SAN ANDREAS – Today, Rico Oller, candidate for California’s 5th Assembly District, released the following statement after the State Senate approved $8 billion in funding for Gov. Jerry Brown’s High Speed Rail Project:

The California State Senate voted Friday to increase the State’s debt by 4.5 billion dollars in order to build just a small part of Governor Brown’s High Speed Rail project.  Despite deep public opposition, the State Assembly and Senate have put their utopian ideology ahead of the real needs of our state, and it seems the Governor has decided that his infrastructure legacy is more important than public safety or budget prudence.

We simply do not have enough prison space to hold the most dangerous of criminals, and cuts are being made to state and local budgets including law enforcement and corrections.  Unlike my opponent, who voted four times in support of High Speed Rail, I have opposed this unconscionable waste of taxpayer dollars from the very beginning.   

Public safety is the primary purpose of government and should be our first priority.  Imagine, if you will, what sensible people could do for public safety, and for that matter, our existing transportation system, with 4.5 billion dollars.  

Well, citizens, keep imagining, because for now, the children are running the daycare center.