Quick Facts
Biography
Joseph Lawrence Dunn (born September 5, 1958) is a Democratic former California State Senator who represented California's 34th Senate District in central Orange County.
Dunn was born in St. Paul, Minnesota and graduated from the College of St. Thomas and University of Minnesota Law School.
As senator, Dunn led the state's investigation into Enron's involvement in the 2000–2001 energy crisis. He was first elected to the state Senate in 1998, when he unseated incumbent Republican Rob Hurtt by a 51% to 49% margin. Dunn was reelected in 2002. He ran for the Democratic nomination for Controller in 2006 but lost by 53% to 47% to John Chiang, who would then go on to win the general.
In October 2006, Dunn was appointed as CEO of the California Medical Association.
In 2010, Dunn was selected as the Executive Director of the State Bar of California. On November 13, 2014, the State Bar issued a statement saying that Dunn's employment as Executive Director had been terminated by the Board of Trustees. According to the Courthouse New Service, Dunn then filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the State Bar challenging the termination because he had exposed malfeasance and "egregious improprieties." The State Bar denied Dunn's allegations, saying the "Board received a complaint from a high-level employee raising serious, wide-ranging allegations about ... Dunn and certain State Bar employees." In January 2016, The Recorder released a report indicating that State Bar, while under Dunn's leadership, incurred excessive international travel expenses for trips to El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Peru and Mongolia.
He is a founding partner of The Senators (Ret.) Firm, LLP, "a law and political consulting firm where [the founders]...exert a powerful influence on national and statewide issues."