David Leon Zink was raised in Oroville, graduated from Las Plumas High School and CSU Chico, and now lives in Magalia. He is married to his college sweetheart, Lori, and they have a lovely daughter.
Throughout his career, David raised hundreds of millions of dollars for organizations that make our world better – faith-based charities, California cities and counties, hospitals and health services, colleges and universities, and non-profit institutions. He has guided social service associations to listen to their customers, so they can solve tough problems and grow, and he developed novel solutions when the old methods stopped working.
I am pro-freedom, pro-liberty and thus prayerfully pro-choice. I believe that woman’s reproductive healthcare decisions are a private matter that deserve equal protection under the law. It is up to the private sector to offer non-coercive, meaningful alternatives. I will defend the strong safeguards provided for women’s reproductive freedom in California and will support efforts to meet the inevitable rise in demand for reproductive health services to women from outside the state.
I am an advocate for a single payer healthcare system in California because it makes economic sense. Access to healthcare for all is a public good'; and healthy Californians are more entrepreneurial, better workers, and lead happier lives. I will work with other legislators to revive AB 1400 or a similar bill that anticipates workforce-side issues.
It’s hard enough to get by when pay gains get eroded by rising prices at the pump and local grocery, even harder when you’ve lost your home in the recent fires. Californians need a break. I will fight to lower taxes for the working class, to create more affordable housing, to support local efforts to create food resilience, and will zero-in on making healthcare easier on the pocketbook.
My family and I lost three homes in the recent fires. I know the consequences of climate change firsthand, and leveraged my experience to challenge now-Vice President Kamala Harris at CNN’s 2019 Presidential Candidate Town Hall on the climate crisis. I believe in carrots before sticks – incentives before regulation. I will look for ways to ease the financial pain of transition to a low-greenhouse gas economy that are good for the bottom lines of taxpayers, business, and our natural systems.
I favor local control of water in balance with obligations downstream – the environment, people, and business. I will work with state legislators to adjust our system of water rights to fit today’s reality and explore every environment-friendly means to enhance and maximize the supply of water, including incentives for innovation and holding the State accountable to deliver on promises made for existing local water projects.
My family lost homes in the Camp Fire and the Bear Fire. Foresters and firefighters tell me that spending an ounce on forest management and fire prevention is worth a pound spent on fire suppression in an era of megafires. I advocate a mixture of prescribed burns and logging. I will explore the potential for attracting our post-high school population to enlist for civil service to provide massive workforce needed for prevention, with GI Bill-like education incentives.
I’m married to a retired educator and understand the calling. I’m committed to the vision of a California that once again leads the nation in providing quality public education for all, and will look for ways to reward great classroom teaching. I support equity in pay and benefits for early childhood educators, and will look for ways to reward post-high school civil service with funding for higher education.
Housing is essential to stability and without it, life can be mayhem. Topping the list of reasons for homelessness is a lack of adequate supply of affordable housing, and much of what’s there is substandard or unsafe. I will work to encourage well-coordinated public-private partnerships that put housing and dignity first and will advocate for investment in more housing, behavioral health services, employment development and other programs that produce positive, sustainable outcomes.
I come from a mountain ranching family that regarded firearms as a work tool. I support sensible regulation of firearms and gun ownership, such as reasonable limits on firepower, background checks, red flag laws, and training. But not every regulation makes sense in application, so I will listen to the experiences of gun owners to identify where well-meaning regulations depart from common sense and will work for reform.
Everyone loves a good fight. What makes me different is why, for whom, and how I fight. I believe our system of government can endure if we elect reasonable representatives that listen to, speak and act on behalf of We the People. I instinctively put people before Party. I’ll listen. I’ll lean into an issues fight with respect, curiosity, facts, always aiming to bring us together around the right ideas for effective action and the highest good for all.