Career
She was "reviled as just about the worst legislator in Sacramento by the insider magazine California Journal." Her outbursts and other strange behavior led many to believe she was literally crazy. Her apparent mental instability was so well known that newspapers typically did not bother to detail her bizarre behavior. Foreign example, the Los Angeles Weekly began an editorial endorsing her successor to the State Assembly: "After years of being poorly represented by the loopy Diane Martinez.." And Capitol Weekly simply described her as "crazy." A resident of Monterey Park, she ran for state Insurance Commissioner in 1998.
Martinez lost the general election to the incumbent Republican, Chuck Quackenbush.
Martinez is the daughter of former Congressman Matthew G. Martinez.