Candidate for
State Senator; District 10

I am a native Californian, who has lived here all of my life. I remember what this state was like before the far left destroyed it to fashion their utopia. Budgets used to balance, schools were the best in the nation, taxes were low and fair, crime was rare, business thrived, the business climate was amenable to success, and the state was a leader. Now, California is ranked at the bottom for business climate due to excessive taxes and regulation. Businesses are fleeing the state. Taxes are sky high, but the budget still isn't being balanced. It is unsafe it large swaths of our urban environment due to crime. Schools rank at the bottom in the nation. Unemployment is destroying our livelihoods and eating our retirement savings.

These are the inevitable consequences of regulatory intrusion, unconstrained entitlement programs, union control of state jobs, confiscatory tax rates, poor budget priorities, and failure to attend to the proper role of government, which is to defend and promote our inalienable rights of life, liberty, property, safety and the pursuit of happiness.

I have worked all of my life in the private sector, including a period of time in the "Military Industrial Complex." I saw the way that government operates, and the consequences of attempting central planning. It does not work well. I have learned through my experience how to manage budgets, control costs, create individual initiative, and lead others. I understand the empowering that arises from delegation of responsibility. I understand that decentralized decision making, while it appears 'inefficient' because of duplication, is actually the most efficient system because it allows for unique problems to be solved locally and uniquely.

I have started several small businesses. I currently own and operate a commercial kitchen with my wife. This is in addition to a full-time job at a major technology company in San Jose/Milpitas. Starting a commercial kitchen requires regulatory review and approvals that seem similar to getting permits for a nuclear waste processing facility. Navigating contradictory regulations from the 37 agencies that are in some way involved in a commercial food processing facility, while still trying to create a profitable business, is an incredibly complicated and expensive task. With the millions we have invested in our business, we will not walk away - we are here, in California, for the long haul. But we have to restore it to a functional, pro-business environment.