Candidates for 28th state assembly seat run positive race
focused on issues
With roughly 160,000 constituents and jagged boundary lines that
stretch from King City to the eastern edge of the Alameda County
line, the race for the 28th State Assembly seat is focusing on a
variety of diverse issues.
Candidates for 28th state assembly seat run positive race focused on issues
With roughly 160,000 constituents and jagged boundary lines that stretch from King City to the eastern edge of the Alameda County line, the race for the 28th State Assembly seat is focusing on a variety of diverse issues.
On Tuesday, voters will decide whether Democratic incumbent Simon Salinas or
Republican challenger Jane Howard is best to represent this area at the state level.
Among the focus of the two candidates are voter concerns over the area’s ever-shrinking farmland, safety concerns on Highway 25 as well as the region’s educational and affordable housing needs.
Salinas was first elected to the position in November of 2000. Prior to his current stint in the State Assembly, he served two terms on the Monterey County Board of Supervisors and was a member of the Salinas City Council. Salinas feels his experience in Sacramento and understanding of the area is most important.
“I’ve already got one term under my belt,” said the 47-year-old assemblyman. “And I’ve built a lot of good, bipartisan relationships up there and legislative support for issues in my district.”
But Howard believes that Sacramento needs a breath of fresh air. She believes that the district, and state in general, would benefit from her philosophy.
“Look at the leadership that’s up there now. The state is $24 billion in debt,” she said. “That can’t be good. I want to have the government look at local responsibility and control less legislation. Rather than look at ways to raise taxes, I would look at conservative spending.”
In recent months, the two have been on the campaign trail, covering the district’s 10 cities and four counties. Salinas has put a lot of effort into mailings, radio advertising and signage to help pull in the vote. He has also made his presence felt at several area meetings and has campaigned hard for the Hispanic vote. But since he is still in office, he hasn’t been able to go door-to-door much, he said.
Howard, on the other hand, has spent 100 hours walking neighborhoods and knocking on doors to ensure her success on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, she spoke with The Pinnacle by cell phone while knocking on doors in the foothills of San Jose.
“This is the good, old-fashion way of getting elected,” she said. “I’m on adrenaline right now. I’ve still got a fire in my belly but I’m a little tired. I’ve been doing this since January.”
Howard is married and has two stepdaughters and four step grandchildren. She has lived in Gilroy for the past 21 years.
Although Salinas has a lead in the polls, neither candidate is slowing efforts down the stretch.
“I’m always running and I campaign to the last minute,” Salinas said.
Then he continued in a confident manner.
“When I get back, I’m going to put together a legislative package that focuses on the ideas we have been gathering from the voting constituents.”
Howard does not have as much experience as Salinas and believes that is an
asset-especially in a state government that’s faced with so many problems and bureaucratic red tape.
“My initial impetus to get in this race was educational issues,” said Howard, a former member of the Gilroy Unified School District Board of Trustees. “If elected, I will work right away to downsize the education code. I want to untie the strings that are attached to the current system and give more control to local teachers, school board and administrators and let them decide what they need. I’m tired of Sacramento’s one-size-fits-all approach.”
In addition to her concerns over education, Howard, 50, also believes that solving the state’s shortfall should ultimately be everyone’s top priority in Sacramento.
“The biggest umbrella over all of this is the state’s budget deficit because that affects everything else,” she said. “I want to look at a constitutional amendment that looks at the rate of expenditures to the rate of inflation increase and population increase. In the last three years, expenditure waivers were up 37 percent but population and inflation were only up 12 percent.”
In addition to her work with the school district, Howard has held several other key
positions in the local community. She was president of the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce in 1997 and Leadership Gilroy in 1999. Currently she is the director of the Gilroy Rotary Club.
Howard describes herself as someone who gets things done. She believes much of her work ethic stemmed from her background growing up in a small community in Indiana.
“I’m not one to blame others,” she said. “I’m the type of person who likes to roll up their sleeves and get it done. That’s the problem with society today; people like to blame others. But they need to take responsibility.”
If elected, Salinas would welcome another term. So far he is happy with all that he has achieved but would like to have the opportunity to do more.
While in office, he has been most pleased with his efforts to make Highway 25 safer and his work to preserve farmland through tax incentives.
“Securing money for the safety improvements on 25 and saving the Williamson Act dollars used to preserve fertile farmland – I would say that those are my two greatest accomplishments,” Salinas said. “The Williamson Act was earmarked to be eliminated from the budget and I helped get it back in.”
With those accomplishments behind him, Salinas still has a lot of work ahead. In the future, his most difficult challenge could be going to bat for a district with little political clout.
“The challenge ahead will be to protect local government funding. (As the state tries to balance its budget) the tendency will be to do it on the backs of local governments,” he said.
In addition, he sees the housing issue as another major challenge.
“We need to balance the need for affordable housing with managed growth,” he said. “How do we build affordable housing while at the same time protecting open space?”
While the state is currently $24 billion in the red, projections call for that figure to go down to$10 billion by the end of 2004.
Salinas believes another challenge that won’t go away is being so far away from his constituents. From January to the end of August, he is in Sacramento four days a week. For that reason, he doesn’t often have the time he would like to have to talk with members of the community on a one-on-one basis.
“I have to look to my staff to keep me informed,” Salinas said. “Fortunately, I have a very good staff.”
So far, the two have had a very positive campaign and have made issues, not mudslinging, the main focus.
“I think we have a philosophical difference,” said Howard. “What I’ve dealt with in business and on the school board has had hands-on implications. Simon has gotten away from that a bit.”
Then she continued.
“Agriculture is the biggest industry in the district. I would repeal the binding arbitration bill that was supported by my opponent.”
Prior to her work in the public sector, Howard and her husband owned and operated a chain of tire stores in the Bay Area that they sold in 1995.
