Virginia Chang Kiraly of Menlo Park, president of the Las Lomitas Elementary School PTA, is the Republican candidate for the 21st district state Assembly seat now held by Democrat Ira Ruskin.
Ms. Kiraly will run opposed in the June 6 election and face Mr. Ruskin in November.
She said she plans to take political risks, such as pressing for reform of public pension benefits that “allows our hard-working civil servants to receive reasonable benefits commensurate with model benefits in the private sector.”
One way to deal with the state’s fiscal problems, she said, is to encourage partnerships between nonprofit agencies and government. She noted that the city of Palo Alto has done this in working with the Friends of the Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo “to create a stronger children’s organization for the Peninsula community.”
A first generation Chinese-American, she worked for 15 years in the financial industry. She is president of the Friends of the Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo, a board member of Cultural Initiatives Silicon Valley, and a past board member of the Tech Museum of Innovation and the Asia-America MultiTechnology Association.
In the area of education, she said she favors reducing the number of categorical programs and creating block grants that give school districts the freedom to address their needs.
She calls for a “using our innovative spirit to produce technologies that lower our dependency on fossil fuel” and encourage cities and counties to plan for higher density residential and employment uses along transportation corridors.