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Uploaded: Thursday, May 29, 2008, 3:43 PM
VOICE endorsement: Edge goes to Caserta in Assembly race
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| District 22 voters have a tough choice to make when they go to the polls next week. Four candidates are running in the Democratic primary, and the winner is all but certain to replace Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-Mountain View, who is termed out.
Our choice in this tight race is Santa Clara City Council member and high school teacher Dominic Caserta, although we also are impressed with Paul Fong, a longtime professor and 15-year trustee of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District.
We gave the nod to Caserta due to the wealth of ideas he provided in a Voice questionnaire, which asked all four candidates to state their positions on a series of issues. The other two candidates are county school board member Anna Song and Cupertino City Council member Kris Wang.
On some of the big questions, Caserta and Fong had virtually the same answers. For example, both support SB-840, the universal health care bill proposed by Assembly member Sheila Keuhl. But we liked that Caserta would go further, adding a series of community health care clinics to provide immunizations, preventive care and other services to ease the burden on doctors and emergency rooms.
This follows a pattern with these two candidates: Although we like Fong's blunt, no-nonsense style, we also like that Caserta seems to have thought the issues through more closely, often providing more specific or creative ideas.
On education, for example, Caserta and Fong are similar in most respects. Both of these educators agree passionately that the state's schools must be funded fully and without compromise. And both agree that Proposition 98, in Fong's words, "should be the floor, not the ceiling" of funding. But Caserta also wants to expand technical classes like auto shop, focusing on legitimate career paths for California's students that often are ignored.
Caserta, a former Republican, is running against the tide in this race, as Fong has been endorsed by Lieber and the Democratic establishment, including U.S. Reps. Anna Eshoo, Zoe Lofgren and Mike Honda. Caserta has backing from several unions and the Mountain View Police Officers Association.
Although it is a close call, we believe Caserta is the best candidate in the District 22 race, and urge voters to support him on June 3. Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.
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Posted by lw, a resident of another community, on May 30, 2008 at 6:06 pm If dedication, integrity and experience are important in your choice for State Assembly, choose Paul Fong. There is a reason why Paul has been endorsed by outgoing Assembly member Sally Lieber, the CA Democratic Party, the Sierra Club, California Federation of Teachers, SEIU, Congress members Honda, Lofgren, and Eshoo and our State Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, the Mayors of Mountain View, Cupertino, Saratoga, Sunnyvale and Palo Alto. This is only the beginning of a very long list of public and private endorsements. Choose Paul Fong, a lifelong Democrat for District 22 State Assembly.
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Posted by Bernie Brightman, a resident of the North Whisman neighborhood, on May 31, 2008 at 12:30 pm Actions, not words. That is, you should go by the past actions of the candidates, not what they say. Remember all the good things that *Republican* George W. Bush said before he was elected in 2000 and how much BS it all turned out to be? Don't elect a former Bush supporter to represent Mountain View.
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Posted by Voice, where is your voice?, a resident of another community, on Jun 1, 2008 at 8:23 am The Voice decided not to interview any of the candidates, but Anna Song posts a lot of policy specifics on her website www.annasong.org.
As for the editorial, I'm very disappointed the Voice provides no insight into the top priorities of either Song or Wang. I presume they both submitted questionnaires as well as Caserta and Fong. How about posting all candidates' actual answers to your questionnaire for the public to read? It's distressing that you provide no substantive comments about the female candidates, both of whom are elected (are re-elected) public officials? C'mon Voice! If Anna Song and Kris Wang submitted questionnaire responses that were substantive, then share that. If their questionnaires provided nothing of interest, then step up and say that too
To say nothing about two of the candidates insults them and your readers and casts a nasty shadow on the Voice's integrity.
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Posted by Don Frances, Mountain View Voice Editor, on Jun 1, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Don Frances is a member (registered user) of Mountain View Online The answers to our questionnaire by all four candidates, including Song and Wang, ran in our print edition. To read them online, click on the pdf version and scroll down to page 18:
Web Link
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Posted by JF, a resident of another community, on Jun 1, 2008 at 8:29 pm As a resident of Santa Clara, where Caserta sits on the City Council, I watched Caserta proclaim for his election to the City Council that he would protect the last large parcel of open space in Santa Clara as park land. He also maintained this as his position right until the vote by the Council. Caserta then voted in favor of developing the land.
Where do you think his campaign money for TV ads is coming from? Mostly donated by Summerhill Homes. It is very disturbing that this man is a school teacher, and now running for State office. Please don't vote for him.
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Posted by mjm, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Jun 2, 2008 at 8:14 am The Voice has it right on, I have attended 2 of Dominic Caserta's coffee chats in our city, he is cleary the candidate with a progressive record and vision for our district. I am enthusiastically following the Voice'e advise, I am voting for Democrat Dominic Caserta for State Assembly...
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Posted by jane, a resident of the Cuernavaca neighborhood, on Jun 2, 2008 at 8:18 am I agree with the Voice! As somoeone that attended the debate in our city a few weeks ago, Dominic Caserta is the only candidate that has a clear, progressive vision for our state. Dominic will be a Democrat for Silicon Valley, soemthing will all deserve.
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Posted by kirk v., a resident of another community, on Jun 2, 2008 at 7:18 pm Caserta is a LIAR. He will promise you anything you want to hear so he can get elected...then he will ignore you. He owes his allegiance to the developers and corporations that fund him. Follow the $600K+ he has spent for the this election. His vote is bought and sold to the highest bidder.
Find more reasons to NOT vote for Caserta: www.NotCaserta.org
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Posted by Bernie Brightman, a resident of the North Whisman neighborhood, on Jun 2, 2008 at 10:30 pm Caserta sure must have a lot of money because he is PELTING me with his flyers and mailings. How many times does he think I want to read the same damn things AGAIN and AGAIN?! This proves to me that big moneyed interests are behind him. If I tell him that I'm 100% SURE I will not vote for him, I wonder if he will turn off the bubble machine...
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Posted by GSB, a resident of the Castro City neighborhood, on Jun 4, 2008 at 8:14 am Congrats to Paul Fong!
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Posted by Lynn Huidekoper, RN, a resident of another community, on Aug 8, 2008 at 4:50 pm It's good that Paul Fong won the 22nd Assembly Democratic Primary. Dominic Caserta was a Republican in democrat clothing and was funded by Republicans. He would speak out of both sides of his mouth. If in a meeting with health care advocates he would support SB840, Sen. Kuehl's Single Payer bill;if the business community was the audience he would say the opposite. As a SC City Council member he did not support SB840.
He was heard to say "this isn't really a Sally Lieber" district, inferring that her progressive stand on many issues wasn't supported by her constituents.
I met Dominic twice and found him to be a little too glib. There are some candidates who embrace a conservative Republican agenda who switch to the Dem. party in order to win. He was endorsed by the San Jose/Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce before the Calif. Nurses Assn. endorsed him. That tells a lot. As some of the emails have suggested he will lie on a questionnaire to win. CNA is a sponsor of SB840 and if they knew that he really doesn't support it they would not have endorsed him. He's obviously a slick con artist.
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