""I think government's there to help the people who can't help themselves. And there's a lot of people that can't help themselves,""
""He always instilled in me that we fight for the underdog. There are literally millions of people whose lives he helped over the years who have no idea who he is.""
""I yell because I care.""
John L. Burton was a proudly liberal, pro‑labor California lawmaker whose influence spanned six decades across welfare, foster care, auto emissions, gun policy and foie gras. He rose to political prominence with brother Phillip Burton and ally Willie Brown, helping dominate Democratic politics in San Francisco and statewide from the 1960s. Elected to the Assembly in 1964 and to Congress in 1974, he left office amid cocaine addiction in 1982, later recovered and returned to Sacramento. Burton served as Senate president pro tem from 1998 until term limits forced his 2004 retirement. He combined a profane, confrontational persona with a commitment to the underdog; his death was confirmed by his family at age 92.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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