Voters looking for their favorite candidate for State Assembly might be surprised to find someone else listed on their Nov. 7 ballot.
That’s because Pleasanton is split into three different Assembly districts, each representing a small part of the overall district which makes votes cast in Pleasanton somewhat inconsequential except in close races.
The 15th, now served by former Dublin Mayor and Assemblyman Guy Houston, a Republican who is seeking re-election, has been redistricted every 10 years since 1982 to include less of Pleasanton, with the district now accounting for 15 percent of the city, from east of Santa Rita Road and north of Stanley Boulevard.
The 20th District accounts for about 25 percent of Pleasanton, from south of Stanley and east of Main Street, and including Vintage Hills, the Vineyard Corridor and Ruby Hill. Represented by former Newark Councilman Alberto Torrico, the 20th was the scene of a fierce battle between Torrico and former Mayor Tom Pico in the 2004 Democratic primary, which Torrico won in a close vote. With a nearly 2-1 edge in registered voters, Democrats traditionally win the Assembly contests in the General Election.
The 18th Assembly District, which since 2002 has accounted for about 60 percent of Pleasanton west of Main Street and Santa Rita, has also been largely Democratic except for a brief two-year period when Republican Gib Marguth of Livermore was swept into office during the Ronald Reagan landslide in the presidential contest in 1980. The state legislature quickly redistricted the 18th in 1982, taking it out of much of Pleasanton and nearby cities to return power to Hayward, San Leandro and other Bayside cities that traditionally vote Democratic. The district, where 58 percent are registered Democrats, has been represented by Johan Klehs of San Leandro, who was termed out this year, and before that Ellen Corbett, former mayor of San Leandro. Klehs lost in the June primary to Corbett in his bid to be the party’s candidate for the 10th State Senate District, The 10th, which includes Pleasanton, is another Democratic Party stronghold, where Corbett appears to be a strong contender to succeed State Senator Liz Figueroa (D-Fremont), who is termed out after serving since 1998.
Despite its Democratic strength, the race for the 18th District Assembly between newcomers Mary Hayashi, a Castro Valley Democrat, and Pleasanton Republican Jill Buck, is considered too close to call by political analysts who consider this one of the tightest Assembly races this election.
A more detailed look at each of the contests follows:
10th State Senate District: Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro) vs. Lou Filipovich (R-San Leandro)
Democratic candidate Ellen Corbett and Republican candidate Lou Filipovich are running to take the State Senate 10th District seat–an open race this year since current State Senator Liz Figueroa termed out of office.
Corbett, a resident of San Leandro, is a familiar face to voters. She previously served in the State Senate, representing the 18th District from 1998 to 2004 until she termed out of office. While in the senate, she was chair of the Committee on Revenue and Taxation, Committee on Judiciary and Committee on Biotechnology and Earthquake Safety and Preparedness. Prior to serving in the Senate, she served as mayor of San Leandro from 1995 to 1998 and on the San Leandro City Council from 1991 to 1995.
Education, healthcare and the environment are the main issues Corbett plans to tackle while in the Senate. She plans to address issues in school funding, for grades K-12 as well as making higher education more affordable, and work to ensure public schools are providing students with the skills they need to make it to college and beyond. She supports universal healthcare and initiatives to make prescription drugs more affordable.
Filipovich is also a San Leandro resident and has been a perennial candidate in many area elections since 1992. In the June primary elections, he ran for San Leandro Mayor and Alameda County Supervisor, as well as California State Senator. He is also currently running for a seat on the Oro Loma Sanitary District Board. Filipovich stresses he is nonpartisan despite being on the Republican ticket.
He said if elected, which he expects won’t happen, he will only serve one term as a Senator because if he can’t accomplish what he wants in that four years, he will leave the seat. Filipovich said if elected, he intends to look into government spending of taxpayer’s money.
15th State Assembly District: Terry Coleman (D-Danville) vs. Guy Houston (R-San Ramon)
Incumbent Assemblyman and former Dublin Mayor Guy Houston is seeking re-election to his third consecutive term in the State Assembly, where he serves as the vice-chairman for the Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy. He has carried the district by wide margins in his first two campaigns, a district that stretches from Livermore on the south to Elk Grove and Sacramento County on the north and west to the I-680 corridor cities of Danville and San Ramon. About 15 percent of Pleasanton on the northeast side of the city also is in the 15th District.
Houston has worked closely with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ever since winning his seat in 2004, and was instrumental in state budget measures that included gaining $110 million in additional public school “equalization” funding to under-funded schools. In addition to public education funding, his legislative focus has also been on improving the economic outlook for California. In 2003, he was named “Legislator of the Year” by the American Electronics Association.
Democratic challenger Terry Coleman is a consumer attorney and partner in the San Francisco law firm of Pillsbury & Levinson. A former Republican, he calls himself a “skeptical Democrat,” who would work to end the partisan bickering between the two parties in Sacramento. He also wants to make it easier for independent voters who “decline to state” a party preference to run for office.
“Today, Republicans and Democrats qualify for the ballot by submitting 40 signatures, but an independent voter must collect more than 8,000,” Coleman said. “That’s wrong, and until we change it, we’ll be forced to choose candidates who adhere to party dogmas that no longer fit California.”
Republicans account for more than 44 percent of the registered voters in the 15th State Assembly District compared to 38 percent Democrat and 12 percent who decline to state.
18th State Assembly District: Mary Hayashi (D-Castro Valley) vs. Jill Buck (R-Pleasanton)
Sixty percent of Pleasanton residents lie in the boundaries of the 18th State Assembly District, which also includes parts of Sunol, Dublin, San Leandro, Castro Valley and Oakland.
Two candidates, Republican Jill Buck of Pleasanton and Democrat Mary Hayashi of Castro Valley, are vying for the historically left-wing-held seat, but this race appears to be a lot closer than in past elections. While a staggering 54 percent of the district’s voters are registered Democrats and just 21 percent are registered Republicans, Buck said she has crossover appeal.
The Pleasanton resident is best known for developing the Go Green Initiative, an environmental education program that was first employed in Pleasanton schools and has since spread to schools across the country. Buck’s platform includes strengthening public safety, securing the nation’s borders to prevent illegal immigration, working to prevent child sexual abuse and supporting Jessica’s Law to toughen penalties for sex offenders, ensuring better education for the nation’s future workforce, supporting businesses by keeping taxes low and advocating for and giving incentives to people who protect the environment.
Buck’s opponent, Hayashi, is known for her experience in the public health sector. She formed coalitions with well-known health advocates, served as California Director of the American Public Health Association and as a board member of the National Breast Cancer Coalition and Planned Parenthood Golden Gate. If elected, she plans to improve health care in the region, making health care coverage more affordable, and provide prevention and treatment programs for the mentally ill. She also wants to improve the stateÃs economy by investing in teachers and local community colleges to create a strong workforce, encouraging responsible growth to protect the environment and advocate for public transportation use and developing long-term energy, transportation and environmental solutions.
20th State Assembly District: Alberto Torrico (D-Newark) vs. Ken Nishimura (R-Fremont)
In his first term, Torrico was selected to chair the Assembly Committee on Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security and authored four pension-reform bills along with opposing Gov. Schwarzenegger’s proposal to privatize public pensions. In 2005, 10 Torrico measures won legislative approval, and another 13 bills made it through the legislature this year.
He was named “Legislator of the Year” for 2005 by four separate organizations, including the California State Firefighters’ Association and the California Association of Independent Grocers and Convenience Store Operators. A lawyer, he began his public service career as a policy aide with the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and, in 2001, opened his own practice in Fremont, where he worked with unions, handled criminal defense work, and worked on business matters. He served on the Newark City Council for three years.
His challenger, Ken Nishimura, is an electrical engineer with a doctorate degree in engineering from UC Berkley. As an Assemblyman, he would focus on keeping the state budget in line with revenue without any tax increases, shifting health care away from an optional fringe benefit to enable all Californians the opportunity to obtain their own health insurance at group rates, and on the environment.
“As an avid bicyclist and bicycle commuter, I value a clean environment,” Nishimura said. “After decades of improvement, our air is much cleaner than before. However, we still have a few days each year where our air fails to meet pollution standards. We must do better.”
For more information about the State Senate and State Assembly races and other candidate and election information, go to the League of Women Voters Web site at www.smartvoter.org.
