SAN JOSE – Assemblymember Ira Ruskin has been named the Legislator of the Year by the San Jose/Silicon Valley chapter of the NAACP.  The award is given to a legislator who has demonstrated a long and superior commitment to civil rights, social justice, and equality for all.  Assemblymember Ruskin will be presented with the award at the 56th Annual Freedom and Friendship Banquet on April 12, 2008 in San Jose.

“I am deeply honored by this award.  The NAACP is a prestigious organization that I have always admired.  To be recognized as Legislator of the Year is a strong affirmation of the work I have been doing to represent my district in Sacramento,” Assemblymember Ruskin said.

Mr. Ruskin has been an activist for civil rights and social justice for many years.  He was a leader of the Free Speech movement with Mario Savio during the mid-1960s.  In 1994, Mr. Ruskin was the first man honored by Democratic Activists for Women Now (DAWN) with an award for work advancing the liberation and equality of women. 

Mr. Ruskin has authored bills to make higher education more affordable by increasing funding for CalGrants and to make textbooks and other college course materials available online at no cost to students.  Mr. Ruskin is also the host for the California State Assembly’s Annual Holocaust Memorial Ceremony, honoring survivors of the Holocaust.

In the cause of environmental justice, Mr. Ruskin worked closely with Youth United for Community Action (YUCA), a grassroots community-organization created, led, and run by young people of color, to help shut down a toxic waste treatment facility in East Palo Alto, which had been repeatedly cited for unsafe practices.