On Saturday, April 3, 2010, the Milpitas Democratic Club brought together the main contenders for two important June races - the chief law enforcement officer of the County and our State Assembly representative who is charged with cleaning up the mess in Sacramento.
Current District Attorney and candidate, Dolores Carr (http://dolorescarrforda.com), opened with an outline of her 500-person department that processes 45,000 cases each year with an $82M budget - down $7M from last year and expected to fall another $4M this year. She has lost nearly 20 attorneys to attrition, but no one has been laid off. She has also managed to maintain an identity-theft task force (while most in the State closed) and enhance the mortgage fraud and environmental areas. Her opponent, Jeff Rosen (http://www.rosen4da.com), emphasized his endorsements (including Democratic Activists for Women Now, co-sponsor of the forum) and ethical questions about Carr's service citing crime lab problems, black-balling a judge, and a Channel 7 news piece entitled "Is justice for sale?" Carr responded that many of the department’s problems originated under the former D. A. (and Rosen supporter), and that it is difficult to change the culture that led to those problems.
Our Gerrymandered Assemble district ensures that the Democratic winner in June's primary election will also be the winner in November. Community College Trustee Garrett Lee (www.garrettyeeforassembly.com) is an Iraq veteran and 22-year U. S. Army Reserve officer. He emphasized that a fiscal decision to balance a government budget may cause adverse long-term economic impact to a region. As a pro-business Democrat, he is focused on job creation, education, and balancing the State's budget by restoring the vehicle license fee, eliminating inefficiencies in government, and taxing pollution to pay for improvements. Both he and his opponent oppose State raids on local funding and Prop. 16 which would shift power from municipalities to utility companies.
Bob Wieckowski (http://bobwieckowski.com), vice-mayor of Fremont and progressive Democrat, wants to restore majority-rule to the State's budget process, create jobs, and seek funding sources rather than just cutting services as has been done for many years. "I'm done with cuts", he said, adding that we must pay for the services we expect. He proposed an oil severance fee (as done in Alaska and Texas) and a tax on sugary foods to help pay for their health consequences (similar to our tobacco tax). "I'll be your leader" on making diesel pay for its well-documented health consequences. From his experience as a bankruptcy attorney, he says the State is losing many millions of dollars by not filing the proper paperwork to collect from Chap. 13 filers.
Special thanks goes to moderators Denny Weisgerber, Annie Dandavati, Frank DeSmidt and Alicia Crank. The Milpitas Democratic Club and Democratic Activists for Women Now (DAWN) invite Milpitas residents registered as Democrats to participate in club activities and supporting progressive candidates. Learn more at http://milpitasdemocraticclub.org/ or http://sccdawn.org/
Left to Right: Dolors, Denny, Annie, Jeff
AD 20 Candidates and moderators: Alicia, Garrette, Bob, Frank
AD 20 Candidates, Moderators, and Democratic club Board