The leader of the California Assembly is facing criticism after he bounced a gay Asian committee chair and replaced him without warning with a straight white colleague.
The decision has outraged LGBTQ and Asian Pacific Islander community leaders. Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Los Angeles) removed Assemblymember Evan Low (D-Campbell) November 17 as both chair and a member of the Assembly's Business and Professions Committee.
In a terse letter Wednesday to the Assembly's chief clerk, Rendon revealed he was naming Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Palo Alto) as chair and that Low's removal from the committee had resulted in a Democratic vacancy on it.