June 22, 2005

Back to the table of Contents Page

Classifieds

Palo Alto Online

Steve Westly: Off the hook?

by Alexandria Rocha

With the gubernatorial primaries one year away, some Palo Altans are already getting behind a local candidate they say has the perspective and experience needed to beat the "the governator."

On Saturday, about two dozen community members gathered at Carroll Harrington's Melville Avenue home to hear Democratic State Controller Steve Westly of Atherton announce his candidacy via speaker phone. The rally was just one of 10 "house parties" throughout Palo Alto, and just one of 150 across the state, including Santa Rosa, Vallejo, Auburn and Emerald Hills. About 1,500 people congregated for the various functions.

Westly spoke from a Southern California location, leaving the rest of the parties to hear the announcement via teleconference. His mom, Portola Valley resident Sylvia Elliott, sat close to Harrington's phone in Palo Alto.

She was surrounded by locals, including three running for City Council this fall. Others were current council members and former mayors. Most had already decided to support Westly.

He is "the most intelligent candidate and the one with the most integrity I've ever met in my few years in politics. It's wonderful when someone with those qualities gets behind something like this," said Judy Kleinberg, a City Council member who is involved with Westly's campaign.

The Melville Avenue house was mostly quiet with the occasional soft whisper among attendees, who sat around a white handset resting on a table adorned with a red, white and blue tablecloth. As Westly's voice echoed into the room, most supporters lowered their eyes to the phone.

John Barton, president of the local school district's Board of Education and a City Council candidate, knows Westly personally. The two met at a meeting of the Democratic Forum of the Silicon Valley -- a group of high-tech, venture capital executives who endorse and financially support Democratic candidates in the Valley -- when Barton first ran for City Council about 10 years ago.

Barton has also served alongside Westly's wife, Anita Yu, on a board for a San Jose-based nonprofit that helps under-privileged children attend college.

On Saturday, Barton nodded in agreement when Westly mentioned reforms that would specifically affect Palo Alto, such as loosening the strict mandates on high-performing school districts and lowering the parcel tax approval threshold.

"I'm thrilled. Those are the kinds of things the current governor is not doing -- he's diverting energy and community capital away from education," Barton said. "I was pleased to see Steve focused on those issues."

Here's a crash course on Westly: He has served as state controller since 2002. He grew up in Atherton, and was an early executive at eBay. He's a former college teacher and his favorite California governor was Pat Brown, who served from 1959 to 1967 and was best known for fair employment practices and enacting the University of California plan.

Westly supports stem-cell research, biotechnology and green energies and has pledged to support and expand all three industries if he is elected. He wants health care coverage for all children and will lobby for an international global warming agreement.

"I'm running for governor to restore the California dream," Westly said during Saturday's teleconference.

He has also promised to fully fund Proposition 98, which guarantees a minimum level of state funding for schools but may be suspended under Gov. Arnold Swcharzenegger's budget proposal. Barton also nodded at this pledge.

Larry Klein, a former city of Palo Alto mayor who is running for City Council this fall, also attended Saturday's party hosted by Harrington. Klein has known Westly for about 20 years.

"I agreed with almost everything he had to say and of course the education is a major factor," he said. "He brings the perspective of someone who knows what it takes."

Also at the same house party was Harold "Skip" Justman, a former real estate columnist for the Weekly who is trying for a third time to win a seat on the City Council this fall.

The budget has been Justman's signature issue since the first time he ran for City Council in 1977. The same was true Saturday as he listened to Westly's announcement.

"He's done a great job as controller in finding ways to restructure our budget," he said. "He seems to be able to ferret out the waste in the budget and eliminate it."

After Westly's speech, Kleinberg encouraged those at Harrington's house to join her on Westly's campaign for governor. Harrington also provided campaign donation forms.

"Steve's going to do all the hard work, but we've got to energize our network and make it have a strong grass-roots element," Kleinberg said.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.