March 2023 Newsletter Articles

MARK TURNER BRINGS RECORD OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
AS MORGAN HILL MAYOR

Guest Column By Matt Wendt

On December 14, 2022, Mark Turner was sworn in as mayor of Morgan Hill. He is the first Republican mayor to be elected in Morgan Hill in nearly 40 years. Mark won the Nov. 8 election for mayor with 6,672 ballots or 42.78% of the vote. Incumbent Rich Constantine received 32.91% of the vote; and former Morgan Hill City Councilmember Larry Carr, received 24.31%.

Residents were impressed with Mark’s background, experience, and commitment to the community. Mark is a long-time resident of Morgan Hill where he and his wife have raised their family over the last 30 years. Prior to being elected mayor, Mark was the President/CEO of the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce where his business advocacy included taking positions on local, regional, and state issues while working with elected officials at every level. He received the 2020 Chamber Executive of the Year Award from the Western Association of Chamber Executives (W.A.C.E.), W.A.C.E. is the largest state or regional association of chamber of commerce executives in the United States. Mark was also the Chair of the Silicon Valley Chamber Coalition consisting of 18 Chambers of Commerce in and around Silicon Valley.

Mark also has volunteered in his community throughout the years. He currently serves on the board of the Morgan Hill Community Foundation. Mark has helped with creek clean-up efforts; coached his girls in Spirit Morgan Hill Softball; helped raise thousands of dollars for local schools; helped raise more than $10 million dollars for organizations such as Ronald McDonald House, Operation Freedom Paws, DreamPower Horsemanship, South Valley Wine Auction, Pratham USA, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation-Northern California Chapter. He has served on the board of his homeowners’ association; and for the last 9 years, as the Director of South County’s efforts for Wreaths Across America.

Voters resonated with Mark’s message and focus on five core issues facing the city: 1) Public Safety including making sure police and fire staffing keep pace with the growth of the city; 2) Economic Development, Recovery and Jobs including forming a partnership between the City’s Economic Development Team, Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Association and Visit Morgan Hill to align economic development strategies; 3) Local Control of land use issues to push back on the state’s requirements; 4) Tourism (Recreation, Health and Wellness) to promote the community including increasing visitors to Morgan Hill; and 5) Responsiveness to residents’ concerns including returning council meetings to in-person meetings and bringing civility and respect back to the council.

Lindsey Stetson Runs for Central Coast Vice Chair

 By Roger Riffenburgh

Lindsey Stetson, experienced volunteer leader, past executive director of two county parties, and the current regional Vice Chair for the Central Coast, is running for reelection at the CAGOP convention in Sacramento on March 10-12.  As Central Coast Vice Chair, she represents her region’s Republicans on the state party’s Board of Directors and provides leadership and support to the region’s Republican county committees.  She says, “When Republicans stand together for our values, we win.”

Stetson says her priorities as Vice Chair are to:  “Fight the Democrats who are destroying our state; Continue building a strong, funded party infrastructure; Put new data to work to help us attract voters to the California Republican Party; and Advocate for our region with volunteer trainings, resources for our candidates, and voter registration.”

Lindsey served as Executive Director for the county party in Santa Barbara and later in Monterey.  She has been an officer in Young Republicans and Republican Women, a California Republican Party delegate since 2010, and a national convention delegate in 2012.  She is also the Second Vice Chair of the Ventura County Republican Central Committee.

She also says, “In my next term, I plan to continue utilizing the initiatives started by the CAGOP like Election Integrity and Engagement programs. We, as a party, should become aggressive with ballot harvesting while working to restore faith and security in our elections. We have many areas of opportunity to grow our party in a host of diverse communities across our region. We can learn from the successes in other places, like Florida and South Texas, where this has had positive outcomes.”

First elected as regional Vice Chair in 2019, Lindsey Stetson helped elect Congressman Mike Garcia, Assemblywoman Suzette Valladares Martinez and a host of candidates to local office. She has continued to focus on growing our bench by recruiting volunteers and electing more candidates locally.

Stetson currently serves as chair of the CAGOP Volunteer Organizations Committee as well as a member of both Rules and Budget Committees. In 2021 she chaired the Newsom Recall Committee which activated volunteers to qualify the recall and supported county party get-out-the-vote efforts with literature and a precinct walking app.

The Regional Vice Chair is a volunteer position.  The Central Coast region consists of Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura Counties.  The vice chair will be elected by convention delegates at the regional meeting at the Sacramento convention on Saturday morning, March 11.

Lindsey Stetson was born in Southern California and raised in Ventura County, and is proud to be a 5th generation Republican woman.  She attended Cal State University – Monterey Bay, where she became a College Republican and earned her degree in communications.  She walked, called, and stuffed envelopes for local candidates.  Later she was selected to serve as the Central Coast Field Representative on the Meg Whitman for Governor campaign.

Lindsey lives in Ventura and works as a professional fundraiser.  You can find out more about her campaign for Central Coast Regional Vice Chair on her campaign website, lindseystetson.com.