State Senator Joe Nguyen should replace three-term incumbent Dow Constantine because he’ll act with a “fierce sense of urgency,” as he likes to say, that the current exec hasn’t exactly demonstrated on criminal justice and equity issues. Also, running for a fourth term as an executive is tacky, and the SECB aims to discourage that kind of behavior.
Aside from his desire to speed up the county’s work in those two policy areas we mention above, Nguyen’s connections with the county’s marginalized communities give him insight on other issues the current administration has dragged its feet on.
Nguyen, for instance, generally supports transferring funds from bloated law enforcement and jail budgets to invest in community programs that interrupt violence and provide behavioral health services. Constantine is a firm “no” on spending cop money on that stuff.
Nguyen also wants to finally realize the (unsexy-sounding but very kewl) dream of a public infrastructure bank. With that kind of bank, we could loan out money to local jurisdictions to fix — among other things — the wildly high percentage of sidewalks and curb ramps that don’t comply with ADA requirements. He also vows to champion public broadband so that all underserved kids in our so-called “tech hub” can access high-speed internet. He also wants to pilot a basic income program, which aligns with his work on TANF at the state Legislature.
