Steve DeBrum and Sonny Dhaliwal are both battling for the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisor District 3 seat.
Call it a friendly rivalry.
“We respect each other. We are friends. And we’ll still be friends regardless of the outcome,” said Dhaliwal at Monday’s Candidate Forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of San Joaquin County.
This free event was held in the Fireside Room of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Manteca.
DeBrum believes he’s the best qualified candidate come the Nov. 5 elections given his support from both the local law enforcement community and the SJC Farm Bureau.
The two local candidates met earlier in a similar-type forum hosted by League of Women Voters SJC held back in February at Delta College.
They once again took on questions involving homelessness and affordable housing. Couple that with plans to upgrade the Stockton Metropolitan Airport while keeping clean the Airport Way corridor, for starters.
On the latter, DeBrum said of the already approved $26 million (that was done in April by the Board of Supervisors) in upgrades will be a great opportunity for those in the county and the adjacent areas with U.S. Customs – “We’ve not had that (at the airport),” he added – and other such amenities.
Dhaliwal said that it will take a group effort from those along Airport Way in taking care of the weeds and trash along the way.
Another recent move by the Board of Supervisors was orchestrating the Management Service Agreement with Dignity Health and SJ General Hospital – the initial agreement of 18 months called for Dignity Health to provide advice and assistance to the County in overseeing management of the day-to-day administration to the hospital.
DeBrum and Dhaliwal found the move to be beneficial and rewarding with input from those involved being important when time comes to re-upping the agreement for 2-, 3-, or 5- years.
SJC has also experienced a growth in large warehouses, to which DeBrum supports as long as such businesses do not impact traffic or farm land.
Dhaliwal noted that warehouses bring jobs to the area. “It keeps people on this side of the hill,” he said, referring to the 8,000 plus commuters in SJC and the surrounding areas who make the daily travel to the Bay Area for work.
DeBrum is a retired dairy farmer and served on the Manteca City Council. He was elected in 2002 via a special election and was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2004, 2008, and 2012.
DeBrum served one term as Mayor of Manteca.
Dhaliwal is the current Mayor of Lathrop, having served an unprecedented six (two-year) terms. He also served on the Lathrop City Council, Lathrop Planning Commission, and several local boards and commissions.
The League of Women Voters SJC is a nonpartisan political organization that’s committed to voter education and information.
On Saturday, Oct. 5, they’ll host a “Pros and Cons” on the state Ballot Measures at Cesar Chavez Library – the main SJC branch in Stockton located at 605 N. El Dorado St. – from 10 a.m. to noon. The public is invited.
