Esteban Edward Torres

Esteban Torres
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from California's 34th district
In office
January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1999
Preceded by Dan Lungren
Succeeded by Grace Napolitano
Personal details
Born (1930-01-27) January 27, 1930
Miami, Arizona, U.S.
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Arcy Sanchez
Education East Los Angeles College
California State University, Los Angeles
University of Maryland, College Park
American University

Esteban Edward Torres (born January 27, 1930) is a U.S. politician who served as member of the United States House of Representatives for California's 34th congressional district from 1983-1999.

Personal

Torres was born in Miami, Arizona, to parents from Mexico. He was raised mostly by his mother, Rena Gómez. His father was a miner, but was eventually deported back to Mexico.[1]

Career

Torres served in the United States Army from 1949 to 1953. Active in the labor movement, he was appointed United States Ambassador to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Paris, France, from 1977 to 1979 and served as a special assistant to President Jimmy Carter from 1979 to 1981.[2]

Torres was unsuccessful in his attempt to win a seat in the House of Representatives in 1974, but was elected in 1982 as a Democrat. He served from 1983 until 1999. He did not run for reelection in 1998 and was succeeded by Democrat Grace Napolitano.

He served as a member of the California Transportation Commission[3] from 1997 to 2007 and resides in West Covina, California, with his wife Arcy Sanchez Torres.

1995 lawsuit

Torres was successfully sued in 1995 after Torres' staffer Roderic Young threw a microphone at and, subsequently, falsely charged journalist Jan Helfeld with stealing a document from the Congressman's office, which Torres also alleged. Young stole one of two videotapes of a news interview with Helfeld and then "tried—but failed—to take back a release form that Torres had signed consenting to the interview."[4] After Helfeld had left the congressman's office, Young called US Capitol Police and reported that Helfeld had stolen a document: the release form. Torres repeated the stolen document charge to the police, and Helfeld was detained and handcuffed. Helfeld sued Torres[5] and won a settlement of $45,000 with a written apology in 1996.[4][6]

See also

  • Esteban E. Torres NCLR-Harvard Mid-Career Fellowship Program

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-08-14. Retrieved 2008-03-04. Chopped Lives
  2. ↑ Hispanic Americans in Congress - Torres
  3. ↑ California Transportation Commission (CTC): Commissioners
  4. 1 2 Swift, Jim (2014-03-26). "Socratic Assassin Meet Jan Helfeld, Internet provocateur". Weekly Standard. Retrieved 2014-03-27.
  5. ↑ "TV Host's Suit Charges Torres With False Arrest" Los Angeles Times, 24 October 1996
  6. ↑ Settlement, Jan E. Helfeld v. United States of America, 96-2163-GK, United States District Court for the District of Columbia, 1996
  • United States Congress. "Esteban Edward Torres (id: T000316)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
  • Appearances on C-SPAN
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
Dan Lungren		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from California's 34th congressional district
1983–1999		 Succeeded by
Grace Napolitano
Preceded by
Matthew G. Martínez		 Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus
1986–1987		 Succeeded by
Albert Bustamante
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