Candidate for
Republican Party County Central Committee; Supervisorial District 1

Jerry Simmons was born and raised in Santa Clara County Supervisory District #1. His father was a public school teacher in the district and his mother is a computer programming analyst. Jerry attended local public schools and graduated from San Jose State University and Pepperdine School of Law. During his college years, he served as a member of the West Valley-Mission Community College District Board of Trustees, City of San Jose Parks and Recreation Commission, and numerous education policy committees in Silicon Valley. He also served as Student Body President at San Jose State University and as Associate Editor for the Times Newspaper Group, a chain of community newspapers in the South Bay Area.

At San Jose State, he founded the largest scholarship endowment fund of any campus in the California State University System by persuading students to dedicate 10% of their student body fees to scholarships. He also worked closely with University President Robert Caret to secure community and faculty support for the construction of a new joint library with the City of San Jose, which the State Legislature recently approved. Finally, he chaired the SJSU Child Care Task Force, which supervised the financing, design and operation of a new child care center for the university without using any tax dollars.

As a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission, Jerry chaired the Park Development and Open Space Committee, which recommended revision of city ordinances to protect Silicon Valley hillsides from development. Under his leadership, the commission also recommended changes to ensure that developers contributed their fair share to the land acquisition costs associated with developing parks in new neighborhoods.

Jerry also was a founding board member of Kids Voting San Jose, a nonprofit organization that partnered with the San Jose Mercury News, KNTV Channel 11, and every school district in the city to install a nonpartisan curriculum that teaches children about the democratic process. Every child is allowed to cast a Kids Voting ballot on Election Day in an election booth at their parent's polling site. These votes are tabulated and reported by the local media in an effort to encourage young people to become involved in the political process when they are eligible to vote.

In law school, Jerry focused his attention on education and special education issues. He conducted a workshop for school superintendents and school board members sponsored by the National School Safety Institute that educated them on ways they could legally prevent school violence through drug and weapons searches. He also volunteered his time at the Pepperdine Law School Special Education Clinic representing disabled children in their efforts to obtain educationally related services that they needed to benefit from their education.

If you would like to learn more about me, please visit my "campaign website"<http://www.RepublicanCommittee.com>.