Sierra Club endorses Pico Sierra Club endorses Pico (January 02, 2004)

Mayor seeking 20th District Assembly nomination
by Jeb Bing

Mayor Tom Pico has received the sole endorsement of the Bay Area chapter of the Sierra Club in his bid for the Democratic Party nomination to the 20th Assembly District in the March 2 primary.

Dick Schneider, a member of the Sierra Club's National Conservation Governance Committee, said Pico has been "a strong environmental advocate for over a decade."

"Tom Pico has fought for the environment on issue after issue in the region, and has done so effectively and with integrity," Schneider added.

"I am honored by this endorsement," Pico said. "We have worked hard to balance the needs of the citizens of the region with open space preservation and environmental awareness."

Pico, who is seeking the nomination to succeed 20th District Assemblyman John Dutra, also has received endorsements from both the Pleasanton Police Officers Association and the city's Police Chief Tim Neal. Others endorsing Pico, who is in his second two-year term of office as Pleasanton's mayor, are other members of the Pleasanton City Council, State Sen. Tom Torlakson (D., Antioch), Contra Costa County Supervisor Millie Greenberg, and the mayors of Dublin, Livermore, Hayward and Berkeley.

His opponents in the 20th District race for the Democratic nomination are former Milpitas Mayor Henry Manayan, Newark City Councilman Alberto Torrico, former Department of Fair Employment and Housing Director Dennis Hayashi, and San Francisco Public Utilities Commissioner Ashik Bhatt.

Dutra, who is in his third two-year term for the office, must give up his seat next November because of term limits. The overwhelmingly Democratic district includes Fremont, Union City, Newark, Milpitas and parts of Pleasanton, San Jose, Castro Valley and Hayward.

More information on the Pico campaign is available online at www.picoforassembly.com.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.