10/20/2024
For the last week, voters in West Roseville received text messages and Facebook ads from a Special Interest Union group. They made outrageous claims that when I was a City Council member in San Jose, I was essentially solely responsible for budget cuts during the Great Recession and rising violent crime rates.
The Great Recession was (hopefully) a once in a lifetime event. The recession hit hard in the first after I took office in January 2007. My concern over the city’s poor fiscal practices was a main driver of my campaign.
After years of mismanagement, San Jose was over extended and unprepared. The recession decimated the city’s budget. Our council faced several years of massive budget deficits - including years where the deficit was greater than Roseville’s entire budget!
YES, I made hard decisions.
YES, I stood up to special interest demands.
YES, I focused on fixing the structural budget deficit.
YES, every single employee took a 10% pay reduction, but I cut my pay FIRST.
YES, I was one of the leaders of the Fiscal Reform plan.
YES, I was one of the leaders of Pension Reform efforts.
After nearly a decade of hard decisions, I left office leaving behind a 5 Year Budget Forecast that was, for the first time, balanced within +/-3%.
I did all this to save the city - and its residents and employees - from bankruptcy. Something the residents of Vallejo, Stockton, Loyalton, and many others wished their city council had the foresight and fortitude to do.
I know the impact of poor planning and poor budget practices. I spent eight years of my life, trying to fix the mistakes of the past in San Jose.
I’m now running for city council in Roseville to ensure that Roseville protects the quality of life, preserves, and enhances, public safety, And is steadfastly committed to fiscal responsibility.
This scares Special Interest Groups. That’s why they have already spent nearly $80K to elect someone who doesn’t hold my civic values.
I truly believe voters are smart and they will see through this mud slinging by Special Interests trying to Buy a City Council seat.
Just as troubling is the silence from the candidate benefiting by these outrageous attacks. All candidates sign a Campaign Ethics document in which they pledge not allow the use of these types of smear campaigns and pledge to repudiate them if they occur. Yet all we hear is deafening silence.
There’s no way I can counter the Massive Special Interest spending is this campaign - which is shaping up to be the most expensive city council campaign in Roseville’s history.
Being outspent 5:1 is tough, but I believe voters are smart and will see through the smears and not let this city council seat be bought by the highest bidder.
I have one special interest:
The Residents of Roseville
