Cannella seeks a second term in 12th Senate District

State Sen. Anthony Cannella, R-Ceres, is seeking a second term in the California Senate to keep working on water storage that could reinvigorate farmland and Valley communitieshammered by the drought.

His opponent in the Nov.4 election is progressive Democrat Shawn Bagley of Monterey County, who is running a grass-roots campaign within the redrawn boundaries of the 12th Senate District, which now stretches across six counties in the San Joaquin and Salinas valleys.

The area includes west Modesto, Ceres, Merced, Patterson, Newman, Los Banos and Salinas, and vast stretches of farmland between those communities. With the new boundary change, Turlock was removed and western Fresno County was added to the 12th District.

Cannella helped put a major water bond on the ballot, proposing $2.7billion for surface water storage, plus funding for recharging groundwater and fixing contaminated drinking water systems. If voters approve the statewide bond measure, the next step is pushing forward with the projects, he said.

Bagley, who held a campaign kickoff at San Luis Reservoir near Santa Nella, said he supports Proposition 1 to help farmers in the district continue feeding the world. But the candidates disagree over the state’s groundwater reform laws, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in September.

Bagley said groundwater is a community resource, and the reforms provide for measuring the quantity of water statewide and regulating pumping to sustain the resource. “We can’t continue the water wars,” the challenger said. “There is no water to deliver, so everyone is sucking the water out of the ground.”

Cannella said solutions are needed for groundwater depletion that is causing ground subsidence within the district. But the three reform bills were written and pushed through the Legislature too quickly, he argued.

The senator said 100 years of water law was hastily rewritten and too much authority given to the state water board. “A lot of massive changes have occurred very quickly, and I don’t think that is wise. I think we can fix it with cleanup legislation to make it work for the different regions,” he said.

Cannella, a former mayor of Ceres, was more than a party loyalist during his first four years in the Democrat-controlled Senate. He worked with liberals and conservatives to push through a bill that established criminal penalties for anyone sending “revenge porn” over the Internet. He was a joint author of legislation that requires prevailing wages be paid in public works projects in charter cities and wrote a bill to improve financial transparency for state agencies.

His re-election campaign collected an additional $560,000 this year and had spent $406,000 as of Sept.30, leaving almost $1million in reserve, according to the secretary of state.

Cannella hopes to continue with initiatives for education and creating jobs for the region by rebuilding public infrastructure, such as roads, bridges and wastewater systems.

Bagley, a produce broker and longtime Democratic activist, never has held public office. Brown appointed him in 2012 to serve on the Monterey County Fair board. Bagley’s campaign raised $63,000 through September and spent $54,500.

With more than 30 years’ experience in the produce business, Bagley declared he would be a stronger voice for agricultural interests in Sacramento.

“We have been hit hard by the drought and there is 410,000 acres of fallowed ground in the Central Valley,” he said, noting that 17,000 farming jobs have disappeared. “We have done nothing to invest in our conveyance system since John F. Kennedy was at the groundbreaking ceremony (for San Luis Dam). I think I bring the knowledge to make sure the 12th District continues to feed the world.”

In forums during the campaign, Bagley and Cannella have disagreed about the minimum wage, an issue close to the heart of disadvantaged residents in the area. Bagley favored the recent increase; Cannella joined other Republicans in voting against it.

“To say I was opposed is a little strong,” Cannella said. He explained the timing was wrong for increasing costs for employers, with the economy starting to recover and federal health reform putting more burden on business owners. “You don’t want to pass it ahead of a full-blown recovery so you don’t lose those jobs,” he said.

Bagley is against the death penalty and has a plan to legalize marijuana for recreational and medicinal use in California. Under his proposal, a tax on commercial sale of marijuana would raise money to fund an early start to education for all children before they enter kindergarten.

“I want to bring marijuana from the black market to the free market,” Bagley said. “It’s the black market that is creating crime and putting families and people of color into the prison system. Within the boundaries of the district, there is one four-year college (UC Merced) and six penitentiaries.”

Cannella replied that he supports medicinal use of marijuana if it alleviates symptoms for the patient. He sides with law enforcement and medical professionals who contend that pot is a starter drug that should not be legalized for recreational use.

“Maybe I am old-school. but I just don’t support it,” Cannella said.

This story was originally published October 23, 2014 at 7:57 PM with the headline "Cannella seeks a second term in 12th Senate District."