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Posted on 07/25/2002 12:38:04 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
SACRAMENTO -- While other Central Valley Democrats are distancing themselves from their party's stalled, tax-raising budget, 15th Assembly District candidate Donna GRepublicans holding tougherber has made it clear she supports plans to increase revenues in the face of a $24 billion deficit.
"We're just not going to hide from Donna's positions," Gerber campaign manager Molly O'Shaughnessy said. "Hopefully, most of her positions will align with most of the voters in this district, and we're pretty confident of that."
The 15th is a seahorse-shaped district west of Stockton that stretches from Elk Grove to the commuter centers south of San Ramon. The district includes Stockton's Weston Ranch development and portions of Tracy.
Republican candidate Guy Houston is betting Gerber is wrong.
"This is a great divide between my opponent and myself," he said. "She's for every kind of tax, and I think the state should cut back on spending before coming to the voters for more money."
To press the point, Houston's campaign recently helped gather a few dozen protesters for a demonstration against the Democratic plan to double the annual vehicle registration fee temporarily, a linchpin of the budget proposal.
And the Houston campaign didn't rally around just any Department of Motor Vehicles office. It went to one in Contra Costa County, where Gerber serves on the Board of Supervisors.
Houston and his campaign staff said they think voters won't like the idea of paying double to register their cars next year. So they hope it will work as a wedge issue.
"It's the most regressive taxation proposed," Houston said. "This affects working men and women the most, because these people have to use their cars to get to and from work."
Gerber's campaign, on the other hand, says Houston has flipflopped on the issue, because in 1998 he opposed legislation that reduced the vehicle tax.
But Houston, Dublin's mayor, was not alone four years ago. Many city officials were afraid the state was preparing to raid local coffers, as it done had nearly a decade earlier.
"I'm proud of my record in Dublin," he said. "And anyway, I'm not the one saying we should raise taxes and raise fees. I see no flipflop whatsoever."
Democrats know the vehicle-fee increase isn't popular but say their internal polling suggests voters won't be angry enough about it to punish candidates in November.
Still, Assembly members Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, and Barbara Matthews, D-Tracy, are playing taxation close to the vest. Both say they'll do what they must to get a balanced budget, but both have declined to support flat out the plan that is languishing on the Assembly floor, as Republican leaders refuse to vote for it.
Cardoza and Matthews both face tough races this fall. Cardoza is battling state Sen. Dick Monteith, R-Modesto, for the congressional seat of ousted Rep. Gary Condit, D-Ceres. Matthews is facing Merced Republican Brian McCabe in a district that's vastly different from the one in which she won her first term.
Gerber, on the other hand, is waging something of a long-shot campaign. She's seeking a seat that's being vacated by term-limited Republican Assemblywoman Lynne Leach. The latest voter-registration reports show that Republicans enjoy a nearly 6-point registration advantage.
But Democrats are banking on Gerber's popularity even among Republican voters, many of whom voted for her in the nonpartisan county supervisor elections.
* To reach Capitol Bureau Chief Will Shuck, phone (916) 441-4078 or
e-mail sacto@recordnet.com
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