Kevin Haroff Announces Marin Supervisor Candidacy in District II against Katie Rice

Kevin Haroff Announces Marin Supervisor Candidacy in District II against Katie Rice

Posted by: Mimi Willard - June 7, 2015 - 5:24pm

2016 Supervisor Candidate Haroff details his platform in the attached video (after intro from Joan Bennett). An environmental lawyer and Larkspur Councilperson, Haroff, if elected,would be the first new supervisor in district 2 in nearly 25 years to be democratically elected (not appointed).

Mr. Haroff was blunt in his call for change in Marin's current culture of insider politics and the harms it is causing. Highlights of his electrifying talk (which is well worth watching in entirety) include:

• Re the county's receptivity to public participation, Mr. Haroff noted that he and many others in the room had spoken up at Board of Supervisors' meetings, but "We have all been blown off. That has got to stop. The way it is going to stop is by electing people like Susan [Kirsch -- running against incumbent Kate Sears in district 3].... and me to change the dynamic on the Board of Supervisors for way too long."

• Haroff declared to the room packed with supporters….”I am absolutely opposed to the thrust that we’ve been experiencing with the approval of our elected officials here in Marin to transform Marin County to an urbanized transit-oriented development.”

• Mr. Haroff's portrays his campaign as primarily a challenge to Marin's culture of insiderism, in which positions are handed to friends by appointment. "We have to stop the tradition in this county of completely recycling incumbents....People need to get onto important elected positions because they are elected"... not because they have a connection or a friend who puts them there. That process, he said, "Has to stop... That is really the main reason I am running. [It is not just that] I am opposed to development.... I have endorsed affordable housing from a certain perspective" but not big-box Stalinesque projects like they have in Corte Madera at the former Win-cup factory site.

Mr Haroff also lists a series of things he is FOR:

• Affordable housing - Mr Haroff laid out a forward looking 21st century vision for Marin, noting "we do need to encourage affordable housing that makes sense" and is consistent with the character of our community. He cautioned against a nostalgia for the past, and ossification.

• Environmental preservation: To a round of enthusiastic applause, Mr. Haroff declared "we must stand up for the environmental character of this community" ... to make sure that processes that are going forward... to turn Marin County into an amusement park... "we can't let that happen. He supports "changes to the agreements that have been reached for Muir Woods" so that it is a resource for future generations.

• "We have an obligation to stand up against proposals that have been bantered around about [for a new urban-planned city to be erected on the] San Quentin Peninsula.... We need to stand up to our elected officials. We need to haveelected officials.... and to stop the transformation of this county into an amusement park."

• Keep our water clean by banning herbicides: "We have to stand up to proposals from some of our elected officials to introduce inappropriate chemicals into our watershed.... That is a wrong thing to do. We need to stand up to the water district, we need to stand up to the county, and make sure that the use of glycophosphate is ended in Marin county."

• We also need to do something important, reasonable, and material about traffic. He urged, "We need to open up the third lane on the Richmond Bridge and take traffic off of Sir Francis Drake." Traffic is having a crushing impact on our community.

• We also have to do Pension reform in this county. .... an unfunded pension obligation to our employees has been "blown off. It's a travesty." We need to take care of our public employees. But we need to do it in a way that is fiscally responsible,....and represents the interest of people who actually pay the bills. .... I am absolutely prepared to do that as our existing board is not."

• Concluding by reiterating his key campaign message, Haroff urged, "We need to have an open government process in Marin County." ... If you see "what happens, it is not open, it is not transparent. ... This is different. We should not tolerate that. The only way we can stop it is to elect new officials onto the Board of Supervisors."

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see the speech HERE