All, I think I got most of the info (attached and below) on the website (it was not easy). Please share this info with your working group if you are a chair. The Green Party candidate forum is Wednesday, Sept 7th at 7:00 at the SFGP office. We will check in and have announcements from 7-7:30, and interview the 6 candidates who are applying for our endorsement from 7:30-9:00 and do our endorsements immediately after. Please think of questions you would like to ask each of the candidates. We will have 15 min per candidate only, so please think of questions that can be asked quickly and responded to within the time frame and other's questions. thanks, susan Attached: Sandoval, Louie, Chun (Wang resume) Below: Valle, Ramos, Wang Not applying for our endorsement: Ting, Cicneros, Herrera Treasurer: Candidate Name: Manuel Valle Phone Number: (415) 690-0930 E-mail: manuelvalle@sbcglobal.net Signed voluntary spending limit? Yes Campaign Manager: TBA Major Endorsements: TBA Paid Slates: Mayoral pick in Nov, 2003: Dec, 2003: Matt Gonzales Treasurer: 1. Why are you running for Treasurer? To intercede for taxpayers' rights via excellent financial and treasury management, thus, serve the public in accord with the accountability and public trust inherent in the position of Treasurer. 2. How would you describe the role of the Treasurer? The role of the Treasurer is to preserve capital funds, maintain liquidity, and maximize yields at minimum cost possible via efficiency, equity, equality, effectiveness, and legal baselines. 3. What are your qualifications to be Treasurer? **Have 20 years of work as accounting supervisor with the City & County of San Francisco, including 7 years as accounting manager with the SF Treasurer's Office, seven years at the Fire Dept., six years at Recreation and Park Dept. and one year at the Port. ** Doctorate in education with emphasis in financial management and accounting (GPA=3.98) at the University of San Francisco (Jesuits), Class of May 2005. ** MPA in Policy Formulation (Finance), Cal State (Hayward) East Bay. Awarded: Pi Alpha Alpha National Honors Award for top honors. **Pre-requisite to MPA - Completed college minor in Math and Calculus at U.C.Berkeley (GPA=4.0). **MBA Finance coursework and BS in Accounting - Ateneo University and Far Eastern University. Relevant certification: Certified Government Financial Manager #4615, Association of Government Accountants, Alexandria, Virginia. 4. Describe your management experience? How many employees have you supervised at one time? What type of organization(s) have you managed? Twenty years with the city of SF managing nine staff at the Treasurer's Office, about fifteen at Rec & Pard; did budget for the Fire Dept (1,500 employees) and budgeted for 1,200 employees at the Park. 5. How will you seek out advice for investment decisions, and what are the qualifications of your investment advisors? I am a certified government financial manager myself, plus our current investment officer, plus any outside expert, if needed, provided the benefits are greater than the costs. 6. How will your pursue environmentally and socially responsible investing? I would have to heed the policies supporting environmentally and socially responsible investing acceptable to all San Franciscans. 7. Many San Franciscans live far from bank branches and pay exorbitant interest rates at check cashing operations. How would you use the buying power of the Treasurer¹s office to bring banks and credit unions to open branches in disadvantaged communities. In addition to my proactive intercession toward this end, I would request the support of your group and all stakeholders affected. 8. Do any donors to or endorsers of your campaign conduct business with the City and County and if so, please disclose them and how will you insulate the City and County from concerns posed by these potential conflicts? Have no donors yet because we are waiting for our State permit number to start getting contributions. 9. Of the GP's "10KV," which is most significant to you and why. The Green Party's 10 key values are: Grassroots Democracy develop participatory systems that encourage us to control the decisions that affect our lives Ecological Wisdom operate our human societies with the understanding that we are part of nature and learn to live within the ecological and resource limits of the planet. Social Justice create a system that promotes equality and dignity for all. Nonviolence develop effective alternatives to our current patterns of violence at all levels, while eliminating the injustice and powerlessness that leads to violence. Decentralization devolve power and responsibility from larger and more distant institutions down to individuals and communities, with the eventual goal of a decentralized, democratic society. Community-Based Economics redesign our work structures to encourage employee ownership and workplace democracy, while at the same time establish basic security for all and a fair distribution of wealth and income. Feminism replace the ethic of dominance and control with cooperative ways of relating to each other. Respect for Diversity cultural, ethnic, racial, sexual, religious and spiritual diversity, reclaiming our country's shared ideals-the dignity of the individual, democratic participation and liberty and justice for all. Global Responsibility learn from and be of genuine assistance to grassroots groups in the rest of the world. Sustainability think in terms of the long range collective future of the entire planet and not the short-range, narrow interests of one country or group of people. These are all very important objectives of any resident of Earth. 10. Do you support a gross receipts tax on all San Francisco business activity to either replace or augment the payroll tax? If so, what are some of the components of the tax system you would propose - -- any tax increase should support any, some, or all of the 10KVs above. 11. What are your most favored methods of raising money for San Francisco? Under what conditions would you favor sales taxes? Sales taxes should only be the last resort because they hurt individual taxpayers mostly,thus, we should consider taxing the corporations instead. Get money from the rich as their fair share in bankrolling others as an equitable return of responsibility. Thus, any tax increase should give back more benefits versus the costs. 12. How much will San Francisco pay out in interest costs in the current fiscal year, including its "enterprise"departments? Still under audit by the External Auditors. TREASURER Candidate Name: Julio Ramos Phone Number: 415-948-3015 E-mail: ramosfortreasurer@yahoo.com Signed voluntary spending limit? Yes. Campaign Manager: William Berry Major Endorsements: Matt Gonzalez, Ross Mirkarimi, Chris Daly Paid Slates: None Mayoral pick in Nov, 2003: Matt Gonzalez Dec, 2003: Treasurer: 1. Why are you running for Treasurer? I have a passion for public policy and have been an advocate on behalf of consumer interests for the majority of my professional life, I now seek to apply those skills in the administrative context in order to implement well reasoned and sound public policy. 2. How would you describe the role of the Treasurer? The Treasurer is the human face of the financial and financing capacity of the collective political community of San Francisco. 3. What are your qualifications to be Treasurer? I am an antitrust attorney in private practice, I am an elected official dealing with the administration of a billion dollars in taxpayer assets and I have the passion and willingness to provide sound and honest leadership to the administration of the City's financial system. 4. Describe your management experience? How many employees have you supervised at one time? What type of organization(s) have you managed? As an attorney I manage a staff of ten persons on a daily basis, as an elected official I indirectly manage the hundreds of people that makeup the City College workforce. 5. How will you seek out advice for investment decisions, and what are the qualifications of your investment advisors? I will garner financial advice from academia, the financial community and my relationships with a diverse group of individuals that work on a day to day basis in the financial community. The people I will rely upon for advice have experience with Wall Street, the Municipal Bond Markets as well as funds that primarily deal in socially responsible investing. 6. How will your pursue environmentally and socially responsible investing? I will implement a code of conduct for investing in sustainable industries, yet retain the bottom line that such investments must provide a positive return to the Cityfs investment portfolio. 7. Many San Franciscans live far from bank branches and pay exorbitant interest rates at check cashing operations. How would you use the buying power of the Treasurer¹s office to bring banks and credit unions to open branches in disadvantaged communities. I will implement a program of community based banking that links the ability to do business with the city with the level of participation of financial institutions within distressed communities. 8. Do any donors to or endorsers of your campaign conduct business with the City and County and if so, please disclose them and how will you insulate the City and County from concerns posed by these potential conflicts? No. 9. Of the GP's "10KV," which is most significant to you and why. Nonviolence develop effective alternatives to our current patterns of violence at all levels, while eliminating the injustice and powerlessness that leads to violence. Everything flows from this concept, while each concept is important in and of itself, the fundamental premise of the organization of our social structure requires a foundation of nonviolence. I adhere to the beliefs of Gandhi and King and believe that the hope of humankind rests in the elimination of warfare and violence as a means to resolve political disputes. 10. Do you support a gross receipts tax on all San Francisco business activity to either replace or augment the payroll tax? If so, what are some of the components of the tax system you would propose? I do support the gross receipt tax, however I would examine methods to implement single category filing, exempt the tax for micro businesses, and exempt the application of the tax to businesses opened less than three years. 11. What are your most favored methods of raising money for San Francisco? Under what conditions would you favor sales taxes? Progressive taxation, those that have the ability to pay more should in fact do so. I favor the most simple and efficient system for the collection of taxes, that seems to be sales taxes. I favor increases in sales taxes, only when adequately justified and a community consensus is reached prior to placing such measures on the ballot. 12. How much will San Francisco pay out in interest costs in the current fiscal year, including its "enterprise"departments? Assuming the city has reached its statutory debt ceiling of three percent of its assessed value of property (roughly three billion dollars) and assuming a 6 percent annual interest payment on that debt, interest payments by the City and County of San Francisco would roughly translate to about $180 million dollars a year, excluding city enterprise activity that I would estimate at an additional $100 million dollars. Total interest payments range between 180 to 300 million dollars a year. Treasurer Candidate Name: Isaac Wang Phone Number: 415.425.4395 E-mail: isaacwang@sbcglobal.net Signed voluntary spending limit? yes Campaign Manager: Mike Mallen Major Endorsements: Mike Mallen, Gregory Corrales,CACA Paid Slates: none Mayoral pick in Nov, 2003: Matthew Gonzales Dec, 2003: Matthew Gonzales Treasurer: Susan Leal 1. Why are you running for Treasurer? My reason to run is to perfectly match my profession / expertise to my compassion for civil service and to lay more legacies in City Hall. 2. How would you describe the role of the Treasurer? In a nutshell, the Treasurer is responsible for billing, collection, investment and liquidating non-performing assets (delinquent taxes receivable). 3. What are your qualifications to be Treasurer? I have proven financial know-how in cost-cutting and revenue creation by designing and implementing dynamic financial models within the Airport commission and SFPUC. I played a key role in engineering “rates and charges” model for the $2.9 billion Airport Master Plan, and I managed a $3.6 billion long range financial cash flow project for the Water Department. Additionally, I have served 16 years in the private sector, including being the Chief Financial Officer of a local public firm, gaining experience in securities investment, real estate investment and commercial lending with emphasis in advanced accounting discipline, financial and computerized system automation dexterity. In my role as a civil servant, my M.B.A. training and financial experience have both earned and saved the City millions of dollars. My commitment and dedication allowed me to earn the outstanding performance certificate from the Recreation and Park Commission, while also being nominated for the Team Award presented by the Airport Commission. I am a 21 years San Francisco resident who believes in family value. My wife and I raised three children who were educated in public school system. I believe that running for Treasurer is an opportunity for me to give back to my community. 4. Describe your management experience? How many employees have you supervised at one time? What type of organization(s) have you managed? As the Revenue Manager in Recreation and Park Department during 95-98, I managed over 30 revenue points of collection including swimming pool, Japanese Tea Garden, Golden Gate Park Parking and lease payments from concessionaires. As the Chief Financial Officer of Twenty First Century Venture (TFCV) Capital, L.P.(86-89), I managed more than 10 equity companies which TFCV had an investment interest with staff over a hundred. 5. How will you seek out advice for investment decisions, and what are the qualifications of your investment advisors? I have been NASD series 7, 63 licensee since 1990, series 24 since 1995 and 66 since 2005, and have been exposed to the full spectrum of investment vehicles including Treasury Bills, Notes and Bonds, money market instrument, municipal bonds, REIT's, stocks, corporate bonds, Oil Drilling L.P., Airline Leasing, equipment leasing, receivable factoring, commercial lending, REPO's, Index Trading, Market Timing, Foreign Exchange Arbitrage, Future and Commodity. Therefore, I will seek out advice for investment decision from most reputable investment bankers, such as Morgan Stanley, Stone and Youngberg, Goldman Sachs,etc. for THREE MAIN critiria: 1) Capital Preservation: Safety 2) Liquidity: Cash Equilivalent and, 3) Yield. I do believe that with the safest investment such as T-bill and short Term T-notes (due in 90 days), there is still a room for yield enhancement such as buying zero coupon bonds, buying REPO's and writing options. These both safe and revenue enhancing techniques take years of hands-on experience which I proudly claim as my intrinsic value for this position. 6. How will your pursue environmentally and socially responsible investing? By definition, a environmentally and socially responsible investing excludes oil drilling, tabacco, defense related industries... 7. Many San Franciscans live far from bank branches and pay exorbitant interest rates at check cashing operations. How would you use the buying power of the Treasurer¹s office to bring banks and credit unions to open branches in disadvantaged communities. I would use each Supermaket as a Anchor store and within each Supermaket, there should have a mini bank (like BOA in Albertson and Wells Fargo in Safeway). Hence, wherever a superlmarket is, there is also a mini bank. 8. Do any donors to or endorsers of your campaign conduct business with the City and County and if so, please disclose them and how will you insulate the City and County from concerns posed by these potential conflicts? None. 9. Of the GP's "10KV," which is most significant to you and why. The Green Party's 10 key values are: I deeply felt in love with Grassroots Democracy since I personally talked to 15,000 voters in my last Supervisoral race in District 7 and came up with my agenda 100% from street. This time, I did it again and still doing it. I have been talking to over a thousand of music lovers from Sterm Grove Musical Festival each Sunday (I have not missed even one since June) and I got my ears full of the grassroot ideas. I am expecting finishing talking to more than 40,000 voters this year by election date. This Bottom Up trategy works! Grassroots Democracy develop participatory systems that encourage us to control the decisions that affect our lives Ecological Wisdom operate our human societies with the understanding that we are part of nature and learn to live within the ecological and resource limits of the planet. Social Justice create a system that promotes equality and dignity for all. Nonviolence develop effective alternatives to our current patterns of violence at all levels, while eliminating the injustice and powerlessness that leads to violence. Decentralization devolve power and responsibility from larger and more distant institutions down to individuals and communities, with the eventual goal of a decentralized, democratic society. Community-Based Economics redesign our work structures to encourage employee ownership and workplace democracy, while at the same time establish basic security for all and a fair distribution of wealth and income. Feminism replace the ethic of dominance and control with cooperative ways of relating to each other. Respect for Diversity cultural, ethnic, racial, sexual, religious and spiritual diversity, reclaiming our country's shared ideals-the dignity of the individual, democratic participation and liberty and justice for all. Global Responsibility learn from and be of genuine assistance to grassroots groups in the rest of the world. Sustainability think in terms of the long range collective future of the entire planet and not the short-range, narrow interests of one country or group of people. 10. Do you support a gross receipts tax on all San Francisco business activity to either replace or augment the payroll tax? If so, what are some of the components of the tax system you would propose. Yes. For gross receipts over a certain amount, say, $1,000,000 annually, a break-point percentage applies to different level of receipts. For example, gross receipts between $1,000,000 and $5,000,000, 3% tax rate; $5,000,001 to $10,000,000, 2% tax rate; and 1% tax rate for $10,000,001 and above. An revenue / tax elasticity analysis should be done before imposing these tax rate. Additionally, different tax rates should be granted to different industry, say, a higher tax rate for tabacco industry and gas/ oil industry since these industry reap off the social capital and creates environmental concerns. 11. What are your most favored methods of raising money for San Francisco? Under what conditions would you favor sales taxes? a) Sell City and County Lottery b) Use City land lease to collect rent, support ffordable Housing for incremental transfer taxes revenues (using special revenue fund as Renter's Equity for first time home buyers as down payment). c) Sales tax increase as the last resort only if above two ways are not bringing in enough revenue for City's Budget. 12. How much will San Francisco pay out in interest costs in the current fiscal year, including its "enterprise"departments? Of the total $2 billion cash management by the Treasurer Office currently, a interest earning of $60 million per year is viable. However, it could be better if a yield enhancement program is in place. _______________________________________________ San Francisco Green Party CC mailing list CC@sfgreens.org To unsubscribe or change options, go here: https://list.sfgreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/cc