Using the backdrops of the barbed-wired-covered prison grounds at the Santa Rita Jail and a dinner reception with views of the sprawling hillside at a private county estate in Sunol, 18th District Republican state Assembly candidate Jill Buck spent Sept. 6 staking her aspirations to claim the historically Democratic-held seat.
“This is an uphill battle all the way,” Buck, a Pleasanton resident, told about 80 people who gathered at a fundraising event in her honor that evening at the Bella Rosa home in Sunol.
“I know that this district is not a cakewalk,” she said, noting that 54 percent of registered voters in the 18th Assembly District–which includes Pleasanton, Dublin, San Leandro, Hayward, Castro Valley, Ashland, Cherryland and portions of San Lorenzo, Oakland and Sunol–are Democrats, while only 21 percent are registered as Republicans.
Running on the Democratic ticket for Assemblyman Johan Klehs’ 18th District seat is Mary Hayashi, a Castro Valley resident who works in the public health sector.
Despite the competition that lies ahead in the coming weeks leading up to the Nov. 7 election, Buck said she is hinging her bets that she’ll be able to win crossover votes from Democrats and Independents who aren’t focusing on the “R” after her name, but instead on what her views are on various issues.
Already garnering support from many of her women friends who are mostly Democrats has shown her that she can appeal to a broad range of people, regardless of their political affiliation, she said.
About a dozen Republican politicians were on hand at the reception to throw their support behind Buck, among them: Assemblyman Guy Houston, whose 15th District wraps around the 18th District and also includes the Sacramento area and parts of the San Joaquin Valley; Tom DelBaccaro, chairman of the California Republican Party County Chairman’s Association; the party’s Chairman Duf Sundheim and vice Chairman Ron Nehring and the party’s Bay Area division vice President Luis Buhler.
“She has really made a name for herself up in Sacramento,” Houston said. “That’s what we need in this party: some good energy.”
DelBacarro added that new blood in government such as Buck is needed for the Republicans to gain a stronghold in November.
“We’re working to promote Republican women into Congress,” he said.
“She just fits in this district better than anybody could,” said 36th District Assemblywoman Sharon Runner, who also attended the fundraising dinner.
Runner, whose district covers Lancaster, Palmdale, Victorville and Adelanto, was present with Buck at a small press conference in front of the Santa Rita Jail earlier in the day to talk about Proposition 83, the Jessica’s Law ballot initiative targeting sex offenders, which Runner co-wrote.
“It’s very important for us and for the safety of our community to know where our sex offenders are,” Runner said. “Of the 100,000 registered sex offenders, there is one in every four that we don’t know where they are.”
The effort for Jessica’s Law began in August 2005, a few months after the legislation’s namesake, 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, was kidnapped from her Florida home, molested and killed by a convicted sex offender. Jessica’s Law aims to tighten restrictions and penalties for sex offenders. Child pornography and Internet luring have become the most prevalent sex crimes over the past few years, Runner said, and current laws need to be updated to penalize perpetrators.
The legislation was struck down by the Senate which led Runner and her co-authors to bring it to voters as a measure on the Nov. 7 ballot.
“I appreciate Jill (Buck’s) support of the bill,” Runner said. “We know she would be a great asset up (in Sacramento).”
Buck said she’s no stranger to efforts against child sex crimes. When she was president of the Pleasanton PTA Council, she brought an idea to the council on how to collaborate with the Pleasanton Police Department to monitor registered sex offenders, receiving overwhelming support.
“In Pleasanton in particular, I think there will be a lot of support (for Jessica’s Law),” the former Naval Officer said.
Another stance Buck has taken going towards the November election is her continued drive for environmental protection. The mother of three is best known for the development of the Go Green Initiative, an environmental education program that was first employed in Pleasanton schools and has since spread to schools across the country.
The former PTA Council president created the program in 2002, which set out to teach children the culture of conservation and encourage teachers to cut down on paper usage or use recycled products.
For more information about Jill Buck, visit www.jillbuck.com.
