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Sunday, May 20, 2012
Hansen throws his hat into the ring for District 4 Council seat
by Melissa Corker, published on October 13, 2011 at 5:59 PM
Storyline: Politics
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Local community activist Steve Hansen announced Thursday that he will run for City Council in 2012, seeking the District 4 council seat currently held by Councilman Rob Fong, who announced Wednesday that he will not seek another term.
At the moment, he is the only horse on the track for District 4, but Hansen said he knows others may join the race.
The lack of – or potential for – other candidates wasn’t part of his decision to run, however.
“I decided to run regardless of other potential candidates,” Hansen said. “I think competition is a good thing, and I hope for a constructive conversation during the race.”
Hansen, 32, is a senior regional manager at Genentech, a biotech company, and a community activist. Hansen has been associated with the Downtown Sacramento Partnership since 2009, and was involved in the redistricting effort as a member of the Citizens Redistricting Advisory Committee for Sacramento.
Hansen said he wants the election to be an opportunity to talk about things important to the community – starting with jobs and homelessness in the downtown corridor.
“We have a shrinking tax base, so our economy is in trouble,” Hansen said, “and homelessness in the city isn’t just a social problem, it’s an economic problem. These are hard issues, and we have a responsibility to deal with the hard stuff.”
The goals that he wants to achieve are nothing new to the city, Hansen said, but he wants to pick up where others have left off and build some momentum for positive changes.
“I hope people have high expectations of me, because I want to live up to high expectations,” Hansen said. “We could set the bar low, but that doesn’t help anyone.”
Rosanna Herber, president of the Sacramento Rainbow Chamber of Commerce, has known Hansen for nearly 10 years through his activism in the LGBT community.
“Steve (Hansen) is one of the brightest people that I know,” Herber said Thursday after learning of his candidacy announcement.
“He is very passionate about whatever he gets involved in, and I can say with certainty that he will take this campaign very seriously,” Herber added.
Herber worked with Hansen on developing a redistricting map during the summer and said that Hansen’s commitment to the process was unwavering throughout.
“He really did help us with the linkages to Equality California and the redistricting partners that put data together to show where supporters of the LGBT community live,” Herber said.
Equality California is a nonprofit civil rights organization that advocates for the rights of LGBT people.
Hansen has the support of Herber and many from the LGBT community, Herber said, because of his active involvement in community issues.
“With (Hansen), you have a seasoned community activist who knows the political game and knows the politics of running for a seat,” Herber said. “There is no question that he will have a strong chance of getting elected.”
Although Hansen has been active in the Sacramento LGBT community by working with the Rainbow Chamber to develop a new district map during the recent redistricting process, he said he is not running as “the gay candidate,” nor does he have a “gay agenda.”
“There’s nothing gay about jobs,” Hansen said. “There’s nothing gay about homelessness – we have challenges (in Sacramento) that are unrelated to my being gay.”
Hansen said he feels Sacramento is “a very thoughtful city” and its citizens are committed to equality.
“There is no such thing as the ‘gay ticket’ in any race,” Hansen said. “It just isn’t relevant.”
Luis Sumpter, president of the Alkali Flat Neighborhood Association, said Thursday that he’s excited about Hansen’s candidacy.
“(Hansen) lives in the neighborhood, and he’s actively involved as a resident,” Sumpter said. “I think he’ll be a really good candidate.”
Sumpter noted Hansen’s involvement in efforts to unify downtown and Midtown into a single district during the redistricting process and said he’ll be interested to hear Hansen’s election platform.
Not everyone is following the Steve Hansen bandwagon right out of the gate, however. Some business leaders acquainted with Hansen declined to comment on Hansen’s announcement, saying it’s too soon to endorse any candidate.
Hansen said this doesn’t surprise him.
“Everyone should make (his or her) own decision,” Hansen said. “I think there is no one that should be taken for granted, and no support that I shouldn’t earn.”
Hansen is putting together the infrastructure of his campaign – starting with a campaign committee (“Steve Hansen for Council 2012”), a website and new Twitter account – and he expects to start fundraising in the weeks to come.
“It’s easy to be against things, especially in hard economic times,” Hansen said. “I want us to start talking about what we’re for and how we’re going to support what we really believe is good for the city.”
In every election, there is political drama, and Hansen said he is prepared for anyone looking for skeletons in his closet.
“There really are none,” Hansen said.
Hansen said he has a few things in mind for the future of District 4, but said the current council member has done good work that Hansen won’t minimize.
“(Rob) Fong has worked hard to do some really good work over the years,” Hansen said. “He really put a lot of energy into the arts, and our arts are in a fragile place. His kind of day-in and day-out work doesn’t get headlines, but it’s so important. I want to keep that going.”
The official candidate filing date is Feb. 1. Until then, Hansen said he is going to be working on organizing his campaign and building support for his candidacy.
Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento press. Followher on Twitter @MelissaCorker.
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I especially like Mr. Hansens clarification that he is not running as the "gay candidate". I have never understand the relevancy of sexual orientation on local politics, so I appreciate his strategy.
My only other hope is that Mr. Hansen will stay focused on the business of our city, and not get wrapped up in Arizona immigration legislation, anti-war proclamations etc that have distracted our easily distractable council in recent years.
I have worked with a long line of policy wonks, supervisors, council members, city and county staff's and mayors....just not our current one. In this city the bottom line is simple math..5 or 6 votes depending upon the issue. Representing a constituency invariably comes at a high price...not the least of which is personal privacy or lack there of along with a barrage of attacks from those who disagree....it's part of the territory you step into.
I don't care who the person is, as long as I see a commitment to the community they serve, a consistency in their perspective, a willingness to negotiate differences and most importantly they are honest.....
Even if I disagree with them, they will always have my respect.
On a side note, about Arizona.....did you see this out of LA?
All Hat...no cattle
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/10/arizona-immigration-boycott-los-angeles-city.html
L.A. council members may exempt themselves from Arizona boycott,
I'm sure their not alone in the "do as I say" hypocrisy.
I do appreciate Mr. Fong's public service, and the service of anyone that puts themselves in the public spotlight. However what is the point of a newspaper comment section if not for pointing the policy failings of our leaders?
In addition to the LA city council fiasco, note that our own city council and Rob in particular has since been mum on the immigration policy of other states, such as Alabama and Maryland. And since the '05 Iraq war resolution, the council and Rob have been mum on other military actions of our federal government, such as Libya. These are the indicators of political granstanding, rather than deeply held convictions.
I am of the attitude that our city council should stay focused closer to home. Political grandstanding like this should result in election year challengers... I am glad that is the case this cycle.
And doesn't someone automatically become a "government muckety-muck" as soon as they get elected?
Assuming that members keeps some portion of their day job.... I would say no, serving on the council does automatically enter them into government muckety-muck-itude.
But while the provincialist fret about whether we have the proper ratio of Latinos, blacks and gays on the city council, we should really be asking what kind of experential diversity our city council needs in order to snare the next Google or Apple expansion.
Just thinking about day jobs of council members that I am aware of:
R. Fong - Longstanding local family, local lawyer and now lobbyist. Cohn - SMUD lawyer, CEC lawyer. Ashby - neighborhood activist. H. Fong - Sac Police captain. Our previous mayor worked for Parks and Rec, and of course "tree fort" Trethaway and . All very well meaning people who worked hard for our city, but also very narrow in their experience in dealings with things outside of a government town.
So with that as our city history, and knowing nothing about Mr. Hansen's politics, I nontheless am excited that someone with some high tech engagement has decided to enter the race. Clear?
Good work if you can get it, but very little potential for growth beyond normal population growth, little R&D or patent / IP generation. Bottomline SMUD is unlikely to spawn a host of new support business and and related industries, like a Genentech/Google/Intel etc.
if you really view the local electrical service provider as an example of a high tech and/or growth company that we need to focus on drawing into our city to expand our pathetic private industry base, then I think this is a pretty fruitless conversation.
Best of luck, Steve!
P.S. Can we please have permit parking for residents in Old Sacramento? $130.00 a month to park in the 2nd and I garage is kinda crap.
Often times you can tell a self absorbed candidate (like our mayor and Ashby) who are so busy looking at themselves they really fail to see all the people they seek to represent. Some even take the steps of attempting to make others look bad in efforts to make themselves look good. I applaud him for not criticizing but complimenting Fong, it shows the nature of his character, it shows integrity… Quite frankly I am impressed.
It is painful watching the messy platforms candidates will run on…. Reading this was refreshing. This is a job well begun. I wish him luck and it is about dog-gone time we get more truth in a city of special interest, hidden agenda's and deceit. He just might help to create a much needed balance. I wish him the best of luck.