Dear East and South County Neighbors,

Across every generation, parents worry about their kids. We hope for them, and want them able to meet life’s challenges.

I waited until my sons were out of high school before I ever considered running for public office. Raising them well, saving my time away from work for them, that was my priority.

Following each of their high school graduations (in 1998 and 2000), I took each one away for a day into California’s mountains just east of here. For each, our destination was a wagon road used by pioneers to climb the great rock wall of the eastern Sierra Nevada.

My message? The wagon road is the road of life. Away in these great mountains, among the rutted boulders and rust-flecked granite sheets of Carson Pass, or on the steeply forested talus slope west of Donner Lake, my sons could see what commitment and determination looks like. The message of the wagon roads is vivid. Pioneers made California the home of their families and the founding place for their dreams by hard work, unwavering determination — and teamwork when facing adversity.

California must reclaim this heritage. In the State Capitol, solving California’s problems has taken a back seat to partisan bickering. Effort applied is ineffective. The new and accustomed routine is failure after failure. In the face of skyrocketing deficits, underfunded schools and out-of-whack budgets, gridlock is accepted as a norm.

Nothing is solved, while the most precious resource of every person or institution, time itself, is wasted. It’s killing our future. The Wall Street Journal recently blasted California citing the stark fact our government no longer works.

That’s why I am running for State Assembly - I am convinced California’s best days lay in front of us – not behind us.

My priorities in the State Assembly will be clear: ~ Target job creation by cracking the nut the Wall Street Journal identified – making government work.

~ Accept the charge our Constitution vests in every lawmaker’s office to pursue oversight and accountability of state agencies. Under our Constitution, California’s future is entrusted not to a “Big 5″, but to ALL 120 state lawmakers.

~ Protecting our investment in education. Without a growing, educated work force, we’ll lose the jobs competition to other, better educated places.

We Must Grow Our Future from Today’s Difficulties

Carved in the granite above the main entry to California’s 1st office building is a message to succeeding generations, “Bring Me Men to Match My Mountains”.

Early Californians understood that the character and determination of our pioneer forbears represented the type of man or woman California would need if successive generations were to meet the mountain-like challenges of their time. I’ll bring a belief in the preciousness of this heritage to the State Assembly.

You can read more about my vision, values and plans for California here on my website. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

I would appreciate your support and your vote.

Onward and Upward,

Ken Cooley

Excerpted from The Sacramento Bee
October 17, 2016

The Sacramento Bee Editorial Board generally does not endorse when one candidate essentially is assured of victory. However, in these races, we recommend the re-election of Reps. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove, and Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento, and Assemblymen Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, and Ken Cooley, D-Rancho Cordova. Each has little chance of losing.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/ election-endorsements/ article108811402.html# storylink=cpy

Excerpted from The Sacramento Bee
October 14, 2016

If there’s one lawmaker who appreciates the rules and traditions of the California Legislature, it’s Assemblyman Ken Cooley.

The Rancho Cordova Democrat has spent years steeped in the culture of Sacramento, having served as a staffer for more than a decade before winning his seat in 2012. His knowledge of the Capitol’s architectural history runs so deep that he gives tours of the building, and he commonly invokes legislative history and procedure during floor speeches.

Excerpted from Gold River Messenger
October 6, 2016

Assemblyman Ken Cooley’s (D-Rancho Cordova) AB 2417 was signed in to law by Governor Brown this afternoon. AB 2417 expands foster youth access to court appointed special advocates, known as CASAs. These are volunteers who are appointed by a judge to provide one-on-one mentorship and advocacy to abused and neglected children who are under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court. Children with court appointed special advocates have demonstrably better long-term outcomes: they are more likely to find a safe permanent home, half as likely to reenter the foster care system, and have far greater success in school. However, there are currently not enough CASA volunteers to advocate on behalf of the foster children in need of their services.

CASA programs are required by law to fingerprint each volunteer to screen for a criminal background before allowing them to mentor and advocate for youth. Non-profit organizations that serve children do not have to pay the California Department of Justice fees for background checks, but CASA programs are currently excluded from this benefit. This places an undue financial burden on this critical child advocacy program.

Excerpted from Carmichael Times
September 30, 2016

The California Heritage Protection Act (AB 2249) was signed into law on September 21st by Governor Brown, Assemblyman Ken Cooley (D-Rancho Cordova) has announced. AB 2249 ensures park concessionaires in California’s state parks cannot trademark historic place names simply due to their status as a concessionaire. The bill was introduced by Assemblyman Cooley and Assemblymen Frank Bigelow (R-O’Neals) and Adam Gray (D-Merced) in response to the U.S. National Park Service’s controversial renaming of several landmarks at Yosemite National Park due to a dispute with their ex-concessionaire.

“This bill makes clear that trademarking of historic names in state parks by concessionaires without any independent basis for a claim is unacceptable and our state Department of Parks and Recreation cannot sign off on the type of trademarking conduct that produced the Yosemite dispute,” said Assemblyman Cooley. “With AB 2249’s signature, that kind of behavior will disqualify a concessionaire from receiving a concessions contract in California, which makes the bipartisan unanimity of the Legislature especially impressive.”

Excerpted from Rancho Cordova Independent
May 29, 2016

Although State Assemblyman Ken Cooley is in his first term at the Sacramento Capitol, he is not inexperienced. Cooley worked straight out of Berkeley for a senior member of the assembly. “He was Rules chairman, I was his top guy,” Cooley said.

Cooley later worked for a state senator drafting legislation, and this was while he was also on the Rancho Cordova City Council. Having worked with Cooley on the city council for years, council member and past mayor Robert McGarvey said, “He’s probably one of the most experienced elected officials there in the Capitol right now.” Therefore, when Ken Cooley began his term he was able to step right into the work.

Excerpted from Rancho Cordova Independent
April 4, 2016

Assemblyman Ken Cooley’s (D-Rancho Cordova) AB 2279 passed unanimously out of the Assembly Health Committee this week. AB 2279 bolsters transparency about how Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) funds are being used by requiring that information about state-wide and county-by-county funding for mental health programs be made available to the public to enhance accountability, outcomes, and facilitate mental health program improvement.

Proposition 63, the MHSA, was passed by the voters in 2004. Its purpose was to transform the mental health system by providing prevention and intervention services to those living with mental illness.

Excerpted from Sacramento Bee
February 22, 2016

Assembly Bill 2249 prohibits contracts with companies that pursue trademarks at state parks

Follows ongoing controversy over ownership of names for some of Yosemite’s most famous sites

Assemblyman Ken Cooley: ‘I just find it shocking’

Assemblyman Ken Cooley is pursuing a bill that would ban concessionaires at state parks if they trademark iconic names.

Comparing the Yosemite renaming controversy to a punch in the gut, Assemblyman Ken Cooley on Monday announced a bill that would prohibit California from contracting with concessionaires who attempt to trademark names associated with a state park.

Successes

  • Fiscal Prudence
  • My City Hall
  • A Model Government

Ken's conservative financial habits reflect the values of his home life with Sydney, his wife of 36 years, who has served for many years as bookkeeper for Cordova Neighborhood Church.

His habit of care with money was deepened and reinforced by his 18 Year private sector business career as In-House Counsel to State Farm Insurance, one of America’s most successful financial enterprises. The stewardship of Ken’s city with tax dollars makes it a rarity — 8 yrs of balanced budgets, every year a surplus, never yet dipped into our reserves, chosen as an All America City during his second term as Mayor...

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Government works best when it is connected to those it serves.

I believe that, and during my 1st term as Mayor in 2005, I did something to make that idea a part of my city’s history and identity.

While still under construction, I opened our future City Council Chamber to City residents for an event I called ”My City Hall”. City residents – young and old - had one evening to enter the shell of our under construction City Hall...

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International study into effective governance makes City of Rancho Cordova its first stop.

The People’s Republic of China has 10 study missions now underway around the globe to explore how a variety of modern democratic societies manage change through deliberative government institutions. Rancho Cordova was singled out as the first stop for the team that is conducting its survey here in the United States. The clip that folllows was aired on Sacramenmto area television as the local news crews profiled the team from China’s visit to Rancho Cordova City Hall.

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