Rebecca Cohn is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 politician who served as the California State Assembly

California State Assembly

The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. There are 80 members in the Assembly, representing an approximately equal number of constituents, with each district having a population of at least 420,000...

 member for the 24th District from 2001 to 2007. A resident of Saratoga

Saratoga, California

Saratoga is a city in Santa Clara County, California, USA. It is located on the west side of the Santa Clara Valley, directly west of San Jose, in the San Francisco Bay area. The population was 29,926 at the 2010 census....

, her district also included the Buena Vista

Buena Vista, Santa Clara County, California

Buena Vista is a former census-designated place in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 1,704 at the 2000 census...

, Burbank

Burbank, Santa Clara County, California

Burbank is a census-designated place in Santa Clara County, California. Part of the neighborhood has been annexed to San Jose, while the rest consists of unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County. The population was 4,926 at the 2010 census...

, Cambrian Park, and Fruitdale

Fruitdale, California

Fruitdale is an unincorporated Census Designated Place in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 935 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Fruitdale is located at...

 neighbourhoods of San Jose

San Jose, California

San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...

, the city of Campbell

Campbell, California

Campbell is a city in Santa Clara County, California, a suburb of San Jose, and part of Silicon Valley, in the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Campbell's population is 39,349...

, parts of both unincorporated Santa Clara County

Santa Clara County, California

Santa Clara County is a county located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 it had a population of 1,781,642. The county seat is San Jose. The highly urbanized Santa Clara Valley within Santa Clara County is also known as Silicon Valley...

, and the city of Santa Clara

Santa Clara, California

Santa Clara , founded in 1777 and incorporated in 1852, is a city in Santa Clara County, in the U.S. state of California. The city is the site of the eighth of 21 California missions, Mission Santa Clara de Asís, and was named after the mission. The Mission and Mission Gardens are located on the...

, as well as a section of the town of Los Gatos

Los Gatos, California

The Town of Los Gatos is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 29,413 at the 2010 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area at the southwest corner of San Jose in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains...

. Cohn is a Democrat

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

. She left office in 2007 because of term limit

Term limit

A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method to curb the potential for monopoly, where a leader effectively becomes "president for...

s, and was succeeded by Jim Beall. In August 2008, she enrolled at the University of California, Davis School of Law (King Hall

King Hall

King Hall may refer to*Charles King Hall, a British composer;*UC Davis School of Law ; and*The mess hall at the United States Naval Academy....

).

Background

Born Rebecca Wilson, Cohn grew up in Fredericksburg, Texas

Fredericksburg, Texas

Fredericksburg is the seat of Gillespie County, in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 Census estimate, the city had a population of 10, 530...

. She has four brothers. While living in the Texas Hillcountry she and her brothers were frequent guests at the Lyndon Johnson Ranch. She graduated from Fredericksburg High School and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas in 1976. She converted to Judaism in anticipation of marriage to her first husband, a doctor. Cohn, divorced from entrepreneur Ron Cohn, lives in Campbell and has a son.

Before politics

As a management consultant, Cohn guided various companies in Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...

 and throughout the world through the adoption of new technologies and practices. She gained skills in negotiating labor and management disputes during her time in the private sector.

California Assembly

Cohn served as Assistant Majority Leader during her time in the Assembly. Cohn was a member of the committees on Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism and Internet Media, Health, Public Safety, and the Utilities and Commerce. Cohn was instrumental in the development of the state's Medical Examiner competency exam and the establishment of treatment guidelines. She has been active on other boards including: the American Physical Therapy Association's Advisory Panel on Women, the Diversity Task, Force of Joint Venture Silicon Valley, the Santa Clara Board of Supervisor's Domestic Violence Council, and the Board of Directors for the Support of Battered Women.

Controversy

In 2004, she faced a lawsuit from former employees alleging they had been made to do campaign work on state time. In the same year, another employee claimed he was unjustly fired for writing a critical letter about her during a controversial software contract investigation. In 2005, Cohn came under heat for her spicy San Jose Magazine photo shoot that prompted two aides to sue her for allegedly creating a sexually charged work environment (they alleged that Cohn had required them to handle and hold Cohn's bras and panties during outfit changes for the photo shoot). Those charges were later dismissed.

Electoral history