At the Contra Costa Council-sponsored Candidates Forum on October 10 at Roundhill County Club in Alamo, Assembly District 15 candidates Joan Buchanan and H. Abram Wilson attempted to differentiate themselves for Contra Costa voters. Yet in the debate moderated by Contra Costa Times political editor Lisa Vorderbrueggen, both candidates emphasized how they would take a bipartisan approach to balancing the budget and finding areas of agreement in building relationships with future Sacramento colleagues.
 
Buchanan (picture above, at left), a Democrat, and Wilson, a Republican (at right), are vying for the seat being vacated by Assemblyman Guy Houston, who has termed out of office.
 
A retired commercial operations director for Delta Dental and longtime San Ramon Valley Unified schools trustee, Buchanan said she will be effective in the job because she always does her homework, and will "reach out and meet with people on both sides of the table." She noted she sat at the school district negotiations table for 18 years and "believes in California's promise to its children," and worked successfully with developers in Dougherty Valley.
 
Wilson, a retired banking executive who was San Ramon's first elected mayor and served on the San Ramon City Council and the city's Parks and Community Services Commission, touted his work in improving San Ramon's relationship with its business community, his service as chair of the Contra Costa Mayors' Conference, and his work on the county's communications system. "What is missing in Sacramento is remembering who you work for and bringing everyone together," he said.
 
Both candidates commented on the importance of the Delta as an environmental resource. "I am totally against the peripheral canal . . . that is unacceptable," said Wilson, who noted that the Los Vaqueros reservoir should be expanded. Buchanan called for preservation of the environment and a clean, safe water supply, and said that the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force should be allowed to finish its job.
 
When asked if he agreed with Republicans who voted not to raise taxes, Wilson said that raising taxes has solved nothing, and called for evaluating programs to ensure their effectiveness. "We need to hold people accountable," he said. Buchanan said the budgeting process needs to be reconstructed, "looking at every line item," and should be started earlier--in the January-February time frame. Both candidates called for changes to the initiative process.
 
While Buchanan said she would support a proposed 55 percent approval vote to pass the state budget, Wilson said the measure was on the 2004 ballet and more than two-thirds of the state's residents said the current requirement should remain. It shouldn't be easy to raise taxes, he said.

 

By Linda Best, President and CEO, Contra Costa Council

Mark your calendars for Contra Costa USA on January 29, 2009! We will have a dynamite line-up of informative and provocative speakers.
 
Keynoting our dinner program will be Pulitzer Prize-winning conservative newspaper columnist, journalist and author George F. Will. Mr. Will has served as an editor with the conservative National Review and is a columnist with the Washington Post and Newsweek Magazine. He has also written two best-selling books on baseball.
 
Kicking off the morning program will be political humorist Will Durst, who thoroughly entertained our audience last year. His observations on the November election are sure to amuse and enlighten.
 
The rest of the morning program will focus on state budget reform. The impacts of the late budget and the structural deficit are being felt by all, including local government, business, education and non-profits serving our vulnerable populations. Our first panel discussion will focus on the impacts of state budget problems, as well as evolving strategies for structural reform. Participating on the panel will be Jim Mayer, Executive Director of California Forward. The mission of California Forward is to improve the life of all Californians by creating more responsive, representative and cost-effective government. A major focus of the group is state budget reform. It is funded by the California Endowment, the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation and the David and Lucille Packard Foundation.
 
The second panel will consist of three retired state legislators (announcements soon on who!), who will share their experiences with and perspectives on the state budget. This is sure to be a lively discussion!
 
Invitations for CCUSA will be mailed in early January. In the meantime, sponsorship opportunities are available for the event. For more information on sponsorship levels and benefits, contact Linda Best at the Council office, 925-246-1880.

The Contra Costa Council Board opposes California Proposition 7, the Solar and Clean Energy Act of 2008, which would require utilities, including government-owned utilities, to generate 20 percent of their power from renewable energy by 2010, a standard currently applied only to private electrical corporations. The statute would further raise the requirement for utilities to 40 percent by 2020 and 50 percent by 2025. Opposition to the measure was recommended to the Board by the Council's Environmental/Manufacturing Task Force.

 

In recommending opposition, Task Force members noted that the measure contains a "competition elimination" provision that would force smaller renewable energy companies out of California's market: it excludes power from renewable plants smaller than 30 megawatts from counting toward the new requirements.

 

The measure is opposed by an impressive coalition of solar, wind and other renewable power developers and leading environmental groups throughout the state. These include the California Solar Energy Industries Association, California Small Business Association, California Labor Federation, California Chamber of Commerce, Consumers Coalition of California, the California Democratic and Republican Parties, League of California Cities, California Municipal Utilities Association and dozens of others.

New and prospective Council members are welcome to attend Task Force meetings. Please notify a Task Force chair prior to the meeting to confirm time and location.

Here is a list of upcoming briefings, as currently scheduled:

Environmental/Manufacturing Task Force . . . Fri., November 7, 10 to 11:30 a.m. . . . Tour and discussion at the FPL Energy, LLC High Winds facility in Solano County, arranged for Council and Task Force members. (Sign up with Task Force co-chairs or the Council office.) Next meeting is Fri., December 5, 8:15 to 9:30 a.m., at Brown and Caldwell, 201 N. Civic Drive, Suite 300, Walnut Creek. Contacts: Peter McGaw and George Smith