American politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981 to 1993 and in the California State Assembly from 2003 to 2008. A member of the Democratic Party, he held office as Lieutenant Governor of California from 1975 to 1979. He grew up in Trinidad and Tobago and moved to the United States to attend Lincoln University in Missouri. He began serving on the California State Legislature in 1963.
