2 Take Aim at Proposed Assembly Seat

Pledging to work for lower taxes and to cut state spending, two Poway residents declared their candidacy this week for the Republican nomination for the proposed 75th District Assembly seat.

Poway Mayor Jan Goldsmith focused on water and transportation issues in his announcement Thursday, saying that the “district is facing this decade some of the worst traffic problems in the state.”

“I’m focusing on the nuts and bolts of government,” Goldsmith said.

The 40-year-old former attorney also supported bringing a high-speed rail line to the area and revamping the state’s welfare entitlement programs.

Goldsmith began his statement, however, with a shot at his opponent in the June primary, anti-abortion activist Connie Youngkin, who had announced her candidacy for the same seat Wednesday.

“If your state representative seeks office for one special agenda, that’s all we get. We lose representation, we lose opportunities,” said Goldsmith, charging Youngkin with only caring about making abortion illegal.

Youngkin, a nurse who has never held elective office, charged back that she has long been active in school and community efforts, including the creation of Blue Sky Ranch and the adoption of an abstinence-only sex-education program at Poway Unified earlier this year.

“I have a handle on what is important to the people: tax fighting and the promoting of traditional family values,” Youngkin said.

Youngkin unsuccessfully attempted to unseat Assemblywoman Tricia Hunter (R-Bonita) in 1990.