Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Assembly candidate Karin Dowdy

Dowdy expects to take 22nd District

By Sue Fagalde Lick

Saratogan Karin Dowdy is confident she'll win the Republican nomination for the 22nd Assembly District seat being vacated this year by John Vasconcellos. After all, she reasons, she earned 44 percent of the vote when she ran against Vasconcellos in 1994, and her opponents don't have nearly the following she has.

When Dowdy faces a Democratic opponent in November, it will be a different story.

"I think it's going to be a close race," she says. To that end, she's saving her money and her energy for the general election, campaigning for the primary from her home off Prospect Road. She plans to walk precincts every weekend in March and will set up tables at local shopping centers.

The 22nd District includes a sliver of Saratoga and portions of Sunnyvale, west San Jose, Mountain View, Campbell and Saratoga. Because it is such a small portion of the district, Dowdy feels her neighborhood has been slighted in the past, but says "I plan to make sure this piece of Saratoga is represented."

Also running in this month's primary are Republicans Cindy Pocius and Andrew Diaz; Democrats Trixie Johnson, Marvin Olson and Elaine Alquist; and Natural Law candidate Frank Strutner.

Dowdy told the West Valley Republican Women at a forum Jan. 18, "We have a real shot at this thing. We're going to take the 22nd Assembly District."

Her fans agree that this is Dowdy's year. Bonnie Cohen, a member of the Republican Women, says that Dowdy gained 44 percent of the vote in 1994 with minimal funding, using "sheer guts and hard work. She's the hardest-working candidate I've ever seen."

This time, says Cohen, people know Dowdy's name and record.

June Banks, also a Dowdy volunteer, notes that the momentum seems to be building for local Republicans, with the recent elections of Tom Campbell to the House of Representatives and Jim Cunneen to the state Assembly.

"She's very well-qualified, and she's totally committed," says Marlene Duffin, who is active in the Good Government Group, the No on G campaign and several other local organizations.

Dowdy, 53, is a veteran campaigner. She ran unsuccessfully for Saratoga City Council in 1988 and 1990. In 1992, she won the Area 3 seat on the West Valley-Mission Community College District Board of Trustees. She was president of the college board in 1995.

A native Oklahoman who moved to Anaheim as a teenager and came to Saratoga in 1976, Dowdy says her community involvement, which she began as a school and community volunteer and foster parent, keeps growing. "Once you get involved, you always see something else that needs help. I think I have some further service to offer."

Winning academic honors in high school and college, Dowdy became a teacher and has taught junior high, high school and college, specializing in Spanish and English.

Education is one of the key issues in her campaign. She is stumping for education code reform and more local control for school districts. She also wants to see community colleges given a funding guarantee similar to what the state gives elementary and high school districts.

Dowdy is a booster of community colleges. "It's the biggest bargain in education," she says. "That's the open door to education. There's no excuse for not making something of oneself." Dowdy is also campaigning for criminal justice reform. A strong supporter of the "three strikes, you're out" legislation, she believes the state can save money by eliminating private cells for most prisoners and abolishing the Prisoners' Bill of Rights. Litigation reform is also key, she says. Too many frivolous lawsuits, many initiated by prisoners, block up the courts. "We need our justice system for stuff that matters," she says.

Litigation reform is also part of her plan for business, says Dowdy, who has worked as a real estate agent and keeps her license current. "Lawsuit abuse has become a way to plunder this state," she says. "I think it has tentacles that just go everywhere." Revision of the corporate tax structure and simplification of environmental regulations are also part of Dowdy's campaign platform.

Serving on the college board has given her an insider's view of state government, Dowdy says. She also learned about government by serving on the Saratoga Public Safety Commission, of which she was chairwoman in 1994. While on the commission, she graduated from the Sheriff's Community Police Academy.

Clean air and conversion to clean-burning fuels for motor vehicles is another key issue for Dowdy. She founded the South Bay Clean Cities Coalition and has been active in the effort to convert college district and city vehicles to natural gas.

A proponent of the construction of Highway 85, Dowdy is also pro-choice on abortion, opposed to affirmative action, and an advocate of required work for welfare recipients.

Dowdy's days are pretty full these days. Married since 1965 to Dale, she has an 18-year-old son, Austin, who just graduated from Lynbrook High School last year and is now a freshman at California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo. She is still serving on the college board as well as campaigning for the Assembly.

"If there are conflicts, my choices are clear," she says. "I am doing the job the voters elected me to do."