Candidate for
Member of the State Assembly; District 6

I am running on a strong social agenda, focusing on problems of most concern to California families on a day-to-day basis.

HEALTHCARE: We need universal healthcare coverage. US families spent $1 trillion on health issues annually. California families pay over $5,000 per year in insurance premiums. The most recent study from the US Census shows 20.3% of Californians had no health insurance in 1999. This is unacceptable, especially after California lost $590 million in federal funding for California's Healthy Families program to insure children.

EDUCATION. Children are the most neglected segment of our society. On most measures of quality education, California ranks near the bottom. The educational bureaucracy cannot make the long-term changes we need. I would work hard for smaller classroom size for all grades, more power for local school boards, more freedom for teachers in the classroom, and more counseling and tutoring for children who need these services.

CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM. State legislators are caught in the middle, struggling to balance competing money interests. Citizens have the right to be assured that their elected officials will listen to everyone with the same attentiveness, whether they contribute money or not, whether they are part of a PAC or not. Unlike my opponents, I have set strict contribution limits for my campaign.

ENVIRONMENT. It is wrong to pollute our beaches, our air, water, and land. I am in favor of protecting irreplaceable desert, mountain, and forest wildernesses and streams. It is poor public policy to damage the Sonoma County ecosystem by building a water pipeline to Marin. This will only promote more real estate development and increase highway construction. We need more attention to conservation and preservation -- environmental friendly solutions.

CRIME AND DRUGS. Crime in our country is overwhelmingly related to drugs. California must begin to spend more for education and rehabilitation, not for prison construction. Decriminalizing drugs will lower crime rates and eliminate the economic market for the drug pusher.

OTHER ISSUES. I believe strongly in women's right of reproductive choice. I believe in equal rights for everyone.