Position Paper to Marin Democratic Club, 9/9/2001

By Robert E. "Gene" Fisher

Where I Stand on American Issues

(415) 332-0799 E-mail: Abumuhammud53@Hotmail.com

Sunday, September 09, 2001

Dori D. Organ, Chairperson

Marin Democratic Club 99 Redwood Road Fairfax, CA 94930

Dear Ms Organ:

Thank you for your organizations interest in possibly endorsing my candidacy for the Marin City Community Service District. As a life long member of the Democratic Party I consider it an honor to be considered by the Marin Democratic Club for endorsement.

Responses to Candidate Questionnaire:

1. How long have you been a registered Democrat? Have you ever been registered with any other party? If so, which Party, for how long and what made you decide to change your registration to the Democratic Party.

· I have been a lifelong member of the Democratic Party (continually from 1968 as a registered voter, active participant for over 45 years). As far back as I can remember the Democratic Party has progressed towards the values that I hold near to my heart, while the Republican Party has receded as far as possible from my political and moral values. As if it weren't enough for the Republican Party to hold President Clinton and the country hostage over the "Monica non-issue", they had to steal the election for "Little Bush". If anything were going to make me recommit to the Democratic Party, that was it.

2. Have you ever been active in the Democratic Party or worked for any political campaign? If so, what campaigns or party activities and when?

· I have been an active member of the Democratic Party from infancy. My parents were members of the San Antonio, TX Democratic Party. They spent many years both in Texas and California as active members. My first foyer into politics was at Redwood High School in 1963 as a member of the Young Democrats. From there I joined the Democratic Club at College of Marin in1965. Upon going to college in San Jose I joined the Young Democrats at San Jose State University in 1967 where I worked closely with MAPA, Caesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union. In San Jose I also worked on the Humphrey Presidential campaign. In 1969 I came back to Marin City where I found the Sausalito School District to be lacking and ran an unsuccessful campaign for the Sausalito School Board with a campaign slogan of "A Quality Equality Education for Everyone". I started work again in San Francisco and worked closely with the Moscone Family and Art Agnos in their political endeavors. Later, I started work in Oakland and worked to help elect Lionel Wilson, Elihu Harris, Leo Bazile, Natallie Bayton and many others. I worked in California for both Bill Clinton Presidential Campaigns. My sister worked to elect Hillary Clinton in New York. I have been a campaign worker in every presidential campaign since 1960. I most recently worked for Al Gores Presidential Campaign.

3. Is there any part of the Democratic Platform with which you disagree? If so what parts and why?

· In order to answer this with honesty I had to revisit the actual platform. I suggest that anyone wanting to understand what a Democrat is, do this periodically. To answer this question I must say that I agree with the platform but there are some things that I would add if I were doing the writing. Universal Health Care, decriminalization of drug addiction, opening of the border with our Latin American and Caribbean neighbors in the same way as with Canada would be high on my list of things to add. I will provide a link to the platform here http://www.democrats.org/issues/platform/platform.html#prosperity.

4. Do you support affordable-low income housing in Marin? If so, what are you willing to do to support its implementation.

· Being a product of "affordable-low income housing" in Marin I could be nothing but supportive of it. I lived in the war workers housing from 1947 to 1963 in Marin City. At the time it was the one of the few places that we could legally live in Marin County until the passage of the Unruh Civil Rights Act that eliminated housing discrimination in California. I feel that I have a clear perspective on what it will take to increase the housing stock of low income housing in Marin. (I have dropped the word "affordable" as it is relative to the $100,000 per household average income in Marin.) What is needed in Marin is a taskforce of builders, engineers, planners, government officials, and resident representatives of Marin's low-income community. One of the major problems in Marin City is that it is Marin's only community that has 33 +/-% of its housing stock as public housing. This puts an undue burden on Marin City's capacity to deal with the problems associated with densification of population groups. This problem needs to be more equally spread throughout the rest of the County.

5. If elected, will you actively elicit public input from the diverse residents whom you represent? If so, how?

· When elected I will actively seek the advice and council of my constituents. My household is a microcosm of the multi-ethnic/religious and economic makeup of the surrounding community. I currently have a focus group consisting of all segments of this community. I will keep and expand this group after September 6, 2001.

6. Describe your views on energy, use of alternative energy sources such as solar wind, nuclear and how you would encourage conservation in the county.

· As an engineer I have worked closely with many power providers and public agencies that govern those agencies.

Wind Power

o I have participated, as recently as last month, in the certification of the Alyre site for wind turbines in the Livermore/Altamont Pass Corridor. In Southern Marin there are places in the publicly held areas that would support wind turbines that are in the proximity to existing transmission lines. These areas are sensitive to public scrutiny and would demand extensive pubic input. However, if the questions could be answered this would potentially add wind-powered generation to the grid that would answer the electrical needs of Southern Marin and the surplus could provide a source of revenues for the surrounding unincorporated communities.

Solar Power

o The same areas that could support wind turbines could also be used for co-generation solar. These solar panels could be interspersed with wind generation turbines and the cost of transmission lines would be minimized as both forms of generation could share the cost of joint transmission lines.

Nuclear/Natural Gas/Coal Power

o Nuclear, natural gas and coal-generated power is out of the question for Marin from an environmental standpoint. The potential for environmental devastation and proximity to the pristine natural beauty of the County make these forms of generation unthinkable.

Thank you again for this opportunity to respond. I hope that you find me acceptable for your endorsement and hope the best for all democratic candidates in the coming November 6, 2001 elections.

Respectfully,

Robert Fisher Candidate for the Marin City Community Service District