League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
	Santa Clara County, CA November 4, 2014 Election
	Candidates Answer Questions on the Issues Council Member; City of San Jose; Council District 7

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of San Jose/Santa Clara and asked of all candidates for this office.     See below for questions on Experience, Budget, Concerns, Balancing interests, Campaign financing Click on a name for candidate information.   See also more information about this contest. 1. What experience related to city government would you bring to the City Council? Answer from Tam Nguyen: As attorney representing working families I share their frustration with city bureaucracy, redundancy, inefficiency and waste. Last year I represented 2 residents facing investigation by the City Election Commission, and I discovered exposed the weaknesses of the ordinance and its unfair implementation. As former member of Mayor's McEnery commission, I worked to bring the city to the people. 2. San Jose budget difficulties have resulted in unprecedented cuts to staff and services. How will you deal with coming shortfalls? Restoring some of the City services? And, if you think the City needs additional resources, what are your ideas for increasing revenues? Answer from Tam Nguyen: San Jose chose to pay shooting victims' families instead of training officers to shoot less and use disarming skills. We can cut waste and save money by smart coordination of services, agencies and reduce redtapes. Raising revenues by taxes (general/sales) or surtaxes (construction, developments) should be used as last resort. 3. What concerns are of particular importance to the city and how would you address them? Answer from Tam Nguyen: Lack of participation / communication with residents. The city should move quickly to digitization and become more accessible to the pubic. Next: The inequality and growing poverty is my deep concern. The homelessness is victim of vicious economic cycle, we should prevent them through job training, counseling and assistance before people become homeless. Throwing money at them is not a solution 4. How would you balance the needs of the City as a whole while also addressing needs of your district as well as those of special groups? Answer from Tam Nguyen: My district needs should be my top concern within the balance of city-wide needs. The city council format and structure help prevent unfair or unbalanced apportionment of city resources. The large portion of city budget is for critical services for the entire city. 5. How much money do you expect to raise/spend on your race, and how will you assure voters that financial contributions will not affect your decisions/positions should you be elected? Answer from Tam Nguyen: I have raised $45,000 which is more than that I need to campaign and I'm doing very well with my voters. Direct phone-banking results show that 50% voters support my candidacy. Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' statements are presented as submitted. The answer to each question should be limited to 400 words. Direct 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.