Speier is fired up

Within minutes of her announcement, two well-established candidates dropped out of the race. That may be just the beginning of the shakeup that will come with Speier’s likely election.

As demonstrated by Speier’s post-announcement comments in an interview with me yesterday.

“The board has always been a very collegial and collaborative board and I don’t want to see it devolve into something that is more of a sandbox with people throwing sand at each other,” Speier said.

Speier clearly was referencing a board debate in April over county cooperation with ICE and an outburst by Supervisor David Canepa in which he attacked Supervisor Ray Mueller as racist. She declined to single out a board member. “We don’t move forward if we start pointing fingers. I worry that’s diminishing,” Speier said.

Speier also said if Mueller were to reintroduce his amendment to the ICE ordinance, which prompted the Canepa comments and which was defeated 4-1, she would support it, and seek to add additional amendments allowing the county to cooperate further with ICE.

And, asked if she thought the board was shifting too far to the left, Speier said, “If I’m basing it on that one decision, I’d say yes. When you’re more left than San Francisco, you’re too left. I think we’ve just got to use a little more common sense.”

Speier’s clear path to the board seat — she is opposed only by 23-year-old Jorge Quezada Flores — also is a setback for the young, insurgent progressives who had hoped they were the rising tide of change in the county’s political status quo.

Indeed, Speier’s announcement resulted in some grumbling that she’s too old — she is 50 years older than Flores — has been around too long, and it is time for her to step aside and let a new generation take over.

“I think that experience on a state and federal level is important and it’s those experiences that I think are additive to our efforts in the county,” Speier said.

She said her decision to run was the result of a “combination of events. There were a lot of people who asked me to run — people in positions of authority and influence.” That came on the heels of the successful launch of the Jackie Speier Foundation, dedicated to ending childhood poverty in the county.

“But also, it’s also a recognition when you’re on the outside looking in, it is much more difficult to get things done,” Speier said.

The foundation will find another executive director, Speier said, but the county is a firm platform to address the issues she raised. “I feel passionately about this. We are the richest county in the state and we have all these kids living in poverty,” Speier said.

She called county government “an extraordinary institution with talented individuals” where it is possible to “improve the quality of life and lift people out of poverty, and make sure the middle class isn’t completely hollowed out and there is affordable housing so that young people who work here can live here.

“I am charged up,” Speier said. “I love to fix things and fixing them from inside is a whole lot easier than fixing them from the outside. … I’ve always loved the county because you only have to count to three (a majority on the five-member board). … On the county board, you can really impact people’s lives. I see this as a labor of love.”

Speier addressed a handful of other issues:

• County Manager Mike Callagy, whose contract as county chief executive expires next year: “No one holds a candle to Mike Callagy. He is singularly the most talented executive we’ve had. He is innovative and gutsy.”

• The county’s regional stature: “It’s not a pass-through county. And we need to define ourselves in a way that gets the attention we deserve with the kinds of economic engine that we are.”

• On campaigning: “I’m going to campaign. Are you kidding? I don’t take any vote for granted. I’ll meet with groups and participate as appropriate.” As for debating her lone opponent, Flores, a Burlingame resident who works for the county in social services, Speier said, “I’m not going to rule it out.”

Mark Simon is a veteran journalist, whose career included 15 years as an executive at SamTrans and Caltrain. He can be reached at marksimon@smdailyjournal.com.