CALIFORNIA – A vacant California State Assembly seat will be up for grabs in an upcoming special election, and four candidates are vying for the right to represent Valley residents.
The seat for California’s 32nd State Assembly District (AD 32) was vacated following the November election that saw former Assemblyman Vince Fong elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. A special election to fill his seat will be held on Feb. 25.
The Sun-Gazette reached out to the four candidates to get their perspectives on goals and some of the major issues voters are concerned about. Chris Cruz-Boone, the only Democrat in the race, was the only candidate who did not respond to a request for an interview.
Stan Ellis
Stan Ellis is a businessman who grew up on a pig farm in South Dakota and is running for the seat as a Republican. A recent business he started focused on quantum computing, an advanced technology he describes as allowing computing at a billion times a billion speeds faster than what modern computers are capable of achieving.
“I want to carry the values of the Central Valley forward,” Ellis said in a telephone interview with The Sun-Gazette. “My goals are water, which I am learning is very sophisticated. I am learning a lot but I want to get water to the Valley, like we should have.”
Ellis added that priorities for him would include energy independence and a bolstering of law enforcement across the state.
“I don’t care if I author anything, I want to reach across the aisle – let’s do the right thing for our community,” Ellis said. “We all want clean air, we all want clean water, we all want all of the amenities that make life comfortable. … I am working my tail off to make it happen.”
He took particular issue with the state’s spending of taxpayer funds to construct the High-Speed Rail project. He said those funds could be used to build homeless solutions and provide better funding for hospitals and law enforcement.
Holley Willibey
Holley Willibey is also a Republican running for the vacant seat. Her primary reason for jumping into the fray is to address issues she has found in criminal justice. As an educator of criminal justice at the college level, Willibey said in a telephone interview with The Sun-Gazette that she had personally seen corruption in law enforcement and ineffective efforts to address known problems.
Willibey said one of her primary goals will be to introduce legislation that allows private citizens to file lawsuits against public officials and government agencies when those groups fail to uphold the law or act against the interest of the public for their own benefit.
“I am going to show up for the people and that is one of the biggest things,” Willibey said. “I am tired with all of the criminality in our government. My first and foremost focus will be a crime bill addressing the criminal acts committed by our elected officials as well as street crime.”
Willibey is a board member of the El Tejon School District and believes her tenacity will serve the residents of the Valley. Willibey described numerous times in which she has been underestimated but has used her resolve to overcome situations.
“I am going to use the power of the people to inform me of what is going on and then I am going to make sure it goes public,” Willibey said. “Another thing is taxation. One of my things is: Why is the government allowed to tax us in the first place if they are not providing the services to us?
“I would like to see some accountability in our taxation processes and also some constraints on when they can tax us and for what.”
William Brown Jr.
William Brown Jr. is running with the goal of providing residents with an option to the two-party system. He is running as a Libertarian and has a career as a clinical social worker in the prison system.
“What got me into this race was the lack of a choice with the two-party system, so I want to give our Valley something different,” Brown said. “My priorities will be on trying to find ways to reduce the tax burden on Californians.”
Brown said a major goal is that he wants to see more local control of funding rather than relying on the top-down system currently in place. The High-Speed Rail is one example Brown said shows wastefulness of taxpayer money.
“Clearly, this rail to nowhere is controversial,” Brown said. “We need to have better control of how this money is being spent. At what point do we draw the line and say that taxpayer dollars shouldn’t be funding this rather than private equity.”
Brown said his stance on environmental issues begins with having proper discussions with stakeholders to determine storage and use. He added that his goal will be to push for local control of water resources rather than relying on the federal or state government.
“There are choices in this election, we don’t have to look at things from a left or right position,” Brown said. “The power needs to be returned to us.”
The election for AD 32 will determine who will represent the Valley for the next two years. Elected officials to the assembly are limited to 12 years of service.
