People Power Endorses John Leopold, Bill Monning and Mark Stone for June 3, 2008 Elections

On June 3, 2008, we have a chance to entirely change transportation and land use planning in Santa Cruz County.

At the county level, sensible transportation has been losing by 3–2 votes. Retiring Live Oak Supervisor Jan Beautz has consistently supported sprawl and freeway-oriented planning. We now have the opportunity to replace her with People Power member John Leopold. At the state level People Power member John Laird is being termed out, as the state teeters between supporting rail systems and continued highway expansion. We can continue Laird's pro-environmental legacy by electing Bill Monning for State Assembly. Monning has long been a hard-working champion for labor and environmental issues, with a clear understanding of transportation and land use. Mark Stone has been an important ally as a San Lorenzo and Scotts Valley Supervisor. Let's keep him in office.

Please get involved with these campaign efforts—especially for John Leopold. The seat he's running for is hotly contested and winning it is crucial for our transportation goals in Santa Cruz County. Walking precincts is absolutely essential to victory. To help, please join John and his supporters on Sunday, May 18th (call for location). If you can't make it that day, call Micah at the People Power office and he will go walking with you: 425-0665.

To contact John Leopold's campaign directly, call 566-0122, email supporters@friendsofjohnleopold.com or visit their web site at www.friendsofjohnleopold.com. You can come to the SEIU office on Mission Street every Wednesday night to make phone calls, or come to a special phone party, Monday, May 12th.

To work on Bill Monning's campaign, call 421-0339 or go to www.billmonning.org.

Our Endorsement Process

Our endorsement process this year included the review of surveys as well as two forums that People Power cosponsored. Members who attended the forums were invited to meet afterwards to decide on endorsements. The candidates' web sites and responses to our questionnarie are below, followed by our summaries, though, as always, we encourage you to read the surveys yourself and make up your own mind.

State Assembly, 27th District

Bill Monning
http://www.billmonning.org/

Read more about our endorsement »

County Supervisor, District 1

John Leopold
http://www.friendsofjohnleopold.com/

Read more about our endorsement »

County Supervisor, District 2

No endorsement

County Supervisor, District 5

Mark Stone

Check the website early next week for more information on our process.

Read the candidate responses to the People Power questionnaire.

County Supervisor, District 1 Candidates

(portions of Capitola and Soquel to Summit Road, between Highway 17 and Forest of Nisene Marks)

County Supervisor, District 2 Candidates

(portions of Capitola and Soquel to Watsonville)

County Supervisor, District 5 Candidates

(San Lorenzo Valley and Scotts Valley)

People Power's Summary of Endorsements

The endorsement of John Leopold for Live Oak Supervisor wasn't difficult. He has consistently supported sensible transportation and opposed widening Highway 1. His response in our survey was unequivocal: "I do not support widening Highway 1." He is strongly in favor of purchasing the rail corridor and building the trail.

Also running in Live Oak is Carolyn Busenhart. Busenhart wants to widen Highway 1 to eight lanes and thinks that a train and trail is useless because it would require large parking lots along the way. We appreciate her candor and aren't endorsing her.

Live Oak candidate Betty Danner had some intelligent things to say at the forum but did not fill out a survey because she "is not seeking [our] endorsement." We assume this is because she favors widening Highway 1. (Let's work hard to get John Leopold elected and show her that People Power is a crucial part of a successful campaign.)

Supervisor candidates for District 2 (Aptos–Capitola) also turned in surveys and participated in our forum. Though we didn't endorse any of them, here are some thoughts on their responses:

Ellen Pirie is the incumbent Supervisor. People Power has spent a lot of time wrangling with her, as she is a leader in the plan to widen Highway 1, which we oppose. There are, however, important issues in the county besides highway widening and Pirie seems to be an ally on some of them. Her survey expressed clear support for both the purchase of the rail corridor and the rail trail. She supports safe routes to schools and specifically has made a pledge to add a sidewalk on Trout Gulch Road and bike lanes on Calabasas.

Dan Young's survey highlighted his environmental values including a belief that "a 3-lane highway gives you a 3-lane traffic jam; a 6-lane highway gives you a 6-lane traffic jam." Even so, like Pirie, he favors widening Highway 1 for HOV lanes. This wasn't the only contradictory response on his survey. Though information is widely available, Young wrote that he didn't understand how a trail could be built next to the tracks. Members thought he wasn't well-informed enough for us to endorse.

Doug Deitch seems to be running for office as a way to spread information about the county's water supply, and lack thereof. He told a People Power member he had no intention of actually being a Supervisor making it hard to endorse him. Nonetheless, Doug does ride a bike everywhere and even helped People Power back in '92. He cares a lot about society and the environment.

For State Assembly, People Power endorsed Bill Monning. Monning does "not support any of the Highway 1 widening proposals." He does support local and high-speed rail, with appropriate environmental mitigations, and has a list of other thoughtful and serious ways to reduce vehicle miles traveled. He supports "incentives for city-centered growth—up not out," and requiring "parking cash-out options for commuters who do not utilize parking spaces for fossil fuel burning vehicles."

The decision to endorse only Bill Monning was a difficult one. Emily Reilly, also running for Assembly, has a proven voting record of supporting sensible transportation. At the local Transportation Funding Task Force, she cast a vote that matches her survey response with regard to global warming, asserting that any major new transportation investments must be at least carbon neutral. While everyone at the forum appreciated Reilly's record, a clear majority of People Power members present that night thought Monning's 20 years of experience as an activist on state issues will make him more effective in Sacramento.

Barbara Sprenger, also running for Assembly, had insightful comments about transportation, including recognition of the connection to land use: "We must plan for the future and build around transit corridors. Smart development is key to enabling the residents of our state to live within our resources." Given this statement, People Power members were baffled by her continued support for widening Highway 1 and categorically do not endorse her.

The Assembly forum included candidates for Superior Court Judge. Though these candidates did not fill out surveys, members at the forum endorsed Ari Symons for Judge. Symons seemed engaged on a variety of issues including transportation.

San Lorenzo and Scotts Valley Supervisor Mark Stone has stepped forward with courage and conviction on several crucial votes. At a crucial meeting about widening the highway several months ago, Mark said he wouldn't support a transportation sales tax measure unless the projects in it did not create additional global warming emissions. After this assertion of priorities on Stone's part, the freeway sales tax was mothballed indefinitely.