John Garamendi for Lt. Governor of the State of California
CAMPAIGN CONTACTS
Campaign Name: Garamendi For Lieutenant Governor 2006
Address: P.O. Box 496, Sacramento, CA 95812
Campaign Phone: 916-863-6881
Campaign Fax: 916-558-6964
Campaign E-mail: info@garamendi.org or CLally@garamendi.org
Campaign Website: www.garamendi.org
POLITICAL BACKGROUND
California Insurance Commissioner, Elected 2003 - present
Deputy Secretary U.S. Dept. of Interior, Appointed by President Clinton 1995 - 1998
California’s first elected Insurance Commissioner, Elected 1991 - 1995
California State Senate, Elected 1976 - 1992
- Senate Majority Leader
- Chair, Senate Health & Welfare Committee
- Chair, Senate Revenue & Taxation Committee
- Chair, Joint Science & Technology Committee
California State Assembly, Elected 1974 - 1976
If you ran for public office but were not elected, please list those races below:
Governor of California, 1982
Controller of California, 1986
YOUTH ISSUES
1. Good schools from pre-K to graduate school require adequate funding and
innovative leadership. How would you use your elected office to improve public
education and/or make higher education affordable and accessible for young people
in our community?
We must have the best education system so Californians can compete with intelligence, knowledge, skill and productivity.
However, California’s educational system is in a state of crisis as a result of more than 20 years of fiscal drought. This can no longer continue. We must invest in our children and support our public education beginning at the pre-school level all the way through graduate school. Fully funding school programs to ensure class size reduction and adequate support personnel on all school campuses is essential. We should not be closing down school libraries and eliminating computer labs – we should be building them! In addition to providing money that moves California per pupil funding from the lowest to the upper echelons, we must demand and receive effective and efficient outcomes from every school. While I applaud the intent behind No Child Left Behind, its continued under-funding by the Bush Administration has left it a burden to school districts already strapped for cash and other resources. Instead of being a help to students, it’s harming students, especially those living in economically depressed areas.
As the Lieutenant Governor, I will sit on the University of California, Board of Regents and will be a trustee of the California State University System. I will actively work toward a moratorium on the tuition and fee increases at community colleges and universities, which make it increasingly difficult for many students to go to and to remain in college. I will lead reforms to ensure that our educational institutions at every level are fully funded and that teachers and administrators are supported with modern equipment, books, and facilities.
Public education at all levels is the most critical factor to ensure a healthy California economy, a just society and a reasonable opportunity for everyone to climb the economic ladder. We are falling off the education power curve and will suffer severe economic and social consequences unless we immediately rebuild the historic level of public support that California universities and colleges once enjoyed.
Throughout my 30 years in public service, education has been my top priority. With a brother and a sister, two sister-in-laws, and my daughter and her husband teaching in the California public school system, I hear first hand both the frustrations and struggles, and the joys and successes, which are happening every day in classrooms across California. As Lieutenant Governor, I will work every day to capitalize on what works and to change what doesn’t. Please refer to the attachment on my priorities for education.
2. How will you use your office to combat enduring racial segregation and inequality in
our education system?
Racism is an insidious epidemic that continues to threaten the very foundation of – not just California – but America today.
Gentrification within our school systems is a huge problem. Funding is the primary step in keeping the school doors open to every Californian. However, we cannot adequately address the funding problem without also addressing economic recovery within our inner cities. We must explore innovative ways to find money for inner-city schools, such as bringing in businesses to adopt schools in exchange for tax credits and engaging them to help our communities rebuild.
I am appalled that the only tax-increase the Legislature and the Governor find acceptable is a tax on community college, state university, and UC students. It is a tax even if it is called tuition and fees. These regressive taxes attack those who can least afford it, regardless of ethnicity, religion or gender. They hurt us all. As a member of the UC Board of Regents and the CSU Board of Trustees, I will fight to impose a moratorium on all increases for the four years that I am Lieutenant Governor.
Discrimination continues to deny equal opportunity to minorities and women in California’s education system and business market. As Lieutenant Governor, I will have the opportunity to address these inequalities. I will be a voice for those who believe that they have none.
3. There will be one or more constitutional amendments on the ballot in 2006 that will restrict marriage rights in California and attempt to undo existing domestic partnerships laws. How will you use your race and position to defend the human rights of GLBT families and make the defeat of these amendments a state wide priority?
Whether as a private citizen or an elected official, I will always actively oppose any ballot initiative and/or legislation that restricts human rights. As Lieutenant Governor, I will preside over the business of the State Senate and will cast the deciding vote in the event of a tie. In this capacity, I will take a more active role than Lieutenant Governor’s have in the past, to support legislation such as Assembly Member Leno’s Gender-Neutral Marriage bill and to make certain that the dream of equality is reality to all Californians. Phil Angelides strongly supported SB2 (Burton) and contributed $250,000 to the Proposition 72 campaign – which would have provided health care to over one million uninsured - because he believes working families deserve access to quality health care. He understands the stakes of health care reform and believes that affordable access to quality care is essential for the state's long-term economic competitiveness. The health care crisis must be addressed in the opening years of the 21st century if we are to build an economy and a society of enduring strength.
4. Young people face special challenges to obtaining health insurance and many go without. How would you use your office to work towards making health insurance available to all?
We must be healthy. I believe that our current health care system is in a death spiral and
it is headed for a complete breakdown. Instead of bringing health care services to more
people, we are pricing more people out. The health care system and the current health
insurance system are inefficient and in many ways ineffective. We spend 15.6% of our
total GDP on health care yet we are sicker and do not live as long as our counterparts in
Europe and Asia who spend less that 10% of their GDP on health care.
For 30 years I have made health care my personal priority.
• In 1966 while in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia, my wife, Patti, and I built clinics and participated in the small pox eradication program.
• As a freshman Assembly Member, I authored the Rural Health Act which created clinics and staff for rural communities.
• As Senate Chairman of the Health and Welfare Committee, I authored Senate Bill 250, which created the current emergency medical system of Paramedics, EMTs
emergency responders.
• As Deputy Secretary of Interior, I worked with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service to improve health care services on reservations.
• As Insurance Commissioner in 1992, I developed a Universal Health Care proposal that received positive acclaim from the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, and ultimately became the blue print for President Clinton's health care reform.
• I was an advocate for Proposition 72, which would have provided health care for millions of uninsured working families in our state. I also participate in the statewide TV campaign for Proposition 72, as well as personally contributed and raised money totaling over $100,000 in support of its passage.
• My recent report on the health care system, entitled “Priced Out