Hi Gang,
A lot of great writers on this thread...though I beg to differ with many assertions of the bakers dozen contributing.
I ain't changed my mind one bit about Supervisor Carrillo...he is the hardest working Supervisor I have ever known and is involved with so many efforts to improve the lives AND environment of everyone in Sonoma County.
I love the historic threads at the bottom of this thread and am going to try to cut and paste a diatribe I submitted a couple years ago regarding my endorsement of Efren. This endorsement holds true today...Efren is a breath of fresh air with the courage to make tough decisions.
Respectfully
Tom Lynch
Thread: Why I support Efren Carrillo for 5th District Supervisor
Why I support Efren Carrillo for 5th District Supervisor
Hello Friends and Neighbors...
Below is a challenge from Zeno Switjink as to why I support Efren Carrillo for 5th District Supervisor. I said because we need new ideas, new paradigms, new energy with some fresh perspectives to address local problems. After getting to know Efren through the course of the campaign and having known Rue for over 25 years I made a difficult decision and endorsed Efren. I believe either candidate will go through the proverbial learning curve once elected but ultimately I think Efren will become a great leader who will bring us together to solve incredibly difficult problems ahead.
We may be on the verge of a societal collapse out of which a phoenix will rise from the ashes. We are in the midst of the largest transference of wealth from younger generations to older generations in the history of any society. Gone are what demographers called the "sweet spot" of the 60's where we had massive public works projects and social programs funded by eight contributors for every one recipient of social security and medicare...today there are 3 contributors for every one recipient, soon to be only two. Our political leaders do not address the real issues.
We have huge unfunded obligations at the County with retiree medical benefits, shortly we will see this liability dwarfed by pay as you go "enhanced retirement" obligations funded by younger County workers (negotiated by older retiring County staff). In the midst of a long and deep recession with high unemployment, all of us seeing friends lose their homes and deep reductions in tax revenues, Sonoma County is giving everyone raises in salaries and benefits of 5%. These raises are funded by not rehiring those who retire while making further cuts in Human Services and Mental Health programs. We also see a gutting of funding for non-profits and volunteer organisations as well as plans for laying off younger workers, cannibalizing our county work force, eating our seed corn.
I am concerned about Preservation Ranch but I am also concerned about Preservation of a Humane Society; the social safety net in our County is an essential service funded by our tax dollars to serve the least of thee amongst us. I have friends walking the streets of Santa Rosa anorexic with matted hair due to cuts in County Mental Health Services. I see the entire budget of the Russian River Senior Center of $162,000/year equal to the individual salary and benefits of over a 1000 of the upper tier County staff. We cannot expect local government to solve all of our problems, we need to enlist and involve everyone and we don't do this by cutting funding to our non-profits and volunteers.
Over the last thirty years I have been arrested more times protecting the environment of Sonoma County than many. My commitment to the environment of Sonoma County and the future of all of us present and future is unwavering. But to me, as it should be for all my fellow environmentalists, the environment includes not only ecology but also the economy and reform of government services. Since the early eighties leaders of the environmental movement in Sonoma County have recognized the need for sustainable economic development in order to protect the environment from unsustainable practices.
To me Efren Carrillo understands more of the problems we face than any of the other candidates running in all three districts. He actually reads the 07/08 and 08/09 County budget. He is smart, honest, charismatic, caring... and anyone willing to dress up as a nun and join the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in Guerneville to call a bingo game can represent the 5th District anytime anywhere in my book ;0P.
peace and love,
Tom Lynch