Swearing In Speech
December 4, 2006

I want to acknowledge my personal relationship and faith in God. As many of you know, our family home has the words Faith, Family, and Friends painted on the wall in the kitchen. This serves as a constant reminder to keep my priorities straight. And without hesitation or doubt, I can say that God has blessed me and my family far beyond our expectations.

Because I believe this honored position is a blessing and a sacred trust of voters, I pledge to fulfill the responsibilities to the best of my ability. I will make decisions based upon what I genuinely believe is right and I will make myself available to those for whom I work. In this next term, I have 3 main areas of interest I plan to focus on: Public Safety, Open Government, and Education.

Protecting the community is the main charge of government. There are many Public Safety challenges that San Bernardino County now faces. We have temporarily addressed the need for additional prison beds, but a lot of work still needs to be done to ensure this problem is resolved for the next decade. In addition, not all residents of the County feel safe in the neighborhoods in which they live. We must work cooperatively with all law enforcement entities throughout the County until all those who call San Bernardino County home, feel safe and protected. Likewise, we need to further address the fire dangers we face here in this County. We need to strengthen County Fire, and take a long hard look at what we can do to protect lives and property from the ravaging wildfires we’ve seen over the past few years.

I am a firm believer in accountability; therefore I want to work to make San Bernardino County a more open form of government. This coming year, public information will be available online in an easy-to-use fashion. Something very few counties are even talking about, let alone implementing. This County is on the cutting edge of transparency, but we still have a long way to go to earn the complete trust of our constituents. Scandals of the past have cast doubt and skepticism over the decisions of today. But, if you truly knew the hearts of all of my colleagues. If you could see the desire of our CAO to do what’s right. If you could see how this County accomplishes so much good on a day-to-day basis, you’d share my pride in this organization. So, I’m going to work to show it to you. “Open and transparent government” is a theme I’m going to emphasize as long as I’m on this Board. Because this County no longer deserves its negative reputation, we deserve to be proud of our County.

Finally, I’m going to use my position to improve educational opportunities in San Bernardino County. Economic Development has been a focus of this Board and we have an amazing team led by Brian McGowan who work tirelessly to bring higher paying jobs to the County so residents can work closer to home and spend more quality time with their families. Education and economic advancement go hand-in-hand. In this large County there aren’t enough educational opportunities and those that exist are often difficult for many residents to reach. I’d point to our current nursing shortage here in San Bernardino County as an example. The jobs are here, but the educational opportunities are not. Every year, hundreds of would-be nurses are turned away because there is no room in our educational institutions for them. Nurses, who would normally be hired on the spot, are given the choice to delay their training or find another career. This phenomena is not unique to nursing, many careers require higher levels of education. The inability to meet that need will eventually harm the quality of life for our residents. We need to work cooperatively with our Superintendent of Schools, the Alliance for Education, our Community Colleges and Universities to ensure that we are working to bring these opportunities to San Bernardino County.

In closing, let me once again thank those whose shoulders I have stood on to reach this position. I am honored to have the trust and respect of you and others who have supported me, and will work to make all residents of the Fourth District proud.

The next four years will be full of many surprises I’m sure. It wouldn’t be San Bernardino County if it weren’t. But in between those surprises I plan to work on three main areas: Public Safety, Open Government, and Education. I believe my experience and expertise will allow me to provide leadership in these important areas and I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues – four individuals whom I have grown to respect and admire. I will close with Proverbs 3:1-4, “My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.” Thank you and God bless you.