David Bonaccorsi is, to put it simply, the most progressive candidate running for City Council in Fremont this year. A lawyer, he understands the importance of due process, presumption of innocence and the need to preserve constitutional rights; concepts that often escape his will-be-colleagues.  He also understands the need for fact-based policy making and for the use of common sense in making policy.  For example, as a member of the planning commission he voted against banning medical marijuana patients from growing cannabis plants in their backyards. Fremont does not have a medical marijuana dispensary and the alternative of growing marijuana inside a home can be dangerous because of the electricity and humidity needs for such endeavor.   The Council, however, decided to address complaints about cannabis plants getting too tall not by imposing a height limit on such plants, but by banning them altogether.

Competence and common sense, coupled with the willingness to do your own research and stand up on your own two feet, are among the most important qualities for a Council member.  It’s for these reasons that I endorse David Bonaccorsi for Fremont City Council.

Raj Salwan

I have known Raj Salwan for several years, since he has been an alternate in the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee. He is truly one of the nicest people I have ever met. He is pleasant, caring, polite, and completely and absolutely non-conniving. In other words, he is the antithesis of a politician. What he’s doing in politics, I will never know.

But it’s exactly these human qualities that make Raj, who is running as an appointed incumbent, such a pleasure to endorse for the Fremont City Council.  He brings a degree of humanity, of conviviality – in the literal sense of the word – and of calmness, that I think is needed in every legislative body.  Raj listens and he gets down to the basics, how will this affect the community?

I neglected to include him when I first posted by Fremont endorsement because for me he’s such an obvious choice, that I saw it as a given that he’d get elected. I hope he will.

I reached out to all candidates for City Council in Fremont and invited them to meet/speak with me and/or respond to a candidate questionnaire.  I only endorse candidates who are strong liberals, are committed to accountability, transparency and fact-based legislating and who are intelligent, competent and knowledgeable.  

See also Dax Choksi: Common Sense Choice for Fremont School Board

See Marga’s 2014 Voter Guide for recommendations on propositions and other local endorsements.