Nunez future on the line

Fabian Núñez felt betrayed.

It was 1993 and the immigrant rights activist was fuming: A lawmaker for East Los Angeles, a Mexican-American Democrat, wanted to stop California from issuing driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants. Núñez wrote and called Assemblyman Louis Caldera demanding an explanation, but the legislator only confirmed his decision to co-author the measure. Edwin Garcia in the Mercury News.

"I couldn't believe what I was hearing," Núñez recalled.

After hanging up, Núñez did something he never expected: He crossed the trench from political observer to political insider, eventually running for Assembly on a pro-immigrant platform, in Caldera's old district.