Mike Machado Opens His Mouth and Inserts His Foot

It seems that Joe Biden is not the only Democrat with a propensity to shoot his mouth off and say the exact wrong thing.

A few weeks ago we castigated the Stockton Record for thinking so parochially in the State Senate Race. They argued that voters should support Republican Greg Aghazarian primarily because he is from Stockton and Stockton needs representation in Sacramento. Yolo and Solano Counties, be darned. Public policy issues and the fact that Aghazarian would be in the minority party and have considerably less power to enact legislation to help the district also did not seem to weigh into their minds.

However, it is one thing for a newspaper to say it. It is another thing for the outgoing state senator to say it.

But that is exactly what Senator Mike Machado said in the Stockton Record yesterday.

It appears that Lois Wolk is in pretty good shape to win the State Senate Seat. But fellow Democrat Alyson Huber who is battling for an open Assembly Seat in a district that oddly includes Amador County, Sacramento County, and San Joaquin County, certainly did not need that kind of help.

Here is what the Record writes:

"The race to fill the seat of Linden Democrat Michael Machado, who leaves the California Senate this year because of term limits, is pivotal. Assemblywoman Lois Wolk, D-Davis, and Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian, R-Stockton, are vying to replace him.

Lodi Republican Alan Nakanishi is another victim of term limits. A race for his 10th District Assembly seat between Democrat Alyson Huber of El Dorado Hills and Lodi Republican Jack Sieglock is hotly contested.

If the Democrats take these two seats, local residents will end up with no representatives in Sacramento who live in the county."

However, then Mike Machado had to open his mouth.

Machado said that outcome would leave the county at a disadvantage.

"It's going to be a challenge for this area to have a voice," he said. "There are a lot of issues unique to the area that aren't necessarily in sync with the rest of the districts."

This is just a baffling statement considering that Senator Machado has endorsed both Wolk and Huber in their respective races.

As I said, Wolk is probably safe in the now Democratic-tilting Fifth Senate District. But Huber is locked in a tough battle. She was born and raised in San Joaquin County, in Lodi. Still has family in Lodi. She is not exactly going to sell out the interests of Stockton while in Sacramento. Neither for that matter is Lois Wolk.

As Democrats, in the majority in their respective branches of the legislature, they will actually be more likely to be able to enact legislation to help all parts of the district, not just the Stockton fiefdom that seems so vital to those in the Southern half of their respective districts.

Senator Mike Machado owes both of these women an apology.

Thanks to fellow activist and blogger Randy Bayne for the tip on this story, he covered it in his own blog.

---David M. Greenwald reporting

Republicans Wave the White Flag of Surrender in the 5th Senate District

This was supposed to be one of the few contested Senate Races in the State of California. It pitted two sitting Assemblymembers--Lois Wolk from Davis versus Greg Aghazarian the Republican from Stockton.

Four years ago, this race went down to the wire. It was a hotly contested and bitter affair. Incumbent Mike Machado ended up prevailing and holding onto his seat by a somewhat deceptively wide margin.

However, things have changed in four years. The landscape is vastly different as is the district. Democrats now hold a 15-point advantage in this seat. And unlike 2004 which ended up being a narrowly Republican year, this year may be unlike any we've seen since 1974 or 1964. By the end of this year, even 2006 which saw the Democrats retake both houses of Congress may look tame by comparison.

It was under those terms that Greg Aghazarian ran trying to be the independent or maverick Republican. The only problem is that Greg Aghazarian is neither of those and people are tired of listening to Republicans tell them how different they are as they vote for more of the same.

According to internal polls, with less than a week to go, Lois Wolk is up by around 20 points. Given the relatively low profile of this race, the partisan breakdown of this district, and the overall political landscape, this one is over.

The California Majority Report yesterday reported that the Republicans have pulled their money out of this district and pulled the plug on future ads for Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian.

Democrats are now focusing on shoring up other districts and have put huge amounts of money into two key races. One is the 19th Senate District where former Assemblymember Hannah-Beth Jackson is locked in a baton-death march against conservative Tony Strickland who is trying to convince voters in Santa Barbara that he is green by featuring ads with PG&E killer Erin Brockowich.

Interestingly enough the California Majority Report also mentioned that Democrats are pumping money into the 30th Assembly District where Shafter Mayor Fran Florez faces Republican Danny Gilmore. That is a race of interest because not only is it Democratic pariah Nicole Parra's seat, not only is Parra supporting the Republican, but the Democrat is the son of Senator Dean Florez, a highly ranking member of the Senate and a candidate for Lt. Governor in 2010.

Politicker however reports that spokepeople for both the Aghazarian campaign and the Wolk campaign are still doing battle. Tom Haggins of the Wolk campaign suggests he expects the Aghazarian campaign which still have significant money and resources in their own right will go negative in the last two weeks. Meanwhile the spokesperson for the Aghazarian campaign said they have more money and their ads will continue to run.

What do you expect from the campaigns--they can't take anything for granted. Yesterday, the Davis Enterprise reported that Assembly candidate Mariko Yamada, who is running for the safe 8th AD is saying the same thing.

"I'm taking the general election as seriously as I did the primary... I don't want to take anything for granted."

Rhetoric aside, the 8th AD is a safe Democratic seat and the 5th SD is not far behind it. The battlegrounds have shifted. Look no further than on the national scene. Democrats are doing battle with Republicans in red states for the Presidency and Senate seats.

In California, the hottest contested races are places like the 4th Congressional District, one of the most heavily Republican districts in the state which just may go Democrat and some polls even show that Bill Durston is in the game against Dan Lungren for the 3rd Congressional District.

The only question at this point is how good a year will it be for the Democrats.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

Endorsement Watch: 5th Senate and Measure W

'Tis the season to watch Sunday newspaper endorsements. For those who have been reading this blog for awhile, you know that for some reason I love to read and critique newspaper endorsements. For me, it gives us an insight into what the media think and to a lesser degree what issues they think are important and how we can evaluate the news overall.

Newspapers will argue that there is a separation of the the news and editorial function, but in my former profession as a social scientist, there has been some interesting empirical studies that argue otherwise.

Besides, at the end of the day, this blog was largely developed to respond to what the mainstream news was reporting and in general to criticize it.

We begin then with two newspaper endorsements that came down yesterday--one involving the 5th Senate District and the other involving Measure W.

STOCKTON RECORD ENDORSES AGHAZARIAN

There is one main reason why the Stockton Record endorses Aghazarian. It is not partisan. In fact, they have endorsed Barack Obama for President and Jerry McNerney for Congress--both of them Democrats. Granted the endorsement of Barack Obama was a very big deal. It was the first time since 1936 that the Stockton Record Endorsed a Democrat.

The reason the Stockon Record endorsed Aghazarian is that he's from Stockton.

"And that brings us to one of the most important reasons Aghazarian should be sent to the Senate: He lives here. He understands the district and its needs. He will be here.

Because of the loony way legislative districts have been carved out - with the express purpose of making them safe for incumbents - it is possible San Joaquin County could end up with no representatives in Sacramento who live in the county. That's unacceptable no matter the sincerity of an out-of-area politician's vow to be in the county often."

Are you kidding me? First of all, the current State Senator is from Linden which is essentially Stockton, so it is not as though there was a long history of Stockton being shutout of the Senate Seat. Second, it's a big district. It goes from San Joaquin County to Yolo and Solano Counties. Why does Stockton deserve a representative more than Yolo County or Solano County?

I am sorry but that is just selfish. There are many cities in this district, Stockton is the largest one but it's also on one end of the district, the majority of the district would be left high dry by such a move--if we are merely looking at geography.

Can we draw districts more compactly? Certainly, but I am not going to selected my representative based on geography.

A couple of other points that they argue.

"Aghazarian, who used to brag about his ascension through the Republican Party ranks, has reinvented himself for this campaign. His advertisements paint him as the candidate of "independent leadership," never mentioning his party affiliation."

The Record is for some reason buying into Aghazarian's non-partisan rhetoric. The reason he is arguing this is that he is running for election in a Democratic year in a district that has a 15 percent Democratic registration. He has not changed his tune or if he has, make him prove it in the legislature not as part of his campaign rhetoric. In short, his record as an Assemblyman shows nothing to lead one to believe he independent. Nothing.

Finally, I take issue with this:

"Wolk claims she is more effective than Aghazarian at working across the aisle, claiming she has had more bills signed by the Republican governor than any other legislator. In truth, however, most of the bills have been relatively insignificant."

In truth probably most legislation in the California Legislature, is insignificant. However, she did sponsor several key pieces of legislation dealing with flood control, delta protection, and elder protection. Somehow I doubt that Aghazarian has such a legislative record. They certainly do not cite it in the endorsement article.

However, this is really the most illogical of the Record's arguments. Democrats will control roughly 60% of the seats in the State Senate regardless of who wins this seat. Who is going to be the most effective legislator the majority party member or the minority party member? The answer is the majority party member who will pass a much higher percentage of legislation. It is not even close. The Stockton Record does even think about this contradiction with their argument. Aghazarian is not going to as effective as a minority party member as Wolk will as a majority party member, so if that is you rationale for voting, it makes no sense to vote for Aghazarian over Wolk.

In short, the Stockton Record probably has many good reasons to support Aghazarian, but they really do a poor job of selecting three that make no sense. I am sure they really do want Stockton to be Represented, but it's not like Stockton has not been Represented the past eight years. The rest of the District is just as deserving of representation as the City of Stockton.

In my opinion people should vote based on who they most agree with on the issues and who they think will be a better legislator. I cannot answer that question for my readers, but I can say that the Stockton Record falls woefully short in its endorsement criteria, at least the ones it states.

DAVIS ENTERPRISE ENDORSES MEASURE W

This is really not a surprise at all. Let us face it, the Davis Enterprise since 2005 has endorsed the wrong way from my perspective on every single issue except Measures P, Q, and W--the Parcel Taxes. They endorsed Covell Village. They endorsed Target. They endorsed Jeff Reisig for District Attorney. They endorsed Ruth Asmundson and Mike Levy in 2006 for Davis City Council. They endorsed Souza, Saylor and Sydney Vergis this year.

In other words, given that record, it is hard for me to use their endorsement of Measure W for much of anything other than to say that a broken clock is right twice a day--if it is an old fashioned, analog clock. And the Davis Enterprise is certainly that.

And frankly, I think the Stockton Record makes a stronger argument for Aghazarian than the Davis Enterprise does for Measure W.

The argument is this:

"Without the $2.4 million in extra funding per year, we face the same severe cuts and massive teacher layoffs that were threatened last spring. That's when the community came together - led by the Davis Schools Foundation - to raise $1.77 million. That one-time effort, along with more than $1 million in district budget cuts, plugged the hole for this school year only."

What happens if it fails:

"IF MEASURE W FAILS, the community faces another massive fundraising drive to save teachers and programs. Or worse, we face their loss due to budget cuts."

This is a point that has be driven home to voters. The $1.77 million raised by the schools foundation was one-time money the result of a hard drive in the community with the issue firmly in the minds of voters.

However, some need to recognize that that money is one-time money and it is not sustainable.

"But community philanthropy can't always be the answer, said Alan Anderson, the new president of the Davis Schools Foundation. 'Ongoing support is the best way to solve chronic under-funding from the state and to restore confidence in the future of our public schools for families, teachers and, of course, our students.'"

We had Alan Anderson on our radio show last spring, he is exactly right here as he was back then. The support by the Davis Schools Foundation was amazing and it saved programs and teachers but it was a one-time bridge loan, not a means by which to provide ongoing support. The voters need to decide if the programs funded by the $2.4 million and the teachers funded by that money are necessary for the Davis Schools to remain at the top of the state scale.

There are so many more factors that needed to be addressed in this editorial. We have mentioned them in this space time and again, so for now we are just thankful that at the very least the Davis Enterprise has the commitment to provide schools with the necessary funding to continue to function at a high level.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

Lois Wolk closes Gap on Spending in 5th Senate District; Campaigns have spent nearly $2 million combined

Prior to the last reporting period, Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian had a large advantage in money raised over his opponent, Assemblywoman Lois Wolk. However, the last reporting period ending on October 6, 2008 has shown that gap has shrunk considerably.

Los Wolk who represents Yolo and Solano Counties amassed $683,734 in contributions this period compared to Greg Aghazarian's $213,838. Overall Aghazarian has still outraised the heavy favorite Wolk by raising $1.36 million to Wolk's $888,736. However, Wolk now ends the period with $205,000 cash on hand to Aghazarian's $174,000.

A huge amount of Aghazarian's expenditures for this period was a $480,000 TV and Cabale ad buy.



Aghazarian's biggest campaign donors remain the Republican party, however, as you can see from the complete donor list, at least 530 individuals and groups have donated $1000 or more to the Assemblyman's campaign.

• Click here for full list
  

Lois Wolk has also spent over $400,000 on campaign ads in the past month with three different TV or Cable ad buys.



Lois Wolk's, like her opponent, biggest campaign donors are from the Democratic party. She has had around 340 individuals and groups donate $1000 or more to her campaign.

• Click here for the full list
  

Where does that leave this campaign? From what we have seen up in Davis, the campaign is starting to heat up in terms of the number of ads that are running. However, despite the nearly $2 million combined expenditures between the two sides, it appears still a fairly low profile race. It is not the constant air war barrage that we saw four years ago when Incumbent Mike Machado and Former Stockton Mayor Gary Podesto waged a no-holds barred affair.

By contrast this race is tame. We will see if the two parties continue to pump money into this race. It is our guess that internal polls probably show Wolk with a sizable lead and as a result the spending in this race may decline. We will have to monitor to see what is happening.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

5th Senate District Race: War of Words

We have spent a lot of time in the last few days on the national race, something that is rarely done on the Vanguard, a blog that focuses almost exclusively on local issues. In fact, I have probably covered more national issues in the last few weeks than in the previous two years combined.

I have still not heard a coherent, fact based defense for Sarah Palin.

The other race that we are following closely is the race for the 5th Senate District that goes from Stockton to Yolo and Solano Counties. This is a tough race to evaluate. Greg Aghazarian at last reporting had a strong money advantage. However, it is a strongly Democratic year and a district with a 15-point partisan advantage for the Democrats in registration.

So Assemblyman Aghazarian who has a fairly conservative voting record is trying to run as a non-partisan.

He just released his second ad that features his calling for a non-partisan legislature. Again, as we argued earlier in the week, this is simply disengenuous.

The ad features Aghazarian's three sons playing a game called "Legislature."

One son says:

"It's all about me! It's all about me!"

The other puts his fingers in his ears and says:

"I can't hear you..."

"Talk to the hand."

This game, according to Aghazarian who appears on the ad, represents how the legislature operates. He calls for legislators to be elected on a non-partisan basis.

"Our current system of electing legislators by party has created gridlock, with party bosses more interested in preserving their power than solving problems."

Lois Wolk was on the UC Davis campus on Thursday at a College Democrats rally. She attacked her opponent for not acknowledging that he is a Republican.

"I am running in the Senate, as you've heard, against someone who won't even mention the fact that he's a Republican. He won't mention his party. He's not proud he's a Republican. He never mentions it and I understand why. In the Assembly, the Republicans and my opponent have opposed some very interesting bills.

They have opposed the successful effort to ban lead from children's candy. Think about that for a minute. The Governor, a Republican, signed that bill.

They have opposed cleaning up the polluted air in the valley. One in four children takes an inhaler to school. Think about that.

They have opposed most recently the effort to clean up the shoddy mortgage broker practices that have been occurring in this state. Think about that in a Senate district that is probably number one in terms of foreclosures.

They and my opponent have opposed flood protection for homeowners in the Central Valley--an area that floods all too commonly.

And they voted against protecting seniors from those whose caregivers would steal their money.

That's why Republicans are running away from being Republicans."

The Wolk campaign for their part has focused a negative ad on the issue of collecting per diem payments for travel as a legislator despite only living 40 miles from Sacramento. Frankly, though the ad focuses on one of Aghazarian's goals of fiscal responsibility it is not clear why they would choose this above other issues. Indeed, her speech on Thursday would seem to be a far better mode of attack.

Politicker reported on Thursday that the Assemblywoman is paying more for her television commercials in order to avoid a requirement that commercials must feature the face of the candidate who pays for them.

The Politicker explains that campaign commercials are normally charged a lesser rate than other types of ads--as much as 20 to 50 percent lower depending on the policies of the TV station. However, in order to qualify for that lower rate, the candidate's face must appear in the commercial at some point.

The Aghazarian campaign is seizing on this issue. Kevin Spillane, a spokesman for Aghazarian's campaign, said:

"Obviously, her campaign doesn't want to associate her with negative attack, cookie-cutter ads... She's obviously embarrassed about the ads."

He estimates that the Wolk campaign is spending thousands of dollars more for the ad in order to avoid the requirement, a notion that he suggests is "unheard of to me."

The ad in question was featured on Tuesday on page A3 of the Sacramento Bee as part of its "Ad Watch" segment.

The Bee's analysis does point out that only one senator (Sacramento-based Darrell Steinberg) and three Assemblymembers, all of them Sacramento-area members, do not take the payments, including Wolk herself.

The ad is an attempt by Wolk to portray Aghazarian as a hypocrite for taking travel money when he commutes to work.

While per diem may have been designed for legislators who travel long distances, all are entitled to augment their $116,208 annual salary with about $35,000 a year for living expenses while on legislative business in Sacramento. That includes weekends, as long the Legislature is not in recess for more than three consecutive days.

The overwhelming majority of state lawmakers claim the tax-free money. Only one senator, Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, does not accept per diem year round. In the Assembly, Wolk is among three Sacramento-area members who do not take the payments. She commutes from her home in Davis.

The 5th District seat is one of the few competitive legislative races. Sen. Mike Machado, D-Linden, won with less than 53 percent of the vote in both of his elections. Holding the seat would further the Democrats' goal of a two-thirds supermajority in the Senate and allow them to pass a budget without Republican votes.

The question that is unanswered is whether this is really an ad that is going to hold sway over voters during a time of a perilous economy, huge cuts to education, fees raised for college students, and a whole host of other issues facing the state legislature. Why focus on this issue? Again, I think her speech got much more to the heart of the matter.

This week, Lois Wolk came out as a supporter of Proposition 11, the proposition that calls for redistricting reform. Campaign spokespeople did not respond to an email from the Vanguard asking for comment.

So where does this race stand? This is a question that many people throughout the district are asking. With no known polls out it is difficult to assess. Some in San Joaquin County have suggested that her profile there is not very high. Certainly the ad wars have not sufficiently heated up as of yet. There seems to be a level of nervousness being aired privately in some circles, but the fact remains that in a district with a 15 percent partisan advantage favoring the Democrats, in a Democratic year, it seems difficult to conceive of a scenario short of some huge revelation where Wolk would not easily win this race.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

Lt. Gov. Garamendi Headlines Democratic Rally at UC Davis

On Thursday afternoon, four leaders in Democratic politics in this region and this state came to the UC Davis campus in Freeborn Plaza for a campaign rally. There were approximately 150 students who ended listening to the speeches from these four leaders.

The event was organized by the Davis College Democrats--Don Gibson, the President,;Brandon Craig, the Vice President; and Jack Zwald were some of the many key organizers and also introduced several of the main speakers.

The headliner was Lt. Governor John Garamendi, who is going to be one of the Democratic candidate in 2010 for the Governor. Also there were two legislative candidates in Davis and Yolo County--Mariko Yamada who is running as the Democratic nominee for the 8th Assembly District and Lois Wolk who is running as the Democratic nominee for the 5th Senate District in a heated battled against Republican Greg Aghazarian. Finally, Bill Camp, head of the Sacramento Central Labor Council.

John Garamendi gave an impassioned and fiery speech attacking John McCain, Sarah Palin, the Republicans, talking about education and the state budget.

The Lt. Governor began generally:

"We are one month away from one of the most important elections that we have had in a generation, your generation. This is about you Davis students, this is about your future. It is about how this nation is going to represent itself across the world. Whether we are going to continue with the war in Iraq, whether we are actually going to finally deal with the terrorists that attacked this country, or whether we are going to be diverted on a false war brought to us on false premises, by a false president."

Garamendi then talked about Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin:

"There is a debate tonight. Oh come now. It is important who the Vice President is. You look back on the recent history of this nation and it is common that the Vice President becomes the President. This is about the Presidency. This is about who could become President and tonight we are going to see a defining moment in this election... When a person makes a choice about who they choose to be their successor, which is what happens when you choose the Vice Presidential candidate, you're making a statement about your values as President. You're making a statement about how you perceive this nation's future. There's difference here, Barack Obama made a choice, and he reached back to a very successful, well experienced individual who understands foreign policy, who understands the nature of public policy in the United States, whether it's the economy, social, economic issues, environmental issues, international issues... And he chose Joe Biden. A man with experience in the issues of this nation. A man with experience in the issues of the world. Solid. Knowledgeable. Capable of being President. It tells you about the way in which the next President thinks."

"Now at the Republican Convention, McCain came up with a surprise. You draw your own conclusions here. I drew mine. Experience--limited. Knowledge--watch TV. Go to youtube. It's there to be seen. Ability to debate--we'll find out tonight. Ability to be President... oh no we're not talking about Palin, we're talking about McCain making one of the most fundamental decisions that a President must make. That is to choose somebody who could become President at any moment. This is not an academic exercise, this is not about learning. This is about John McCain and how he thinks. Ultimately it's about governing."

Garamendi then talked about the bailout Bill:

"Wall Street walked away with tens of billions of dollars and left mom and pop in Davis and Stockton with mortgages that they couldn't possibly pay, this is time for a change. This afternoon, Congress will vote on a bailout bill. Fortunately the Democrats stood up to the President, to Secretary of the Treasury Paulson, and said wait a minute, enough already for the high and the mighty. We want this bill to at least have something for the homeowners, for main street, for the men and women out there that are losing their jobs, losing their homes, they did the best they could. It's a much improved bill. It's not the one I would like to see. But it's the one we need... But do not forget the policy that the Republican administration and the Republican congress brought before the American people. They brought a policy that once again took care of their friends at the top.

"Some people want to say this is economic class warfare, and the answer is that's exactly what they have done to the American public is to create an economic class war because they have made the wealthy, wealthier and the poor and the working men and women, poorer. And it is time for a change and we're going to do that."

Garamendi then talked about the California Budget deal.

"Here in California, this is the worst budget in all of my years dating back to 1974. The worst budget ever was signed by the Governor. And in the process of signing it, he made even worse. He took out his veto pen and he took $500 million away from the poor, from the elderly, from the disabled, and from those who depend upon the public sector for their basic health care and indeed their livelihood and lives. It was mean spirited and it was wrong.

"That budget also had another problem, and it's right here on this campus, just to keep pace, with the number of students that come to the campuses of the University of California and inflation, we needed $300 million more. Not to add, not to enhance, not to provide the classes so that you can graduate in four years rather than five or six, but to simply keep pace. The budget is $200 million short of that and of that $100 million that was added, you the students throughout the university campuses, you paid $130 million of that amount of money. It is wrong and I'm telling you we have got to stop it. We must stop it now.

"The great California society and education was built on a free public education at every level, K through 12, the community colleges, the University of California, the State University System, and it is rapidly disappearing because of some wrongheaded policies and total lack of history of California. A free public education no longer exists in California. The taxes that were increased in this budget were minuscule except for one... The single biggest tax increase was a tax on students. It is called a fee indirectly because it is nothing but a very direct tax on students."

"Some of you are studying government, some of you are studying economics, I want you to study a particularly stupid tax. When you tax students you have done something incredibly stupid. President Yudoff, you've listened to me and I want you to listen right now, NO MORE STUDENT FEE INCREASES. Not in this budget. Not in the next budget. And not in the budgets ahead. Because you will deny access to the students who will build the California economy in the future, who will be the teachers, who will be the engineers, who will be the researchers. Stop it! Stop it now! No more tax on students."

"Study the history of California. Study how this state became the 7th wealthiest economy in the world. It was done with the best education system in the world. We are not there today... You cannot do it on the cheap. Starve the education system and you will starve the future of California. And we are well on the way to slow starvation diet today. In 1990, the state, the economy of California, the people of California supported the University of California students to a tune of $15,000 per student. Last year, the people of California, the economy, the seventh largest economy in the world, supported the students at the University of California at a rate of $10,000 per student. A full one-third decrease in the support that the people of California provided to the students who will be the future economy. That is stupid economy policy. That is bad tax policy. And I want every student, on every campus, to rise up and say, enough already. We will not have this anymore, we understand the history of this great state. We know that when the wealth of this great state is spent on the future generations, that economic wealth occurs along with social justice."

Bill Camp was the first speaker. He urged people to put elect Mariko Yamada to the State Assembly and Lois Wolk to the State Senate. He said he was a strong supporter of Mariko Yamada, candidate for the State Assembly, but Lois Wolk is the one now who faces the tough challenge.

"Lois Wolk will be a fighter because she's from Davis. You put her in the State Senate and she'll make sure that everyone that comes in to be a regent respects you and respects your educational opportunity. You want to do something about the misuse of power by Arnold Schwartzenegger and the UC Regents, you get Lois Wolk elected. She's the one who will be your voice and fighter."

Bill Camp told the students that he talks to people in Honduras and all around the world, and everyone is watching this election. He told the students, "It is you who can turn the world around." He emphasized how important this election was to this country and this world. "I beg you to be a part of this Democratic process, to be the champion to lead this nation."

Assembly Candidate Mariko Yamada was introduced by former Davis School Board Candidate and Vice Chair of the Yolo County Democratic Central Committee Bob Schelen as an underdog who won the nomination and a fighter for the values of the underdogs.

Yamada told the crowd:

"It was a very very tough and grueling primary that we came through. Yes, we were the underdogs. But we went direct to the people with our message. It goes to show you that all the money and all the hype in the world, does not replace good old fashioned hard work, effort, and connecting directly with the voters. And that's what this theme is today. Just what brother Bill Camp just said, the whole world is watching us..."

Finally Senate Candidate Lois Wolk addressed the crowd. She attacked her opponent, Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian and Assembly Republicans.

"I am running in the Senate, as you've heard, against someone who won't even mention the fact that he's a Republican. He won't mention his party. He's not proud he's a Republican. He never mentions it and I understand why. In the Assembly, the Republicans and my opponent have opposed some very interesting bills.

They have opposed the successful effort to ban lead from children's candy. Think about that for a minute. The Governor, a Republican, signed that bill.

They have opposed cleaning up the polluted air in the valley. One in four children takes an inhaler to school. Think about that.

They have opposed most recently the effort to clean up the shoddy mortgage broker practices that have been occurring in this state. Think about that in a Senate district that is probably number one in terms of foreclosures.

They and my opponent have opposed flood protection for homeowners in the Central Valley--an area that floods all too commonly.

And they voted against protecting seniors from those whose caregivers would steal their money.

That's why Republicans are running away from being Republicans."

Wolk faces a tough challenge for the Senate seat left open by termed out Senator Mike Machado. It is a district that has a 15 point Democratic advantage, but it is one of just two open and targeted seats by the Republicans who are pumping in millions in support of Assemblyman Aghazarian. Mariko Yamada faces an easier challenge in the heavily Democratic 8th Assembly District that encompasses Yolo and East Solano County.

Lt. Governor John Garamendi announced this summer he will run for the Governorship. He ran back in 1994 but lost to then State Controller Kathleen Brown. Some of the possible opposition are San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome, Los Angeles Mayor and Former Speaker of the Assembly Antonio Villaraigosa, Attorney General and Former Governor Jerry Brown, and possibly State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell. That would be in 2010.

In the meantime, the Presidential race and the legislative races are focal points in this area. Democrats are relying heavily on strong student turnout for Barack Obama and a host of other issues.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

Aghazarian wants to make legislative races non-partisan?

Earlier this week, we discussed Assemblywoman Lois Wolk's first campaign ad where she accused her opponent, Greg Aghazarian of misusing his per diem, a fund that is supposed to go to help those legislators who live outside of Sacramento, commute to and from their district. Aghazarian lives and commutes from Stockton to Sacramento, a forty-five minute drive.

Why this is important is that Assemblyman Aghazarian is running on the issue of "investigating the misuse of taxpayer funds."

Meanwhile Aghazarian has been running his own campaign ad. In it, he suggests that we make legislative races non-partisan.

The current system is broken, the Assemblyman says in his ad:

"So let's fix it, by making legislative races nonpartisan, just as we do for city councils, mayors and supervisors, where people vote their districts, not the party line. It's time to rock the system."

Sounds good right? But let's look a little deeper here.

Back in 2004, Gary Podesto challenged long-time and now-termed-out Senator Mike Machado. At that time, it was a heavily challenged, expensive race, and Senator Machado was able to pull away late to win the race fairly comfortably. However, trends have changed since that time and the district is now much more heavily Democrat.

This year the Democrats have a 15% registration advantage over Republicans. Now some of those Democrats are more moderate Valley Democrats in the Stockton area. The same changes that allowed McNerney to unseat Richard Pombo in 2006 for the Congressional Seat.

In order for Aghazarian to win he has to do two basic things. First he needs to appeal to more moderate Democrats and Independents. This is clearly his goal in this campaign ad. He appeals to the reformist mindset of the electorate who are fed up with the budget stalemate at the capital.

The other thing you are probably going to see is that he is going to run against perceptions that Lois Wolk is a product of liberal Davis. The toad tunnel and other eccentricities will be brought out.

This is a bit more challenging because Lois Wolk is more of a developer Democrat and has been in Davis and Yolo County's politics.

As we discussed earlier, both politicians are more on the moderate side of their parties, however, both are clearly in the mainstream of their parties as well. Neither has a voting record that is remotely moderate. Lois Wolk has an over 90% liberal voting, while Aghazarian votes with his party over 80% of the time.

Aghazarian in order to win must show that he is not a dyed-in-the-wool Republican and Lois Wolk must show he is business as usual. Hence she fired the first shot showing the per diem issue.

Given the amount of money that has been amassed by Aghazarian I am somewhat surprised we have not seen the barrage of ads coming from his campaign yet. Perhaps that is occurring in the Stockton media market. But I suspect not. We will see if this race develops into the dirty, contentious, toe-to-toe battle that some have expected.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

Wolk Campaign Takes On Aghazarian on Per Diem Issue

It's been quiet, maybe too quiet considering the amount of money that we know Republican Assemblyman and nominee Greg Aghazarian has amassed for his run at the State Senate. Last week it was reported that the Democratic State Central Committee of California had given $250,000 to Assemblywoman Lois Wolk. Until that point, she had been outraised by a hefty margin by her Republican opponent despite the fact that she is a heavy favorite at this point to win the Democratic leaning Senate district.

It turns out the first strike was fired by the Wolk campaign. Those who have watched TV in the last week may have seen it. It is an attack based on Aghazarian's collection of per diem money as an assemblyman.

The ad charges that Assemblyman Aghazarian has collected daily per diem payments of $170 that are designed to pay for lodging expenses for state legislators who live far from Sacramento. However, Aghazarian lives in Stockton, just a forty-five minute drive from Sacramento.

"As an assemblyman, Greg Aghazarian took $180,000 he didn't deserve."

Politckerca.com spoke with Tom Higgins, campaign manager for the Wolk campaign.

"Tom Higgins, the campaign manager for Assembly member Wolk (D-Davis), said the ad is meant to point out a hole in Aghazarian's stance as a fiscal conservative.

"It doesn't square quite right when you say one thing and do another," Higgins said, adding that Aghazarian collects the per diem on top of his regular salary as an assemblyman of $116,000 annually. "That per diem is really intended for folks who have to maintain a second residence."

Higgins said that Wolk, who like Aghazarian was first elected to the state Assembly in 2002, has consistently declined her per diem money for lodging because she, like Aghazarian, lives within driving distance of the state Capitol."

This is the first salvo in what figures to be a highly contested race. With the Wolk campaign taking an early shot, there is little doubt that we will see a response from Aghazarian.



---Doug Paul Davis reporting

Apparently 5th Senate District Race Features A Couple of Relative Moderates

If you have listened to the rhetoric of both Democrat Lois Wolk and Republican Greg Aghazarian, you have heard horror stories about their Senate opponents. Lois Wolk is of course a Davis Liberal associated with the Toad Tunnel and other eccentricities. Greg Aghazarian is right wing Republican who wants to make abortions illegal.

The truth turns out to be something very different. This week the Capital Weekly came out with its legislative scorecard. Unlike the rhetoric, Greg Aghazarian and Lois Wolk turn out to be a bunch of moderates. Or do they?

• Click here to see the full scorecard

In the Assembly there is just one Republican with a more liberal voting record than Greg Aghazarian. However in absolute terms, the Assemblyman from San Joaquin County only scores a 19 out of 100, well to the right of a true centrist. He may be more liberal than his colleagues, but clearly he's not centrist.

Assemblywoman Lois Wolk is actually even more liberal than Aghazarian is conservative scoring 91 out of 100. That puts her as the 9th most conservative member of the Democratic caucus in the Assembly. Then again she is hardly Cathleen Galginni who scored a 51 or the now infamous Nicole Parra who scored a 52 and was removed from the Capitol for crossing party lines on the budget. There are four Democrats scores between 51 and 64, making the Democrats far more moderate than their counterparts.

Compared to those Democrats, Assemblywoman Wolk is a flaming liberal with her 91. Then again there are 16 Democrats with perfect 100 scores. Seven Republicans scored a perfect 0.



In actuality, it was not that Assemblywoman Wolk crossed party lines on her votes, she was simply marked down because she failed to vote on three of the 20 votes that Capitol Weekly did their scoring on. She did not vote on AB 2058--Plastic Bag Recyling, AB 2083--Tuition for Undocumented Residents, and AB 2716 Sick Leave. The Wolk campaign did not respond to the Vanguard email requests for comments.

Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian on the other hand did cross party lines on four votes. He voted yes on SB 606--School Accountability, Yes on SB 304--Media Access to Prisoners, Yes on AB 1781 the 2008-09, and Yes on AB 1945 Recission. Of those of course, the yes vote on the Budget will innoculate him on potentially the most explosive issue given the crisis in Sacramento. He also did not vote on AB 118--Low-Carbon fuels.

How good are these measures?

The Capitol Weekly discussed the weaknesses of their scorecard in the article that unveiled the rankings published on Thursday, August 21, 2008.

"Every political scorecard has its problems, and this one is no exception. The selection of bills is subjective, chosen after conversations with Capitol staff and experts, and our own observations of big debates over the last two years under the dome.

The bills we chose were not necessarily the most publicized, or even the most hotly contested in all cases. But we sought to pick a variety of bills dealing with diverse topics that lawmakers have been asked to tackle over the last legislative session.

Part of the problem with this particular scorecard is the fact that both legislative houses, and all legislative committees, are controlled by Democrats. As such, the controversial bills that do find their way to the floor are disproportionately Democrat-sponsored bills."

However they go on to say:

"Also, our scorecard reflects what most Capitol observers know to be true: That Democrats from the Central Valley tend to be more moderate than their caucus colleagues, while Republicans in contested districts like Abel Maldonado and Greg Aghazarian earn more centrist marks than those lawmakers in more solid, partisan districts."

It is also worth noting that as Ben van der Meer of PolitickerCA.com does , that the 5th District as a whole tends to be centrist.

"State Sen. Mike Machado (D-Linden) had the second-lowest score of any Democrat, and he is termed out of the 5th Senate District seat, another target of both parties this fall.

The two candidates for that seat, Aghazarian and termed-out Assemblywoman Lois Wolk (D-Davis), are both ranked as relative moderates."

Senator Machado scored a 67, only Lou Correa scored lower in the Senate as a Democrat with a 47. That means that Assemblywoman Wolk is quite a bit more liberal representing Yolo and Solano Counties while Assemblyman Aghazarian is quite a bit more conservative.

Our previous analysis showed that Democrats in this district now have a much stronger advantage than they did in 2004 when Machado held off a strong challenge from former Stockton Mayor Gary Podesto.

However it also indicates that despite the relative moderation of both candidates, the strategy by both will be to paint each other as extremists. How well that works, time will tell.

One thing we know, this will be a heavily funded battle. By August 4, 2008, the Aghazarian campaign reported a 7-to-1 fundrasing advantage.

A press release at the time said:

"Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian continues to turn in strong fundraising numbers, including raising over $565,000 in the latest period ending June 30th. Aghazarian's fundraising topped that of his opponent, Lois Wolk, by a nearly seven-to-one margin. Wolk raised just over $76,000 for the period. Current cash-on-hand for Aghazarian is $1,040,000 - over fives time more than Wolk's $185,000."

Aghazarian Spokesman Tim Clark said:

"Greg Aghazarian has built a strong reputation in the Valley as a balanced ‘can-do' legislator who is willing to do what is right, even if it means going against the ‘party' line... Voters want to see him continue representing them in the State Senate, and that's one reason why the outpouring of support has been so strong. Greg's broad base of support is a sharp contrast to that of Lois Wolk, who continues to struggle in her fundraising."

However, with just two targeted Senate races, it is unlikely that money will be an issue for Assemblywoman Wolk either, Senate Democrats will likely open up their coffers as well.

The Vanguard will continue to cover this race and much more as election day approaches.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

November Update: Republicans Fuel Aghazarian's Senate Campaign Against Wolk

Republican Party Gives Big Money to Aghazarian

The Sacramento Bee's Capitol Alert reported yesterday that the California Republican Party poured roughly $345,000 into Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian's state Senate campaign last week. Aghazarian is running for the seat of termed-out Sen. Mike Machado and is opposed by Assemblywoman Lois Wolk who represents Yolo and Solano Counties.

That means that the Republican party has already dumped over one million dollars into this race. However as the Capitol Alert points out, that may have more to do with the lack of competitive State Senate Races than anything else.

The same article reported the party donated $595,000 to former Assemblyman Tony Strickland. Strickland is running against former Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson down in the Santa Barbara-Ventura area in a campaign to succeed termed-out Sen. Tom McClintock (who is now running for Congress against Charlie Brown).

"The races are the only two of the 20 Senate seats up for election in November where competition is expected."

The Capitol Alert goes on to argue this is an uphill battle for Republicans. The most recent voter registration statistics show that Democrats hold a 47 to 31.5 advantage. Four years ago, Gary Podesta, a former Stockton Mayor, challenged Machado. He spent nearly $10 million to unseat him.

However, that was almost a different district. In October of 2004, Democrats held a 10-point registration advantage over Republicans, now they hold a 15.5 point advantage.

"Allan Hoffenblum, the publisher of the California Target Book, which analyzes political races in the state, said the Aghazarian donation was to send a message to GOP donors.

"It is a statement by the GOP leadership that they are going to take that race seriously," Hoffenblum said.

In the early money race, Aghazarian has a significant financial advantage, with more than quadruple the cash-on-hand of Wolk.

As of mid-May, Aghazarian had $530,000 in the bank, with $44,000 in debts. Since then, he has received another $105,000 from three local GOP county committees as well as the big recent check from the state party. That brings his rough total to $936,000.

Wolk had $176,000 in her treasury as of mid-May, with $20,000 in debts.

The Democratic Party, however, is expected to have plenty to spend to contest both seats in the fall. The California Democratic Party reported more than $7.9 million in the bank as of May, a $3.8 million advantage over the Republican Party, which reported $4.18 million."

Hoffenblum went on to say that no Democrat in California will lose for lack of money.

SIEU May Back Redistricting Measure on November's Ballot

Meanwhile, the lack of competitive races will further fuel a push for redistricting.

The big news on that front might be that SEIU, one of the largest unions in the state, may buck the Democratic Party and back Proposition 11, the redistricting measure on the November Ballot.

Anthony York at Capitol Weekly reports SEIU is considering backing Proposition 11, the redistricting measure on the November ballot:

"The fact that SEIU finds itself divided, and possibly at odds with Democratic Party leadership over redistricting is the latest illustration of an internal belief that the union, which represents nearly 2 million people nationwide, is powerful enough to take its own stand, regardless of what other political or labor leaders may think."

"We're large enough to take risks," says [Courtni] Pugh. "We're going to do what's best for working people, and for our membership."

York writes:

"If SEIU does wind up backing Proposition 11, it would be in the face of opposition from Democratic Party leadership in Washington and Sacramento, and from some other state labor groups...

But under the direction of President Andy Stern, SEIU has sought to assert itself as a national political force, orchestrating a divorce from the country’s largest labor organization, the AFL-CIO, and affirming its political independence."

York also points out that during the last election cycle, the union won 11 of the 12 Democratic legislative primaries it participated in.

That includes here in the 8th Assembly District, where union-backed Mariko Yamada was able to pull off what was widely considered a monumental upset primarily due to an influx of independent expenditure money from unions and union support on the ground.

From a political perspective however, this potential move by SEIU makes little sense--threatening to alienate allies and weaken their overall political clout.

It would seem like electing Barack Obama should be the biggest focus from the union--and that is clearly the case.

"Pugh says SEIU members from California will be farmed out across the Western states, developing ground campaigns and focused on boosting Latino turnout nationwide to help boost Obama’s prospects."

Nevertheless, if SEIU carries through on this threat on Proposition 11, it will carry with it some interesting ramifications. In our opinion, that would be a huge strategic blunder for a union that has been mired with internal turmoil and has shwon itself to be an effective organizer on the political front.

In mid-June, the Vanguard wrote more extensively on the redistricting issue. The core belief is that it likely will not have the positive impact that its backers believe.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

A look at ahead at November

As much as Jim Provenza is breathing easier right now as County Supervisor Elect, his victory in June has taken away a potentially intriguing fall match up. On the other hand, it is also possible that John Ferrera did not turn out to be nearly as formidable a candidate as he seemed to be.

Naturally most of the world will be watching the Presidential Elections. At the Vanguard, we also keep our eye on the top, but the bulk of our coverage is on the local.

So what do we have in store for people at the local level? A few races still worth following.

Let us start with the most interesting race locally that will be for State Senate if for no other reason than there are very few open seats in the Senate in competitive districts and this is a competitive district, although I would suggest it leans Democratic.

Four years ago, Incumbent Mike Machado was challenged by Stockton Mayor Gary Podesto and the two combined for nearly $10 million in spending in a race that drew statewide attention.

Despite the competitive nature of the race, Machado ended up winning fairly comfortably at 52.2 to 47.8 percent. The margin was just under 13,000 votes. That's a close outcome, particularly in California, but not that close.

Some have suggested that the 5th District is now more Democratic than before. In addition, given the economy and concerns about the direction of the country, this figures to be a Democratic year. Democratic Primaries drew record numbers across the nation including in California back in February.

If we look at the results from the Senate District in the primary, you see that Democratic candidate Assemblywoman Lois Wolk despite having an opponent that drew 11,684 votes, still out polled her opponent, colleague, Greg Aghazarian by nearly 13,000. That's of course in the primary, but it is an indicator of base support. You have to figure that most of her Democratic opponents votes will go to her in the general.

Some can argue that the contested Democratic Assembly primary in the northern part of the district, impacted the turn out.

They may have a point. If you look at the Sacramento and San Joanquin county totals, you see that Aghazarian did in fact narrowly outpoll Wolk in each county. In Sacramento County he outpolled her by 19 votes, but Jennet Stebbins (Dem) had 650 votes. In San Joanquin Aghazarian outpolled Lois Wolk by 1100 votes with Jennet Stebbins receiving 7324.

In other words, in the Southern and more conservative part of the district, the portion where Wolk is not currently the Assemblywoman, Wolk is outpolled by 1100, but Democratic voters outnumbered Republican voters by nearly 7000.

What it all means when the two candidates are waging air wars, is anyone's guess, but if I had to handicap it, Wolk would have a greater advantage than Machado. Apparently they are going to try to run against Davis as part of the strategy to defeat here. So they are going to run against Toad Tunnels and other eccentricities of Davis. There is great irony there however, as Lois Wolk was not a supporter of those types of policies, in fact, she was on the opposite side on a lot of the issues they will try to pin to her (although she did vote for the Toad Tunnel).

We also have the 8th AD race. This is a heavily democratic district. Mariko Yamada is for most intents and purposes the next Assemblywoman, but she does have a general election challenger in Manuel Cosme. I do not know much about Cosme.

What I do know is that 2002 is the last time there was an open seat for the 8th AD. Lois Wolk ran against former Davis School Board Member John Munn. John Munn would appear on paper to be slightly stronger than Manuel Cosme. On the other hand, Mariko Yamada may be somewhat weaker than Wolk. Nevertheless Wolk won handily 58-42, a margin of 16,000 votes. The other two races she won by 41,000 in 2004 and 38,000 in 2006.

This is a district with a 48 to 31 advantage for Democrats. It may not be a safe district, but it is a strongly Democratic district. Unless the Republicans are bored, it is doubtful they will use their resources in the 8th Assembly District.

That leaves us with an interesting wild card locally and that is whether or not the school district will put another parcel tax on the ballot. As I said before, I just do not see how they cannot do it. But if they do, they will have to run a real and hard fought campaign. They are going to have a 75 to 80 percent turnout in November versus a sub-30 percent turnout last November. They are going to have a very wary and angry electorate to deal with. This will be no slam dunk. So this election will bear watching as well.

A final note on the passing of Tim Russert

You know a person has been influential when everyone has been impacted by them at some level. As a political junkie, he was a guy that I admired and I used to point out as an example to my students as someone to watch. He was the best and toughest interviewer I have ever seen.

Too many interviewers can be tough on people that they disagree with, but they are soft as anything when they agree with. Not Tim Russert. He was always prepared. He always asked the tough questions and if you were weak on your stuff, he would bury you. Republican and Democrat alike.

That is the way it ought to be. It does people no good whether you agree or disagree to ask the easy questions. You do not learn anything and it cannot neutralize your doubters.

Russert was tough, but he was also fair and polite. He is what many in journalism aspire to be. Interestingly he started out as political strategist working for Mario Cuomo and Daniel Patrick Moynihan. He was an ardent Democrat and yet one of the fairest and most balanced reporters and analysts around--he criticized everyone and asked Democrat and Republican alike the tough questions.

One of the things that struck me most about people's accounts of his life, was invariably his love for the Buffalo Bills. Those who know me in my personal life, know of my love and passion for sports, particularly for the St. Louis Cardinals. The identification Russert had with the Bills was something I could relate to. Among all of the things that he accomplished, people also remember the smaller things that give us joy in life.

At 58, Tim Russert was far too young and this country and the Presidential election will sorely miss his presence and his graceful influence.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

Interview with Assemblywoman Lois Wolk--Part III

On Friday April 18, the Vanguard sat down and spoke with Assemblywoman Lois Wolk, candidate for the State Senate, 5th District. In November she will face Republican Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian. This is the final of a three-part interview. In this segment, the Assemblywoman discusses land use, housing, seniors, health insurance, and her legislative accomplishments and goals.

9. How can the 5th Senate District balance the need for housing and jobs to accommodate huge projected growth with the need to preserve agricultural land and environmental protection?

That’s a tremendous challenge and it’s a challenge we feel throughout the central valley. People are looking for housing, they’re moving to these areas, they haven’t stopped moving to these areas and we need to do a better job of planning. We need, and I hope we would have a resurgence of what we had years ago when we looked at regional planning, strong regional planning. The blueprint was a good example, but that’s only for the Sacramento region. We need that for the entire Senate 5th District. San Joaquin has done a very good job as well of beginning the process of a blueprint. They have strong transportation organization, but there needs to be an overall planning effort that connects transportation, land use, planning, all the agricultural preservation, and environmental preservation. All of the pressures that come from growth have to be looked at in a connective fashion—and we don’t do that. We don’t do a good job of that. We need to do more of that.

It is very difficult, but now is probably the best time to do that. The reason I say that is when you are in a recession that you are right now, and you don’t have the pressure of housing on you, the overheated market, you have an opportunity to take a step back if you are in local government, and look out several years. Look out five to ten years. Look out twenty years. Preferably, look out thirty years or more and do some fundamental planning for your region. We don’t do a good job of that in California. We should do more.

I have introduced 2501, that includes climate change in all water planning in the state at every level. I think that has to occur. That’s one response to what we know is coming and needs to be addressed. The other bill that was part of the flood protection package, was a change in general plan law, to require each community, city and county, to incorporate flooding in a comprehensive way into their general plans. Many communities still don’t do that, but they will have to do that by the end of next year, including the maps the maps that will be given to them of the different flood plains. So there are efforts to do that and there are some pieces of legislation currently that aim to do the same for transportation and air quality and housing. I support those, I think that they’re to put forward.

I recognize however, that much resistance comes from local communities because land use is a local prerogative. I would just encourage, as I did when I was on the city council and the board of supervisors, regional efforts that Davis can’t do it alone, Woodland can’t do it alone, it is important for Yolo County cities to be working together in partnership and to be working in the greater region on all of these issues—that’s essential. Sometimes it doesn’t work, but that’s what needs to happen. It’s a tension between the local government responsibility as a constitution for land use and the state’s overall overriding interest in making certain that the state as a whole deals with these challenges. There’s a tension there and it’s a healthy challenge.

10. Everyone it seems is for health care reform. What approach do you most advocate for and more importantly, how can you get it passed in the current climate or will you be looking toward 2011 with a Democratic Governor?

My greatest disappointment was that we were unable to enact health care reform. My position has always been, whatever health care reform comes to my desk in the Assembly, I will vote for—whether it is single payer, which I have supported, or the Speaker and Governor’s proposal, I supported that, and I co-authored John Laird and Darrell Steinberg’s bills to expand healthy families, to insure the children. My greatest disappointment is that this year, since we were unable to insure every citizen that we were unable to insure and expand healthy children, the healthy families program and thereby insure all children.

This will have to be done at the federal level. I am looking forward to the election in November. I think within a year after that, we will see a health care reform. It will be similar to the SKIP program, basically the federal government has to set a floor and then California will rise above that floor. Each state will or not depending on their needs and demands and values. I look forward to this election because I think that health care reform is on the national agenda. It is the number one for people. It has surpassed education in many polls statewide—not yet in my district. It is up there. It has risen dramatically. It has to be dealt with. I look forward to working on that before we have a new governor.

11. What other issues do you think are vital to your candidacy for the Senate and your record as a State Assemblywoman?

Well one of the areas has been my focus on seniors and elders. The elder abuse legislation which was landmark legislation to require banks and financial institutions to report elder financial abuse when they think it’s occurring. That took us two years, it was a difficult piece of legislation. We had a great deal of support for it. I’m very proud about that. I’m currently looking at end of life issues—nursing homes, assisted living facilities, issues. We are a growing and changing population. We’re growing older, we have a demographic surge, and people are living longer. They are not living next door to their relatives any longer. They need at times housing and medical care. They need continuums of care, they need services at certain times and not at others. They need the flexibility of being able to go back and forth between the housing and nursing home, homebound care, there are all permutations of the things that seniors need as they age.

I’d like to work on these, but we haven’t had a lot in that area. We haven’t had enough oversight. And it is a tremendous wave. The baby boomers are coming. We have to be prepared for that. What we saw in Davis was a very good example of that. We have two facilities we built in the 90s—one in ’89, the University Retirement Facility, which I was instrumental in getting approved and working toward. That was in the 1990s, it is twenty years later. When Atria took over Covell Gardens the rent increases were dramatic. That was very difficult for many of the existing residents. At that point, alternative were not and are not available. I think that’s a real lack in our community. We haven’t thought about the changes in our demographics that are coming upon us not just in Davis, but countywide and statewide, practically and statewide that would allow choices to be available to seniors.

Frankly, we have an expansion in the needs of children as well—childcare. Because of the changes in the family, there are very different demands that the family requires that we’re not confronting. Changes in home to school transportation for example, single-parent families have incredible demands on them, childcare, the need for preschool, there are a whole series of things that we have to do for children as well, that have to reflect changing times. So I look forward to working on those of those issues in the Senate.

(Follow up on the situation at Atria Covell Gardens regarding the power situation in January and rent).

I think there are two parts to that. I disagree with you that the Davis City Council couldn’t do anything. For the immediate, their fire department was absolutely wonderful in getting there, getting people out of the elevator who were trapped there, and being ready to be partners in whatever emergencies are provided, and that’s ongoing not just in crises, they’re always there.

I have introduced legislation to make certain that emergency plans have to be serious. If they provide services dependent upon electricity, in particular oxygen and a number of things that they have to have a backup generator. I’m sure that that will pass and be signed by the governor.

The issue of rents—whether adequate notice and adequate justification is given for these rents. There are a number of things that could be done better—mechanisms for appealing it if possible. Here’s the issue with Davis, yes there are problems that were highlighted by what happened. We don’t have enough facilities in Davis. It took a city council to approve ten acres of land for the University Retirement Community using the redevelopment agency and new development to make that happen. And it took a city council prior to mine—Mike Corbett, Anne Evans, and David Rosenberg—to approve Covell Gardens in 1988 or 87, recognizing the need for a senior facility. We need more of them. There was no place to go.

If you are 76 or 85 and you are faced with, and you’re relatively healthy and your rent goes up and you have a limited amount of income, you have no other place to go. Your choices were limited. That is something that the Davis City Council can directly assist with. I know that those are difficult conversations to have given the current view about growth, but if we’re committed to infill, what about infill projects? What about some vision in terms of creating alternatives for those seniors. There are going to be more and more people like that—are we going to send them away from Davis? That is what I was faced with as mayor in the 90’s. People were leaving the community because we did not have a university retirement community. And because Covell Gardens at the time was only senior housing. It did not have any assisted living. It changed over time. Where are those facilities? I don’t know of any in the planning process. That may be the case in Woodland as well, in fact, it may be true in California. We have to do a better job of anticipating demographic surge and the needs that that group presents and ready for it. That’s what a public official should be about, and especially at the local level where land use is in their control.

12. What accomplishment in your political career are you most proud?

I have a lot of them. I am very proud of the flood protection package, the Cache Creek Wild and Scenic bill, that Cache Creek will forever be wild and scenic. My grandchildren will be able to experience that creek and their grandmother had something to do with making it wild and scenic. Also the landmark bill on elder protection—elder financial abuse. I’ve accomplished a number of things that aren’t pieces of legislation. I’ve managed to solve a number of problems that resulted in making the school districts healthier financially. Getting the $4 million for Marguerite Montgomery was a wonderful success. I also years before saved $14 million for the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District and I’m working now to help the Dixon School District achieve a reserve with their sale of property which needs legislation. A lot of these things gave me a great deal of satisfaction because they made lives and situations much better for people. I like to solve problems.

13. If you accomplish one thing as a State Senator what would it be?

I have two things. To insure every child in this state, that would be the first thing in the next two years. The second thing would be to develop a steward for the delta. A medical home for every child in the state of California.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

Interview with Assemblywoman Lois Wolk--Part II

On Friday April 18, the Vanguard sat down and spoke with Assemblywoman Lois Wolk, candidate for the State Senate, 5th District. In November she will face Republican Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian. This is the second of a three-part interview. In this segment, the Assemblywoman discusses the transparency in government, flood protection, her record working in a bipartisan manner, and the needs of local government.

5. One of my biggest concerns is transparency in government. I think the state of California does an extremely poor job in the area of open government, particularly with regards to public records access. As a state senator, what changes would you like to make, if any, to California’s open government policies?

Having been a member of the city council and board of supervisors, we worked under the Brown Act and we made an effort to be transparent and where we weren’t, citizens would remind us that we needed to be and they had access to whatever they needed under the law. I support that; I always have. When I got to the legislature, I was amazed at the very different way we conduct business and the lack of accountability that you see with departments.

I support and have supported every effort that has come before me to increase transparency. I think it is important to do that. There is enough distrust of government that we don’t need to add to it by keeping things secret. It’s just not anybody’s interest.

The newspaper publishers are the ones that come forward with some legislation each year that extends the right to have open records. I support that strongly.

6. Many communities seem to develop housing in flood prone areas. What steps do you believe are needed to ensure protection from floods given growing population pressures?

That’s one of the areas that I have been the most active in—flood protection. I am very proud of the package that we put together. It was landmark legislation, signed by the governor last year that connects land use to local government decision making. Beginning in 2011 and ending in 2016, there will be no more development in flood plains by local government in deep flood plains, without adequate protection. That is the keystone of a flood protection policy for the Sacramento-San Joaquin area that frankly is well overdue.

There has been tremendous growth just in the last twenty years since the last floods in the 80’s and the 90’s. There has been tremendous growth in areas that were under 10 and 12 feet of water twice in the last twenty years. That’s foolhardy and that’s a major safety risk. Natomas, Plumas Lake, River Islands—these are areas that do not have sufficient protection and need to have protection. We are in the flood plain. We flood all the time. We aren’t on a hill. Davis is, we have a slight elevation. But the fact is most of the area, especially on the rivers, a very beautiful area, but not the place you want to put housing.

I am very proud of this package it includes a change in the relationship between local government and the state. We negotiated it with the governor, with local government, with the developers, it took us three years, but it’s a good piece of legislation. I’m looking forward to watching it so that it doesn’t get weakened in any way.

7. I am going to ask two specific but related questions. The first is, tell us why a Democrat should vote for you rather than your Republican opponent? The second part, is tell us why someone who is in the middle should vote for you, as opposed to your Republican opponent?

I suggest that if you look at my record, you’ll see someone who has spent years in public service trying to solve problems and I do it with anybody in any part of the spectrum. If there are problems and concerns, I try to work through those. If you look at my legislation, you will see a focus on seniors, children, the environment, education, health care; areas that I think are very strong Democratic values. But they are also values that transcend party. I think that record is one that I’m very proud of. Those are the same issues that I would take to the Senate.

I also work in a bipartisan fashion; I don’t let party get in the way of good legislation. Whether it is flood protection or transportation, I make it a point to convince those, persuade those, and involve those who have an interest in a particular area. For instance Route 12, which was a major safety problem in Solano and San Joaquin County. I represent Solano as do many Democrats, but as you cross into San Joaquin, Route 12 is represented by Republicans—Senator Cogdill, Allen Nakanishi, Guy Houston. I convened the meeting, we talked about safety problems on Route 12 and we worked to fix them. They did the things they could do on their side of the aisle; I did what I could do on my side of the aisle. And when it came down to the final votes, they were there and we were there together. That’s how that unity achieved success on Route 12—a road in which people were dying, in fact there was one week in which there was a death almost every day because of the head on collisions.

I think it’s important to note that the values that attract Democrats to me are the same that would attract Republicans or Independents to me. That is that I solve problems and I do it with whoever is at the table or whoever is effective.

8. How can the state better get money to local jurisdictions such as cities or counties?

There is a difference between them. I started my career in the Davis City Council and I went to the board of supervisors, so I’m very much aware of local government and its needs. Cities are more independent from the state than counties, which are more and more the arm of the state taking care of many of the services that the state provides certain health and social services and justice. The state took a great deal of funds away from local government when I was in City Hall and I vowed that when I got to state that I would do what I could to protect the city sources of revenue and the county ones and we did that through Prop. 1A.

The result is that in downturns of the economy like now, they will be more protected than they’ve ever been. That doesn’t mean that in a time of economic recession, they will feel no hurt. They will. They should tighten their belts, just as we’re going to have to. Counties, just because of who they serve, I have spent a good deal of time making certain that the kinds of cuts we’re going to be forced to make, will not affect the federal funding we get. We get a lot of funding that is put together through many different sources at the county level. All of it is focused on those who are the poorest, the most in need, aged, blind, the disabled, children, and all with the fewest resources. We have combinations of funding from the federal government. I want to make sure that we are careful to maximize the resources that we get from the federal government, and not leave any of those dollars on the table. Make sure that we get as much as we possibly can down to the local level.

This is an unusual year. We are in a very serious recession, no matter what the President tells us. We are in a very serious recession and we have a budget deficit that is approaching $14 billion. While we can make cuts in some areas, and will, $14 billion worth of cuts would be devastating to many of the poorest among us, and I don’t intend to see that happen. I don’t intend to see education harmed either. But in order to protect local government, or anyone else, it is important to recognize that there are three states that have a two-thirds budget requirement. It is the only vote where we cannot vote what we wish to do as Democrats. We need Republican support and right now they’re not willing to put any revenues on the table. So that really creates a standoff at this point in time. I don’t know how that’s going to come off.

We’re certainly going to fight for the areas that I think people care deeply about—education, health care, transportation, all of these areas are so important to people’s live. There are more and more needs that people have. People want more and more. There are problems that need to be solved, and our revenues are declining. If you adjust for inflation and population growth, in fact over the last twenty years we are spending less per capita in the state of California, the eighth largest economy in the world, than we did twenty years ago. It is an untenable situation.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

Interview with Assemblywoman Lois Wolk--Part I

On Friday, the Vanguard sat down and spoke with Assemblywoman Lois Wolk, candidate for the State Senate, 5th District. In November she will face Republican Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian. This is the first of a three-part interview. In this segment, the Assemblywoman discusses the agreement by the University to make Sodexho Workers full-time employees, the educational crisis in California, the Delta, and transportation.

1. I want to start with yesterday’s news about the UC Davis Food service workers. What is your reaction to the news that the university is going to eventually allow them to become UC employees and also, do you intend to support Senator Leland Yee’s legislation that would make it considerably more difficult for future outsourced contracts by the state universities?

I haven’t read Leland’s bill yet, it will come to me. Bills like that are very much amended on the floor. The process is that they are introduced, then they go through the Senate and the Assembly. They are often amended, so I try not to take positions on bills before I’ve read them and before they come to me.

I am very pleased about the Sodexho agreement. I think that was a win-win situation. It is a positive outcome and I’m glad the Chancellor made that decision. He called me yesterday and told me about it in the morning. I was very pleased. It’s the UC Irvine model I believe.

I asked the Chancellor about [the 9-12 month delay in implementation]. Before I knew it was 9 to 12 months, I asked how long does this take? He said, in his discussions with Irvine, and with administrators there, with the committee that actually made the recommendation, they did all of the research and visited many campuses, they were warned that it takes longer to do than you might want or expect. So I think that’s why he was making the estimate of 9 to 12 months. I’m just pleased at the eventual outcome.

2. As everyone knows the Davis school district now has to make a horrible choice between closing schools and laying off teachers and support staff and cutting programs. While it may be worse in Davis in terms of budget cuts, it is a problem that is playing out statewide and many communities do not have the base of support that Davis has—how does the state do a better job of ensuring that a more consistent flow of money gets to the schools?

There have been over 20,000 pink slips issued throughout the state, and that’s because the law requires that school boards early on have to take the governor’s proposal in January, his budget proposal, and respond to that. The legislature has been pretty consistent about protecting K-12. This year is a terrible budget year. I have never voted to suspend 98, and I hope I will never have to suspend 98. I think our schools in Davis are terrific, both our boys went through the system and had very positive experiences. I know that many people move to Davis precisely for this wonderful system.

When it comes to the reform of the educational finance mechanism, I happen to think it would be a good idea to do that, and one of the reasons that we need to do it is that our demographics are changing—not only Davis’ but the state of California. Over 50 percent of the districts have declining enrollment. Part of Davis’ situation is directly related to the fact that we have declining enrollment. I would say that’s probably half of the four million. What that means is that for each and every student who does not show up in a seat, they lose money and they lose it fairly quickly. So you can’t reduce the overhead, I mean you are not going to immediately get rid of teachers, employees, buildings, etc. You instead have a deficit that you have to deal with—an educational deficit, a program deficit.

I would like to see some basic reform of the education finance system. The problem with that is that that’s not easy to do. It’s a big state, with a lot of different needs, and different interests. Suburban districts, urban districts, and rural districts all have different needs. I have introduced bills that have related to finance, home to schools transportation, declining enrollment, and because there is no money available, it is very difficult to make any kind of structural change in the way schools are financed. But more and more people are talking about it, because more and more districts are suffering from this structural change in the demographics of California. It will start to effect higher education in a few years.

I’ve spent most of my political life trying to get more schools, trying to get communities to pass bonds, trying to reduce the two-thirds requirement to 55 percent, to make it easier for school districts to build. We’re now moving into a very different era. It’s an era of demographic change. There will be fewer students eventually at the University of California, fewer students at CSU, and we’re starting to see the beginning of that in Davis. And it’s not only Davis, it’s communities like Vacaville, communities like Benicia, it’s throughout the district—my district, you will see, flat or declining enrollment. There are very few schools where there’s an increase. Elk Grove which has been the poster child for growth in so many areas is having the opposite effect. It’s a daunting challenge but it’s one that we have to confront.

3. Delta Protection has become your hallmark issue, those of us who went to Congressman Thompson’s fundraiser last weekend, learned a lot about efforts underway to protect the delta—how did you get involved in this issue, what are you looking for the state to do on this effort, and finally what can we as citizens do?

District 8 represents the northern part of the Delta. I have been very much involved in water issues and environmental issues from the time that I entered the Davis City Council. As chair of Water, Parks, and Wildlife, I know that the Delta is the heart and soul of the California water system. It is the core and it is in terrible crisis. That has not only a major environmental impact, but a potentially disastrous economic impact of the entire state.

We’ve asked the Delta to do many things and many of them are incompatible with each other. We want it to supply an unending or increasing supply of water to Southern California and to the Bay Area. We want it to be an extraordinary estuary to breed and facilitate fisheries. We want it to be the repository of agricultural and urban runoff. We want it to, I don’t, but it has become an area of increasing urbanization. We’ve asked it to do far too many things and it is dying, it is absolutely dying. Of course it is surrounded by levies that are basically 19th century piles of dirt, and they are failing. And it is seismically at risk. You can’t imagine an area that is of more significance and at risk.

What can we do? We can do a number of things. The people of the state of California voted for a bond in 2006 to repair the levies and to begin the process of improving the water quality in the Delta, and the fisheries, the habitat, and the agriculture. What we can do is to try to raise the profile of the delta. Most people know where the coast is and know why it’s important to protect it. Most people know about the Sierra Nevada, and they will protect it. They know about Yosemite and they will protect it. They know about their local parks and they want to protect those. But the Delta has very few people in it and very little political clout. So we need to be able to raise the profile of the Delta so that it takes its place as the key water and environmental issue for California.

Then we need to put in place structures that will protect it. It needs are steward. There is no steward—no body, no agency—whose sole purpose is to protect the delta. And if I’m elected to the Senate, that’s what I’ll spend many years trying to accomplish. It won’t be easy, but there has to be a body like the Coastal Commission that focuses exclusively on the Delta and has responsibility for all water decisions and all environmental decisions that affect it. That won’t be easy to do, but I am convinced that has to occur.

The average person needs to educate themselves and speak to their representatives. Here we are very blessed with a delegation that understands all of that—both in the surrounding Assembly Districts and the Senate Districts. And at the Congressional level—Mike Thompson and Doris Matsui have been strong supporters of the Delta—they know where it is, they know how important it is to our region. But we don’t have the same recognition other places. That’s very hard for citizens here to accomplish. We have to educate those in the Bay Area, further in the southern part of the Central Valley, in San Diego, in Los Angeles, to the importance of the Delta to them but to California as a whole. And we’re trying to do that. We’ve been working very carefully with members of my committee who represent those areas, in educating them about the Delta.

Hurricane Katrina had an effect in that area. After Katrina, people were suddenly aware that the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta was in fact at greater risk than New Orleans. And look what happened to New Orleans, so that recognition has helped us with flood protection, it’s helped us with environmental legislation in the Delta; it’s helped us get resources to the Delta. Every cloud has a silver lining, Katrina really the knowledge of how fragile this area is. We have to continue that because we need resources from those who might want to put those resources elsewhere.

4. Transportation is always a major issue—this district really has two major thoroughfares cutting through it, in the northern part we are particularly concerned with the congestion along the I-80 corridor. This is no longer just an issue however about transportation it is also now an issue of the environment, oil supplies, global warming, etc. In your view, what should the state do to address transportation problems in the region?

The state has to take a very active role in addressing these problems. One of the first steps was this extraordinary $18 billion bond that was passed by California. We have worked very hard to assure our fair share of funding. We have roads that are bottlenecks. We have a port; why not use more sea transportation as opposed to truck transportation on the roads? We have achieved funding to dredge the port, to make certain that it can be used increasingly for transportation. We have to fund trains and transit. I’ve been a very strong supporter of all modes of transit and we need resources to do it.

We people seem to be very willing to put money into transportation, into transit. But this remains a very difficult problem because what’s happened is without jobs in the areas where people live, people will commute. That’s what you have between San Joaquin and the Bay Area. That’s what you have between Solano County and the Bay Area. You have people who want to live in these areas because they are pleasant to live in, and housing is a little cheaper, but that means that they have a commute. So we need every form of transportation to be at its best. And to do that we need resources.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting