The Registrar of Voters allowed us to use my nickname on the June ballot. In January of 1986, in protest of Santa Rosa’s illegal discharges of wastewater in the Russian River, I drove a tractor and a broadcast manure spreader through downtown Santa Rosa and covered four city blocks with cow manure. Since then I have been honored with the nickname “Manure Man”. The Registrar staff laughed and said this is going to be an interesting election.
Our campaign flyer says, "We must freeze County salaries and benefits and restore funds to our nonprofit and volunteer organizations. To avoid the loss of hundreds of County jobs from Human Services, Public Safety, and Mental Health along with more cuts in essential services, we must reallocate our resources to serve the greatest needs in Sonoma County." This is the heart and soul of our campaign.
We continue …Since 2000 the “median household income” in Sonoma County has declined by 2%. Salaries and benefits for County workers has increased by 63.5%...Of 4000 County staff the average compensation for the top 1000 is over $160,000 a year!
A long difficult recession lies ahead with declining revenues and increasing costs. The County has taken a windfall of increased property taxes and given it to themselves, with no increase in services nor additional tax dollars spent on roads and infrastructure. For each of the last four years the County has reduced programs and services. Especially hard hit have been our Human Services and Mental Health programs including closure of Oakcrest (Norton), the Fulton Road facility and now cutbacks to the alcohol and drug treatment programs at the Orenda Center.
The last two weeks have been very interesting with union meetings for many candidates. I have met with a committee of the Deputy Sheriff’s Association (DSA 500+), spoke to an auditorium full of Service Employee International Union members (SEIU 3000+), and answered questions from representatives of most of the labor unions in Northern California at a forum hosted by the North Bay Labor Council. I will be forever grateful to all the unions for their gracious hospitality. As Supervisor my door would always be open as I represent the unions interests balanced with the interests of all my constituents.
I shared with unions the same message I’ve been saying to the rank and file members of all our public employee unions for months now. I’ve talked with members of Sonoma’s finest…Sheriff’s deputies walking the streets of Guerneville, I’ve met Permit and Resource Management Department staff tasked with protecting our land and resources, Human Service and Mental Health professionals. I am offering honest and realistic solutions to our problems.
What I have said at debates and to individuals alike when asked how do we address our budget problems. We need a temporary freeze on salaries and benefits in order to avoid further cuts in essential services and lay-offs of County workers. Going into a recession we need more County workers helping people, not less. Also we can’t expect our County workers to provide all our essential services by themselves, we all have to step up to the plate and participate in improving our communities…one way is by leveraging our tax dollars to greatest effect by restoring the cuts to our struggling non-profit and volunteer organizations. Further, we all need to work toward more prevention and less reaction, more the gains from our contributors, less the liability of our failures.
I grew up in Iowa as an “economically disadvantaged” child. Our public servants helped my family, and three out of four “at risk” children became contributors, one became a liability and the Orenda Center helped him on his road to recovery. As Supervisor I look forward to working with our County staff, non-profits and volunteers. “Together Toward A Sustainable Future.”
One more column before the June 3 election (thank you Vesta!). To those who support what we have to say, go to our website http://www.tomlynch4supervisor.com/ and join us. Spread the word to all that you support our pragmatic progressive agenda. Thank you for your support!
Our campaign flyer says, "We must freeze County salaries and benefits and restore funds to our nonprofit and volunteer organizations. To avoid the loss of hundreds of County jobs from Human Services, Public Safety, and Mental Health along with more cuts in essential services, we must reallocate our resources to serve the greatest needs in Sonoma County." This is the heart and soul of our campaign.
We continue …Since 2000 the “median household income” in Sonoma County has declined by 2%. Salaries and benefits for County workers has increased by 63.5%...Of 4000 County staff the average compensation for the top 1000 is over $160,000 a year!
A long difficult recession lies ahead with declining revenues and increasing costs. The County has taken a windfall of increased property taxes and given it to themselves, with no increase in services nor additional tax dollars spent on roads and infrastructure. For each of the last four years the County has reduced programs and services. Especially hard hit have been our Human Services and Mental Health programs including closure of Oakcrest (Norton), the Fulton Road facility and now cutbacks to the alcohol and drug treatment programs at the Orenda Center.
The last two weeks have been very interesting with union meetings for many candidates. I have met with a committee of the Deputy Sheriff’s Association (DSA 500+), spoke to an auditorium full of Service Employee International Union members (SEIU 3000+), and answered questions from representatives of most of the labor unions in Northern California at a forum hosted by the North Bay Labor Council. I will be forever grateful to all the unions for their gracious hospitality. As Supervisor my door would always be open as I represent the unions interests balanced with the interests of all my constituents.
I shared with unions the same message I’ve been saying to the rank and file members of all our public employee unions for months now. I’ve talked with members of Sonoma’s finest…Sheriff’s deputies walking the streets of Guerneville, I’ve met Permit and Resource Management Department staff tasked with protecting our land and resources, Human Service and Mental Health professionals. I am offering honest and realistic solutions to our problems.
What I have said at debates and to individuals alike when asked how do we address our budget problems. We need a temporary freeze on salaries and benefits in order to avoid further cuts in essential services and lay-offs of County workers. Going into a recession we need more County workers helping people, not less. Also we can’t expect our County workers to provide all our essential services by themselves, we all have to step up to the plate and participate in improving our communities…one way is by leveraging our tax dollars to greatest effect by restoring the cuts to our struggling non-profit and volunteer organizations. Further, we all need to work toward more prevention and less reaction, more the gains from our contributors, less the liability of our failures.
I grew up in Iowa as an “economically disadvantaged” child. Our public servants helped my family, and three out of four “at risk” children became contributors, one became a liability and the Orenda Center helped him on his road to recovery. As Supervisor I look forward to working with our County staff, non-profits and volunteers. “Together Toward A Sustainable Future.”
One more column before the June 3 election (thank you Vesta!). To those who support what we have to say, go to our website http://www.tomlynch4supervisor.com/ and join us. Spread the word to all that you support our pragmatic progressive agenda. Thank you for your support!
No comments:
Post a Comment