As a mom, educator, and advocate, Susan has dedicated her life to strengthening our community and ensuring that all children have the chance to succeed. She is running for 4th District Supervisor to continue this work and to make sure that Santa Clara County’s policies, programs and services reflect the needs of its families.

From a young age, Susan knew that her passion and lifelong commitment would be to children and families. She always enjoyed working with and tutoring children. She learned to address differences in learning styles and understood how children’s backgrounds often impacted their ability to be successful.

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, Susan went to an all-girls high school and received her BA from Barnard College. She graduated from Columbia University School of Law and excelled as a lawyer, but in her heart she always knew she had another calling. She desired to be an educator and an advocate for her community.

Susan not only has a strong vision for Santa Clara’s future, she also has the organizational skills and work ethic to get the job done. When Susan sees a challenge, she steps up to solve it. When her children’s elementary school was poised to expand from a K-5 to a K-8 model, Susan helped develop what later became the school’s flagship social justice curriculum. She worked tirelessly to ensure that the school’s growth was successful. She educated herself in the details of school governance, attended conferences, and, after working for years from a board perspective, stepped in to teach social justice to 6th to 8th graders for six years.

When Susan’s youngest daughter was a freshman at Lincoln High School, a controversial policy regarding graduation requirements pushed Susan to join others in advocating for rejection of the proposed policy. When the policy was approved anyway, Susan decided to be the leader that she had encouraged her students to be for years. She ran for San Jose Unified School District Board of Trustees and won. Since Susan was elected, the school district has improved outreach to parents and the community, set up protective guidelines for students with undocumented parents, secured $5 million in additional annual funding, approved the district’s first gender-neutral student restrooms and began providing free SAT tests to all juniors and $5 AP and IB exams for all students enrolled in those classes. She continues to support innovation in the classroom and a strong connection with teachers and administrators.

When asked in a panel discussion on education what businesses could do to better support students, Susan suggested that the business community offer summer internships and job shadow opportunities for high school students. Her suggestion inspired STRIVE San Jose, a program that works with 3 local school districts and is set to provide nearly 200 internships and dozens of job shadow opportunities. Now in its second year, the program is giving teenagers valuable hands-on training and creating a much-needed job pipeline. In her previous role as a program director for a large, local business association, Susan created and facilitated programming designed to raise awareness of local social and economic challenges. She facilitated civic, service, philanthropic and political engagement through a wide range of interactive programs.

In addition, Susan is an appointed member of the Santa Clara County Commission on the Status of Women, where she works with other community leaders to advance opportunities for women and minimize inequities that disproportionately impact women, from equal pay to domestic violence. She is an American Leadership Forum Senior Fellow, a Rotarian, and a member of Children’s Vision Council, advocating for programs and services to support vulnerable families in an effort to break the cycle of poverty. Susan is also a mentor for high school students through Lincoln High School’s Future Visions Program.

Susan strives to be the change she wants to see in the world. As a School Board Trustee, she has seen that there is more that needs to be done to make our community safe and healthy for everyone. That’s why she’s running for Santa Clara County Supervisor. As Supervisor, she will lead efforts to support vulnerable families and individuals, including seniors; advocate for reform in our criminal justice system; work to expand access to early childhood education; promote gender equity; fight to protect the availability of quality health care including mental health services; lead efforts to increase the availability of low-income and affordable housing; and ensure every dollar spent maximizes impact in all of these areas.

Susan lives in San Jose with her husband, Steve, who is a partner at Ellenberg & Hull, and their two rescue dogs, Lacey and Peaches. They have three young adult children: Zach, Molly and Naava.

I feel a personal obligation to contribute to the welfare of my community. County government is responsible for the safety and welfare of 2 million residents. As a school board member, I see barriers to student success in unstable housing, insufficient nutrition & health care, lack of access to early childhood education, and engagement with the foster and juvenile justice systems. I want to address those barriers and implement sustainable solutions.

I have experience as an attorney, educator, school board leader and county commissioner. I’m a mother and professional woman in Silicon Valley. These experiences will be brought to bear as I consider complex issues that pertain to our County and create and vote on policies that will best serve our community. My reputation is one of thoughtfulness, an ability to consider a variety of perspectives and a genuine interest in deeply understanding the implications of any decision.

I’m a lifelong Democrat and I embody the values of this party. Our County's Democratic Party passed a gender parity resolution several years ago and I support their expressed mission of electing more qualified women to political office.

Pierluigi is the son of immigrant parents, Italo and Matilde, who are both retired teachers.  The Oliverio family lived in an apartment on Willow Street for 10 years saving up to buy their first and only home. Pierluigi is proud to have attended K-12 public schools in San Jose (Booksin Elementary, Hoover Middle School, and Willow Glen High). His strong work ethic started with a paper route in the 8th grade, and continued through out high school where he worked at a fast food restaurant on Winchester Blvd. While attending San Jose State University, Pierluigi paid his own way by working evenings and weekends at a restaurant in Campbell. Pierluigi completed his teaching credential and classroom instruction in the San Jose Unified School District. 

Pierluigi was elected in three consecutive elections to the San Jose City Council. He represented the greater Rose Garden neighborhood, Santana Row, and Willow Glen. In addition to ten consecutive years of service on the city council, Pierluigi has 20 years of private sector work experience in the technology field.

Pierluigi purchased the house next door to his parents on Cherry Ave, and a parishioner of St. Christopher’s church. 

Fiscal prudence, responsive to constituents, and transparency.

Jason Baker served as Mayor in Campbell twice, in 2011 and 2016. He was first elected to the Campbell City Council in November 2008. Jason served as Campbell’s Mayor in 2011 before returning to the role of Council Member to complete his four year term. In August 2012, Jason ran for re-election and was unopposed; he was appointed to serve an additional four-year Council term expiring November 2016. Jason also worked for the California State Assembly as District Director for Assemblymember Evan Low.

Jason earned his B.A. in Political Science at the University of California at Davis in 1995.

After graduation, he served as a Research Associate for the Violence Prevention Research Program at the UC Davis School of Medicine where he helped study gun violence from a public health perspective. Jason received his J.D., Cum Laude from Santa Clara University School of Law in 2000. In July 2014, he completed the Senior Executives in State and Local Government executive education program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Jason was elected to the Campbell City Council in November 2008 and served two terms as councilmember including two terms as Mayor of Campbell. During his tenure on the Campbell City Council, Jason was active on a number of boards and commissions, particularly in the areas of transportation and traffic relief, public safety and emergency preparedness. He was selected by peers from throughout the county to serve as Chair of the Santa Clara County Emergency Operational Area Council, Board Member and Chair of the Santa Clara County Library District Board of Directors, as Chair of the Santa Clara County Emergency Preparedness Council, as Chair of Silicon Valley Regional Interoperability Authority and on the Santa Clara County Water District Advisory Board.

Finding common solutions to regional challenges has been a focus of Jason’s public service. Toward that end, he was unanimously selected by Mayors and Councilmembers throughout the County to serve as President of the Santa Clara County Cities Association, a group dedicated to regional solutions to Silicon Valley’s common issues. He also served as the West Valley Cities’ representative to the Valley Transportation Authority Board, and as the Santa Clara County Cities’ representative to the nine-county Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Bay Area Toll Authority.

From 2010-2013, Jason was selected each year as a Peninsula Division representative to the California League of Cities Public Safety Committee where he also served on that committee’s Technology subcommittee. Jason is very happily married to his lovely wife Mairead; together they have a son, Eamonn, and a daughter, Rowan who attend public school in San Jose.

As a wildlands firefighter for the U.S. Forest service, I learned what hard work is. I will never forget how important our first responders are to our community.

As a lawyer, I dedicated close to a decade of hard work on litigation against polluters and companies who put profits over people. I worked to hold Exxon, Shell and half a dozen more oil companies accountable for their part in exposing workers to deadly chemicals.

As a public official, I have been fiscally responsible. When I was Mayor, Campbell put money back in its reserves for the first time in years. Even during the recession, we managed to erase a structural budget deficit without laying off any employees. In Campbell, we were the first in the County to come to a negotiated agreement with our police officers for a sensible two-tier solution to pension reform. While I was Mayor, we hired more police officers in Campbell and still kept the budget balanced. We have invested in parks and public art to help make Campbell the place people love to work live and play. I have worked to make the environment better, libraries more accessible, our first responders more respected and better prepared.

As County Supervisor, I want to continue that work. I will make sure that government and the private sector never forget our fellow residents who are poor, homeless, hungry or marginalized in any way.

And especially in these times, I will fight hard every day to protect our democratic ideals, including the rights of women, immigrants, all religious and ethnic groups, and members of the LGBTQ community.

Sincerely,

Jason

I have been a community activist for the past 30 years. I feel a most compelling personal need to seek out justice and do the right thing when people are being wronged. It has always been my goal to help serve the community and make our community a better place for everyone to live. We should all strive to do everything we can to help our fellow man and woman to succeed in life. We have a fiduciary responsibility to make certain that every man, woman and child within our county is healthy, safe, sheltered and has enough to eat.

When individuals or special interest groups aim to curtail our liberties and sacrifice social justice for their own selfish needs and wants we must all stand up to them. We cannot allow opposing political, business or social groups to dictate policies or propose laws that would limit our freedoms as Americans. We always need to stand up for our rights as a free people. Democracy demands constant vigilance lest we lose our freedoms entirely by those who choose to enslave us with their own private agendas.

            It is my sincere belief that money needs to be kept out of all election campaigns. In light of this I will not accept one dollar of outside money. My campaign is 100 percent self-funded by myself alone. I am a local business owner and community activist who was born and raised in Santa Clara and San Jose. I believe in open government and in full transparency in government.

I believe in a common sense, no nonsense approach to local governance. Building consensus and doing the right thing for our community as a whole will always be my goal. We need to identify and address the most pressing issues in our county and work diligently to solve them in a straightforward manner.

I stand for affordable housing, traffic relief, better roads and mass transit, healthcare expansion, homeless relief, poverty reduction, public safety, jail reform, human rights and diversity. I think it is time to get some new faces into local politics. We need to build upon the great legacy left by the current board and make Santa Clara County an even better place to work and live.

Maria has a B.A. Degree in Community Studies from UC Santa Cruz where she graduated with triple honors and received the William H. Friedland Award. For the past 7 years Maria has worked in Marketing and Public Relations for the private sector. Maria is an animal lover and a firm supporter of our First Amendment Rights. She strongly believes in the power of democracy to bring positive change in our communities and people’s lives.

Maria has always been committed to social and economic justice issues. During her student years at De Anza College she worked at the Institute of Community and Civic Engagement, where she served as community liaison between students, faculty and staff, nonprofit and community organizations.  Maria also organized events for groups and causes including LGBTQ, Environmental Sustainability, Human Rights, Immigration, and Women’s Rights.

As a student in UC Santa Cruz Maria interned with Working Partnerships where she supported social causes affecting Santa Clara County working families. She also conducted policy research on economic and social justice issues while also supporting the Interfaith Council on Economic Justice by helping organize rallies and events for the benefit of our community.

As citizen of this country and proud resident of Santa Clara County, Maria strives every day to honor our country and our people. She has contributed to social justice campaigns, given money to animal and environmental organizations and causes, signed petitions for social justice and reform, and diligently fulfilled her privilege as an American citizen by voting in every election since she became a naturalized citizen.

Maria is running because no one is addressing the roots of the problems affecting our people and our tax dollars, so it is time that Santa Clara County taxpayers have one of their own to represent them, to truly fight for their rights and interests.

As someone free from political and special interest manipulation, Maria will fight to increase government transparency, accountability, and fiscal responsibility; she will fight for our community, our families and the best use of our tax dollars.

Many of us downplay the importance of an open, transparent and accountable government. But the reality is that as long as the existing problems are not addressed and resolved, many of the promises made by politicians will remain just promises, election after election. The County cannot grow up and efficiently serve its citizens when it is rotting in corruption, incompetence, abuse of its people, and waste of resources, all at the expense of our tax dollars. As County Supervisor Maria’s three focus areas include:

Fiscal Responsibility - Prioritize the needs of residents so that the fiscal budget addresses the priorities and concerns of people while avoiding the current trend of frivolous and wasteful spending we have seen in our government for the past decade. Only through enforcing fiscal responsibility will we be able to free up the resources to make the critical investments in our County that our voters deserve.

Government Accountability - Address the existing County cronyism that negatively affects the quality and efficiency of services rendered by the County government in order to protect the public welfare and save taxpayers money. Implement stricter laws that protect government whistleblowers from retaliation, and implement zero tolerance for incompetence, bullying and wasteful spending of our tax dollars by executive management in County government through enforcing the merit rule system and implementing "Just Culture," in action not just words.

Government Transparency –Decisions affecting us all must be not only open to the public, but also welcome citizens’ critique and input. I will work with community leaders, stakeholders and the public to find practical solutions to our problems.As a Supervisor I will prioritize the needs of Santa Clara County residents. I will advocate and fight for taxpayers, workers, small businesses and the public welfare including our children, youth, seniors, women, working families and our planet.

 Maria supports issues that matter to us such as living wages, affordable housing, education, human rights, healthcare, public safety, open spaces, transportation, and traffic relief.

So, if you are tired of politics as usual, join Maria in her effort. Together we can improve the system, force accountability and transparency in our government and produce the positive changes that people in our community wants to see.

A good government is:

• Accountable to its people

• Fiscally Responsible; prioritizes the needs of residents and does not waste our tax dollars

• Transparent and inclusive; welcomes and includes the community and stakeholders in the decision making process regarding issues that have an impact in its residents

As members of our community we have a moral responsibility to care for each other.

As citizens, we have a civic duty to protect our Constitution, and to ensure that those we put in power abide, honor, and enforce the law.

As voters, we have the power to select a government that best represents our rights.

If this is not happening, you have the power to fix it. Your ultimate power and voice is your vote!