Rep. Liz Malia on Her Tough Targets

Strong against unfair foreclosures, MA Rep. Elizabeth (Liz) Malia fights her most frequent battles not in housing but as co-chair of the Joint Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse.

With much to be done and quite literally lives to be saved, she IDs core issues related to the likes of prescription drug abuse and kids accessing their parents' pills. Her drug-abuse bill this year made many massive improvements.

We'll surely get to mental-health parity, which she and her co-chair call a myth.

Oh, she initially was known as the openly lesbian legislator. She's does not see that as defining her, just one aspect of who she is. She's busy.