The race for 4th District Assembly

Don’t leave without sampling some of Yolo’s canned tomatoes, they’re world famous.|

Here’s a regional geography quiz, Sonoma residents: Name the county seat, the largest city and the most famous former citizen of Yolo County.

If you answered Woodland, Davis and Oscar-nominated actor Thomas Hayden Church, you win free tickets to next year’s 102nd annual Capay Valley Almond Festival. Don’t leave without sampling some of Yolo’s canned tomatoes, they’re world famous.

If all that seems a tad unfamiliar to the leaf-blown residents of wine country, think how our next State Assembly representative will view their new stomping grounds in unincorporated Sonoma Valley – which joins all or parts of Napa, Lake, Yolo, Solano and Calusa counties in the 4th District. Five candidates are vying to fill the soon-to-be vacated seat currently held by Napa resident Bill Dodd – and all are from dusty ag lands of Yolo County. While Yolo and Sonoma certainly share plenty of cross-district concerns, there are still clear differences in identity. Who among the candidates, for instance, wouldn’t assume references to “Springs colors” in the 95416 zip code are about the amber leaves of autumnal Arnold Drive arbors – when they’re actually about the massive pastel chicken keeping watch over proceedings at El Brinquito meat market?

Let’s just say there’s going to be a Sonoma Valley learning curve for our next Assembly rep.

Possibly the most ahead of the curve at the moment is Davis Democrat Don Saylor. He’s currently on the Yolo County Board of Supervisors, and seems to have done his homework on such issues as the fate of the Sonoma Developmental Center (he’s in favor of keeping current residents at the Eldridge campus) and wants to incentivize the development of affordable housing near the unincorporated transportation corridor in the Springs. He’s running on a platform of “no one left behind” – “our economy should work for everyone, not just those at the top,” he says.

City of Winters Mayor Cecilia Aguiar-Curry is running for Assembly to “get things done.” And, by that, she means “protect our natural resources, water and open space, support agriculture, provide good jobs.” Aguiar-Curry, who with her brothers runs an 80-acre walnut farm, puts job creation, agricultural conservation and education at the top of her priorities list.

In a statement from her campaign, she says she will, “protect our natural resources, water and open space; support agriculture; provide good jobs; and give our kids the tools they need to get ahead in a competitive world.”

Dan Wolk is the Mayor of Davis. When he’s not donning his mayoral sash, Wolk is Deputy County Counsel for the County of Solano. He’s got something of a political pedigree, as well – his mother Lois Wolk is the outgoing 3rd District State Senator.

If elected, Wolk says his focus would be upon stabilizing the water supply in the drought-stricken, ag-heavy district, push for universal preschool and invest in such economy-driving initiatives as increased job training, clean-energy projects and small-business incubators.

He describes himself as a moderate progressive and is particularly proud of helping usher in Davis’s Healthy Families Initiative, which promoted anti-bullying measures, healthy beverage consumption and early screenings for developmental and behaviorally challenged kids. Wolk, 40, has two daughters.

Mark Kropp is a pharmaceutical consultant from Davis. He says he’s run for state legislature seats in Connecticut as a Democrat (1996) and in California as a Republican (2000). Now he’s back to wearing a blue hat as he seeks to represent the 4th District.

He’s hoping his lack of political experience is more than made up for in his real-world experience – he’s spent many months offering free medical clinic support in poor communities in Brazil. “In the Assembly it is my plan to write legislation that makes sense,” Kropp says on his campaign website. “I plan on voting nonsense off the record.”

The lone Republican in the race is Charles Schaupp, 61, a retired Marine Corps lieutenant. Schaupp lost to Bill Dodd in the 4th District Assembly general election in 2014.

He’s thrown his hat in again and is running on a platform ?of fewer regulations and more tax breaks for new businesses.

The good news is that all five candidates come across as capable, thoughtful candidates. But clearly, the fact that Aguiar-Curry, Saylor and Wolk have held elective office gives them the experience one would look for in a viable Assembly candidate.

Aguiar-Curry has an impressive agriculture background and is well-regarded for her work on the Winters City Council. But Supervisor Saylor and Wolk, mayor of Yolo’s largest city, seem to have the momentum in their campaigns – divvying up the majority of support from the long list of regional politicos and lobby groups in the election-season “endorsement merry-go-round” that politicians jump upon. And we can see why.

Both Saylor and Wolk display a sharp grasp of the region-wide (if somewhat Yolo-leaning) issues; both have reputations for working well with colleagues and across the aisle.

Saylor has an edge over Wolk in experience, but Wolk’s got a youthful energy to him that the state legislature could use more of.

The June 7 primary will likely result in the top-two vote-getting candidates facing each other in a runoff in the Nov. 7 general election. We’d like to see Saylor and Wolk in that runoff. Not only would it give the two candidates an opportunity to define themselves against a single challenger, but it would offer voters a chance to pare down the two most qualified candidates – hopefully resulting in a clearer decision as to whom would best represent the Sonoma Valley in the Assembly.

In a dual endorsement, we ?recommend both Dan Wolk and Don Saylor.

Jason Walsh, editor

John Burns, publisher

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.