State Assembly District 15: Alamo incumbent is clearly the choice for voters over Republican Abram Wilson

TWO YEARS ago, when Democrat Joan Buchanan ran against Republican Abram Wilson for what was then an open seat in the state Assembly, we were deeply concerned about both candidates and endorsed Wilson with great reservation.

Today, Assemblywoman Buchanan of Alamo once again faces Wilson, still the mayor of San Ramon, in the Bay Area's most competitive legislative race. Much has changed. Buchanan has grown in the job, demonstrates a deep understanding of state issues, works hard for constituents and has proven she can reach across the political aisle.

Wilson, on the other hand, responds to questions with meandering, vacuous answers. He has no substantive ideas for fixing the state budget crisis. And the one key trait he once again offered up -- fiscal conservatism -- has turned out to be a big lie when it comes to his management in his own city.

This year, it wasn't nearly as tough a decision. We endorse Buchanan.

She has become aware that the costs of employee pensions, prisons and mounting debt service are strangling the state budget. She says the state shouldn't add programs without making equal cuts. And she calls for long-range budgeting that honestly deals with the fiscal crisis.

This year, she tried to address pension spiking abuses by co-authoring a well-intentioned bill, only to see the legislation hijacked by Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco. Ma's labor-written amendments made the bill unpalatable for us and for Buchanan, who pulled her support until some of the most egregious provisions were fixed. The governor vetoed the bill and Buchanan, who now better understands complex public employee retirements, plans to try again.

Last election, we were seriously troubled by Buchanan's insistence that salaries and other compensation of individual public employees should be kept private -- a position in conflict with this paper's successful state Supreme Court fight to make it public. Buchanan now acknowledges that, in the aftermath of the infamous Bell pay scandal, the ability to match employee names to salaries is reasonable. While often voting with fellow Democrats, Buchanan shows some discriminating independence. She refused to back bills increasing business reporting requirements and to sunset business tax credits after seven years. She didn't support a bill to pay farmworkers overtime after eight hours instead of the current 10. She bucked her party by voting against a much-maligned gasoline tax swap scheme to manufacture money for the budget, and she opposed state borrowing from redevelopment agencies.

She was one of two Democrats to vote against a teacher union-backed bill that would have made student inter-district transfers harder. Unlike many of her fellow Democrats, she voted to roll back pension benefits for new state employees to pre-1999 levels.

Conversely, although Wilson told us he would work in a bipartisan fashion, he could not name a bill on which he would have opposed his own party had he been in office. We heard many platitudes about being open-minded, but no specifics on policy.

The final straw for us was Wilson's insistence that "egregious" public employee pension spiking must be stopped. We certainly agree. Unfortunately, Wilson hasn't practiced what he preaches.

The San Ramon mayor defends paying his city manager a jaw-dropping $344,200 a year, tops in the state, according to a new salary survey by the League of California Cities in which 90 percent of municipalities responded.

Worse, Wilson seemed to have no idea how that exorbitant salary would inflate City Manager Herb Moniz's pension. Wilson was ignorant of basic details of the contract he personally signed as mayor.

Our elected officials must be informed on the issues and lead by example. Wilson failed both tests.

Lack of health coverage prompts providers to offer free screenings

Methodist Hospital and numerous organizations gathered at Valley Hi Country Club in Elk Grove on Oct. 2 for a Women's Health Expo.

Assembly Member Joan Buchanan and District Director Susanna Schlendorf were in attendance to show their support for women's health issues.

"We now have 25 percent of our population here in California with no health insurance," Buchanan said. "To be able to provide a service like this in conjunction with Mercy Hospital…. (is) great community outreach and wonderful for those who find themselves without health insurance."

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