By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

Both the incumbent, Lois Wolk, and the challenger, Frank Miranda, in the State Senate race on the Nov. 6 ballot are new names before Benicia voters.

That’s because of the new district maps drawn across the state in the wake of the 2010 U.S. Census. By the end of the year, Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) no longer will represent Benicia.

Evans has endorsed Wolk.

Although the citizens committee that redrew the state districts to strive for one-person, one-vote equality at the polls stressed that none of the districts belonged to specific elected officials, Wolk (D-Davis) is considered the incumbent in the Nov. 6 race, because she has been elected to the Senate in 2008 and currently represents the Fifth District.

Previously, she won three terms as a State Assemblymember until term limits forced her out of that legislative house the same year she was elected to the Senate.

Even though she is running in a new district, she has been representing about half of the constituents living in the newly-drawn Senate District 3.

She was unopposed in the June 5 primary race. However, one of two Republican write-in candidates, Frank Miranda, received 2,402 votes, or 2 percent, against her 96.9 percent and 116,403 votes. Gary Clift was the other candidate, garnering 1,341 votes, or 1.1 percent.

She faces Miranda Nov. 6.

Wolk, 66, has been serving on eight Legislative committees this year, and is Senate chairperson of the Governance and Finance Committee, and is a member of the Senate’s Health and Natural Resources and Water committees.

She also has been appointed to the Legislature’s Agriculture, Budget and Fiscal Review, Elections and Constitutional Amendments, Fairs, Allocation and Classification and Audit committees, and is on the subcommittee for Corrections, Public Safety and the Judiciary.

She is the author of Senate Bill 14, which was a bipartisan measure to establish a performance-based budget process for the state.

Last year, the American Legion’s California Department chose her the Senate recipient of the Legislator of the Year. She was recognized by the Solano Partnership Against Violence with its Robins Jenkins Memorial Award after she kept the county’s domestic violence programs funded.

She is a past recipient of the Solano Transportation Authority State Elected Official of the Year.

A public and private school teacher who taught history, social studies and French, she won a Davis City Council election in 1990, and twice was chosen mayor. Later she was elected Yolo County Supervisor, and was the board chairperson in 2000.

As a member of the Assembly, she authored 56 new laws, particularly legislation on flood protection for vulnerable areas in the Central Valley, improvements to a hazardous stretch of California Highway 12, and increased authority for the Department of Fish and Game to control invasive species that threatened the state’s waterways and ecology.

“I’ve forged bipartisan compromises, authoring over 70 laws signed by both Democratic and Republican governors,” she said. “I don’t let partisan gridlock get in my way.”

Concerning the coming election’s issues, Wolk said, “Our region needs leaders who can help us grow our economy, restore funding for education, reduce traffic bottlenecks on our roads, and improve services for the most vulnerable among us: our children, elderly, and disabled.

“We also need someone to protect our water for our communities, farms, and vineyards,” she said.

“Our economy is improving and the state is finally getting its fiscal house in order, but tremendous challenges remain,” she said. “While there are no easy answers, I can promise to work hard for you and continue bringing my experience and collaborative approach to produce the results you expect and deserve in Sacramento.”

Besides Evans, Wolk has been endorsed by U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Napa), another candidate whose new district would include Benicia. Other members of Congress who have endorsed her are George Miller, John Garamendi and Jerry McNerney.

Other State Senators who are backing her are Mark DeSaulnier, Loni Hancock and Mark Leno. From the Assembly, her supporters include Susan Bonilla, Mariko Yamada and Michael Allen.

In Solano County, those endorsing her are Assessor-Recorder Marc Tonnesen, Auditor-Controller Simona Padilla-Scholtens, Sheriff-Coroner Gary Stanton and Superintendent of Schools Jay Speck, as well as Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson, Vice Mayor Tom Campbell, and Councilmember Alan Schwartzman.

Her challenger, Miranda, 72, of Fairfield, became interested in politics when he became a volunteer for Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaign, raising money for Reagan and other candidates.

He has remained active in local campaigns and initiatives, particularly working toward business creation and the removal of obstacles to economic development.

Miranda is semi-retired, although he remains a partner with his sons in a construction company.
He has been a longtime resident of the Bay Area – the past 14 in Fairfield.

He started working in his father’s car repair shop, during which he joined the Auto Mechanics Union. He remains a car enthusiast and still works on classic automobiles.

When he became a carpenter, he joined the Carpenter’s Union, learned his trade and started his own company.

As a general contractor for more than 40 years, he and his company handled building projects in both the United States and Mexico.
His career gave him experience in facing California’s rules and regulations that govern business, and shaped his views that they inhibit job growth.

“The Number One job in Sacramento should be making California hospitable to business,” he said.

Instead, he said California’s career politicians have put in place a punitive regulatory structure, including cap and trade carbon emissions controls, high utility costs, “one of the nation’s highest tax rates” and a deteriorating education system.

He said he would reduce redundancy and would combine agencies that have overlapping responsibilities. Despite his own union affiliations, he said he would allow non-union businesses compete for government contracts.

He describes himself as a fiscal hawk, and said he hopes to return fiscal sanity to the state capital. He said Sacramento doesn’t have a lack of revenue, but a “lack of fiscal discipline. California’s budget process is broken.”

During flush times, he said, the state should shore up its reserves to it won’t be buffeted by financial cycles of boom and bust, or force taxpayers into bonded indebtedness or the state into budget deficits.

He also is concerned about the state’s approach to water. “I know the importance of land stewardship,” he said. “I also know the damage done to our economy buy unreasonable environmental laws.” He said, “Sacramento has fumbled the water issue,” and has failed to improve the state’s water reliability.

He called the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is “the life blood of farmers and jobs in Northern California.” While the state has doubled its crop production since 1967, water use by agricultural interests has increased only 10 percent in the same time period, he said.

He urged more water surface storage and better water conveyance, not only for agricultural production but also for city-dwellers, industries, flood control, recreation and power generation and to provide flexibility in addressing environmental worries.

Miranda has the backing of the Solano County Farm Bureau, the California Construction Trucking Association, Solano County’s Republican Central Committee, the California Republican Party and numerous ranchers and business owners.

He also has been endorsed by Central and Southern California state Legislators, including Sens. Bob Huff, Joel Anderson, Tom Berryhill, Sam Bakeslee, Anthony Cappella, Robert Dutton, Bill Emmerson, Jean Fuller, Ted Gaines, Tom Harmon, Sharon Runner, Tony Strickland, Mimi Walters and Mark Wyland.

Claude Parrish, former vice chairperson of the State Board of Equalization, State Assemblymember Beth Gaines, U.S. Rep. Dan Lungren and political candidates Randy Loftin, John Munn, and Rick Tubbs also have endorsed Miranda.

Locally, Solano County District 5 Supervisor Michael Reagan is another supporter.

Websites for the two candidates are www.loiswolk.com and http://mirandaforsenate.com.

Vote by mail has started in California, and those who prefer to cast their ballots in person will do so Nov. 6. Voters will decide 11 state proposition and races for a variety of offices, including state Assembly and Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate and the president.

Those interested in the election may visit the Solano County Registrar of Voters website, www.solanocounty.com/depts/rov.