Arlen F. Gregorio

Arlen Foster Gregorio (born September 11, 1931) is an American attorney, politician and commercial mediator. He was a member of the California State Senate from 1971 to 1978. As a Senator he chaired the Senate Health and Welfare Committee from 1979 to 1984 and was an elected member of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors from 1979 to 1984. After leaving politics in 1985 he began a career in mediation.

Early life and education Gregorio was born in San Francisco on September 11, 1931 He grew up in the Bernal Heights district until his family moved to Burlingame, California, where he attended Hoover School, Burlingame High School and the College of San Mateo.

Career Gregorio became a member of the California State Bar in 1955. During his two terms in the Senate (1970 - 1978), He was chairman of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee from 1973 to 1978. His political reforms included allowing the public to attend state budget conference committee meetings and to access legislator committee voting results.

In 1975, Gregorio challenged then Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. to a debate after the Governor vetoed his "alcohol tax bill." In 1976 he created legislation that would give members of the public the "voting majority on most regulatory boards." Gregorio lost his November 1978 Senate bid by a margin of only 90 votes after a vote recount. Gregorio's last political race was in 1984, when he left the Board of Supervisors to run again for the state Senate. In that political contest, Gregorio and his opponent, Becky Morgan, set a "new Senate campaign spending record" of $1.6 million.

Mediation After leaving politics, Gregorio began an attorney mediation practice in San Francisco in 1985. In 1989, he created the first law partnership that focused exclusively on the mediation of civil trial matters.

Personal life Gregorio learned the Transcendental Meditation technique after reading a 1971 article in The Wall Street Journal about it. He appeared with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Ellen Corby (The Waltons), Harold H. Bloomfield, Clint Eastwood and others on two episodes of the Merv Griffin show in 1975.

He has three sons by his first marriage and began his second marriage in 1980.