Candidate for
County Supervisor; County of Monterey; Supervisorial District 5

I am running for 5th District Supervisor for the County of Monterey because this County lacks leadership in financial matters at the Board level and I can make a difference.

I am a Certified Public Accountant with 25 years of financial experience, a college instructor in financial disciplines for 23 years and I own my consulting business. I have a breadth of experience in County matters with the following accomplishments:

1. Chair of the Monterey County Water Resource Agency for seven years, with balanced budgets in each of those years. We faced very trying financial times in 1998 subsequent to the passage of Proposition 218 and made the difficult choices in balancing our budget, with a 50% reduction in revenue, and yet still provided basic public service. We have built two water projects and have a third, the Salinas Valley Water Project, in design phase. This project received an 85% voter approval in early 2003.

2. Chair of the Natividad Hospital Action Committee, which balanced the budget for fiscal year 2003-04, in fact, the hospital will show a small profit. Again, difficult financial decisions, however, proof that with leadership, the task can be accomplished.

3. Chair of the Battered Womens Shelter for Monterey County for five years, in which time we built an organization capable of serving dozens of victims of domestic abuse. The entity today is named Shelter Plus and is an example for other Counties to emulate. Several hundred individuals are serviced today because of the seeds planted years ago.

My platform is built on three core issues; ethical financial management, sustainable water supplies and leadership.

This County is on the brink of financial bankruptcy, and much of this could have been prevented. The County treasurer started sounding the warning siren in Board reports three years ago that financial trends indicated revenue reductions in the out years 2004 and 2005. The time to address expense issues was then, not now. We will see significant reduction in the County workforce and service provision and we cannot allow this to happen again. The impact to public safety will be severe, and most acutely felt in the 5th District, 50% unincorporated. I will work to educate my fellow Board members on budget issues and determine that ALL departmental budgets are as operationally lean as possible, annually.

The key to solving many of the general plan issues regarding housing is fundamental to the sustainable water supple issue. As Chair of the County water board, I have a unique insight into water and am aware there are several possible alternatives to providing sustainable water solutions, on a regional basis, to the entire County. Of most import is my own District, which is under a standing state order to supplement the water supply and turn off the pumps in the Carmel River. We have an opportunity to enhance the Carmel River from an environmental standpoint while also providing the much-needed water.

The key to success in solving the aforementioned issues is leadership. Political stalemate and polarizing positions by the Board of Supervisors is counter productive and the community loses. The 5th District deserves a Supervisor who has demonstrated the ability to bring divergent groups and opinions together and compromise for the public good. I am the only candidate in the 5th District race that has demonstrated such ability. My vision for the 5th District and the County is inclusion, collaboration and regional cooperation. We will solve the major issues in this County only if we work together at the leadership level and bring the community together rather than divide them as we have currently done.

I humbly ask for your vote on March 2nd.