Candidate for
Mayor; City of Santa Ana

How do you think you can improve Santa Ana?

• The City Council has developed some great long-term plans to improve the city, but before we can really improve the city, we need to concentrate our efforts in three foundational areas: (1) take back our streets from the gangs; (2) improve our schools and bring our largest High Schools out of the bottom 5% in the state; and (3) help reduce the almost 15% unemployment rate of our Santa Ana residents. I will work with county, state, and federal agencies, as well as with the private sector to bring more resources and programs to Santa Ana, which will aid in developing long-term plans in these three fundamental areas.

• I will work with the Santa Ana Police Department to find ways to get more police officers on the streets of Santa Ana. I want to look at other cities' best practices and bring in long-term solutions for cleaning up our gang and crime problems. I will use the City Attorney's Office and the County District Attorney's Office to get more court injunctions against gangs. I also want to partner with county, state, and federal agencies to help implement those injunctions and to supplement the Santa Ana Police Department's Gang Unit to reduce the number of gangs and their influence on our children.

• I will work with county, state, and federal agencies on grants and funding. I will also work with the City Manager to reduce the burden of excessive, redundant and unnecessary paperwork on businesses working with the government. I will ensure that the right programs are in places that affect real people on a daily basis. I will seek to balance our budget, moving funds from projects that are wasteful into areas that are productive.

• This is very important! Santa Ana's City Motto is "Education First". Even though Santa Ana Unified School District receives most of its funding from the State of California, it is a reflection on our city. I will partner with the School District and School Board to find ways to help reduce costs due to state budget cuts, and increase availability of good teachers and programs to help the students learn and stay in school. I also would encourage the School Board to turn the low performing schools into charter or magnet schools with community accountability reports and weekly teacher/parent communication reports. I would also encourage the schools to implement outreach programs to keep students from being drawn into gangs and into affiliation with known gang members.

• I will seek county assistance in promoting stay-in-school incentives and assisting students struggling to learn.

• As Orange County's seat, it is important to the county that Santa Ana schools do well. It is also critically important today that parents be a part of public education in their community by being connected to how their children are doing in school, receiving regular communication from teachers, and ensuring their children are in school every day. I would encourage more parent involvement with a minimum amount of parent involvement required.

• I also believe that effective education policy includes returning authority to the states from the federal government, and empowering parents with the opportunity to choose a safe and effective education for their children from among public, private, charter, and homeschool opportunities.

• I want to start a newsletter available via email to keep Santa Ana residents informed on how I am working for them and to keep me accountable to my goals for the city. I also want to have more open forums with the residents through Town Hall meetings, virtual roundtables, and regular office hours for residents to come in to talk to me and the City Manager regarding any ideas they have to help the city grow.

• History has proven that the most effective way to grow an economy is through the reduction of the tax burden on businesses and individuals. Data from the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Office of Management and Budget shows that significant tax cuts in 1962 under President Kennedy, and, then again, in 1981 under President Reagan resulted in increased revenue for the government because more people had money to spend on developing businesses. This, in turn, reduced unemployment and gave those newly employed individuals more money for purchasing goods, all resulting in a healthy, growing economy.

• American labor law is largely a product of the conditions and perspectives of the 1930s. Yet, in today's economy, labor market and labor-management relations are very different from that time. As a member and subcommittee chairperson of a labor management committee, it is my opinion that the law should be changed to reflect today's economy and foster a stronger labor market. The law should promote competition and mobility, instead of erecting barriers that prevent workers from getting ahead. The law should stop rewarding those workers who have been fired or forced to resign because of criminal activity, allowing them to continue receiving inflated pensions.

• I also believe that the unemployment rate is up mostly due to the sharp drop in private-sector job creation. The massive stimulus bill championed by President Obama did nothing to "create or save" millions of jobs. Any jobs bill that relies on government spending without improving the investment and entrepreneurship climate will fail.

• The family, centered on marriage, is the building block of society. When marriages and families are healthy, communities thrive and government is limited; when marriages break down, communities break down and government's role expands. Research shows that good policy places marriage and the family at the center, working to promote and strengthen this long-established institution.

• I understand that many residents in Santa Ana depend on public transportation. I will work closely with the Orange County Transportation Agency to ensure that any available grants or funding for Santa Ana is spent with all of Santa Ana in mind. I am against the Transit Line because, even in a strong economy, building a high-speed rail makes little sense, offering minimal reductions in travel times at exorbitant costs. In the current weak economy and with Santa Ana facing massive budget deficits, the city simply cannot afford to squander more money that will, at best, serve a minute fraction of the traveling public. The city would be better off either not spending the money or spending it on something productive, such as more police officers to ensure we have safer streets.

• Illegal immigration is a federal or state issue, not a city issue. I believe that the city should follow and enforce all laws and ensure that all residents are law- abiding citizens.

• I also believe that the United States was established on principles that support the welcoming of new residents to our shores to learn and embrace American civic culture and political institutions through the processes of immigration and naturalization. Over the past several decades, however, immigration policy has become skewed, falsely presented as an uncompromising decision between unfettered immigration and none at all. Recently, the Obama Administration has begun to call for granting amnesty to the some 10.8 million illegal immigrants in the United States, as part of a comprehensive immigration reform. Before we can have immigration reform, we need to concentrate on border security, interior enforcement, and legal immigration processes.

• I believe we have a special responsibility to protect the country's environment and to preserve its natural beauty. I am against those who foolishly pollute or cause great harm to our environment. I also believe that energy demand in the United States and all over the world is increas¬ing at a dramatic rate. Instead of enacting policies to increase the supply of energy, however, Congress has been working to restrict it. Policies aimed at curbing global warming, such as reducing carbon dioxide emissions and subsidizing renewable energy sources, will do little to affect the environment and a lot to increase the price of energy for American families.

• I would encourage our state and federal leaders to help create programs and tax breaks to create a business atmosphere needed for exploration and distribution, producing domestic supplies safely, and developing viable new energy sources. I also would encourage them to make all sources of energy within U.S. borders accessible. The federal government has placed too many restrictions on domestic oil and natural gas production. Failure to make full use of these domestic energy resources exacerbates the security and cost problems caused by geopolitical events and makes America more vulnerable to supply disruptions and price increases. Lastly, I would recommend that we use nuclear energy as it provides a reliable source of energy with zero carbon dioxide emissions.

• I can not address the water program specifically, but I would work to ensure that any funds that are collected from our residents are needed and are being spent in the most fiscally conservative way.

• My experience comes from living and working in Santa Ana all of my life. I have extensive experience in managing money, and administrating people and programs. The most important qualification I have, however, is the fact that I am your neighbor, your co-worker, and your friend. I am someone who is tired of living in a city where I see so much potential and not enough leadership to make the largest city of Orange County a great place to call home. I have the desire to win, and the willingness and fortitude to work hard for you. That's one of the great things about living in the United States of America; ours is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. We are not limited to just being observers of government. I believe it is my civic duty to step forward and to promote our government's responsibilities of righting the wrong, rewarding the good, and fostering the changes that are needed.

• One of my children's favorite movies is Ratatouille. The following is a snippet, in which the food critic Anton Ego talks about how he realized that Chef Gusteau was right about anyone being able to cook.

• Not everyone can become a great leader or great mayor, but a great leader or great mayor can come from anywhere.