Who is Mike?

Mike was born on Sacramento Street in San Francisco at the Stanford Medical Center where his mother was a medical student and subsequently baptized at St. Catherines in Martinez, CA.

After receiving a bachelor’s degree from San Francisco State University he was drafted, in 1970, into the United States Army Infantry, and served in the 48th Infantry, 3rd Armored Division during the VietNam war.

Upon returning home, in 1972, he studied law at Golden gate University and received a Juris Doctor in 1975. He was admitted to practice that same year in December of 1975.

In April of 1976, Mike left the San Jose Police Department where he served as a Police Officer and joined the Merced County Public Defender’s Office. And then two years later in 1976, Mike joined the Contra Costa District Attorneys Office where he tried numerous violent felonies involving murder, rape, assault, robbery and fraud. He also bought a home in Martinez on Thomas Street in Martinez. In 1991, Mike formed a private law practice in Martinez. But in 1994 he joined the California State Legislative Counsel’s Office and specialized in drafting legislation involving State and local government issues.

During this time, Mike was elected Mayor of Martinez, where he was instrumental in protecting the Briones Agricultural Preserve while serving on LAFCO, protecting the Franklin Hills Ridgeline by establishing a partnership with the East Bay Regional Park District, facilitating the inclusion of Mt. Wanda went into the John Muir National Park, rebuilt our water treatment plant, instituted an Ozone filtering system, built the current City Hall, the current Senior Center and the train station among so many projects.

Mike joined the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office in 1996 and continues to work there as an Assistant District Attorney specializing in criminal cases involving sanity, competency and mental disordered offenders who constitute a substantial danger of physical harm to others. I also have worked with individuals who are afflicted with mental health issues that can cause them to be “gravely disabled” and homeless. While working as a prosecutor, Mike also became and continues to be a Board Member for the Mission Language Vocational School in San Francisco an institution that trains recent immigrants were often English is a second language. The school helps, in addition with immigration, vaccination and food shortage concerns. I have also served as a Trustee for the Martinez Unified School District. (among other projects, we rebuilt the varsity football field.)

In 1977, Mike married Dusty Gray and they have two daughters, Sophia and Madelyn, who attended Alhambra High School graduating in 1999 and 2000 respectively. He continues to live on Thomas Street with his family in Martinez.