1978 and coming into public service in 1998. the 14 years that i have had the elective office have been a rare and privilege opportunity to serve, which i think is to be the best districts of the state of california, and the city and county of san francisco, this past couple of years in the sonoma county as well and going back and representing the west tip as well. and i want to continue to make sure that we have a strong government, strong and effective state government. and i have talked about the governor nans issue, making sure that we let the majority rule so that we don't have the kind of stall mates that we find currently where the minority party can block what the majority wants to do and so we can have the democracy. i make the point that we didn't become the 8th or 9th largest economy in the world by chance.

we became so because for generations we taxed ourselves appropriately and invested in some of the best public structures this world has ever seen, the best k-12 system, the most accessible and affordable higher education system so that children can pursue the hope and dream of a college degree. we invested in water system and transportation systems that works, parks that drew the best and the brightest from around the world so they could pursue their own here in the golden state. unfortunately we lost our way some years back, we got a strong governor who is experienced and i believe is getting us back on track. i want to be able to work with him and have the privilege to represent this district, again for a second term. so that we can continue the good work that we started. thank you.

>> dillan >> i am a first generation immigrant and i came from india and from the south, and i am a civic attorney and i believe in the american dream and as it is exercised here in the beautiful city of san francisco and the state of california where i chose to live, but many california voters are voting with their feet and they are voting with their feet to leave the state of california. they are moving to nevada, texas and other parts of the country where they are less taxed and regulated and less burdened by rules such as calorie count on the menus such as the regulations regarding home care workers, it does not make sense to start a new business here in california. and frankly that is where the taxes come from in most states they come from businesses. as the businesses flee you are going to see the tax base flee and as legislatures such as senator leno continue to pass more legislation that impedes

the freedom of business and citizens to exercise their rights you are going to see them vote with their feet and leave california. >> that attorneys me as someone who wants to retire and die in california i don't want to leave the state as a economic matter i don't consider myself to be fairly taxed. i do pay a higher tax rate and i think that is fine. but the people who are successful in our society are increasingly asked asked to bear more and more of the share of the tax burden as opposed to making sure that all citizens understand that if we are going to have a world class education system we have to balance that against other things. we cannot both have a big bullet train to nowhere that is going to cost probably over $billion dollars and have a world class system. i hope for the american dream to continue here in california and i hope to have the opportunity one day represent the voters of san francisco and play my role in the public service and i come mend the

senator for doing that and sacrificing his career in that regard and i hope to be able to join him one day, thank you. >> i inseerly thank the an dates, on behalf of the league of san francisco, and the jr. league of san francisco. the university of california san francisco, the san francisco public librariry and our media partner, san francisco government television. and thanks to each of you, for taking the time to inform yourself about your choices on november 6th. good evening. [ applause ]>> the right to vots

to vote for candidates or party and it is a significant way to have our voice heard. exactly 100 years ago, women were given the vote in california. the battle for women's suffrage was not an easy one.

it took more than 70 years. a woman could run for president in new york. >> organizing this conference, basically it modeled itself on a declaration of independence for women. it marked the beginning of the women's equality movement in the united states. >> at that time, women were banned from holding property and voting in elections. >> susan b. anthony dedicated her life to reform.

>> suffrage in the middle of the 19th century accomplished one goal, it was diametrically opposed to this idea. >> many feared it would be corrupted by politics. >> women in the 19th century had to convince male voters that having the vote would not change anything. that woman would still be devoted to the home, the family, that they would remain pure and innocent, that having the vote would not corrupt them. >> support gradually grew in state and local campaigns. >> leaders like ellen clark sgt

come repeatedly stopping these meetings -- , repeatedly stopping these meetings as a politically active figure. doing everything they could to ground the campaign in domesticity. >> despite their efforts, the link made it tough whenever voters were in the big city. a specialist in francisco. >> the problem with san francisco is that women's suffrage as an idea was associated. >> susan b. anthony joined the provision party. a deadly idea in san francisco. liquor was the foundation of the economy.

and >> anything that touched on the possibility of prohibition was greatly and popular. >> the first campaign was a great effort, but not a success. >> the war was not over. less than one decade later, a graphic protests brought new life to the movement. >> women's suffrage, the republican convention in oakland, this time it was the private sector response. 300 marched down the streets of the convention center. women were entitled to be here.

>> joining together for another campaign. >> women opened a club in san francisco. it was called the votes for women club. if she could get the shopkeepers to have lunch, she could get them to be heard literature. the lunch room was a tremendous success. >> it was the way that people thought about women willing to fight for a successful campaign. what happened was, the social transformation increase the boundary of what was possible, out word. >> there were parades and

rallies, door to door candidacies, reaching every voter in the state. >> the eyes of the nation were on california in 1911, when we all voted. it was the sixth and largest state in the nation to approve this. one decade later, we have full voting rights in the united states. helping newly enfranchised women, a new political movement was founded. >> starting in the 1920's, it was a movement created by the suffragettes moving forward to getting the right to vote. all of the suffragettes were interested in educating the new voters. >> non-partisan, not endorsing

candidates >> -- endorsing candidates, getting the right to vote and one they have their voice heard. >> the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage is taking place throughout the state. bancroft library is having an exhibit that highlights the women's suffrage movement, chronicling what happened in california, bringing women the right to vote. >> how long does this mean going on? >> the week of the 20th. people do not realize that women were allowed to vote as early as the 1920's. in the library collection we have a manuscript from the end

of december, possibly longer. >> in commemoration of 100 years of voting in california. 100 years ago this year, we won the right to vote. around 1911, this is how it would have addressed. and here we are, dressed the same. [chanting]

>> we have the right to vote. >> whether you are marching for a cause or voting in the next election, make your voice heard. thank you for watching.

>> jennifer wagner. jnny first joined the league in san francisco in 2001 and has since volunteered in many roles at the local, regional and state and nation levels she currently volunteered as the president of the league of woman voters of california, and is a small business owner here in san francisco. she holds a degree in government, from claire mont college and a policy. >> good evening, everyone, candidates. >> good evening. >> this year we have two candidates for state assembly state 19, michael brior and phil tim. >> they will answer questions that you in the audience submit as well as the questions submitted to the league of women voters. in addition, the viewers from the senior center may submit

questions on-line. the time keepers will hold up a yellow card to signify to the candidates that they have 15 seconds remaining and hold up a red card when it is time to stop. >> both have asked the supporters to be respectful of the candidate and the audience and to maintain the quiet during the forum, i also ask you to respect this commitment, please. >> you all have many important decision to make on november 6th, and today's forum will give you the opportunity to ask questions to help you make your decisions. now, let's begin. >> our first question is a very general... actually i want to start with one here that is from the richmond senior center sent in on-line. >> the census data, and we are going to start with mr. brire >> data shows that many are adults with disabilities or

seniors it is expected to grow to 25 percent by 2020, do you feel that you understand the needs and challenges of seniors and adults with disabilities in district 19? what do you think we worry about and how will you help us to stop worrying? >> so, absolutely, while i am a young person, i do believe that we really have an obligation to protect our seniors. and when you see services to seniors being cut, you have to realize that they have contribute to the system their entire life and this is a time that they need services even more than other moments. and when you look at what is going on, you also have to say that there is the statistic that you gave is actually the start of the baby booming population, as she growing older. so we actually need more and

more services, we need to actually have people trained to provide those services as well. and so, i think, of my great aunt, who is 94 years old, who is i speak to as much as i can, when i think about what the senior population is going through and really care about their children and their future as well. >> thank you, mr. bryer. >> first off, thank you to the league of women voters and jr. voters for hosting this discussion tonight very glad to be here. i think of my grandmother and the amount of work that it took to take care of. we had an enormous amount of support from inhost services and i think about the california budget which has a $20,000 budget gap and the inhome services was one of those services that was cut where it was decided that we could not provide seniors care at home. instead, they are now going to the emergency room and seeking much more expensive healthcare.

we need to do a whole list tick approach and cut back the safety net that we have been cutting. and we need to make sure that we honor or seniors by making sure that they are taken care of during their later years in life. >> so a related question starting you mr. ting. >> retirees are faced with threats from their benefits from under funded pension funds what would you do to stop this from happening in the future and how do you make them live up to their obligations >> that is a great question, someone who is a fiscal question who has been working hard to make sure that the city and county of san francisco does everything possible to leave up responsibilities my office help to bring in above the budget due to the hard work of our office. pensions are a major issue not only in san francisco and the state. part of the work that we did last year where we worked with

labor unions and unix to debate and discuss and dialogue and we found a pension proposal that we could bring forward to the voters in the city and county of san francisco which was passed and we know that that is not the final step that the first of many things that we are going to have to do to make sure that we have a balanced budget. the worst thing that we can do is to make sure that we need to make sure that pensions are going to be there for people when they retire and we need to do everything possible to make sure that we live up to the obligations that we promised people when they started working. >> mr. bryer. >> pension is something that is critically important for the state. and we have huge obligations in the pension funds that have been unfunded and right now we are assuming something like a 7 and a half percent on pension returns when the private sector the returns are, you know, anticipated around 4 percent. and so this is an area where we

have to be honest about how can we insure that people who have worked and who have contributed are going to have pensions in the future? and so, we really have to, approach i got very excited about was what i redid in san francisco, it is one of the reasons that i started the drafted campaign and he worked with the unions to really be honest with how our system is going to be funded for not just in five years or ten years, but for the next generation. paramount importance. >> so expanding on that question, mr. bryer. >> what do you think can be done to address some of the systemic problem with the states' finances? >> we have to do a number of things. i mean, we literally are in a fiscal crisis. we have cities in the state going bankrupt. we have incredible challenges on our hands.

and we have to increase revenue. we have to decrease costs. which are popular and which are a necessity. but most importantly we have to grow the economy. and so there are a host of host of measures in each of those areas that are absolutely critical for our future and they are not easy decisions to be making but we have to make them sooner rather than later. because if you just pass the buck, it is the next generation who is going to be holding the bag. and in my mind, that is why i am running. it is really to look out for the children who are not voters, who are not being actually considered in my mind as much as they should. >> thank you. >> mr., chig how would you address the state's financial problems? >> we are about a hundred billion dollar budget here in california. we spent about a hundred

billion and we bring in $80 billion revenue and that is a $20 billion budget gap, the fastest way for that is to grow jobs, we created clean, green collared jobs and brought jobs from overseas here into san francisco. she is are models that we can take to continue to grow our economy. unfortunately that is not going to be enough. we have to also look at ways to raise revenue, that is why i am in support of our governor's tax measure because it brings critical funding to schools. that is why i am supportive of making sure that we are cleaning out and becoming more efficient through what i have done through office and to make government much more receptive and efficient. >> that leads into the question about civic engagement. it is critical that people are

engaged to have a safe, strong and vibrant state. what have you done and what will you do to encourage the kind of participation that you are talking about. >> i think that transparency and disclosure are some of the main reasons that we have so little citizen participation, that is one of the reasons that i started up we stand san francisco it is an on-line society to engage citizen and order people to get more involved in government so that we cannot just have a conversation here, where people could make it, if people could be part of that conversation on-line, just like all of the folks at the richmond senior sen center, so they can participate. i think that what is lacking in government at times is really making sur that citizens have the information, and they are digestable information and so few people when they pay property taxes one of the biggest checks they write every year, most people could never describe where the money goes. we have to make sure that we offer more transparency and more disclosure in giving the citizens more information to make the right decisions.

>> thank you. >> mr. bryer what have you done and what would you do to encourage engagement? >> i started a big over ten years ago and really what it is about, it is about applying innovation or the first public wifi network in the world and we broadcast courtroom proceedings it is about transparently in government and education we. have over 70 law schools and students who have unlimited access to this level. and so in large part, what we are trying to do, or what i have done, is tried to restore faith here in our government institutions by seeing how our court system works. your court system is not perfect, but when people see how our jury system actually works and learn about that, it is one step closer to again, reengaging a citizen in government. and we have to use technology, it is one of those credible tools that while people are

disenfranchised in what is going on in sacramento with the lack of transparency, we can have a much more service-oriented government that reengages people. >> so speaking of service orientation, what do you think that the government should do? and where should the government step aside? >> in terms of... >> what do you think is the role of government? it is a very general question. >> so, the role of government is to provide basic services that the private sector would just not provide. i mean, education, i mean, it is infrastructure, that means social services that means, giving people basic tools that they might not otherwise have. so really giving people in my mind an opportunity to succeed. and when the private sector, which can fall short in many areas are not providing, you know, basic services like food, or housing, or that is the role

of government to step in. and we have to, we have to restore faith in our system of government. because if people do not believe that the government will spend money well, than it will not improve key infrastukt tur projects that the state needs to do. they need to invest in the roads because the private sector is not. >> thank you. >> mr. king. how would you describe your views on the role of government? >> i think that the government provides some of the most critical services that we lie on every day, we walk on the sidewalk and get on a bus and drop our kids off at schools, many of the things that we take for granted. i wake up, i brush my teeth and water is there provided by our incredible water department. these are critical city service and state services that we rely on every day. the government has formed the back bone of our economy like

the university of california which i am a proud graduate off. we have been able to grow the tech industry thanks to uc berkeley, and the bio tech thanks to uc sf and san diego. and we need to continue to invest in our future and investing in education and investing in uc, and making sure that those intaoutions are protected. i think that government needs to step out by making sure that we are not being overly burdensome. i think that we make the citizen and businesses go to too many places at times. i think that there is a significant amount of bureaucracy that could be cut. >> you mentioned that education is one of the things that government has to be responsible for. >> california used to have a education system that was the envy of the system how do we get it back >> we get it back through funding it. from kindergarten to my time at uc berkeley, i just started dropping off my daughter at kindergarten this year and i am

concerned about the state of public education. we fund our kids about $8,000 per pupil that feels like a lot of money, compare that to new york, new jersey, massachusetts, and you are talking anywhere between $14,000 to $15,000. almost double what california is. that is a tra vesty. i think that if you look at the fee increases for uc and higher education it is a absolute crime that we are divesting in our future. we need to make sure that we invest in education. education is the way that we grow our economy. and it is the way that we grow our jobs and to make sure that we invest in all of the future. i was an investment. >> california invested in me and my education. >> mr. bryer, how do we get that great reputation back for great education. >> the first thing is that i agree that we have to fund our schools, first and foremost, that is not enough.