Olsen, Chiesa don’t need your vote, but they deserve it

There’s a reason no one decided to run against Vito Chiesa or Kristin Olsen for seats on the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors. It would be hard to find anyone better qualified.

The Bee seldom endorses unopposed candidates – what’s the point? But in these two cases, we’re making an exception.

Vito Chiesa led the way in righting a wrong that had plagued Stanislaus County for nearly 40 years. “Negative bailout” was a complicated issue arising in 1979 after voters approved Proposition 13. Most counties couldn’t cope with the fiscal impacts, and needed help. Counties with the biggest problems got the most help; counties with fewer problems got less. But counties that didn’t need any help were penalized. Stanislaus was in that last category, and the state shorted our residents hundreds of thousands, then millions, of dollars each year.

After years of trying, hardly anyone believed it would ever be fixed. But Chiesa, with help from state legislators, charged ahead. At various times he used logic, wisdom or old-fashioned browbeating. On more than one occasion, he admits he lost his temper.

But it worked, making a $6 million difference to Stanislaus County this year alone.

This crusade alone qualifies him for re-election, but there’s more. Chiesa favors creating stronger connections to the Bay Area, a transportation sales tax to fix roads and the Focus on Prevention initiative.

Kristin Olsen started on the Modesto City Council, won an Assembly seat against four qualified candidates, then rose through the ranks to lead the Assembly’s Republican caucus. What really impresses us, though, are the alliances she forged crossing party lines and then from the Assembly to the Senate to help create the most effective “Valley caucus” we’ve seen in a generation.

Olsen, Adam Gray, Anthony Cannella and Cathleen Galgiani played pivotal roles in getting the water bond passed in 2014, ag property protection, pushing the state toward fixing predatory lawsuits that allowed legal vultures to prey on small businesses in the name of creating access for the disabled, and much more.

She didn’t just learn the rules in Sacramento, she mastered them – becoming one of the Capitol’s most effective leaders in both legislating and fundraising. That raises our only concern, that Olsen will leave the board if a higher office beckons.

No, we don’t have to recommend a vote for either Chiesa and Olsen. But we do. They’ve earned it.

This story was originally published May 7, 2016 at 7:51 AM with the headline "Olsen, Chiesa don’t need your vote, but they deserve it."