Supervisor hopefuls focus on business, successes

Playing to a Chamber of Commerce crowd, supervisorial candidates Debora Fudge and Mike McGuire on Wednesday emphasized their records of economic development and support for business.

In their final joint appearance in a campaign forum prior to the June 8 election, Fudge, a Windsor Town Council member, and McGuire, a Healdsburg City Council member, touted the economic vitality of their respective cities.

Fudge, a four-time mayor, said Windsor is the most financially solvent city in Sonoma County, with 55 percent of its budget in reserves.

She credited that, in part, to the two-year budget cycles Windsor uses, as opposed to most other cities that have annual budgets.

McGuire, a former mayor serving his second City Council term, said Healdsburg has created "one of the county's strongest local economies." He noted that the city continues to partner with car dealers, the lodging industry and downtown businesses by subsidizing their advertising and marketing campaigns.

"In tough times we can't turn our backs on you," he told the lunchtime crowd of 100 gathered at Seghesio Family Vineyards. The event was held for members of the Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce.

Fudge talked about "the really good relationship" between the Town of Windsor and small businesses, pointing out that the Town Council just allocated $87,000 to the Windsor Chamber of Commerce.

In addition, she said Windsor built a train station and rents it to the chamber for $600 monthly to use for its offices.

The forum was marked by a more cordial tone than previous campaign encounters. But that may have been as much the result of the moderator's request that the two candidates avoid the "frictions" they showed in other debates.

The two are vying to succeed north county Supervisor Paul Kelley, who decided not to seek re-election.

Fudge, who chairs the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District, said the commuter train will help bring 18,000 jobs to the North Bay when it becomes a reality.

McGuire emphasized his six-point job plan, which includes steering tax dollars to Sonoma County workers and their families, and expanding the county's Economic Development Board with a goal of creating more small businesses.

McGuire, a former Healdsburg School Board president, also spoke of the need to expand high school job training programs for students who will not attend college.

Asked to identify their proudest accomplishment, McGuire said it was rebuilding Healdsburg elementary schools, made possible by the bond measures approved by Healdsburg voters.

Fudge said hers was "changing the town of Windsor" by building the Town Green. "We really created a heart in that community," she said.

When it comes to tackling Sonoma County's $61 million budget deficit, both agreed that more "middle management" positions may need to be cut.

Fudge also said she is open to a system of voluntary furloughs for county employees and not just during holiday periods, but on Fridays and "extended vacations."

McGuire said it will take shared sacrifice, including from the Board of Supervisors, and that is why he would be willing to immediately take a 30 percent pay cut in his supervisorial salary if elected.

Fudge in the past has said she would agree to the same salary reduction if elected, although she did not mention so in her remarks Wednesday.

"I think people see through that," she said later of McGuire's pledge, indicating it was grandstanding.

McGuire said his promise to cut his salary is part of "leadership."

You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 521-5214 or clark.mason@pressdemocrat.

com.