By Khalida Sarwari
A packed field is fighting to be the new face representing District 1 in Santa Clara County, with five candidates in the June 8 election seeking to replace current Supervisor Don Gage, who is being termed out of office after more than a dozen years in the seat.
Gage has served since 1997 as supervisor in District 1, which encompasses Almaden Valley, Santa Teresa, Blossom Valley, Gilroy, Los Gatos, Morgan Hill, San Martin, and the Mt. Hamilton Range and the Santa Cruz Mountains.
The candidates seeking to replace Gage range from community and business leaders to elected officials. Teresa Alvarado, a foundation chief executive; Forrest Williams, a computer science engineer; Los Gatos Councilman Mike Wasserman; Gilroy Councilman Peter Arellano; and Tom Kruse, a winery owner and winegrower, are the five candidates on the ballot.
Alvarado has served on the Santa Clara Family Health Foundation board of directors and The Educated Guess advisory board. She is a San Jose native who has also previously worked at the NASA Ames Research Center and PG&E.
Williams, another San Jose resident, has 28 years of public service experience and 41 years of engineering experience. He has served on the Oak Grove School District board of trustees, the San Jose Planning Commission and City Council.
Williams said his top priority is job creation and growing the green and biotech sectors.
“I’ve got the skills to do it and I’ve done some of that already,” he said. “No other candidate can say they have balanced a $1 billion budget.”
He said the main problem the county faces is the $223.2 million budget deficit, which he said could be addressed by activating assets to generate revenue.
“Our primary responsibility is to deliver services to our community and with the economic situation the way it is now, people don’t have jobs,” Williams said. “So we have to find creative ways to generate revenue and also deliver services to constituents.”
Wasserman, who has been endorsed by Gage, said increasing jobs is key to minimizing the budget deficit.
Wasserman said his personal and professional background and training as a former mayor of Los Gatos, business owner and financial planner qualify him to balance the budget, increase jobs and maintain public health and safety.
“Don Gage has endorsed me because I’m the best candidate for the job,” Wasserman said. “The county supervisors job is a big-time position and the right experience is crucial.”
In addition to serving on the Gilroy City Council, Arellano is a medical doctor and founding member of Voz de la Gente, a neighborhood service organization.
In his ballot statement, he pledges to “bring legislative experience, a passion for open, transparent government, fiscal responsibility, and a proven devotion to protecting the health and safety of all families.”
Kruse, a farmer and owner of a winery in Gilroy, does not have experience in elected office but is a longtime Santa Clara County resident who has served in unpaid appointed positions in the county.
In his ballot statement, Kruse declares, “I always fight hard for my principles but I work in the spirit of cooperation… I will accept no special interest money.”
Board president Ken Yeager is running unopposed for his second term representing the 4th District, which includes the cities of Campbell and Santa Clara, as well as west San Jose and the Burbank and Cambrian neighborhoods.