Education, other issues divide Senate candidates

Education is a major issue for two of the candidates running to represent the state’s 10th Senate District, but they approach it from radically different perspectives.

Incumbent Ellen Corbett, a Democrat seeking her second term, said her top priority if re-elected would be ensuring full funding for public schools — not only so children will succeed, but also to build a skilled workforce and make sure the state remains competitive.

“When you’re talking about how do we grow the economy, how do we find more jobs, how do we bring more business to California, a big component of that is how do you educate your children “… so that they will become entrepreneurs of the future, and will also be the great employees that our employers are looking for,” she said. “I wish we had more resources to send from Sacramento. “… It’s a very frustrating time to be a senator, especially if you care about education.”

For Republican Rob Maffit, though, the state’s involvement in education is the problem, not the solution.

He wants control returned to local school districts, and said more money needs to be spent on teachers’ salaries rather than administrators and “Taj Mahal schools,” such as the widely criticized school built in Los Angeles.

He added that he supports home schooling because much of what is taught in schools today is “indoctrination in terms of a particular belief system,” citing Harvey Milk Day as an example.

“I realize that many people will immediately tar me with the brush of being homophobic — nothing could be further from the truth — but the reality is that there are people who don’t feel that it’s appropriate for their children to be exposed to this kind of material. “… There were a lot of really dark undercurrents to (Milk’s) life, and yet we have elevated him to the status of a hero in the schools just because he was assassinated.”

Ivan Chou of the American Independent Party is the third candidate running Nov. 2 to represent the district, which includes Fremont, Hayward, Milpitas, Pleasanton, San Leandro, Union City, part of San Jose, and the unincorporated areas of Ashland, Castro Valley, Cherryland, Fairview, San Lorenzo and Sunol.

Chou, a 32-year-old Milpitas resident who works in security, said the government needs to curb illegal immigration.

“We need to enforce our laws and make sure there’s no amnesty,” he said. “Everybody who comes here should do it the right way, like everybody’s done before.”

He also said the state needs to rein in expenditures.

“The government plays a big role in our lives, in everything we do,” he said. “We need to have less tax, less spending.”

Maffit, a member of the Fremont Tea Party, also rails against what he describes as the state’s excessive taxes and burdensome regulations.

“The role of government is fundamentally to protect life, liberty and property,” he said. “Anything that the government is involved in that is not protecting life, liberty and property is contrary to my philosophy of government.”

The worst examples of government overreaching, he said, are entitlement programs.

“I believe that we have a moral responsibility to care for our fellow man, but I believe that responsibility is not through government, but through private activities.”

He said excessive environmental and other regulations, along with taxes, are causing businesses to leave California.

But Corbett, a 55-year-old former state Assembly member and mayor of San Leandro, said the state is not unfriendly toward businesses.

“I don’t think it’s true, because look at what’s going on in the 10th Senate District,” she said. “Look at the growth in the green economy. “… It’s just phenomenal.”

She pointed to local biotech firms and companies such as solar system designers Solaria and Solyndra and electric car manufacturer Tesla as examples of the green economy that will drive the state’s growth.

“The green economy is really the major driver of our local and statewide engine now, and it’s great that it happens to be right here in Silicon Valley,” she said.

Maffit, a 50-year-old Hayward resident, works as an engineer for Cisco Systems. He and his wife, Erin, also co-own Kitchen by the Hour, a Hayward business providing commercial kitchen rental.

He said he understands defeating an incumbent is a difficult task, particularly in a district where more than half of registered voters are Democrats. Still, he said, he is optimistic, given the political climate that has buoyed tea party-backed candidacies nationwide.

“We have the wind at our backs,” he said.