Candidate for
Superior Court Judge; County of Orange; Office 35

PERSONAL BIOGRAPHY

I was born in Havana, Cuba in 1959, only three weeks after the Cuban Revolution. My grandparents were Spanish immigrants who moved to Cuba during the Spanish Civil War. My parents came from humble beginnings. My mom was the youngest of eight children and the only one to attend college, becoming a pharmacist. My father began working at a very early age, acquiring bookkeeping skills. By the time Fidel Castro came into power, my parents had achieved middle class status through hard work. During the early years of the Revolution, my parents supported the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista, a dictator who preceded Castro's government. They hoped that Castro's regime would bring political freedom to Cuba; however it became clear to my parents, as it did to millions of other Cubans, that Castro's government was becoming more and more oppressive. In the summer of 1970, when I was eleven, the Cuban government granted my family authorization to leave the country and we temporarily moved to Spain. Two years later we were granted permission to lawfully enter the United States.

We arrived at LAX from Spain on a cold February evening with no money, no jobs, and no plans other than to work hard and make the most of the opportunities offered here. My dad found a job in a mailroom of a bank and my mom worked at a factory, both earning minimum wage. My sister and I attended Catholic schools with the aid of scholarships. I attended Alverno High School, in Sierra Madre; and although I did not know how to speak, read, or write the English language when I began there, I graduated class Valedictorian in 1977. Through the encouragement of the Sisters of St. Francis, I applied to Loyola Marymount University and attended Loyola on full scholarships. In 1981, I graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and Sociology. A month later I married Nicelio Sanchez, a Cuban young man I had met when we were both 20 years old.

Nicelio is my life partner; we have been inseparable since the day we met. He came to the United States about two years before we married and although very young, managed to support me through law school. For ten years he worked for Northrop Corporation, starting as an aircraft mechanic and eventually becoming a quality assurance supervisor. After Northrop, he joined the Federal Bureau of Prisons. For the past twenty years he has worked his way up in the prison industries division to his current position as factory manager, supervising over two hundred inmates and staff.

Nicelio and I have three children, Nicelio Jr., Sebastian, and Sofia. In November 2001 my family and I experienced a life-changing event. Sebastian, who was at the time six years old, had been sick with cold symptoms. The Monday after Thanksgiving weekend I called my office to let them know I would be late to work because I had to take Sebastian to the doctor. I did not return to my office that day or, for that matter, the entire year. Sebastian was diagnosed with lymphoma, a very aggressive form of cancer of the lymph nodes. In an instant I was no longer the federal prosecutor, I was the panicked mother of a very ill child whose survival was in question. I learned what it feels like to be powerless, out of control, and to ultimately have to rely on the expertise of others to make decisions. In October 2002 Sebastian received a bone marrow transplant at City of Hope Medical Center that saved his life. His cancer has been in remission ever since.

When our children were younger, Nicelio and I were very involved in their education and volunteered regularly at their school. The Orange County Department of Education sponsors each year an academic pentathlon to encourage and reward academic excellence among students of all ability levels. For five consecutive years I coached the Academic Pentathlon Team at my children's school. I taught social studies and science to sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. In 2008 and 2012 the team took first place in the "Super Quiz" portion of the event.

Nicelio and I have instilled in our children the importance of an education and personal discipline. Nicelio Jr. graduated from Stanford University with a Master Degree in informatics and is now attending the Pritzker School of Medicine, at the University of Chicago, working towards MD/PhD dual degrees. Sebastian is a freshman at Stanford University, studying biomedical computations. Sofia is an honor student at the same public school her brothers attended. Nicelio and I have dedicated our lives to raising our children in a loving, wholesome environment surrounded by grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, and lifelong friends. We expect that in the future they will make significant contributions to their communities.

To learn more about my professional accomplishments please visit: http://www.carmenluegeforjudge.com