GILROY
– State Assemblyman Simon Salinas’ voting record shows he is bad
for business, the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors
decided Tuesday night.
In a 12-0 vote, the Chamber board decided not to endorse
Salinas, a Democrat from the city that shares his surname. This
went against a recommendation by the Chamber’s Government Review
Committee to endorse the one-term assemblyman.
GILROY – State Assemblyman Simon Salinas’ voting record shows he is bad for business, the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors decided Tuesday night.
In a 12-0 vote, the Chamber board decided not to endorse Salinas, a Democrat from the city that shares his surname. This went against a recommendation by the Chamber’s Government Review Committee to endorse the one-term assemblyman.
The Chamber also did not endorse Salinas’ Republican opponent, Bob Perkins, the executive director of the Monterey County Farm Bureau for the past 25 years.
“We’re not endorsing either one,” Tim Day, the Chamber board’s president-elect for 2005, said Wednesday. “That was the final decision made by our board of directors.”
The no-support vote for Salinas was based on his voting record over the past four years, according to Day. Chamber Director Susan Valenta, who attended Tuesday’s meeting but is not a board member, echoed this point.
“Personally, I think Simon has voted for bills that have been costly for business,” Valenta said.
But Salinas said he tries to be responsive to everyone in the district, not just the business community, and noted his strong agricultural support.
”That’s their prerogative,” he said of the chamber’s decision. ”I’m a moderate Democrat and have had business support in the past. I’ve tried to amend legislation for better public policy.”
The Government Review Committee decided not to recommend Perkins, who also hails from Salinas.
“It was felt that he didn’t have enough political experience at this point,” Day said. “We felt it was more of an unknown quality and didn’t feel we could take a position of endorsement.”
Perkins, in response, said, “I’m happy to be a fresh face, … but that doesn’t mean I’m not familiar with the issues.”
He said he still hopes to get the Chamber’s endorsement because of his pro-business stance.
“My primary issue is to bring business and jobs back to California,” Perkins said. “California is on the wrong track. Legislation has discouraged business and chased jobs out.”
In 2003 the California Chamber of Commerce gave Salinas an unfavorable 3-15 record of voting in accord with the Chamber on business-related issues. In 2002, his record was 2-15.
For Day personally, Salinas’ most anti-business position was to support a state Senate bill that requires large employers to provide health insurance for their employees. For Valenta, his biggest transgression was to back another Senate bill that allows aggrieved workers to sue their employers for Labor Code violation penalties.
“It becomes an unfair playing field for employers,” Valenta said.
The California Chamber opposed the bills, both of which became law in October.
Valenta added that the Gilroy Chamber board’s decision was based purely on Salinas’ voting record, not his personality.
“Mr. Salinas has a history of public service, and his heart is truly in the right place,” she said.
The Government Review Committee voted in Salinas’ support on May 21. Three of the four board members on this committee voted no, and one abstained, according to Day, who was one of the naysayers.
Among the “yes” voters were Gilroy City Councilman and real estate agent Paul Correa, local environmental activist and businessman Chris Coté and Rose Barry, who runs the union-linked voter-education group Gilroy First! as well as a children’s swim school and serves as liturgical director at St. Mary Catholic Parish.
Government Review Committee Chairwoman Jane Howard said she was hoping for an endorsement of Perkins. Howard is a former Chamber board president and a Santa Clara County Republican Committee member.
The Chamber board did not vote on whether to endorse Perkins, and Day said it will not.
Both candidates had previously come to Gilroy to be interviewed by the Government Review Committee and had answered Chamber questionnaires before that.
“Mr. Salinas and Mr. Perkins were both very gracious with their time,” Day said.
Salinas, a former Salinas city councilman, won his seat in 2000. In Sacramento, he sits on the Transportation, Agriculture, Health, Housing and Community Development and Veterans Affairs legislative committees. Many unions have endorsed him, including those representing teachers, nurses, police officers and firefighters.
Republican state senators Bruce McPherson and Jeff Denham have endorsed Perkins, as has the California Farm Bureau Federation.
