Two Republicans, a Democrat, and a Libertarian walk into a Central Coast bar and what happens next? The joke isn’t complete, but four candidates—Steve LeBard, Jordan Cunningham, Dawn Ortiz-Legg, and Dominic Rubini—are vying to represent the citizens of the 35th District in the state Assembly. It’s a district that covers all of San Luis Obispo County, and Santa Maria, Lompoc, and Guadalupe in Santa Barbara County.
Not that running for political office is a joke, but you—the voter—shouldn’t be the punch line.
Incumbent Republican Katcho Achadjian’s term is up at the end of this year, and he is one of eight candidates seeking office for the 24th Congressional District.
The job comes with a two-year term in the state Assembly, a more than $95,000 salary, and the chance to (hopefully) make this district—and possibly the rest of the state—an overall better place to live. Through a series of interviews with each candidate, the Sun comprised a brief voter guide to the 35th District.
Steve LeBard, Republican
Steve LeBard should be a name that’s familiar to voters, at least in Northern Santa Barbara County. LeBard tried to erect a veteran’s memorial near the corner of Clark Avenue and Highway 135 in Old Town Orcutt. The project was blocked by Caltrans citing a policy prohibiting expressions of free speech on state-sponsored monuments, noting specifically the monument’s inclusion of the American flag.
He’s a proud Vietnam veteran, having served on a U.S. Marine Corps Cobra gunship helicopter squadron. He officially announced his candidacy on March 29, National Vietnam Veterans Day.
LeBard, 65, is the only candidate from Santa Barbara County in this race. He lives in the Santa Maria Valley and owns a computer services business with his wife.
One of LeBard’s top issues is dealing with crime. With Santa Maria experiencing seven homicides in the month of January alone, followed by the recent arrest of 16 suspected MS-13 gang members in March, LeBard would like to see more involvement from the FBI in the city’s crime reduction efforts.
Much of LeBard’s campaign centers on land-use issues, specifically reforming the process for obtaining land-use permits. In addition to the trouble getting the Old Town Orcutt monument erected, LeBard’s had issues with trying to build a restaurant and vineyard, spending $190,000 along the way and not being able to build anything.
If he’s elected, LeBard said he’d reintroduce Senate Bill 244, a bill sponsored by former Republican state Sen. Tony Strickland that would transfer the piece of property on which the Old Town Orcutt memorial would sit to the county, possibly paving the way for it to get built.
Other issues LeBard would also like to address involve Diablo Canyon and desalination plants.
“My attitude is that whatever I can do to make our community better, is better for everybody,” LeBard told the Sun.
Jordan Cunningham, Republican
Born in San Luis Obispo (SLO) and raised in Atascadero, Jordan Cunningham says he enters the race with the California taxpayer in mind.
As a taxpayer advocate, his campaign centers on government accountability “on all different levels” and what he considers to be the high tax burden currently facing Californians.
He’s also the president of the Central Coast Taxpayers Association, a position from which Cunningham said he doesn’t draw a salary and calls a “labor of love.”
“In the Legislature I’ll be able to cast critical votes that do things like protect Proposition 13, which is under assault,” Cunningham told the Sun. “And stopping ideas like extending sales tax to services, which is an idea pending in the Legislature.”
He wants to tackle the problem of unfunded pension liabilities that he said the state is currently facing, despite the budget surplus. The easy solution, he said, would be to just pass more taxes. However, the state needs to learn to live within its means, Cunningham added.
As a former prosecutor, Cunningham is making public safety part of his campaign. He takes issue with some parts of Proposition 47, which re-categorizes some crimes as misdemeanors instead of felonies. As an assemblyman, he’d try to pass bills that would reform Proposition 47. A starting point, he said, is changing the law to make theft of a handgun worth less than $950 a felony.
Cunningham also takes issue with laws passed in Sacramento that he believes burden small businesses—which he considers to be the creators of the majority of jobs on the Central Coast as a whole.
Creating an environment where small businesses can thrive and grow is the best thing for job creation, Cunningham said.
A graduate of UC-Berkeley Law School, the 38-year-old Cunningham also served as a deputy district attorney for three years and now runs a law practice along with his wife in SLO. His resume includes work for the U.S. Department of Justice and federal judges in the Washington, D.C., area.
Dawn Ortiz-Legg, Democrat
Dawn Ortiz-Legg comes to the race with a wealth of experience in the solar energy sector. Originally from a small town outside of Chicago, Ortiz-Legg has lived in SLO County for 24 years. She currently resides in Cambria.
She describes herself as a “meat and potatoes kind of gal,” a moderate Democrat with progressive social values but conservative economic values.
Ortiz-Legg, 56, is an alumna of Pepperdine and Johns Hopkins universities, and has a background in international business.
Currently a contractor for First Solar, Ortiz-Legg has worked with several utility-scale solar power projects, including construction of Topaz Solar Farms and the California Valley Solar Ranch near Carrizo Plain.
Ortiz-Legg was a contractor helping to develop these projects, hence her tagline, “Working together. Creating jobs,” she said.
In fact, Ortiz-Legg said many of the issues she wants to tackle as an assemblywoman, such as gang violence and rising housing costs, have to do with a need for job creation.
Ortiz-Legg believes that having a skills-based job-training pipeline for re-entering convicts reduces prison populations and keeps people from becoming incarcerated in the first place. She draws a connection to the booming renewable energy sector and the high demand for skilled labor in the industry.
For social issues, her first concern is for families and whether they have enough money to pay for basic needs. Citing her experience raising her daughter as a single mom, Ortiz-Legg said she understands the struggle of being a single parent and being self-employed, and trying to make ends meet. Adequate child care is an issue she’d like tackle on the state level.
Being self-employed for most of her life, Ortiz-Legg doesn’t believe more taxes are the answer.
“My philosophy is that when people have economic opportunity, they are happier and more productive,” she said. “I feel the majority of people just want to do good work and contribute to society.”
Dominic Rubini, Libertarian
At 27-years-old, Dominic Rubini is the youngest candidate and the only Libertarian option for the 35th District. An “aspiring business owner,” Rubini holds a Cal Poly degree in construction management and has done work in the construction and oil industries in the Bakersfield area. Rubini lives in Shandon.
Rubini’s campaign rests on several issues, most notably reducing over burdensome government regulations—whether local, state, and federal—that center on business and personal freedom.
He believes that California’s carbon tax/cap-and-trade system has added a large burden to working class people who work with regulated equipment, such as farmers, contractors, and truckers.
Rubini wants to lower taxes and create more accountability for spending. He also wants to lower in-state college costs and do away with exorbitant salaries for college administrators.
He said he realizes it may not be a popular idea, but he believes that members of the Assembly ought to take a pay cut.
As far as personal liberty, he believes the state of California can do more to stop intrusions of privacy by the federal government through the National Security Agency and the use of drones.
One of the things he’s pushing for is less regulation of the gun industry in the state. He doesn’t think gun registration is necessary.
“The people have a right to bear arms individually, and we need to affirm that in our [state] constitution,” Rubini told the Sun.
Cutting down on the war on drugs and reducing the prison population—which he sees as connected—are two other priorities he’d tackle as an assemblyman.
He also said that investigations of public officials, such as when a police officer uses a gun, ought to be public.
“Private personnel records need to be public when they affect the public,” Rubini said.
Rubini’s campaign runs on the slogan of, “Lower taxes, less government, more freedom.”
Staff Writer David Minsky can be reached at dminsky@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Apr 7-14, 2016.