People Power Dual-Endorses Coonerty and Krohn for County Supervisor

Each election, People Power sends out surveys to find out where candidates stand on transportation issues. We then offer our opinion about who we believe will best lead our community to a less auto-dependent future. But our endorsements always come with a caveat: we only consider a candidate's transportation perspectives. As such, we aren't endorsing ALL of any candidate's positions. We encourage you to consider our analysis and weigh it along with other issues you care about.

For the June 6th election we received responses from three candidates for North County Supervisor (Christopher Krohn, Neil Coonerty, and Jonathan Boutelle), and from one candidate for South County Supervisor: Judy Lazenby.

Both Coonerty and Krohn were impressive in their insight into transportation issues, opposition to widening Highway 1, and their alignment with the philosophy of People Power. For this reason, we decided that we would recommend both candidates.

Coonerty's support for People Power projects was unequivocal and stated concisely. Krohn was similarly supportive, but quite a bit more philosophical and lengthy in his answers. Some reviewers appreciated that Coonerty was straightforward and direct and felt this would be an asset as a politician. Others appreciated Krohn's activist passion and his desire to explain his position in detail. All agreed that these were stylistic differences, and that both would likely be great advocates for human-powered transportation.

One difference in the responses was Coonerty's clear support for a Broadway-Brommer Connection, while Krohn was vague and seemed to want to avoid taking a position. This is an important issue for cyclists, but also is unlikely to go to the Supervisors. On the other hand, Krohn rides a bike several times a week and has been a member of People Power (on and off) since 1995.

We thank candidate Boutelle for returning a thoughtful survey. Unfortunately, we can't endorse him due to his support for Highway widening, which encourages more dependence on cars.

Judi Lazenby, a candidate for Supervisor in South County seems to be a cautious advocate for transportation alternatives such as rail, but also said that widening Highway 1 would mean "improving transportation between Santa Cruz and Watsonville." While we can't endorse her for this reason, she may be an improvement over incumbent Tony Campos, whose lack of response to our survey is consistent with lack of attention to sensible transportation. More often than not, Campos sends his alternate to Regional Transportation Commission meetings and loudly touts his support for widening Highway 1.

More information on the candidates People Power endorsed: