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The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of California Education Fund and asked of all candidates for this office.
See below for questions on
Budget,
Government reform,
Higher education,
Major issues
Click on a name for candidate information. See also more information about this contest.
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1. How will you prioritize the budget choices the Legislature must make to align the state’s income and spending?
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Answer from Firenza Xuan Pini:
Stop the spending spree
Reduce taxes across the board, lighten the regulations on businesses (excessive permits, part-time employment restrictions, etc.)
Every time California has done put these measures into place, the economy has been able to recover.
Utilize special fund set asides to entice early retirement of state employees; set no rehire of upper level management positions.
Put all state workers at staggered 3 and 4 day work week until budget is balanced; this includes legislature.
Answer from Pamela Elizondo:
Taxpayer's dollar would only be spent on restoration of Earth & Inhabitants. We would encourage local employment providing most our needs locally cutting down on mass commuting & building new roads & bridges. Paid $15 an hour, a 30 hour workweek, A $300 monthly living stipend equals $27,000 yearly less then jail or prison, creating taxpaying consumers, less need for costly judicial & penal systems ,employment, not profit from imprisonment. Saving & providing water is a major issue new dams & canals will not address,nor will solar panels or windmills. We need financial reform & an oxygen source for water that only growing marijuana can provide.
Answer from Tom Lynch:
We need a new social contract, a new operating system; major reforms to make provision of services government once performed for generations, sustainable.
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2. What types of changes or reforms, if any, do you think are important to make our state government function more effectively?
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Answer from Tom Lynch:
To make State, County and Local government perform more effectively we must fully pay for services provided by our public servants the year given...in other words we have to stop giving benefits for one years service paid for over the next 20-30 years by the next generation of taxpayers and government workers.
Answer from Pamela Elizondo:
We need to stop the costly war on drugs, particularly marijuana. Our state legislative body overwhelmingly passed industrial hemp bills 2006, 2007, 2011 to be vetoed by our governor. Imagine the PROFIT sustainable yield business, local employment, ENVIRONMENTAL HEALING of marijuana farms not arms as substitute for current source of fossil fuel products, [gasoline, non-toxic plastic wrap & containers for food], [toilet] paper, nuclear, hydro, coal energy, incinerator toilets that use no water or septic, dirty air, food, water, unemployment, failing economy, environment, socisl security & services, health care.
Answer from Firenza Xuan Pini:
Audit all state agencies and programs for duplicity, effectiveness, fraud and abuse. End all non-essential agencies and programs.
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3. Fees for public higher education have gone up dramatically and funding has been cut. Is this a priority concern, and if so, what measures would you propose to address it?
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Answer from Tom Lynch:
For twenty years UC California has had a pension holiday whereas neither the University, faculty nor staff contributed one dime to their retirement and now we are doubling tuition in order to fund retirements. Much of the money to pay the tuition increase is from ridiculously expensive loans at 6.8% interest paid over the next 25 years! This is a great injustice that needs to be corrected by freezing pensions and working toward reforming the system.
Answer from Firenza Xuan Pini:
Cut administration salaries and/or positions; higher graduate students for required courses to enable students to complete degree more quickly; allow longer term student loans
Answer from Pamela Elizondo:
I believe the whole educational system should be changed to promote more Earth-healing behavior. Our taxdollars support colleges & universities which teach the practise of
repulsive medical care, animal experimentation, research of weapons of mass destruction,[nuclear, drones, space reasearch for warfare. The national anthem should be changed to America the Beautiful or This land is MY land.
Jobs should be localized so families have more productive time together to promote a feeling of selfworth in our people that would lead to loving our environment, wanting to save it. If we finance universities they should be used only to teach healing of Earth, or used as employment agencies to promote such.
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4. What other major issues do you think the Legislature must address? What are your own priorities?
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Answer from Firenza Xuan Pini:
Re-negotiate public employee pensions, encourage early retirement; expand fire prevention on-site labor work to increase jobs and to decrease fire suppression costs (one ounce of prevention is work more than a pound of treatment)
in order to saveguard our forests, state land, natural resources and communities. Utilize removal of forest fuel loads to create biomass energy production centers throughout the state.
Answer from Pamela Elizondo:
My priorities are to use taxpayer's dollars only for restoration of Earth & Inhabitants. We need to legalize marijuana, grow everywhere as substitute for all its uses to create mass employment which leads to a greater tax base. We should divert any money used for taxpayer's non-profit organizations, [defense, space research, unneeded building] to grants for business used only for employment with great benefits restoring Earth. We should give business & landowner's tax exemptions & deductions only for percentage money spent restoring Earth. For increased tax base charge one cent, federal, state, county tax every dollar transaction, rather then current form.
Answer from Tom Lynch:
-Reform of retirement benefits.
-Intergenerational equity.
-Economic development, working with encouraging business to remain in the State instead of leaving.
Responses to questions asked of each candidate
are reproduced as submitted to the League.
Candidates' statements are presented as
submitted. References to opponents are not permitted.
The order of the candidates is random and changes daily. Candidates who did not respond are not listed on this page.
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League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
