Government reform took center stage at a debate between prospective Democratic candidates for state assembly district twelve Wednesday evening. San Francisco Supervisor Fiona Ma and Golden Gate Bridge Board member Janet Reilly are both vying for the Democratic Party nomination in June’s primary for the district, which includes the western half of San Francisco and northern portions of Daly City and Colma.

Over two hundred enthusiastic and loud Ma and Reilly supporters, wearing red and blue stickers respectively, packed the State Building Auditorium to hear the two liberal candidates face off for the first time. They agreed more than not throughout the two-hour debate, discussing such issues as California’s budget deficit, education reform, the death penalty, and health care reform.


Reilly, a relative newcomer to the political scene, is running on the strength of her single-payer health care plan, which would extend medical coverage to all Californians funded by employees and employers.

“No Californian will lose her coverage because she can’t meet her premiums, goes to college, or has preexisting conditions,” said Reilly, who became interested in the issue of health care reform after her sister died of breast cancer several years ago.

Though Reilly has little political experience of her own, her husband, Clint Reilly, is a prominent San Francisco political consultant. In addition, Janet has much experience with private charities, including Catholic Charities, and served a stint as Manager of Public Relations for Mervyn’s departments.

Ma also committed to fighting for universal health care in Sacramento and stressed her community ties, telling several stories of working with her constituents throughout her tenure at City Hall. Ma is the only Chinese-American supervisor and looks for support in the strong Asian-American communities of the Richmond and the Sunset.

“I was a product of immigrants,” she said. Before being elected to the Board of Supervisors four years ago, Ma was an aide to former state senator John Burton.

The two candidates both supported a woman’s right to choose, same-sex marriage, and the need to pay public schoolteachers more.

However, they sparred over the death penalty and California’s high school exit exam.

“As a society, we need to look into ourselves and decide if we want to kill,” said Reilly, who added that the issue is a “no-brainer” and called for a two-year moratorium on executions in California.

Ma was more moderate in her opinion.

“Some crimes are so heinous that we must uphold justice,” she said.

Also, Reilly professed support for the high school exit exam which public school students must pass to receive a diploma, but pushed for more funding for education.

“We need to find successful intervention programs for the ten percent of students who don’t pass the exam,” Reilly said.

On the other hand, Ma said the exam only targets the most vulnerable students.

“If you don’t have a high school diploma, you can’t get a job,” she said. “What kind of opportunities do these kids have?”

Reilly concluded by stressing her concrete plans and attacked Ma as a part of the political machine.

“Read my plan and you’ll see why a majority of supervisors who sit every day with my opponent support me,” she said.

Ma highlighted her superior experience.

“If you had a young pilot, who had practiced on simulators but never flown a plane, how many people would go on that first flight?” asked Ma. “Experience makes the difference in this race.”