Cal State Fullerton’s Lawrence de Graaf Center for Oral and Public History recognized a retired state senator, a former union leader and a past Orange County district attorney at its annual “Celebrating Orange County’s Political Legacy” spring event.
This year’s honorees were political leaders Patricia “Pat” Bates, Nick Berardino and Tony Rackauckas. They were selected for their longtime public service to Orange County and the state, said Natalie Fousekis, center director and professor of history.
Their oral histories and stories will be added to the center’s Orange County Politics Project, launched in 2013. The project records the memories of those who have played an important role in shaping the political landscape of Orange County.
Patricia “Pat” Bates, Former State Senator and Orange County Supervisor
Bates spent over three decades in civic and political service, starting with becoming the first mayor of Laguna Niguel in 1989 and serving on the city council for a decade.
She became a California state assemblymember in 1998 and was the founding chair of the Republican Women’s Caucus. She stayed in the post until 2004, then joined the Orange County Board of Supervisors in 2007, serving until 2014 when she was elected to the state Senate.
During her eight years as a state senator, she authored legislation that included cracking down on sex offenders and illegal distributors of fentanyl and fighting homelessness. Bates sponsored Brandon’s Law, prohibiting drug rehabilitation facilities from misrepresenting their services.
She was elected as the state Senate minority leader in 2017 and the second woman in California’s history to lead a party caucus. She served in the Senate until 2022 and has retired.
Bates earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Occidental College in 1961 and became a social worker for Los Angeles County. In the 1980s, she was involved in making her community safer and worked to install traffic safety improvements in Laguna Niguel.
She is a founding member of the Conservative Women’s Leadership Association of South Orange County, which expanded and became the California Women’s Leadership Association.
Tony Rackauckas, Former Orange County District Attorney and Judge
Rackauckas served in the U.S. Army from 1962 to 1964 and then joined the reserves until 1969.
During his time in the reserves, he earned an associate degree in arts from Long Beach City College and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Cal State Long Beach. After college, he worked as a social worker for Los Angeles County.
In 1971, Rackauckas earned a law degree from Loyola Law School and practiced in Los Angeles County for a year. He then became Orange County deputy district attorney until 1988. A decade later, he was elected Orange County district attorney and took office in January 1999, serving until 2019.
Before becoming the district attorney, he was appointed to the North Orange County Municipal Court and later to Orange County Superior Court. In 1997, he became presiding judge of the Appellate Department of the Orange County Superior Court.
Nick Berardino, Former Union Leader
Berardino is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968. After his military service, he joined the Orange County Employees Association in 1973. He later became the union’s general manager, serving until 2015.
Under Berardino’s leadership, membership grew from 5,000 to over 18,000. He negotiated more than 250 collective bargaining agreements and advocated for veterans, such as securing flexible schedules for reservists and protections for returning Vietnam veterans.
The prominent labor leader was the first from Orange County elected executive vice president of the California AFL-CIO Board, representing 2.1 million workers.
Berardino founded the Heroes Hall Museum at the OC Fair and Event Center and VALOR (Veterans Alliance of Orange County), a coalition of over 150 organizations advocating for a state veterans cemetery in Orange County.
Berardino has organized Veterans Day events and community service projects supporting veterans across California.
His many honors include being an inductee to the 2024 Orange County Hall of Fame. He also received the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award for his lifelong commitment to fostering a stronger nation through volunteer service.
Established as the Oral History Program, the Lawrence de Graaf Center for Oral and Public History maintains the largest regionally focused oral history archive in California, with more than 6,600 recorded interviews, related transcripts, photographs and other materials.