NOOZHAWK: What experiences from your professional or personal life make you uniquely qualified to be an Assembly member?
MIKE STOKER: I am the only candidate running for the Assembly who will be taking a pay cut if I win. I have left the private sector three times when called upon to serve. In the 1980s, taxpayers and business leaders asked me to serve on the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors and turn Santa Barbara County around. As a result of the regulatory reform I initiated to make Santa Barbara County more business friendly and the budget reform I authored that took the county from a $20 million-plus deficit to a $10 million surplus, I was named by Governing Magazine as “The Most Valuable Public Official in County Government in America.” In the ‘90s, when Gov. Pete Wilson asked me to turn the politically scandal ridden state Agricultural Labor Relations Board around, I agreed to serve as chairman and three years later was given credit for restoring integrity and fairness to the board. And in 2000, when Secretary of State Bill Jones wanted to assure that the Voting Modernization Act would be implemented timely in all 58 counties, he named me his deputy secretary of state to help oversee the program. Now California faces its biggest challenge yet, which is why I have agreed to step forward one more time. I have a record of proven leadership with real solutions.
NOOZHAWK: With all of California’s fiscal challenges, why are you running now?
MS: California faces its biggest fiscal challenge in the history of our state. I have stated we need to implement pension reform for the non-public safety employees so that all future employees are hired into a defined contribution vs. defined benefit system. I have stated we need to roll back benefits that California provides in excess of federal mandates for many services. I have advocated laying off thousands of non-public safety employees. And I have called for consolidation of boards, commissions and departments (much like the reorganization plan I successfully implemented in Santa Barbara County in 1991 that ended up saving the county millions of dollars). My Democrat opponents will not accept any of these proposals because they are not willing to defy public employee unions. Instead they both have said the way to solve the budget is to revise Proposition 13 to raiser our property taxes. That is the last thing that should be on the table.
NOOZHAWK: What is California’s most pressing issue?
MS: The need for budget reform as stated above. We also need to focus strongly on regulatory reform. We have passed so many rules, regulations and laws in the name of the environment when the facts show very little was accomplished in terms of environmental protections but millions of jobs have been put out of business or have left this state. We need to reverse this trend and, where objective science shows no environmental gain, repeal the rules to help make California again a job-creating state vs. job eliminator. Finally we need education reform by expanding charter schools, grade our schools, give parents the right to transfer their children from failing schools to schools of their choice, and to require at least 70 percent of all money be spent on teachers and in the classroom.
NOOZHAWK: Is the partisan divide in Sacramento insurmountable? How would you overcome it?
MS: I have a record of working in a bipartisan manner for more than 20 years. I believe a new coalition of Blue Dog Democrats (pro-business, anti-tax Democrats) and Republicans like me will make up a coalition to move California forward. Unfortunately, neither of my Democrat opponents are Blue Dogs but represent the majority that has run California for the last 10 years and put us in the mess we are in.
NOOZHAWK: Many financial experts call California’s state government employee pension levels unsustainable. Do you agree? How would you resolve the situation?
MS: Yes. See my previous answer to the question about California’s fiscal challenges and why I’m running now.
NOOZHAWK: What three things should Sacramento do to get California’s economy moving? If you’re elected, how will you help implement them?
MS: We need to pursue the budget reform and regulatory reform I discuss in answer to the previous questions about California’s fiscal challenges and our state’s most pressing issue.
NOOZHAWK: Do you support offshore oil drilling in California? Why or why not?
MS: Yes. Modern technology like slant drilling allows us to now extract oil and gas with very little environmental risk. What recently happened in the Gulf of Mexico was on a platform, which is one more reason we should be looking seriously at slant drilling onshore. We also have a very unique situation in Santa Barbara in that natural seeps over the last 30 years have spilled 100 times more oil and gas than from man-made production facilities. And objective science has clearly established that by drilling more with technologies like slant drilling, the natural seeps will be significantly reduced, thereby fewer spills of oil and gas in the Santa Barbara Channel and on our beaches.
NOOZHAWK: Do you support the legalization of marijuana? Why or why not?
MS: Many of us thought when we supported Proposition 215 that marijuana would be sold in pharmacies. However, due to a poorly written law, loopholes have created havoc in cities like Santa Barbara regarding medical dispensaries. The law should be changed to mandate the sale of marijuana in pharmacies just like any other controlled substances. And if marijuana is going to be legalized, we should have laws in place to deal with underage use and use when driving under the influence — just as we have with alcohol.
NOOZHAWK: Which California historical figure do you admire most, and why?
MS: Push between Govs. Hiram Johnson and Ronald Reagan.
NOOZHAWK: Should a Noozhawk replace the California valley quail as our state bird?
MS: No, but we could mate the two together and create another endangered species!
Additional Resources
Click here for Mike Stoker’s campaign Web site
Click here for Republican Assembly candidate Daniel Goldberg’s answers.
Here are the previously published answers from the two candidates seeking the Democratic Party’s 35th Assembly District nomination: