John’s Soapbox:

I sat in on Marin County’s interviews for Supervisor on Wednesday, April 20. I will devote some time to Marin politics in nextmonth’s newsletter after our GAC and Board has had a chance to review the candidates and my notes from the interviews. For Sonoma County Supervisor candidates, the GAC and the BOD has had a chance to endorse and this newsletter is devoted to those results.

The ECA Board of Directors carefully listened to our Government Affairs Committee recommendations on Tuesday, April 19, and had a thoughtful debate and discussion regarding who the ECA and its membership will best be served with endorsements and funding. Please remember this is intended to represent the majority of our members, so if you are backing a different candidate, we are sorry for our difference of opinion. We have done our very best to pick the best candidate!

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Leadership Over Politics in District 5 Sonoma County Supervisor Race as ECA Endorses Lynda Hopkins

Let’s start with District 5-In this race, there are several candidates: Tim Sergeant, Marilyn Chase, Tom Lynch, Noreen Evans and Lynda Hopkins. I have had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing each of the candidates this year except Tom Lynch (he announced his candidacy extremely late and did not appear at the March 16 candidate interview forum I attended). Not only have I been able to interview, witness debates amongst the candidates, but several of our members of our Government Affairs Committee (GAC) also are very familiar with the candidates. Our GAC is made up of very astute political folks including former Sonoma County Supervisors Tim Smith and Eric Koenigshoffer, PG&E’s Brian Bottari, BoDean’s Bill Williams, and Smith Dollar’s Glenn Smith. Their recommendations wholeheartedly, enthusiastically, and unanimously stated Lynda Hopkins is far and away the best candidate for 5th District Supervisor. Our Board of Directors agreed on 4-19-16 and officially voted to endorse Lynda.

Why?   Lynda is a positive, vibrant, hardworking and intelligent small business owner who feels the same frustration/highs and lows of running a business that all of you do. Not only has Lynda refused to sign a pledge that would commit her future votes on issues to side with a special interest group (SEIU), she sent them a letter “pledging” to be make her votes based on facts and issues, rather than political paybacks or ideology. How refreshing is that???

Lynda will lead, and will exhibit Leadership if elected.

Lynda Hopkins’ main competition for the job is Noreen Evans, who has been a career politician for most of her adult life. Before you consider my words, consider this op-ed piece by Efren Carrillo in the Sonoma West Times.

Noreen’s response to Efren Carrillo’s op-ed piece:

“Two years ago, I and 23 other brave women asked Sup. Carrillo to resign after he terrorized a local woman. His bullying continues. In today’s Sonoma West Times, while endorsing another candidate for 5th District Supervisor, he scurrilously attempted to smear, diminish, and belittle my record of public service because I dared to challenge him. Enough is enough. Join me in standing up for all women by posting your name below and sharing.”

Noreen claims it is “bullying” when someone dares to challenge her lack of advocacy for the residents of the 5th District.

Ms. Evans gives you “Politics”. Ms. Hopkins gives you “Leadership”.

To me, to our Board of Directors, and to our Government Affairs Committee-the choice is clear-

We Choose Leadership over Politics.

ECA Endorses Lynda Hopkins – Read more about her here.

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Independent over Special Interest Candidate in District 1 Sonoma County Supervisor Race as ECA Endorses Gina Cuclis

Gina Cuclis refused to sign a pledge to the SEIU to vote on future issues the way they wanted her to vote. Gina’s main opponent in the Supervisor race, incumbent Susan Gorin, is supported by SEIU with campaign finances and has pledged to vote on future issues the way the SEIU wants her to. How can one maintain representation to her entire constituency when she has sided with a special interest group? Well-the ECA’s Board of Directors has decided that Gina Cuclis is the best candidate for District 1 Supervisor largely because Gina is not willing to “sell her soul” or her future votes to any special interest group!

Gina Cuclis not only owns a small business, she is a tireless advocate for fixing our roads, for fixing the issues around why so many of our Sonoma County Sheriffs are leaving, and for doing something about our housing crisis. I urge you to get to know more about Gina by visiting her website at link.

I worked on the Measure A campaign for Sonoma County to pass a sales tax measure-the Measure failed in large part because voters did not trust our elected officials to spend the money as they promised. If voters did not trust the sitting electeds, then why on earth would we want to continue letting them sit on the Board of Supervisors?

Gina vows to make fixing the roads in Sonoma County her #1 priority. Gina talked about Measure A with the Sonoma County residents, with the Sonoma citizens, and with the Sonoma elected officials a lot more than our sitting Supervisor did. While Gorin was not trusted by the voters, Cuclis advocated for Measure A so we could raise money to fix our roads.

Gina represents a “doer” versus a career politician in this race. Gina represents an Independent versus her opponent who unabashedly admits she is in “lock step” with the biggest government employee union members – the SEIU. Gorin just approved a $120 million increase in Sonoma County General Fund expenditures to make SEIU happy. That is more than Measure A would have cost the taxpayers!

The ECA recommends an Independent Candidate over a Special Interest candidate.

The ECA endorses Gina Cuclis for 1st District Supervisor for Sonoma County.

That’s All Folks!

John

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Legislative Watch:

AB 1926 PUBLIC WORKS:

Prevailing wage; apprentices. Requires that when a contractor requests dispatch of an apprentice, if the contractor wants the apprentice to fill out an application or undergo testing, training, an examination or any other pre-employment process the apprentice must be paid for the time. This includes travel time, and is at the prevailing wage rate.

AB 1948 COMPENSATION; MEAL AND REST OR RECOVERY PERIODS.

Current law prohibits an employer from requiring an employee to work during a meal or rest or recovery period. When an employer has a situation where they need an employee to work through their meal or rest period, the employer must pay the worker an additional hour of pay. This bill would make that penalty – the additional hour of pay – the entire penalty amount the worker can recover from the employer. The bill would prohibit civil or criminal penalties against the employer beyond the one hour of extra pay.