Quick Take
California State Assembly District 30 runs along the coast and includes parts of Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties. It’s a new district configuration, hammered out to take effect in 2022. Lookout asked the candidates running in this race — Dawn Addis, a Democrat from Morro Bay, and Vicki Nohrden, a Republican from Monterey — to submit answers to two questions. Vicki Nohrden’s answers are below.
Lookout: Please tell readers why they should vote for you. What specifically and concisely sets you apart from your opponent?
I’m running for state Assembly to be a leader who listens.
Community Voices Election 2022
Community Voices is bringing you the direct voices of the candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot, those who want to represent you. We will also bring you the voices of those supporting and opposing local ballot initiatives.
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I’m not running on a state party platform or national political agendas. I’m running to restore balance and common sense and help businesses and families on the Central Coast navigate uncertain times.
We need housing solutions.
Instead, Sacramento delivers hollow ideology, while tying the hands of the builders, developers and realtors who could make a difference. Gig workers need flexibility to adjust to the changing economy. Instead, legislators moved to tax and abolish independent contractors. Our children desperately need more tools and options to catch up from the pandemic. Instead, legislators debate political curricula and push money out of classrooms.
I look at this election and I see a reckoning. Californians are tired of being a blank check for radical ideologies. Leaders shouldn’t try out the rhetoric of the day and demand you pay for it. I’m not running on any agendas.
I am a leader who listens, and I want to listen to you.
I’ve had two decades of public service experience, working in nonprofits, government appointments and small businesses. I reached across the aisle during my public service to help families, improve the justice system and get more done.
That’s what sets me apart from my opponent.
I’ll take that same spirit to Sacramento to advocate for you and your family and get more done for the Central Coast.
Lookout: Please focus on the single most important issue to you right now and how, if elected, you will address it. Be as specific as space allows.
Answer: Economic recovery.
My top issue is helping our region recover economically from COVID-19.
Even before the pandemic, the Central Coast was facing a prospect of jobs that failed to provide families with resources they needed to afford housing and the cost of living. This burden was pushing many out of the region and even out of the state.
Quick Take
Sacramento needs fixing. Republican Vicki Nohrden argues she is the one to do it. A businesswoman and nonprofit...
Now, as we continue to rebuild from COVID, there are several key pieces that are important to me.
The first is stopping legislators from using small businesses as blank checks for political experimentation.
At a time when businesses are already rebuilding from two years of a pandemic, it was completely inappropriate for state legislators to trumpet CalCare, the universal health care proposed in January, which was estimated to cost between $314 and $391 billion, a number that dwarfs our entire state budget of $286 billion. Sacramento has to stop viewing our small businesses as a blank check to fund their ideological political fantasies.
The second piece to rebuilding our economy is infrastructure funds.
It’s easy to talk about hot-button issues like affordable housing and greenhouse gas reductions, but without investing in infrastructure — the unglamorous necessities like water supply, highways and sustainable power sources — nothing can get done.
I actually suspect this is what a lot of folks in Sacramento want — they want to talk about greenhouse gas emissions and yet not reopen Diablo Canyon (nuclear power plant). They want to talk about affordable housing and virtue-signal about helping families stay in California, but without securing water sources. And they are actually driving those same families away and harming the very environment so many of them claim to cherish.
Last, our region needs to continue to attract employers that can offer jobs that sustain families.
From Diablo Canyon to agricultural producers, the hospitality industry to health care, policymakers need to work with key industries to ensure they are thriving on the Central Coast.
I will work to advocate for businesses, rebuild our economy and attract and retain jobs that allow Californians to live, work and thrive on the Central Coast.
