first conviction of aggravated rape or child molestation.)
  • Resumed the death penalty in California, after 25 years of moratorium.
Education:
  • JD, Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley, 1962
  • BA, English, Yale University, 1956
Other:
  • None found