Candidate for
Republican Party County Central Committee; County of San Francisco; Assembly District 13

Some San Francisco Republicans, including a number of my Central Committee colleagues, believe that our party is doomed to the margins of San Francisco politics. I disagree. My successful campaign last year (see Biography) proved strong Republicans CAN win in San Francisco. Even more to the point, I believe that many San Franciscans share our views, and that we have simply failed to communicate them effectively.

To make the Republican party a viable alternative to the Democratic machine, I believe three things are critical:

• Recruit strong, electable candidates and provide them with the support they need. Candidates are our messengers and mouthpieces; if those who speak for us cannot communicate our message effectively, we are dead at the starting line.

• Define our party by competence and clean government. The Democratic Party has become so certain of its monopoly on city government that it has allowed itself to become riven by infighting between the radicals of the far left and corrupt machine hacks without ideology. Many voters are looking for an alternative to both factions.

• Make our party a home in which those who are not already registered as Republicans feel welcome. While many San Franciscans are (like me) fiscally conservative, most (again, like me) are also socially moderate or libertarian and value protection of our environment - we need to make clear that they are welcome in our party. Likewise, women and minorities are both a majority of San Francisco (and gays a significant minority); we need to dramatically expand our outreach to these groups. I've done a great deal of that already; in my race last year, I was proud to run with such endorsements as National Women's Political Caucus, Mexican American Political Association, all but one of the Chinese-American politicians who endorsed in the race, the gay Log Cabin Club . . . but there is much more still to be done.