California State Assembly District 1 Candidate Forum
Left to right (sitting beneath the seal): Mark Mezzano, Melissa Hunt, and Tenessa Audette (three of the four candidates running for the California State Assembly, District 01)
NEVADA COUNTY—On January 30, 2024, Mark Mezzano, Melissa Hunt, and Tenessa Audette responded to questions from the public to assess the qualifications and suitability for three of the four candidates that are all seeking a two-year term in the California State Assembly. Assembly District 01 represents the counties of Shasta, Nevada, El Dorado, Siskiyou, Amador, Lassen, Placer, Plumas, Modoc, Sierra, and Alpine as ranked by county population contribution to the district. The fourth candidate, Heather Hadwick, declined to participate.
The forum took place at the Rood Center, 950 Maidu Ave, Nevada City, from 6:00-7:30 p.m. The event was held in the Board of Supervisors chambers, with around 20 people attending in person. The Voter Services Chair of the League of Women Voters in Nevada County, Ariel Lovett, opened the evening with an update on the March Election.
Reminder: Voters mailed by Feb 5th. Sample ballots should be out and delivered.
The forum was moderated by local attorney Marsha Burch.
Opening Statements
Mark Mezzano spoke to his history working on the highway patrol and then the Redding City Council for three years. He was the mayor pro tempore and vice mayor and now councilman, making four years in government service. He touted that the City of Redding’s police department has had the most sworn personnel in the history of the police department and that “we did it without raising taxes.” He believes the top concerns in this district are “public safety, water and fire management, and economic development.”
Melissa Hunt began by saying, “I was born and raised in the north state. Except for my years in college, I’ve lived here all my life.” She talked about being a former educator and when looking for where to go from there, “found myself applying to city council.” She was appointed in 2007 and elected in 2008. “I have served with excellence in representing our constituents.” She claimed children and families are her focus as well as forest management–that she wants to clean up the forest floors and bring back logging to the rural communities. She ended with a note that she will want to talk about homelessness later in the forum.
Tenessa Audette is the mayor of Redding. She earned a degree in political science and loves history. “My dad is a veteran; I have veterans on both sides of my family.” After graduating, she worked in business for DeWalt Power Tools and moved to Redding eleven years ago. She has three children and came to northern California to find better schools for her children. “I ran for office wanting to make things better in my city, and wanting to influence in a positive way.” She added, “I believe all things are possible if you work hard enough,” and emphasized the importance of local control.
Fire Risk
The first question came from the community, asking how to make fire insurance affordable. The comment included an observation that the California Fair Plan is suffering from too much demand.
Mezzano: “It’s absolutely broken and the insurance commissioner is to blame for that.” It’s important to harden one’s home. However, insurance rates are in part determined by zip code, so if you keep your property clean and your neighbor is not, “you’re paying for that.” Believes the best solution is to thin the forest and clean the canopy.
Hunt: Is a former teacher and now a real estate agent. Believes the cost of fire insurance is ruining the dream of home ownership. Believes the California Fair Plan is “like Obamacare—it’s inept.”
Audette: “One of the calls we get constantly is about insurance.” She told a story about a woman who had people willing to buy her house, but they couldn’t get on the Fair Plan, and so she could not close on the sale. Consider voting differently to get different policies in California.
Another question from the community included how to reduce fire danger.
Audette: home hardening and creating defensible space is important for residents, but in general, the federal government is responsible for a lot of risk mitigation. “The federal government needs to clear the forest.” She mentioned that federal lands are the most mismanaged.
Mezzano: Seniors are being evicted from their homes because they can’t afford fire insurance. Sacramento doesn’t realize what’s going on up here because they’re sitting in an “air conditioned office.” Clear the ground fuels and canopies.
Hunt: Forest management and home hardening are important, but what will seniors do? “Sacramento is good about putting out a solution, but the solution does not fit northern California.” Clear the forest floor and put logging back into rural communities.
Financial sustainability
KNCO’s Chris Gilbert asked about California’s deficit. Hunt: Believes businesses are being “suffocated” for all of the “legal things we have to do and live by from Sacramento.”
Audette: “I would immediately cut taxes.” She says of the 1.4 million people who have left California, a large percentage of them earn over $200,000, and that was the tax base that left. She advocated to “stop mandating ideologies and let the free market do what it’s going to do.” A one-size-fits-all policy for all of California doesn’t work.
Mezzano: Get the government out of the way so that businesses can do what they do best. The government can’t get tax revenue if businesses aren’t prospering. “Just leave us alone in the north state.”
The Union’s Jennifer Nobles asked about young families and individuals not able to afford a home in today’s economy.
Mezzano: Bring down the price of materials. Boasted Redding as the first city to produce a 3-D printed home. Wants lower interest rates.
Hunt: Agrees we need to bring down interest rates and blames Biden. Talked about using the DAP (down payment assistance program) loan for her own house purchase 27 years ago. “There are programs out there that we need to make sure our community members know about.”
Audette: Supports deregulation. The government of California has over 400,000 regulations” with the next closest state being New York with half as many requirements. “We have over-regulated our market into being unfeasible.” Explains that homes are expensive because they have so many state requirements adding to their cost.
A community question brought up California’s $68 billion deficit and asked for the candidates’ approach to the budget.
Hunt: “As a city council member, we have put it on our city manager to always save a reserve.” The governor should be held to high standards. Would ask for a complete audit when she gets into office because “I don’t believe him.”
Audette: Wants to cut spending. “Our budget is enormous.” She observes that California has lost constituents to other states because of government bureaucracy, so it’s time to start cutting. It’s time for different policies and a different vision.
Mezzano: “We need to trim the fat. We’re spending too much money in Sacramento.” Wants to cut programs. Believes the state owes money to cities and towns. “If this was a private business doing this, they’d be bankrupt.”
Infrastructure
A community question asked about access to water and water shortages.
Hunt: Talked about Shasta Lake drying up in the drought of 1977, and the next year filling back up in one month. Supports the need for reservoirs. Does not support selling water to southern California: “they need to build their own reservoirs as well.”
Audette: Droughts are cyclical, and we can expect them, so we must be leaders in innovation. “Storage–that’s an innovation that already exists,” so let’s also look at desalination and other innovations for using water. Encourages residents to push back on the government when it infringes on their rights.
Mezzano: California’s agricultural products are shipped all over the world. We need to learn how to move our water. “We have the water, we just have to be able to move it.” Talked about Twin Tunnels and the Delta Tunnel project as important for moving water to farmers who need it.
Pascale Fusshoeller of Yubanet asked the candidates how they would propose solutions for infrastructure problems—such as with water, power, and connectivity—being in the minority in Sacramento.
Audette: “You have to make the argument.” Talked about the importance of bringing legislators to the area to see firsthand what is happening. “When you can see something and experience it,” you want to take care of it. Supports bringing people from her district to Sacramento to testify of needs.
Mezzano: “The easiest thing to do is educate the voters.” Would encourage voters in the rest of the state to put pressure on their legislators.
Hunt: Claims that citizens in this district don’t see their representatives. “All of us need to be represented.” Believes discussion with others will help.
Chris Gilbert of KNCO asked what can be done about skyrocketing utility rates.
Hunt: Believes PG&E should be regulated and there should be caps on prices. As utilities tear up roads to put cables underground, they should be held accountable for the state of the roads and leave things better than they found them.
Audette: “If we allowed the utility companies to use the free market, we’d be in a better position, and that would specifically be nuclear power.” Speaks about nuclear power as clean, efficient, and lower cost. Believes that the free market would result in much more affordable utilities.
Mezzano: “PG&E’s got a lot of work to do.” Wants to push them to put more cables underground. Wants to develop small nuclear reactors, but not on a large scale like Diablo Canyon Power Plant.
Pascale from Yubanet asked about emergency communication infrastructure.
Audette: explained that Shasta County has remote areas that lack both landlines as well as cellular tower coverage, and that AM radio was being used to get help during an emergency. Overregulation from Sacramento has forced providers like AT&T to exit from the landline market. “Unless California is going to take over these industries, private markets can’t stay in business.” She stated that the government needs to make sure people are able to communicate when they need help.
Mezzano recalled how in Alturas, thieves cut a line to steal copper from AT&T, resulting in the crippling of the communication system for the hospital and fire department. He advocated for a backup system. He called for the need for more cell towers, as they are fireproof. He stated there was a need for public / private partnerships where the government needed to get involved. He called for backup systems in the rural areas.
Hunt cited the work of Assemblywoman Cecilia Aguilar, who has repeatedly “beat this drum” in the Assembly. She has been talking and pushing for broadband. She stated how she could work together with Democrats in Sacramento on this issue. She offered that she had given up her landline and relied on her cell phone exclusively. She said we need to find a solution and that she looked forward to working with the Assemblywoman.
Mining
A community question was raised about mines that have not been reclaimed and pressure to open new mines.
Mezzano: Explained that the Nevada County Board of Supervisors “stood strong” against the Rise Gold proposal “and they defeated it.”
Hunt: Grew up panning gold with her family. Believes mining should be allowed, but people should keep “panning more than anything.” Claimed that “as your elected official, I will represent you. And if you say no, I will say no.”
Audette: “I wouldn’t override local control” and take that control to the state level, “which has happened time and time again.” Described how locals have not wanted something in their town and “the state comes in and overrides it.” The community should decide how they want their community run.
Drug Abuse
One community question raised the issue of the increase in overdose deaths and the opioid problem.
Audette: Agrees that it is a major problem, noting that kids are being killed after taking just one pill. “We have an open supply chain that’s coming nonstop,” adding, “it’s not just a killer, it’s deceptive.” Believes closing the border and keeping prisons open. “Without law and order we’re not a country.”
Mezzano: “First thing I’d do is close the border.” Believes in stiffer penalties for fentanyl crimes. “Up here in the north state, we back the blue. We back our police.” We should give district attorneys the ability to prosecute felons.
Hunt: Spent 16 months on the federal grand jury. Every time they met, they had immigration problems to deal with. Biden has to close the borders. Believes the fentanyl problem is related to the homeless problem.
Affordability
Another community question asked about access to safe and affordable healthcare.
Mezzano: stated that the need for healthcare is critical in rural counties, and that it is very expensive. As residents get older, medical problems get more severe with few specialists as the area is not feasible for them to work here. This puts burdens on the hospitals as seniors aren’t getting the help they need, when they need it. He says this forces people to go to metropolitan areas to seek the healthcare they require.
Hunt: stated that in Modoc County, they can’t give birth at the hospitals because there are no doctors, like gynecologists. Shasta County has a shortage of doctors, which results in residents going to Reno, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Davis due to shortages. She wants more doctors and workers from the medical field in the area. She will seek funding for rural hospitals, and was willing to hold fundraisers as she had done in the past in Anderson.
Audette: stated that in California, healthcare is a right, and people are being placed on Medical all of the time. Oftentimes, doctors are not being reimbursed at a rate where they can stay in business, and that they are at a tipping point. She seeks to privatize the healthcare industry, and to try to do it a different way so that there is more quality, managed care. She spoke that private industry will allow the provision of quality healthcare to flourish.
Another question asked about the affordability of higher education.
Hunt: highlighted the needs for scholarship programs and need for price caps. For the California State University system, they are paying huge amounts to administrators, not teachers. She would like to see teachers make higher incomes. She questioned administrators income and indicated that administrators pay needs to be capped.
Audette: wants to privatize higher education loans. She cited her own experience in college, where she had a private loan from her bank, in addition to a work program and a PELL grant to pay for her schooling. Once the government started backing the cost of loans, costs skyrocketed. Bureaucracies grow, costs have risen, and college has become unaffordable. “Not every college needs a rock climbing wall and a coffee shop.”
Mezzano: stated that the costs of higher education and the value it provides is in question. His focus was on making sure today’s high school students enter into trades where supply is lacking. Construction industries require training programs for students, which will free up space in higher education. “Administrators are getting fat salaries, and we need to look at that.”
Serving California
The candidates were asked which Assembly committee assignments they wanted.
Audette: stated that insurance is the most important and most pressing issue right now as people cannot obtain insurance as it is unaffordable. She’s often asked “What are you doing about it?” She stated that if you aren’t able to articulate the issue, get in front of the news, and hold town halls about it, then the legislature won’t take it seriously.
Mezzano: stated that after 29 years in Law Enforcement, he would choose the Public Safety committee where “good bills go to die.” Proposition 47 has been around for a long time and attempts to defeat it have failed. He stated that Kevin Kiley tried once. Proposition 47 didn’t make our communities safer and allows criminals to go out there and commit crimes without consequence. Of all the candidates, he has the most experience with fire safety and law enforcement.
Hunt: also chose the public safety committee. She stated that the Chairman of the Public Safety (Assm Kevin McCarty) was extremely liberal and not supportive of public safety. She values public safety officers and law enforcement, and will fight for resources for police officers. She wants public safety to be more in front of the legislative agenda. “[McCarty] is making assigning decisions, let them do their job.”
The Union representative asked the candidates how much they had researched about Nevada County and how they would serve Nevada County specifically.
Mezzano: has visited Nevada County six times since starting his campaign. “Give me a solution, put me in Sacramento, and I’ll fight for your solution.” Hears about people from the Bay area moving to Nevada County, saying “You’ve just got a lot to offer and you’re going to have to share it.”
Hunt: “I have not done enough [research]. I have done some work on the mine issue.” Her grandparents lived on Wolf Road in Grass Valley, and she would visit. She believes the county has lacked representation and promises to “be here.”
Audette: Has been representing Nevada County for years. Spoke to how important it is to have a good relationship with those she serves, including regularly checking in with law enforcement, understanding resource needs, knowing the fire risk, and being there when there’s an emergency.
The Union representative also asked, What do you like about California? What gives you hope?
Mezzano: shared that he didn’t like what the City of Redding was doing in 2020, so that he ran for City Council and won. Now he doesn’t like what California is doing, and stated that he can do a better job in Sacramento. He cited his experience as a negotiator in law enforcement and his ability to convince violators that what they were doing was wrong. “Public service is a calling.”
Hunt: expressed her love of California, and how children are our future. She deeply cares for the area, and shared that she was the only candidate born here. During a rebuttal, she clarified that statement to specify that she was the only candidate born in Northern California, not specifically all of California. She stated that California is the destination that people want to move to, and that she lived the dream by growing up in Northern California.
Audette: emphasized that she was born in California, and that she has been here her whole life. Her Grandmother moved to California when she was 13 years old. In answering the question, she stated that what gives her hope were the forum participants that were engaged in the process and that want to leave a legacy. She is determined to stay in California, and shared an exchange she had with a woman in Grass Valley that had never met a political candidate at her door in her life. She has hope that things will change.
Closing Arguments
Audette thanked the group, and urged the audience to visit her website so that they could find more information and contact her over the phone. She listed her endorsements from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the Republican Parties of Nevada, Placer, and El Dorado Counties. As a mother of three teenagers, she stated that she has seen what is happening in schools and that it is a topic deserving greater conversation and engagement. She asked voters to call her so that they could have a conversation about her local experience and familiarity with regional matters.
Hunt also thanked the group for their time, and promised to bring common sense to Sacramento. She cited endorsements from the Drain the Swamp PAC and the California Pistol and Rifle Association. She stated that she is the “MAGA Republican” in the race and that our rural area had a lack of representation in all eleven counties. She called for a need to bring back the logging industry, to provide better jobs and schools for the area. Addressing homelessness, she explained that it will require a multifaceted approach to deal with the mental health challenges resulting from drug addiction. Education is one of her focuses because of her experience, and that it has served the City of Anderson well.
Mezzano thanked the group as well as the audience watching the forum on Nevada County Media. He thanked them for their commitment to make California a better place. He cited changing times, and the role the internet is playing in better educating young people. He stated that he wants to protect the environment and for residents to live a good life. He forecasted that there will be more Republicans getting elected, and that he was going to protect constituents in the North State. He said that the North States does not have a voice in Sacramento, and that he would be honored to earn their vote.
Moderator Marsha Burch asked for a round of applause from the small live attendance and thanked Nevada County Media for live streaming the event.