Last night I did something I haven’t done much of since I moved to the Bay Area: attended a fundraising event for a GOP candidate. Jill Buck is running for the 18th Assembly District against Mary Hayishi, a Nunez appointee to the Board of Registered Nurses and public health activist (click h
ere for more background on the Jill and the district).
I’ll post more on Mary Hayishi in the next day or so, but today I just wanted to bring FR readers up on the Jill Buck campaign. The 18th Assembly district has traditionally been considered a “safe seat” for the Dems. But many of us are hoping that Jill Buck proves that assumption to be wrong in November. A formal naval officer (see picture below) and the executive director/founder of the non-profit Go Green Initiative, Jill is a ball of energy and whip-smart too! She’s been helping the Governor out as a surrogate on the bond package in various Bay Area forums, all the while making her way around the district and getting
to know potential voters of all political stripes.
It was interesting to see how many GOP big-whigs were in attendance at last night’s event. I’m hoping that means that the party will put their full support behind Jill and help her match her opponent’s fundraising. Assemblywoman Sharon Runner headlined the event and gave a very nice speech on Jill’s behalf. Here’s a sampling of who else was there: CRP Chairman Duf Sundheim, CRP Vice-Chairman Ron Nehring, Assemblyman Guy Huston, CRP Chair of the County Chairmen and Tom Del Beccaro (www.politicalvanguard.com), CRP V-C Bay Area Luis Buhler, PERB Chariman John Duncan, and a host of local elected officials and candidates (including John Den Dulk, the brave Republican running against Barbara Lee—my representative in Congress).
Sundheim not only had kind words about Jill, but he went on to say the governor’s lead is so great that the Party is starting to see significant checks come in for the down-ticket races. I hope that is true and that serious money will start to flow to McClintock, McPherson, Poochigian and Strickland and to the promising candidates like Jill Buck.
All of the speakers were great, but Jill’s speech as the end was even better. She said that she recognizes that her race is an uphill battle. However, because she really loves where she lives, she said she felt compelled to jump into the race and give Republicans and moderate Democrats a better choice. She’s put together a campaign that is made up of Republicans and Democrats, saying, “I don’t want to go to Sacramento and then begin to work in a bipartisan manner.” She began to reach across party lines early on, recognizing the reality that the district registration is 54% Democrat and 21% Republican.
If elected, I have no doubt that Jill will take Sacramento by storm. We need her in Sacramento. She’s a mom, she has environmental and education credentials and she’s a true Reagan Republican. If you want to send Jill a check, you can contact the campaign here.