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Council Watch
District 6 candidates court Demos at brunch
Both Yeager and Cunningham vie for women's vote
By Jessica Lyons
Willow Glen voters can get a sneak peek at District 6 candidates and their platforms at an upcoming Democratic Activists for Women Now event.
Candidates Kris Cunningham and Ken Yeager will both give brief presentations and answer questions at the upcoming DAWN potluck endorsement brunch. Both will be vying for Frank Fiscalini's vacated seat next March.
DAWN won't be endorsing any candidates until after the filing deadline in December, but it's never too early to start looking, says DAWN president Wilma Wool.
"The purpose is to hear the candidates' views," Wool says. "There's a very short timeline in December after the filing period closes, and there's a lot of elections in March, so we're looking ahead. We didn't want to have to scramble to understand the various candidates' views, and we wanted to get a head start."
A dual endorsement is always an option, too, Wool adds.
The Cunningham-Yeager speaking engagement and potluck brunch on Sept. 12 is free and open to the public.
Each of the two candidates will be allowed about five minutes to talk about their views, and the rest of the time will be spent answering questions from the floor.
Five minutes isn't a lot of time to get one's ideas across, but both candidates say they can handle the heat.
"We'll be ready," Cunningham says. "I feel comfortable answering any questions. It is a women's organization and I am a woman."
In her five-minute spotlight, Cunningham says, she wants to address her grassroots involvement in the community.
"While I haven't been active in the party itself, I have been an outfitter for the everyday citizen," says Cunningham, a past president of the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association and a member of the Civic Center Complex Relocation Task Force.
"I have been out there working in the schools and the neighborhoods. I would love to see the city increase the number of preschool programs to prepare students for school, which is along the lines of what the Democratic party has proposed. I do support the things the Democratic party supports in terms of helping the everyday person have a good quality of life."
A preschool instructor for the city, Cunningham has also been active in San Jose Unified School District and St. Christopher's Church and School Guild. She currently sits on the school district's Bond Oversight Committee.
Cunningham points to her endorsement from Assemblyman Mike Honda as further proof of her commitment to the community.
"With the support of someone like Mike Honda, who has proven himself to be a wonderful Democratic leader, one who is really out there in the community, I think that is a really strong indication," she says. "Here's a state assemblyman taking the time to get right out there and be in the community. That's the kind of leader I would like to be. The kind that gets out there with the people."
Considering the audience, candidate Ken Yeager also plans to address his support of women's issues at the DAWN brunch.
"I'm pro-choice; for 35 years I have been supporting women candidates and women's causes," says Yeager, the current vice president of the Rose Garden Neighborhood Association and a political science professor at San Jose State University. Yeager also serves on the San Jose/Evergreen Community College District Board.
"At the community college district we've implemented a stronger anti-harassment policy and pay equity study, we've instituted a workforce initiative network that trains people to get off welfare and we've hired a woman chancellor," Yeager says.
Yeager, who co-founded BAYMEC (Bay Area Municipal Elections Committee) and was press secretary to former U.S. Rep. Don Edwards, also says he'll mention the endorsements he's received from local female community leaders, including former mayors Susan Hammer and Janet Gray Hayes, and San Jose City Council members Cindy Chavez, Margie Matthews, Charlotte Powers and Alice Woody.
"Twenty-five years ago, as a San Jose State student, I made the conscious decision that I wanted to work to elect women candidates, and I worked to elect Susie Wilson to office," Yeager says. "When it comes to being an effective policy maker on women's issues I believe I can do the best job."
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
