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Clockwise, from upper left: Noreen Evans, Joanne Sanders, Tom Lynch and David Rosas
By JULIE JOHNSON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
CLICK HERE TO WATCH AND DISCUSS THE FORUM
NAPA — Job growth dominated the talk Thursday night at Napa Valley College by candidates hoping to succeed state Sen. Pat Wiggins in Sacramento.
At the first forum where voters could meet the candidates together, three of the four people hoping to win the 2nd District seat told a live web audience and about 30 people gathered in a lecture hall how they would bring more work to the six counties served by the office.
Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, former Sonoma Mayor Joanne Sanders and Sonoma County Planning Commissioner Tom Lynch took part in the forum designed to win the endorsement of the Democrats of Napa Valley. David Rosas, a Roseland School District board member also running, did not attend the forum.
Evans’ promise to create jobs through infrastructure projects earned the votes of two-thirds of the members of the Democrats of Napa Valley, who gave her their endorsement. Evans asked the group to look to her record with the 7th Assembly District to judge how she would approach work in the Senate.
“I worked with Congressman (Mike) Thompson on a St. Helena project that created jobs and saved homes. The Napa River flood control project meant hundreds of jobs for Napa County, Evans said.
Sanders, former mayor of Sonoma, was runner-up in the endorsement vote. Sanders said her staffing company has created 3,800 jobs in Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.
“The state’s number-one revenue source is income tax,” Sanders said.
“I’m a small business owner and I’m in the business of facilitating job creation.”
Lynch said cuts to government workers’ pensions and pay were at the heart of his plan to stem job loss.
Lynch proposed starting with graduated, salary-based pay cuts and reducing pension payouts.
“We can’t continue with massive, unfunded obligations that are robbing us of our funds,” Lynch said of current pension plans.
The Guerneville general contractor did not win any endorsement votes Thursday night, but he did win applause as he listed a left-leaning agenda to reduce the prison population and legalize marijuana.
Evans, who spoke after Lynch, challenged the 30-year Guerneville resident’s plan to address the state’s budget deficit.
“You could fire every state employee, and you couldn’t close this budget gap,” Evans said.
Candidates answered multiple questions about partisan collaboration, including one from Matt Pope, a Napa County planning commissioner, when he asked Sanders how she would deal with an impasse between Republicans and Democrats in Sacramento.
“We have to find common ground, find incentives. Let’s say you have to raise a tax, what do you need from the biz community to help them move forward?” Sanders said.
In response to a similar question, Evans said she fought Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed cuts by inviting public comment for the first time.
“Judge me by what I’ve done. I opened (the budget hearings) up to everyone in the state of California,” Evans said.
Sen. Pat Wiggins holds the seat now, but she is not running for re-election.
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I know hundreds of government employees, many whom I’ve asked if, in order to save the jobs of the younger less senior workers would they be willing to accept a graduated, salary based paycut…similar to what they’re doing in Ireland; with massive loss of government revenue Ireland is cutting public employee salaries 5-15% based on income. Every single worker in schools, the cities, the county and state that I posed this question to said yes. This is the context of the paycuts I suggested.
As to the pensions…go to http://www.pensiontsunami.com and see how these massive unfunded obligations (with public pensions, not the trade unions) are collapsing around us. At the debate I said these pensions are paid not only by the taxpayers themselves but also the active rank and file. Is it fair the first wave of retiring baby boomers bankrupt this system to the peril of those that follow, and those retired?
Since 2000 the average household income in Sonoma County has been declining while the public sector salaries and benefits have almost doubled, much of it to the upper tier, not as much the rank and file. These increases have been funded by increased taxes in better times, but that has not been enough as year by year we’ve seen more and more cuts to the essential services we rely upon government to provide.
As Barack Obama says, “We must have the courage to face these issues honestly and solve these problems.” As most of us in the private sector we have had to reinvent ourselves…so to must government. We cannot continue with business as usual, government and our political leaders need to reinvent themselves, we need a new deal, a new operating system.
Thank’s to the Napa Valley Democrats for sponsoring this debate, thanks to the Press Democrat for their coverage, and thanks to Noreen Evans and Joanne Sanders for their good works.
Tom Lynch
Me too, when listening to Saunders. Absolutely going with Evans. She has made the tough decisions and really cares about our district.
I think i just threw up in my mouth.
Noreen’s efforts on the budget were the only ones that actually involved inviting real CALIFORNIANs to come and testify about what the actual budget cuts meant to seniors,foster kids, the disabled, victims of domestic violence and others who were subject to the Governors’s attacks on the poor through budget cuts. Noreen was also one of the few elected leaders with the cojones to take on the Governor for his unwillingness to tax oil companies like Chevron and instead balance the budget on the backs of the state’s poorest and most vulnerable. She’s a strong environmentalist and she she supports workers and decent wages. The big business interests and scab contractors who want to be able to exploit undocumented workers and not pay health care and benefits to their construction workers don’t like her because she supports conractors who pay good wages, retirement and health care. We need more senators like Noreen!
Folks need to remember that Noreen Evans involvement in the budget travesty coming from Sacramento. Or should I say she is a star in the Greek tragedy being presented in Sacramento? Because if we don’t resolve tough budget issues, California will be as broken and bankrupt as Greece.
Unfortunately, during last year’s budget crisis Noreen found plenty of time to author legislation favorable to construction unions. I’m sure those “infrastructure projects” will go to her high priced union buddies who are supporting her bid for the State Senate.
Vote NO on more of the same! And Vote Yes on Prop 14 so we have real choices, not another done over serving of party hacks beholden to unions.
Well, I thought Noreen was by far and away the best candidate last night. She was strong and understands the situation we face. The other two sounded like lunatics. I though Sanders was going to jump over the podium while she was ranting.
Noreen Evans takes loads of money from casino tribes AND she is the only elected official in Sonoma County to take money from Station Casinos of Las Vegas, the company that is trying to build the Rohnert Park casino. ALong with her buddy, Mike Thompson, who also refuses to take a position on casinos in our district, Evans is obviously pro-casino, and she would be very bad for Sonoma County now that we are looking at maybe 3+ more casinos. NO to Evans! I’m a registered Democrat, but in November, I won’t vote vote for any of the Democrats in this race. Lynch is a joke. He’s just a spoiler, like he was in the 5th District Supervisor race. His reward was a nice appointment.