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Race for state Senate is only June contest

Incumbent State Sen. Carole Migden faces two challengers in Democratic primary

Published: Thursday, May 8, 2008

By COREY YOUNG
ARGUS-COURIER STAFF

Joe Nation, Carole Migden and Mark Leno Zoom Photo

CANDIDATES AT A GLANCE MARK LENO Age: 56 Occupation: Assemblyman, 13th District, since 2002. Residence: San Francisco Background: Served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for four years, has owned a sign shop in San Francisco since 1978. CAROLE MIGDEN Age: 59 Occupation: State senator, 3rd District, since 2004. Residence: San Francisco Background: Served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, three terms in the state Assembly and as chairwoman of the state Board of Equalization. JOE NATION Age: 51 Occupation: Lecturer at Stanford University and a climate change advisor for an environmental consulting firm. Residence: Sonoma Background: Worked as a professor at the University of San Francisco, served on the Marin Municipal Water District board and three terms in the state Assembly.

There are lots of names on next month’s ballot, but only one real campaign going on in the North Bay.

State Senator Carole Migden of San Francisco is facing a challenge from two fellow Democrats as she seeks re-election in the party’s primary.

Assemblyman Mark Leno of San Francisco and former Assemblyman Joe Nation of Sonoma are seeking to unseat Migden in the state Senate’s 3rd District, which includes the eastern half of San Francisco, all of Marin County and southern Sonoma County.

The race has drawn attention because of the district’s heavily Democratic voter registration. Democrats outnumber Republicans by 2-to-1 in the district and come November, the winner of the Democratic primary is expected to easily defeat the Republican candidate, Sasha McEntee of Mill Valley, who is running unopposed in June’s GOP primary.

Migden is the only North Bay incumbent facing a primary challenge and the Democratic 3rd District race is the only contested primary on the ballot for Petaluma-area voters.

Democratic Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, Republican candidate Mike Halliwell of Rohnert Park and Libertarian Joel Smolen of San Rafael are all unopposed in their respective primaries and will automatically go on to face one other in November’s general election.

Likewise, Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, Republican Paul Lavery of Novato and Libertarian Timothy Hannan of Kenwood are in the same situation. June’s primary is a formality for each of them and the campaign for the North Bay’s Assembly seat won’t heat up until the fall.

In the Democratic state Senate race, however, the candidates have less than a month left to convince voters throughout three counties to vote for them.

And with absentee ballots arriving this week and the majority of Petalumans and other voters casting their choices by mail, many won’t be waiting until June 3 to make their choice.

Carole Migden

The incumbent state senator was first elected in 2004, following a term as chairwoman of the state Board of Equalization and three terms in the Assembly. She was also a San Francisco supervisor.

It is important that Petalu-ma and the North Bay be represented by a San Francisco legislator “because we have the clout,” Migden told the Argus-Courier’s editorial board during an interview.

During her first term, Migden sponsored bills strengthening rights for domestic partners, protecting consumers from unsafe cosmetics and opposing the Iraq troop surge.

She helped get money for Tolay Lake Regional Park, south of Petaluma, and worked with local lawmakers on a plan to begin funding freeway improvements along the Novato Narrows with bond money awarded last year.

But she has also made headlines in the past year after being fined $350,000 for campaign-finance violations and surrendering her license following an erratic-driving incident.

Migden told the newspaper she takes responsibility for those incidents. The fine resulted from “inadvertent mistakes” involving her campaign finances during her time in the Assembly, and following her driving mishap a year ago, she sought neurological testing and was cleared to drive, but chose not to.

She subsequently announc-ed she had been diagnosed with leukemia, but noted her health is “100 percent fine. I’ve had no evidence of it for over a year.”

There is still work to be done for the district in the state Senate, Migden told the Argus-Courier.

“I’m hard-working and conscientious and I’m good at it,” she said.

Mark Leno

An assemblyman from San Francisco’s 13th district since 2002, Mark Leno started as the owner of a sign shop in 1978 and also spent two years in rabbinical studies at the Hebrew Union College in New York.

He also served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for four years before his election to the Assembly.

During his tenure in the Legislature, he sponsored a bill to prohibit the use of fire retardants in upholstered furniture, designed to protect consumers’ and firefighters’ health, and wrote the 2005 bill legalizing same-sex marriage that passed both the Assembly and Senate, but was vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“I tout my legislative acc-omplishments. I am respectful, inclusive, collaborative and ethical,” Leno told the Argus-Courier editorial board. “My pledge to the North Bay is that you will see a lot of me.”

Leno said he is challenging Migden because “democracy is best served when voters have a choice.”

While Migden and Nation both said they oppose a casino in Rohnert Park during a debate last month, Leno said there is little the state government can do about it because the Graton Rancheria tribe has Congressional approval.

Supporters of the Graton tribe held a fund-raiser for Leno but the assemblyman said he has taken no money from the tribe itself. He is concerned about impacts of the casino proposal and those questions would have to be answered if it came before the state legislature, he told the Argus-Courier.

“I have serious concerns about water, traffic and the environment there,” he said, noting that he voted against four gaming compacts that came before the Assembly.

Joe Nation

The North Bay’s assemblyman from 2000 to 2006, Nation is jumping back into politics after a two-year hiatus, following an unsuccessful primary challenge to Congress-woman Lynn Woolsey.

He now lives in Sonoma and works as a lecturer at Stanford University and a climate change adviser for ENVIRON, an environmental consulting firm.

He was previously a professor at the University of San Francisco and served on the Marin Municipal Water District board.

Nation told the Argus-Courier that he wasn’t intending to run for office again, but in the fall of last year, someone in Washing-ton told him, “There aren’t many people as informed about energy and the environment as you. We look to California for leadership — you can affect national policy.”

That conversation “refocused me,” Nation said.

He told the newspaper that “I’m in this for policy — not politics. I’m always willing and open to talk — I’m not ideological.”

Nation was the principal co-author of California’s 2006 law requiring a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. He also authored bills requiring greenhouse gas labeling for vehicles and fuel-efficiency standards for tires, and wrote the legislation creating the SMART rail transit district for the North Bay.

He has called for a moratorium on new casino development and supports legislation that would make it more difficult for the governor to OK gaming compacts with tribes. A vote by the local community should also be required before casinos are approved, he said.

(Contact Corey Young at corey.young@arguscourier.com)