Suzanne Jackson

Councilmember Suzanne Jackson declares for 24th Assembly District

By Jeff Kearns

Monte Sereno City Council Member Suzanne Jackson said last week that she'll be running for Jim Cunneen's 24th district Assembly seat. She made the announcement Aug. 26, the day after fellow Republican and San Jose District 10 Councilmember Pat Dando announced that she'd rather run for the council again instead of making a bid for the seat.

Jackson, a former nurse, was elected twice to Monte Sereno's council, in 1994 and 1998, and says she'll finish her term there if she doesn't win the Assembly seat.

Jackson paints herself as an ideological successor to moderate Republicans like Cunneen, Rep. Tom Campbell and former state Sen. Becky Morgan, and says she's still lining up her endorsements.

"We see the same issues in the same ways," Jackson said about Cunneen.

But perhaps more importantly, Jackson says she's running as an independent thinker and she wants to reclaim the Republican Party from its own right wing by helping to pull it back toward the center.

Jackson says she's adamantly pro-choice. "It's not government's decision," she said. "You cannot push morality, and that's what's happening to the party." Jackson also says she favors controls on assault weapons.

Once her campaign is up and running, Jackson says she wants to focus on quality of life and public safety issues like education, health care, transportation, housing and public safety.

In addition to the Monte Sereno council, Jackson has also served on the Republican Central Committee of Santa Clara County, the League of California Cities Public Safety Committee and the county's Domestic Violence Council.

As a councilmember, Jackson spearheaded efforts to put together the city's Emergency Preparedness Plan, which was sent to Monte Sereno residents in June.

Cunneen, who has held the seat since 1994 and is barred from running again by term limits, is planning a bid for Byron Sher's state Senate seat next year.

Jackson, 57, has lived in Monte Sereno since 1975 and was elected mayor by fellow councilmembers for one year in 1998. Jackson is married to Stephen Jackson and has one child and two stepchildren.

The 24th Assembly District includes Campbell, Cupertino, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Saratoga, parts of Los Altos, San Jose and Sunnyvale, and unincorporated areas of the Santa Cruz Mountains.

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