• The "Contract with America"
• Megan's Law
• 3-Strikes-and-You're-Out
• Sexual Anti-Predator Act
• Anti-Terrorism & Effective Death Penalty Act
• Truth in Sentencing Act
• California's Safe Schools Plan
• 10-20-Life

Conservative Republicanism had always been a part of Dan Lungren's life. His father was Richard Nixon's personal physician during political campaigns from 1951 to 1968, and by age 6, Dan was joining his parents handing out campaign literature for Rep. Craig Hosmer, whose district he would later represent. Dan Lungren attended and graduated with honors in English from the University of Notre Dame in 1968. Shortly thereafter, he returned to California to chair "Youth for Nixon" and then went on to Georgetown University to earn his degree in law.

Dan Lungren first sought elective office in 1976, unsuccessfully running for California's 34th Congressional District. Two years later, at age 32, he was swept into office, one of California's "Prop 13 babies." He immediately began making a name for himself on immigration and crime issues -- a legacy that continues to this day.

EFFECTIVE CONGRESSMAN

Elected to Congress that same year was Newt Gingrich, Dan Lungren and several other GOP Members joined together to form the Conservative Opportunity Society, and in the process redefined conservatism, challenged the welfare state and laid the foundation for the 1994 Contract With America.

Dan Lungren quickly earned a reputation in Congress as a Member who could get things done, even though at the time, the GOP was in the minority. For example, Dan picked up Reagan's long-languishing comprehensive crime bill and almost single-handedly navigated it through the House to passage.

Unmistakably and unshakably conservative, nonetheless, Lungren cultivated allies from both sides of the aisle to move the conservative agenda forward. As liberal Democrat Howard Berman noted, "Lungren was the chief implementer of the Republican strategy that ran over the Democratic leadership in the House, and got a [punitive] bill far more to the Republicans liking. He is effective, articulate, prepared and stubbornly hard-nosed conservative."

STATEWIDE OFFICE HOLDER

Dan served in the U.S. Congress from 1979 until 1989, when he left Congress and returned to California when then-Governor George Duekmejian appointed him to serve out the State treasurers term of the late Jesse Unruh. Democrats, however, spared no effort to block his confirmation. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Democrats "praised Lungren's integrity, but said they were unwilling to vote for a Republican whose congressional voting record was so conservative."

California voters disagreed, and the following year elected Dan Lungren Attorney General of California, a position he held for eight years. During his service as California's Attorney General (1990-1998), Dan supported, and later defended in court, California's landmark Three-Strikes-and-You e-Out law. His sponsorship of legislation against sexual predators culminated in the states Megan's Law, giving Californians the right to know if their children are at risk of predators in their own neighborhoods.

Lungren's national leadership on habeas corpus reform contributed to passage of the federal Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, ending the long, technical delays in application of the death penalty. From 1993 to 1998, crime plunged 30 percent to historic lows in California, in large part due to the tough-on-crime policies of Dan Lungren. Following an unsuccessful run for Governor against Gray Davis in 1998, Dan Lungren returned to private practice. Dan and his wife, Bobbi, have three adult children: Jeff, Kelly and Kathleen.