It’s Time for Change, vote Jennifer Esteen for Supervisor

When I mail in my ballot for the March 5th election, Jennifer Esteen will have my vote to serve on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors.

Since I moved to Castro Valley in 2009, I’ve learned first hand about how the interests of our unincorporated community are lost within the over $4 billion enterprise that is Alameda County. The role of the Board of Supervisors is vast, including serving as our municipal since Castro Valley doesn’t have one of its own. We need a better advocate for our unincorporated needs, and I believe Jennifer is that advocate.

It doesn’t take much time to observe that the Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council is far from a representative voice of our community. It doesn’t represent the demographic diversity of Castro Valley and many current and past members have been eager fundraisers for Supervisor Miley.

It was clear that despite popular support for it, Supervisor Miley, his supporters, and his staff would not allow for an elected MAC or a reformed appointment process when we sought reform a few years ago. Why shift power to the people, when you can appoint allies instead?

Through the Eden Area Livability Initiative, we were promised a mechanism to advocate for governance reform for our communities. While our neighbors received their own MACs, no meaningful progress was made in implementing accountability measures around how county agency heads decide to spend our tax money in our communities or having a cross-agency process to prioritize unincorporated municipal needs in the county budget.

I believe that Jennifer’s future-facing vision is exactly what we need on the Board of Supervisors. She’s a nurse, mom, and fellow unincorporated resident - we need this perspective. And, in her service on the Eden Area MAC and on the Alameda Health System board, she has valuable insight on how our county works and how it should work better.
Jennifer supports home rule for unincorporated communities and simple good governance initiatives for the Board of Supervisors and county boards and commissions (like the MAC) such as a code of ethics as well as stronger conflict of interest rules that would ban self-dealing by members.

I’ve observed her on the campaign trail and in conversation with community members. She listens. She reflects. She brings together a coalition of people across the political spectrum in support of accountability and ethical practices for our county government. I believe Jennifer will be a catalyst for change for an Alameda County that serves the people, not special interests.

Vote for Jennifer Esteen as our next Supervisor.

It’s time for change.

–Michael Kusiak, Castro Valley