|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
I admire Cheryl Cook-Kallio for her accomplishments and leadership when she served eight years on the Pleasanton City Council. Pleasanton residents, as well as those throughout the valley, benefitted from his courage to raise issues such as connecting Stoneridge Drive to Livermore.
However, when it comes to partisan politics and Sacramento, I find myself wary. Her television commercial touts her endorsement by Planned Parenthood–presumably it polls well, but nauseates me when I think of those under-cover videos of Planned Parenthood executives talking about selling parts of aborted babies.
The same can be said for the invitation to a fundraiser that radical environmentalist Tom Steyer and his wife, Kat Taylor, held this week at their San Francisco home.
It’s raised funds for four candidates for the Assembly, Cheryl included, as well as two state Senate candidates.
Joining Steyer and Taylor as headliners were both Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin De Leon, both of Southern California.
Not the folks I would choose to mix elbows with, although we could have an interesting policy discussion.
Voters in the Pleasanton school district have two excellent candidates running for school board: Steve Maher and Kathleen Ruesegger. Both are uniquely qualified to step immediately into key roles on the school board.
Maher, who served for decades as a principal in the district, retired five years ago. Since that time, he has been called back for interim duty six times. He believes that must change. The principal churn is unhealthy.
A number of yearas ago, Ruesegger served a term on the school board before stepping aside to move into school administration as an assistant to former Pleasanton Superintendent Mary Frances Callan. Having set both policy and then worked day-to-day with the top administrator gives her an excellent perspective for the board.