Sacramento Road Trip – Inside SCV Article

KHTS AM-1220 Radio, Assemblyman Dr. Keith Richman and Valencia Acura sponsored a bus trip to Sacramentoth & 14th. Inside SCV came along for the ride! on March 13

Forty representatives traveled to our State Capitol. It was a formidable cross section of our Valley, a “Who’s who of Santa Clarita.” Representatives from College of the Canyons, the Hart School Board, the Saugus Elementary School Superintendent, our City Manager, Newhall Land, Boys & Girls Club, Child & Family Center, Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce, Valley Industrial Association, Providence Holy Cross Hospital, and many local business owners participated.

“Keith Richman and I came up with the idea last year, after my wife Jeri and I visited Sacramento for California Clear Speak,” reflected KHTS owner, Carl Goldman. “We had spent two days interviewing dozens of our State representatives, even the Governor himself gave us an interview, and we thought, wow, wouldn’t this be fantastic if our Santa Clarita leaders could go through the same experience. Keith said he’d help sponsor it. I called Don and Cheri Fleming at Valencia Acura. They instantly came on-board to assist and everything just took off. Assemblyman Richman made sure our time was well spent. He arranged meetings with many of Sacramento’s most powerful decision makers, Democrats as well as Republicans.”

“Making good public policy decisions involves legislators, policy experts, lobbyists and the news media.  We gave the Santa Clarita delegation a chance to talk to a cross section of these key individuals and were pleased to have a bipartisan delegation of legislators address the group as well,” Assemblyman Richman said.

“We were given a real eye opener,” Carl added. “We heard a similar message from both sides of the political spectrum. Basically, the system is broken. We need major reform by extending term limits, redistricting and changing the current campaign finance laws. Our State Government is dysfunctional and doesn’t appear to be capable of making the adjustments by themselves. We need to spread the message and apply enough pressure so changes occur.”

“It was great to have the Santa Clarita delegation in Sacramento and hope they will use the experience and information to maximize their civic participation in the years ahead,” Richman concluded.

Valencia Acura owner, Don Fleming told Inside SCV, “I’m still hearing incredible, positive feedback from everyone who went on the trip. We’re looking forward to participating again, next year.”

“We intend to follow up with a meeting of all participants to brainstorm ideas on how to improve the trip next year.” added Goldman. “Initial feedback suggests we should plan to add specific lobbying efforts. We’ll probably focus on three of the most important issues impacting our Valley, transportation, education and health care and divide the group up for several hours, arranging meetings in their particular area of expertise. The Santa Clarita Chamber has done an excellent job of doing this with their annual trip to Washington DC.”

College of the Canyons Board of Trustee Bruce Fortine stated, “As educators, we go up to Sacramento asking for more funds. On this trip, we really were exposed to the impact of asking for these funds. The trip gave us a perspective of our State Government we never experienced before with our other journeys. Keith Richman did a great job arranging for a broad perspective of representatives to meet. My wife Gloria (Hart School Board Member) and I have shared so much information from this trip with our Boards. It was so valuable and really had an impact.”

“The Sacramento trip was a great effort by KHTS, Assemblyman Richman and Valencia Acura,” said Larry Mankin, Santa Clarita Chamber President and CEO. “We saw both Republican and Democratic members from the Assembly and the Senate, representatives of the Sacramento bureaucracy, lobbyists, and even a representative of the Governors office.  As we sat listening intently trying to comprehend what we were hearing, many of us had differing feelings on the messages we were receiving.  Some of us were angry, some were confused, and me… well I went back 50 years thinking about the old Abbott and Costello routine where the conversation went something like-"who's on first…no, who's on second and what is on first"-oh well, you get the picture. I think the trip was very productive. I encourage them to do it again next year. It is a great companion piece to our Chamber Washington DC annual trip.”

If you’d like to find out more about the Sacramento trip, or how your organization might be represented next year, contact Carl Goldman at KHTS. Carl@hometownstation.com, (661) 298-1220.