Community Holds First Agoura Hills Fundraiser for Torie Osborn

Former Agoura Hills mayors, state dignitaries and community members gathered at a local residence Sunday for a brunch to support for state assembly. It was the first such fundraiser in Agoura.

Hosted by Constance and Howard Jolcuvar, the event was open to the public and featured speeches by Assemblywoman Julia Brownley (D-Oak Park) and Sen. Sheila Kuehl.

Also in attendance were former Agoura Hills mayors Dan Kuperberg, Harry Schwarz, Ed Corridori, Louise Rishoff and councilmember Illece Buckley Weber.

Osborn is running for political office for the first time. She hopes to represent , which includes Agoura Hills.

Osborn told Agoura Hills Patch that she wants to be a champion of education and education reform. "Agoura Hills cares a lot about what's happening with education," she said. "The primary reason I'm running is the decimation of public education ... You are effected by cutbacks and cutbacks in offerings, which puts demands on the community to fill in on funding that the state has [taken out]."

Osborn said she hopes to be integral in the restoration of public education funding, getting more teachers and offerings back in the classroom as well as restoring smaller classroom sizes.

Secondly, she hopes to "continue Agoura's vision for environmental sustainability."

"This is Fran Pavley country, and Fran Pavley is a globally renowned leader," Osborn said. "It would be an honor to carry forward the torch that she did in this job."

Constance Jolcuvar, who has personally known Osborn for over 25 years, said she held the event to introduce the Agoura community to the candidate. "She has strong core values ... she will stand up and be counted in Sacramento," she said. "She's not a career politician; she's doing this because she loves the work and loves California."

Following the brunch, the crowd gathered in the Jolcuvar backyard to listen to comments by Osborn, Brownly, Kuehl and Kuperberg.

"Torie is the only candidate who has taken an interest in Agoura Hills," Kuperberg told the gathering. "She is the only one who asked 'how can I follow in the footsteps of Fran Pavley?"

In her brief speech, Brownley, who is currently running for Congress, said that it was her "great privilege to be one of Torie's greatest fans and supporters."

"She and I both share the same issues and values that we care about," she said. "... And [that includes] reinvesting back in California."

Osborn said that she has a deep admiration for Agoura Hills. "It means a lot when one place takes you in," she said of the community support. "I admire your sense of civic pride in the arts and culture ... and environmental commitment."

Osborn, a democrat, said that she is running an independent, grass roots campaign with over 1700 donors and hundreds of volunteers. "This is International Women's Day Week, and I've been thinking about that amazing Shirley Chisolm quote. She said, ' a candidate should be unbossed and unbought,' and that would be me in this race," she said.

Kuehl, a longtime friend of Osborn's, urged the crowd to continue to donate through May to maintain the costs of the campaign.

According to Jolcuvar, so far, $5000 has been raised locally for the campaign.