By Staff
For the first time in a decade, a seat has opened in the state senate. The specific seat represents the third district, which includes the cities of Martinez, Pleasant Hill, American Canyon, Calistoga, Napa, Yountville, St. Helena, Benicia, Dixon, Fairfield, Rio Vista, Suisun City, Vacaville, Vallejo, Cotati, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Sonoma, Davis, West Sacramento, Winters, Woodland, and Isleton. There are multiple candidates running for the seat, 4 of whom were willing to drive to Benicia High School to participate in a candidate forum that was orchestrated by the Benicia High Debate team.
The night opened with the two moderators, Bella Cannon and Mariksa Jedzinak-Webb, both juniors on the debate team, introducing the forum and allowing the candidates to introduce themselves.
Christopher Cabaldon started first, lightening the mood by stating how “stressful” such an event was because the Benicia High debate team is an award winning debate team. He moved on to discuss himself and how he is openly gay and has been the mayor of West Sacramento for 20 years. His main point was how the youth of today are so important because they are our future, and we must not let fears control them. He discussed how children fear how rights, such as abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, will be “worse than their parents before them.”
Rozzana Verder-Aliga spoke second, focusing on her journey immigrating from the Philippines, moving to America to start a family, and then becoming a strong advocate for mental health. She discussed how after immigrating from the Philippines, she was able to achieve the “American dream”, and she wishes that the next generations will be able to experience the same. She ended her speech promising to make a “stronger California.”
The third candidate who spoke was Jackie Elward, Rohnert Park’s Councilwoman and former mayor. She promised to be a “servant” to the people, bringing about change for California. She discussed how she is an immigrant from Democratic Republic of the Congo, moving to America and starting a family. She discussed how the youth of America needs support, which she understands because she is raising her own children. She wants the youth of America to know: “Believe in yourself no matter what people tell you.”
The final candidate of the evening was Thom Bogue, the only Republican of the four, who is a former mayor now focusing on the senate. He focuses on being a realist and analyzing the details of promises and plans. He stated that, “what we hear is not what we see”, discussing topics like the homeless issue and plans on lessening the homeless population. He explained how he is running because he’s tired of hearing about change but never truly seeing it. Bouge ended his speech discussing how the youth are in despair and admentally wanted them to know “You’ve got power. You just have to learn how to use it.” According to Thom Bogue, we have power by voting.
Cannon and Jedzinak-Webb, along with fellow debate members, created questions to allow the audience to further understand the candidates positions and plans for if they were elected into the senate chair. Here’s just a few to give you a bit of deeper insight into the forum and the candidates.
“California has a shortage of 3.5 million homes and record homelessness. What have you done as a local elected to increase housing development, stabilize rents, and reduce homelessness, and what more do you intend to do as our senator?”
Jackie Elward referenced previous programs put in place in her city of Rohnert Park. The program involved transforming empty buildings into homing facilities.
Rozzana Verder-Aliga discussed how her city of Vallejo built 75 units and there’s plans to build more. She also discussed trying to lower interest rates to cater to more people’s financial capabilities.
Christopher Cabaldon discussed how his city, West Sacramento, is one of the top 15 producers of housing. West Sacramento also experienced the first crisis intervention plan. Cabaldon proposed new housing projects that protect the environment. Thom Bouge ended the discussion by stating he would help streamline the process of attaining housing permits and help reach the developing process faster.
“In light of California’s $68 billion deficit, the recent declaration of a fiscal emergency by the City of Benicia, ad the ongoing financial challenges in the Vallejo City Unified School District, which has been under receivership for almost two decades, what a fiscal policies and strategies would you implement as a State Senator to ensure California’s financial stability, while ensuring sustainable economic growth?”
Christopher Cabaldon discussed how our tax system is the main issue. We tax the rich but only based on how they sell their stocks. He discussed how he would reform the system to tax the rich in a way where there could be a stable stream of tax income to invest in communities.
Rozzana Verder-Aliga stated how she would “verify” numbers and check that each cent is necessary per situation. She stated how she would invest in housing, solving homelessness, and education. Verder-Aliga also stated how she would set aside money in reserves.
Jackie Elward stated that she would continue to ensure the rich would be fairly taxed while supporting elections of people who share her same value of protecting struggling cities.
Thom Bouge discussed how investing our youth is extremely important. Bouge also brought up the idea of keeping the money flow inside California and not paying for other state’s requests.
“California Forever & Flannery Associates, a collection of Silicon Valley billionaires, have proposed building a new city for up to 400,000 people between Travis Air Force Base and Rio Vista. What are your thoughts on the proposal and the skepticism many residents of Solano County have?”
In light of any political differences or different political ideologies, this was one question all candidates agreed with. All candidates agreed that Silicon Valley billionaires should not build a city because of the potential societal and environmental issues. Thom Bouge brought up the lack of water supply and the growth of traffic that would disrupt agriculture land, Rozzana Verder-Aliga discussed how the traffic and lifestyle wouldn’t be sustainable for working people, Jackie Elward mentioned how she’s seen billionaires enter and area just to kick residing residents out which is certainly undesirable and infrastructure would be pricey, and Christopher Cabaldon discussed how Travis air base would be disrupted or cause an uncomfortable situation for residents.
In conclusion, the Benicia High Debate team did a wonderful job opening lines of communication, allowing Benicia’s citizens to meet their potential representatives in the senate. Congratulations to the Benicia High Debate team and to the candidates for having a successful forum. Thank you to all the candidates for coming to the town of Benicia and allowing people to gain a further understanding of who may be representing them in the senate in the near future.
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