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An attorney from Orinda and an Army veteran from Walnut Creek have recently announced that they plan to run against incumbent Catharine Baker to represent the Tri-Valley and the rest of District 16 in the State Assembly.
Rebecca Bauer-Kahan and Tom Tarantino, both Democrats, have launched their campaigns in advance of the June primary aiming to unseat Baker, a Republican who has held the position since 2014.
One of 25 Republicans in the 80-member Assembly, Baker has confirmed she will seek re-election to a third consecutive two-year term next year. The Dublin resident is eligible for eight more years of service in either house of the State Legislature under California’s term limits.
“I am running for re-election because I see that putting rigid partisanship to the side and focusing on the important issues and results is working,” Baker, 46, said this week. “That is my focus, and will be my focus.”
A civil attorney by trade, Baker was a political newcomer in 2014 when she defeated liberal Tim Sbranti, a former Dublin mayor, to win the open Assembly seat previously held by the Democrats. She won re-election comfortably in 2016.
Though Bauer-Kahan and Tarantino have announced their bids to challenge Baker, prospective candidates can’t officially enter the race until the nomination period opens in mid-February. The top two finishers in the June primary will face each other in a runoff election for the seat in November.
In addition to the San Ramon Valley, the 16th Assembly District also includes Livermore, Dublin, Pleasanton, Walnut Creek and Lamorinda.
Rebecca Bauer-Kahan
A 38-year-old Bay Area native, Bauer-Kahan defines herself as an attorney, environmental advocate, community leader, law professor and mother. She’s a lifelong Democrat, and her platform focuses on school funding and guaranteeing universal preschool, protecting the environment and fighting climate change, and improving transportation options.
“Today, California is on the front lines in the battle against the Trump Administration and extremists in Washington,” she said. “Our community deserves a representative who will stand up to those forces and truly fight for what’s important. I hope the people of the 16th Assembly District will take a closer look at Republican Assemblywoman Catharine Baker — and once they do, they will find she is seriously out of step with the needs of this district.”
This is the first time she has sought elected office.
Bauer-Kahan’s specialties as an attorney have ranged from ensuring major corporations comply with environmental regulations, working with tech companies on intellectual property cases and expanding her office’s pro bono program to include civil rights, immigration, homelessness and domestic violence cases, she said. Recently, she helped coordinate the legal services effort at San Francisco International Airport to aid refugees and immigrants affected by the Trump Administration’s travel ban.
She has taught appellate law and legal research and writing at Santa Clara University and Golden Gate University for the past seven years, and holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Georgetown University Law Center.
She lives in Orinda with her husband and three children, where she is a leader in local non-profits and organizations.
Tom Tarantino
Tarantino, 39, grew up in San Anselmo in Marin County and served in the Army for 10 years, after which time he worked in public policy in Washington D.C., focusing on veteran affairs and advocacy.
Now he works on Twitter’s public policy team and lives in Walnut Creek.
“My wife, Tara, and I are building our life in the 16th District,” Tarantino said. “Like other families who are doing the same, I want our community to have better transportation options, the best schools, cleaner air and water, and affordable housing for all. We need leaders in California who can take on these fights and bravely defend our values.”
This is his first time seeking an elected office.
Tarantino enlisted in the Army Reserves at the age of 19 in 1997, and served on active duty from 2003-07. During his service, he helped repatriate refugees in Bosnia, trained soldiers and lead two platoons through combat in Iraq.
After leaving the service with the rank of captain, he joined Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), leading the organization’s D.C. office for almost two years. In this capacity, his work centered on upgrading the GI Bill, fighting to prevent for-profit schools from preying on veterans, advocating for mental health provisions in veterans benefits, and addressing sexual assault in the military and suicide rates in veterans, he said.
He attended the College of Marin and later University of California, Santa Barbara on an ROTC scholarship, and he holds a Bachelor of Arts in global studies and international relations.
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I will stick with tried and true Catharine baker.
We do not need another Democrat like we had with Mary Hayashi or
like we had with ultra Democrat looser Tim Sabranti!
The Democrat party gave us Leland Yee and many others in the Democrat party,
that have been convicted of multiple crimes all up and down this state of
California.
There is a profound need to not elect another Democrat to an office in California.
Great all we need more Democrats in the state government. Not!
They are the ones to blame for the crime wave that’s going on because they refuse to lock up any criminals. They block State Republican from trying to do anything about it too, because they’re deep compassion for the criminals.
( probably a big voting Bloc of theirs). Now the Democrats want to turn us into a sanctuary State, and others even want to turn us into you separate nation. We need less Democrats and more Republicans like Catherine Baker!
Repubs last controlled the State Senate and the Assembly in 1955 (in 1995 Repubs had a 2 seat advantage in the house – their last control of either chamber). After over 20 years controlling both chambers, if the “hey, let’s see what happens when we do this” Dem/Lib/Prog CA legislators were private business managers (whom the Dem/Lib/Prog pols love to hate and control), most of them would be in jail for massive gross negligence and shamefully willful misconduct – rightfully so. The Dem/Lib/Prog cobal has ruined a perfectly good state. We’ll never know if the Repubs could have done any better – it is impossible to imagine them doing worse.
Glad to see others willing to unseat her! She may claim to be bipartisan but after the economic disaster the Republicans did to the state with their governers Pete Wilson and Arnold, and the current disaster we have with Trump and a GOP congress that enables him, I can NEVER EVER vote for a republican again, nor support them. So Catherine Baker should switch parties or get voted out.
Supply Side economy is a sham just like the republican party. They preach giving tax break to big business and the rich (like me) and all I do is reinvest in my investment account. Supply side flaw is assuming the people getting the tax break will spend! Wrong when you assume you are wrong and this theory will turn us to Kansas (no offense to people living in Kansas). While I complain about paying taxes, I know we need to help pay for all the things we enjoy and uses (e.g. police, fire, roads/bridges, military, gov, etc…) So Paul Ryan and his Ayn Rand policy is purely BS… just like the Republican tax policy.
Not voting for a fiscally irresponsible democrat period.
Those dirty irresponsible democrat have turn CA into one of the largest economy in the world, soon to be fifty. So as much as you hate the politics you are reaping the benefit they have created…
TO: KW – Wilson had an average of 58% majority in the Senate and 56% in the Assembly (amazingly, during the 95-96 session, Repubs had a 2-seat majority in the Assembly – the last time the Repubs controlled either chamber – and Dem’s still had a 56% average majority in the Assembly!!).
TO: Jerry – please don’t judge the entire US – or CA – economies by your investing habits. A reasonable, objective observer (absent emotion, ideology (particularly the failed lib/prog ideology) who shuns symbolism in favor of substance, would recognize the manifest flaws with Keynesian economics – which is what you apparently are proffering. If Jerry had been paying attention, he’d know that taxation WITH representation isn’t so hot either – particularly in CA (as opposed to ‘without representation’).
TO: Everyone – KW and Jerry are the poster people for CA’s pitiful state of affairs. Crippling high taxes, beyond out-of-control spending, massive ‘unrepayable’ debt, sanctuary city mania. So sad – there’s no hope for common sense and good judgement in CA politics.
I have found Catharine Baker to be non-partisan, moderate and a politician who decides each issue by its merits. Rare traits in today’s political arena. I support her wholeheartedly!
Rick- Those are talking points, not facts. My effective tax rate is about 12% and I am part of the 1% paying the taxes in the US. By all means, I hate paying, but we need it for all the things we enjoy. One thing I can assure you is that I have representation at the state and federal level, I may not agree with them 100% of the time but I can safely say 60%.
However, If the republican wants to give me more tax break, then so be it, take away AMT and capital gains. There is only one objective I have in life besides my family obligations is to make as much money as I can, so paying extra taxes is against my belief. Politics, religion, and state/federal policies are white noise, how you personally benefit is what counts.
Jerry, you are getting there little by little.
Thanks for the coming tax cut, I surely need the extra pocket change for more trickling down effect at the local pub.