NRI Harmeet Dhillon to contest California assembly seat from the 13th district

San Francisco, June 08, 2008
Gary Singh

Harmeet Dhillon was unopposed in the Republican Primary on June 3, for State Assembly from the 13th Assembly District of California, which includes the San Francisco neighborhoods of North Beach, Pacific Heights, Russian Hill, Nob Hill, the Financial District, SOMA, the Mission, Bayview and Hunter’s Point. Residing on Lombard Street in the Russian Hill neighborhood, will face popular San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano, who is also unopposed in the Democratic pri- mary in November.

Ammiano, a gay leader, has served as a San Francisco supervisor since 1994, representing Bernal Heights and the Mission District. He worked as a teacher and has done stand-up comedy since 1980.

Harmeet Dhillon said:

• In the 13th district, one third of the population is Asian but not too many Indians. Pointing out that Bobby Jindal had won election as governor of Louisiana with little or no support from the Indian American community.
• It is a very liberal district. She is not appealing for the Republican vote alone. She is not intimidated by the numbers
• She has always supported the Republican Party, like her parents who live in North Carolina.
• Most Indians believe in the ideology of the Republicans such as less government and fiscal restraint. The party also supports com- plete religious freedom
• She is running for a local election, not for the United States Congress. International or national issues are not much relevant here
• She promises to restore California's busi- ness climate for future generations, less government regulation, more individual freedom, balanced budgets not based on deficit spending or endless bond measures, lower taxes and more efficient use of tax dollars, and ethical political reform and transparency.

Dhillon opposes the 'Nanny State,' where the government takes care of individual needs; she is against rent control that will prevent property owners from investing; she also disagrees with the regulation that restaurants should publish calorie counts on menus.

The district covers the eastern half of San Francisco city and is heavily Democratic. Of the 260,000 voters, 57 percent are registered Democrats; Republicans are 9 percent and another 28 percent have no party affiliation.

About Harmit Dhillon:

She was born in Punjab and immigrated to the United States as a small child with her parents. She graduated from the North Carolina School. Harmeet received her B.A. from Dartmouth and her JD from U.Va. She served as law clerk to the Hon. Paul V. Niemeyer (4th Circuit) before joining Shearman & Sterling in New York and London.

She is a founder and partner of the law firm Dhillon & Smith LLP, where she represents businesses, entrepreneurs and executives across many industries.

She was the Editor-in-Chief of The Dartmouth Review and was featured by 60 Minutes, The New York Times, The New Republic, The Wall Street Journal, and other national publications. After graduating from Dartmouth, Harmeet became the Assistant Editor of the Heritage Foundation’s Policy Review magazine in Washington, D.C., and was published on the op/ed pages of The Wall Street Journal, The Wall Street Journal Asian Edition, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times.

At the University of Virginia Law School, Harmeet served on the Editorial Board of The Virginia Law Review, and was President of the nation’s largest chapter of the Federalist Society. She then served as a law clerk for one year for the Honorable Paul V. Niemeyer of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Baltimore, Maryland.

Harmeet was awarded the prestigious “Best Lawyers Under 40” honor by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. She has also been awarded the Minority Bar Council of Northern California’s Outstanding Community Service award for her civil rights leadership in the nationally-publicized aftermath of 9/11’s backlash against Sikhs.

Dhillon is a formidable candidate in the light of her background. She is a member of the San Francisco Republican Central Committee, and a delegate of the California Republican Party, appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Her political involvement began during the 1988 presi- dential election, when she was chair of Dartmouth Students for Jack Kemp.

She has won numerous awards and recognition for her pro bono legal work on behalf of domestic violence survivors, religious discrimination plaintiffs, and political refugees