Candidate for
Member of the State Assembly; District 28; Democratic Party

I decided to run for Assembly because I am have seen with my own eye to the state's arbitrary ripping of funds from local governments, in my case, the kids of Gilroy Unified.

My priority in the Assembly is to be one voice of sanity for protecting funds for education, public safety and municipal services and raising the revenues to do it.

My strategy if elected is to protect my vote from passing any deals that take more resources away from local governments and to make my vote available to sensible policies that generate additional and consistent revenues for the state to provide services for the people who most need them.

Budget reform:

I support a majority vote threshold to pass a budget. I would consider a 55% threshold if it had a better chance of passing.

Education:

I firmly believe in local control. As a school board member for sixteen years I believe decisions are made best when they are made at a local level. The state needs to give greater flexibility to our school districts. We need to increase equitable school funding for our schools. However, with local control we must also have measures of accountability. We must create a system of accountability at all levels from the Superintendent down to the classroom teacher. Finally, we must close the achievement gap. In order for our state economy to survive we need to have a qualified and educated workforce.

Jobs:

We must create new jobs and we can not allow jobs to leave California. Our tax structure badly needs to be changed. We must look at incentives for business and we must look at job training for the future workforce. Lower taxes along with balancing the budget must go hand in hand to assist California to economic recovery.

Health Care:

Health insurance premiums continue to grow every year overwhelming our economy. We need a modern universal health care system that provides every California resident with comprehensive benefits for life, containing the growth in health care spending and ensuring patient-centered, high quality health care for all Californians.

Economic And Tax Policies:

California needs to become more small business friendly to create more sustainable job growth. That means expanding career and business education and ending corporate tax loopholes to ease the tax burden on entrepreneurs. We also need dedicate our state to types of industries that economically viable for the long term, like infrastructure work and the research and creation of clean sources of power.

In addition, California needs to end the wild fluctuations in tax revenues. While we need to raise revenues, through expanding sales tax to services for example; we also need public employees and state officials to work together to moderate the impacts of spending.