Candidate for
Member, Town Council; Town of Danville

MY LIFELONG PHILOSOPHY HAS BEEN GOVERNED BY 4 RULES

RULE #1: NEVER GIVE UP.

RULE #2: NEVER FORGET RULE #1.

RULE #3: I CAN NEVER LOSE MY BEST FRIEND IF MY BEST FRIEND IS MY HIGHER POWER.

RULE #4: HUMOR IS OFTEN THE BEST MEDICINE, PARTICULARLY WHEN IT IS SELF-DEPRECATING.

IF ELECTED, I WILL USE THESE RULES FOR THE BETTERMENT OF THE TOWN OF DANVILLE.

Municipal Elections are non-partisan by law. My incumbent opponent has endorsed only candidates of the Republican Party. A non-incumbent opponent has been endorsed in print by a termed-out member of the Republican Party. I have endorsed candidates of both major Political Parties, whomever I feel will do the most good for the Town of Danville. I felt it was a conflict of interest to hold a political party office, while running for a non-partisan Municipal Office. I therefore have resigned my position as a member of the Contra Costa County Republican Central Committee, when I filed for Danville Town Council. I will be highly critical of any of my 4 opponents who display partisan behavior, while running for this non-partisan office.

Based on the apparent high campaign spending patterns of one of my non-incumbent opponents, I wonder what this opponent will do with the influence gained from this $400 /month job, if elected. There is no limit to campaign spending for a Danville Town Council Candidate, so no laws are being broken. In my first position paper I will explain how I went from a youth in poverty to a multi millionaire. I look upon the job of Member of the Town Council as one of many possibilities for service. I expect my major future campaign expense to get my shoes resoled!

Hear what some SRVUSD teachers said about me. "A friend of . . . teachers and students, Ralph Hoffmann . . . candidate for the Town of Danville Council . . . worked with us and parents in the (1990) recall election. For the past year, he has been going to monthly joint study sessions of SRVUSD and the Town of Danville, to focus on how to mutually work advantageously for students and residents of Danville (i.e. parking, traffic, etc.) . . . Candidates like Ralph Hoffmann, who are willing to speak up for education and support our schools in their entirety need our voices". I wholeheartedly endorse Measure A, the $260 Million Dollar Bond Issue of the SRVUSD, on the November 5 Ballot. I will volunteer my time on the phone banks making calls in support of this Measure, and to encourage others to do likewise. Measure A was passed unanamously by the SRVUSD Board of Trustees, and is endorsed by such diverse groups as the Danville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Central Labor Council of Contra Costa County AFL-CIO.

I am totally opposed to the 1400 unit housing project known as "Alamo Creek". It is a sprawl development that will cause traffic congestion at critical Danville intersections, increase cross-traffic on streets close in to I-680, cause water shortages during drought years, and damage the environment and endangered species, such as the jumping frog of Calaveras County. I will do all legally in my power, before the November election, and after my election to the Danville Town Council, to see that this project is never completed. I have attended more Joint Planning Commission Hearings, and Board of Supervisor Hearings, and SWAT meetings, speaking out against this project, than all 4 of my opponents combined.

Danville faces a cut-back in Town Services, including reducing police coverage from 4 beats to 3, after the November 5 Election, a possible increase in Members of Council Salary from $400/mo. to $562/mo. and a Lighting and Landscaping Assessment Districts (LLAD) vote to make up for an inadvisable promise not to raise LLAD rates for 5 years, 5 years ago, to boost the YES vote. The Danville Council has of course no control over electric rates, and has had to dip into the General Fund the past two years to make up the difference.

My incumbent opponent has also refused at a publicly called study session to ask the State Government to raise income tax rates to the 10% and 11% levels or eliminate the Vehicle License Fee Offset; levels that were in effect during the Administrations of Republican Governors Reagan and Wilson under previous difficult times of State Budget Deficits. The consequences of not raising State Taxes, with State Expenditures reduced so low as to have a massive impact on Health and Human Services in the approved $98 Billion dollar budget will result in additional take-aways from revenues which had been going to municipalities FOR THE NEXT 4-5 YEARS TO BALANCE STATE BUDGETS. Danville has no real control over its revenues and must depend on the State for revenues under current law. My incumbent opponent acted in a legally called monthly study session. I was the only member of the public or press in attendance each month for the past year, and Operating Budget and Capital Improvement Budget study sessions at which no member of the press, and virtually no member of the public were present but I.

In ordinary economic times, I would favor a small business license fee. These are not ordinary economic times; many of our small local businesses are failing or relocating elsewhere. that is why I favor elimination of the small business license fee until such time as the business climate improves.

NONE OF MY 4 OPPONENTS HAS ANYTHING CLOSE TO THE EXPERIENCE IN PREPARATION FOR SERVICE ON THE DANVILLE TOWN COUNCIL OR UNDERSTANDING OF THE FUTURE TOWN FINANCES THAN I.