Benjamin Franklin’s advice was to ask a busy person if you want something done. This holds as true today as it did then, and Janice Kamenir Reznik seems to be not simply the candidate for the California State Senate district 27, but busy enough to get the job done well. Running for office was not her idea, she was recruited by the women’s community looking for a viable candidate, but Janice Kamenir Reznik was busy improving the world from one continent to another and back. It took a year and a half for her to say yes to the summons.
In answer to how qualified she is, Janice worked for the issues of human rights in the Soviet Union for many years in Los Angeles, and has been practicing law for the past 25 years, having built her own firm in the field of environmental real estate law. She worked with republican leadership to get more women appointed as judges and helped start a women’s law center. The benefits of women in office? She points out that even with the most aware men in office who want the best for women, women themselves bring different legislation based on varying priorities relating to families, workplace, issues of child care, access to justice and access to health care.
When the Darfur genocide began twelve years years ago, she and her rabbi decided there was silence long enough, and in response to the forty-eight genocides since the Holocaust, they started Jewish World Watch to educate and mobilize people to speak out on genocide, pass legislation and bring benefits to people who have suffered it. Taking practical steps in the fight against the relentless rape in Africa, she stood down warlords and talks about specific acts Americans can take to lessen these unspeakable travesties, rape of girls as young as four-years old and women as old as eighty.
She wants to see conversations in middle schools about how men treat women and what relationships must be to promote social changes to counter the high rate of domestic violence in California when the rate should be zero. Janice’s goal is to bring the samequality of practical solutions to Sacramento that she has brought to solve other challenges and crises. Cheerfully fearless she is.
Her love letter? Well, in addition to the power she brings to her professional life, love of her exceptional family plays an essential part of her life. You can hear the smile in her voice as she talks about a lifetime of love letters to and from her husband and in considering some that she plans to write.