Brian Dahle's Campaign for California Governor Gains Steam as he Proposes Real Solutions

I asked Republican candidate for California Governor Brian Dahle: How would you solve the crime problem in California?

"By getting rid of the revolving door in California. When there's no punishment of criminals, crime skyrockets. This is not really surprising.” He added, “We were sold Proposition 47 as "the Safe Schools and Neighborhood Act.” But releasing criminals early did not make neighborhoods safer. “We have seen a 40% increase in murder in California in two years, since the release mandated by Proposition 47.”

2. What is the solution to California's water problem?

“There's plenty of Water in California, but we don't manage it right.” He said the problem is “political dysfunction.” Proposition One, approved in 2014, appropriated $2.7 million to build a water system at the Sites Reservoir in Colusa County. This project is fully funded. “It’s close to the Delta,” Dahle explained. “We could help the environment as well as municipalities and farmers. But we can't get it permitted.” He added, “We need to break this logjam.”

3. Fires in the part of the state you represent are a problem. How do we mitigate this problem?

“There are millions of acres of forest that we need to treat,” Dahle said. “The forest used to burn naturally every ten years. We stopped that cycle, and now our forest is overgrown with brush and small tress. When fire comes, we need to have already thinned it out. This is basic forest management.” He warned that if forests are not managed, “We will continue to lose our forest to these fires.”

4. What can be done about homelessness?

“The biggest challenge for homelessness is addiction. 99% of homeless are addicted. There has to be punishment for people selling illegal drugs on our streets,” Dahle told us. “The other part of the homeless problem are the mental health issues caused by drug addiction. These need to be handled compassionately by providing those people with assistance and shelter.” Dahle advocates dealing with homelessness on the local level rather than the state level, where boots on the ground know what actually needs to be done.

5. Are you sanguine about the state’s future finances?

Dahle is deeply concerned about the near future regarding California’s treasury. “Forty percent of our revenue is from capital gains,” he explained. With the downturn in the economy and the crashing of the stock market, that revenue stream is going to dry up. Big corporations like Chevron, Tesla, HP, and Oracle have all left the state, taking those high-wage workers with them. “We’ve seen 396 businesses move out of the state since 2018,” he said.

6. California is a one party state and you're at the head of the Republican ticket. How are we going to restore balance in California, between Republicans and democrats

“My goal has always been to solve problems,” Dahle said. “In Sacramento, we need to find the things we agree on. Gavin Newsom hasn't done that. A lot can be done,” claims Dahle. It’s a matter of focusing on areas where people from different political philosophies want to accomplish the same goals. When he was a county supervisor, decided to invite “people of all different political stripes” to meet in a library, “so we couldn’t yell at each other.” The group included environmentalists and school advocates and others, and they all agreed it would be best to treat the forest father than let it burn. “When you actually build a relationship with people, you see the tension ameliorate between Environmentalists, Republicans and others. It's simply amazing what you can accomplish when you just sit down and try to be civil with people.”

7. How is California going to power the transition to electric vehicles in 2035?

As the situation now stands, Dahle does not believe the state has the ability to charge the estimated 20 million electric vehicles there would be in the state in 2035. “We would need ten power plants the size of Diablo,” he explained. Using power and wind, as Newsom suggests, “is not going to happen.” Dahle thinks the answer is geothermal energy, which is available in Imperial and San Francisco. Also, better power transmission lines could help such a transition. “We need to invest more in that critical infrastructure,” Dahle said.

8. Finally, the inevitable question: Is there any chance you could win the race for California Governor?

“You know I really think it's possible,” Dahle said. “We've gained 7 points on Newsom. We're moving in the right direction. I think Californians are ready for something different. Newsom is out of touch; he puts people in a box.” He believes he is the candidate for balance. “If you put 100 people in a room, and we speak to them, I could get 51%.”

Go to http://www.briandahle.com to find out more. If the people support us, we can win and make a change for California.