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The Republican who emptied the asylums
Frank Lanterman won an assembly seat in 1950 with one goal: securing a steady water supply for his family’s land holdings and subdivisions in the Verdugo hills community of La Cañada outside Los Angeles, a task he completed in his first year in office. In the years to come, his influence would expand far beyond his hometown and he would become one of the most consequential legislators of his time by leading the effort to transform how California cares for people with severe mental illness.