Election 2004: Assembly candidate Steve Poizner sees an independent role for himself Election 2004: Assembly candidate Steve Poizner sees an independent role for himself (August 04, 2004)

By David Boyce
Almanac Staff Writer

Republican state Assembly candidate Steve Poizner visited Menlo Park recently, speaking to members of the Rotary Club about his experiences in 2001-02 as a White House fellow and to Belle Haven residents about K-12 public education.

Mr. Poizner, should voters pick him in November to replace Joe Simitian in the 21st Assembly district, would naturally set up his tent in the Republican camp, but in him, colleagues may find someone who marches to his own beat.

"A lot of people need to know that I'm not a right-wing Republican," Mr. Poizner told the Almanac in an interview. "I'll be part of the Republican caucus (but) I plan to hit the ground running and continue to work on coalition building, which is what I've been doing my whole life."

Mr. Poizner said he would seek moderate solutions and work both sides of the aisle. With a business career that includes founding SnapTrack, a company that developed a technology to locate 9-1-1 calls made from cell phones, he lays claim to a track record for handling complex problems.

Lending support is Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has endorsed Mr. Poizner. "Getting his endorsement was a nice boost," Mr. Poizner said.

Mr. Poizner, 47, has an engineering degree from the University of Texas and an MBA from Stanford. He is retired after 20 years as a high-technology entrepreneur; in 2000, he sold SnapTrack to Qualcomm Corp. for $1 billion. In the March Republican primary, he ran unopposed. His Democratic opponent in the November 2 general election is three-term Redwood City Councilman Ira Ruskin, who won a closely contested primary race.

In addition to Atherton, Portola Valley, Woodside and Menlo Park, the 21st Assembly district runs from Los Gatos and the Almaden Valley in Santa Clara County through Palo Alto to San Carlos in San Mateo County.

Mr. Simitian won the Democratic primary election for the state Senate's 11th district, now held by Byron Sher. Term limits are forcing Mr. Sher out of office; Mr. Simitian could have run for the Assembly seat once more.

Reform minded

Government needs to be "slimmer and smarter," Mr. Poizner has said. He would take steps to raise productivity and would sell off "unneeded and under-utilized" state assets, consolidate agencies and consider privatizing prisons, he said.

Political reform is another plank in his platform. He supports impartial redistricting based on what other states do, disclosure of the goals of political-action committees (PACs), and open primary elections -- in which registered voters can vote outside their party affiliations, if any.

Mr. Poizner said he is not interested in PAC money, but then it's not every candidate who can lend himself $500,000, as he did in the primary race. In the general election, he said he will accept individual donations, but reject money from corporations, unions, political action committees and special interest groups.

"I am going to be totally independent," he said.

Between August 2003 and February 2004, he raised $392,745 in individual contributions, of which about half were the maximum of $3,200, according to campaign filings. Some $109,000 was earmarked for the general election and $152,150 originated in the Almanac's circulation area.

Sun Microsystems CEO and Portola Valley resident Scott McNealy gave the maximum of $3,200 to each of Mr. Poizner's campaigns, primary and general. John Doerr, a Woodside resident and venture capitalist, gave $3,200. Menlo Park resident and banker Duncan Matteson gave $1,000.

The Legislature needs more independent members to break the grip of major political parties on noncompetitive districts, Mr. Poizner said. Candidates are essentially chosen in the primary elections by a relatively small number of interested voters, he noted.

Asked how his ideas might go over as a wealthy freshman legislator among colleagues dependent on traditional funding sources, he said: "We need to reach out to (candidates) who are a heck of a lot more independent."

When asked about potential pressure on him to toe a right-wing Republican line, he said it wouldn't work. Threats by the Republican caucus to replace him with a conservative candidate would not influence voters in the 21st district, he said, and his wealth would insulate him from threats to dry up his financial support.

"There will be a new Assembly elected (in November)," he said. "I'm hoping the moderate caucus will expand."

Outlook for business

Republicans, Mr. Poizner included, complain about a poor climate for starting and running a business in California. Businesses and workers are leaving the state.

With 200,000 jobs lost since 2000, Silicon Valley is going through a very tough time, Mr. Poizner said. Nor is the area's plight well understood by outsiders, he added.

Silicon Valley "will innovate its way out of it" is a common but mistaken refrain he said he hears. "This is a fundamental global restructuring. I don't think Silicon Valley is going to come back anytime soon," he said.

Mr. Poizner supports changing workers' compensation rules, repealing recently passed mandatory employee health care coverage, and relaxing overtime rules.

But Silicon Valley rose and fell without the need for such steps. Why take them now? "During boom times, you can handle a lot more hassle," Mr. Poizner said. "Folks in the Legislature need to understand that we're in intense competition now."

For the first time, 50 percent of Silicon Valley's venture capital is invested outside California, he said. Although the area's major universities and community colleges tend to raise worker productivity, the effects are offset by the cost of doing business, he said. "The government needs to get out of the way," he said.

But Mr. Poizner said he would not become a spokesman for business. "My interest is in jobs, not business, per se," he said. "You have to put the right incentives in place."

Asked to name three types of business regulation he appreciates, he noted environmental protection. When pressed for more, he mentioned wrongful termination and employee rights. "I'm a big believer that there's an important role for government to play," he said.

Asked if would support tax increases, he replied that a healthy tax base follows a healthy economy. "There are Intel jobs going to Oregon. People should be very pained by that," he said, then added: "I'm not saying that (taxes) are not going to be a part of a solution."

An education emphasis

In 2002, Mr. Poizner said he spent two semesters teaching American government to seniors at Mount Pleasant High School in a low-income neighborhood of San Jose. The roof leaked in the winter, the copier didn't work and there were gang members among his students, he said.

From his teaching experience, he said he concluded that a "great school" can exist in a low-income area with "the right kind of teachers and the right kind of leadership."

Mr. Poizner said he supports better pay and bonuses to keep good teachers in low-income schools.

He said he would like more teacher involvement in deciding which tests are appropriate for their students and fewer restrictions on how schools spend certain categories of state revenues. And all public schools should have the freedom to innovate allowed in charter schools, he said.

Mr. Poizner is a board member of Aspire Public Schools, a nonprofit group based in Oakland that operates 10 charter schools in northern California.

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