Running A Good Race

Dear Editor,

Well, the votes are finally in and we came up a little short (51.4-48.6 percent). Both Senator Gaines and I ran a clean campaign throughout the 30 counties of Board of Equalization (BOE) District 1 which spans from the Oregon Border to Northern Los Angeles County.

Most importantly, I want to say thank you to the 1,355,782 people who have honored me with their votes. I am particularly proud of being the first Democratic candidate for the BOE to win Merced County since 1998, and the first Democratic candidate to win Stanislaus County since 1990.

Many others from throughout the state who couldn’t vote for me have also contacted me to support my advocacy for taxpayers. I thank them for their encouragement and look forward to making another contribution to public service again in the future.

In the meantime, my priority remains the same – the Board of Equalization should be eliminated from state government. Its few remaining duties do not justify paying over $150,000 per year to a bunch of politicians and highly paid managers with nothing left to manage.

So, I welcome Assemblymember Adrian Nazarian’s Constitutional Amendment which proposes to abolish the outdated and unnecessary State Board of Equalization. I look forward to helping him and his co-sponsor, our local Assemblymember Adam Gray, succeed in this important effort in the interest of the taxpayer.

Tom Hallinan,

Riverbank City Attorney