Another longtime Santa Maria resident is planning to enter the 2010 race for the 33rd District Assembly Seat, soon to be vacated by Sam Blakeslee (R-San Luis Obispo) because of term limits.
On May 14, Santa Maria Planning Commissioner Etta Waterfield announced her intention to run for the open seat. Waterfield joins a growing number of Central Coast residents vying for the position, such as Santa Maria City Council member Hilda Zacarías and San Luis Obispo Supervisor Katcho Achadjian.
Waterfield, who was recently named by Blakeslee the 33rd District’s 2009 Woman of the Year, has been involved in the local business sector ever since moving to Santa Maria with her husband, Buck, in 1985. She has worked with the Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce for more than a decade, and is currently coordinator of the Santa Maria Valley Economic Development Commission. For the past six years, she has held a position on the Santa Maria Planning Commission, and has served as commission chairperson twice.
In a recent interview with the Sun, Waterfield said her main focus if elected will be “fighting for small business.”
Recalling when the state went through a similar economic slump in the early 1990s, Waterfield said: “Even though they were tough times, I remember still bringing businesses in to Santa Maria. Now it’s at a complete standstill.
“All the taxation and overregulation from the government has caused small businesses to dry up and go away,” she said.
Waterfield has witnessed first hand the challenges facing small businesses while serving on the Santa Maria Planning Commission.
“It’s so hard just to go through the permitting process,” she said. “I have so much compassion for the small businessperson. I really listen to what they have to say—listen to the difficulties they’re going through to start a business.”
Waterfield said she takes the struggles of a small business owner to heart because of the way she was raised.
The youngest of five children, Waterfield’s father worked in corrections at Alcatraz, and later helped open a prison in Florence, Ariz., where Waterfield was born. After her father retired from the prison system, Waterfield’s mother decided to open up a restaurant. The family owned and operated two establishments—The Old Taco Inn in Florence, and then Tortilla Flats in Sedona, Ariz.
“Small business is the foundation of this nation,” Waterfield told the Sun. “My parents taught me that owning your own business was the thing to strive for. It meant you had successfully arrived, and it allowed you to help your community.”
Years of unchecked spending, coupled with increased taxation and regulation, Waterfield said, has severely damaged small businesses, and thus the state’s economy.
“By taking away small business the Legislature is taking away all the things that have been instilled in us. It’s horrible,” she said.
If elected, Waterfield said she will strongly support deregulation, and increase tax cuts and other incentives for small businesses. Doing so, she said, will help “this state become the great state—the innovator of entrepreneurship—that it once was.”
Once people are taxed less, Waterfield said, they will be able to donate more money to the community organizations of their choice.
“The government makes it almost impossible to give to churches and nonprofits now,” she said.
Changing the way the state handles taxpayers’ money, she said, will allow Californians to live more fruitful lives and, in the process, build stronger communities.
“The message I want to instill in voters is: If not you, then who? If not now, then when?” Waterfield said.
Many local Republicans have pledged their support to Waterfield, including Santa Barbara County 5th District Supervisor Joe Centeno.
“She’s fantastic,” Centeno said in a statement issued by Waterfield’s campaign. “With her Chamber of Commerce experience she is exposed to the difficulties that small businesses are encountering and she also understands the needs for job creation and small business growth.
“She knows what it’s like for small businesses to try and live under California’s heavy tax and regulatory burdens, and she understands how to help business owners succeed and grow. I’m certain that in the Assembly, she will quickly become one of California’s strongest advocates for small businesses,” Centeno said in the statement.
Outside of her professional commitments, Waterfield is a member of the Santa Maria Police Advisory Council, and serves on the board of directors for the Santa Maria Fairpark. She is also an active member of Foursquare Church in Santa Maria.
For more information about Waterfield’s bid for 33rd District State Assembly, visit ettaforassembly.com.
Contact Staff Writer Amy Asman at aasman@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in May 21-28, 2009.
