Ferial Masry | Democrat for Assembly

Ferial Masry for 37th Assembly

Oct. 26, 2006

There is tremendous value in meeting candidates face to face, as The Star Editorial Board does. We don't videotape our meetings — yet — but we do record them for our Web site. If you click on to the recording of Republican incumbent, Assemblywoman Audra Strickland, and Democratic challenger Ferial Masry, you may come to the same conclusion our board did: Ms. Masry should be the next 37th District assemblywoman.

Ms. Masry, 57, is a remarkable person. Born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, she was educated in Egypt and graduated with a bachelor of arts from Cairo University. She and her husband moved to Southern California in 1979. Ms. Masry earned a teaching credential and master's degree in school administration from California Lutheran University. She teaches history and government at a public high school in Reseda. The mother of three, her oldest son, Omar, recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq.

Against great odds, she won a write-in campaign in the March 2004 Democratic primary, but lost to Ms. Strickland in the general election in the mostly Republican district.

Ms. Strickland, 32, was elected in 2004, following in the footsteps of her husband, Tony, who served six years in the Assembly. The 37th District includes Camarillo, Fillmore, Moorpark, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Ojai and Santa Paula.

Ms. Strickland, who has a bachelor of arts from the University of California, Irvine, was a private-school junior high school teacher before being elected to the Assembly, and has a young daughter.

Ms. Masry has an uphill battle to unseat the incumbent in a heavily Republican district, but, especially in this race, voters should be wary of choosing a candidate based solely on party affiliation. Ms. Masry describes herself as a "moderate" Democrat and Ms. Strickland describes herself as a "conservative" Republican, and both descriptions are borne out by their stands on the issues.

For example, Ms Strickland opposes all the infrastructure bonds on November's ballot, for which Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been campaigning. She also supports Proposition 90 — government acquisition, regulation of private property — which the nonpartisan state legislative analyst has said is "likely to result in significant net costs on a statewide basis," estimated to be in the billions.

Ms. Masry supports the infrastructure bonds and opposes Proposition 90.

Ms. Strickland emphasizes her positions on illegal immigration, opposing in-state tuition and scholarships to immigrants not legally in the U.S. She supported an earlier proposition, 187, that denied schooling and nonemergency medical care to illegal immigrants.

Ms. Masry shares Ms. Strickland's desire for a secure border, but differs with her education stance, noting, realistically, that for those who are here, "We can either educate them or deal with them in our prisons."

In two years in the Legislature, Ms. Strickland touts as her achievements a bill regulating ownership of wild animals, inspired by the infamous tiger escape in Moorpark last year; a bill about notices posted at day cares; the procurement of a World War II highway sign; a law against extended tethering of dogs; and use of mercury in hospitals. Ms. Strickland is predictable on many issues because she rarely veers from the party line. The Legislature doesn't need lock-step partisans.

We need candidates who weigh the issues themselves; who can see through a deceptive, destructive proposition like Proposition 90; who understands that some things — just like our homes for which we take out mortgages to buy — we can't just pay for as we go. California needs immediately to shore up its aging and vulnerable levees by passing Proposition IE — a $4.09 billion bond act. If the state fails to fix those structures now, taxpayers will be stuck with a lack of water and many millions more in costs when, not if, a disaster strikes.

California needs more citizen politicians with experiences beyond politics. And Ms. Masry's experiences extend beyond this state and country to the world, where she is a role model to many in her native country, where women have few rights.

Ventura County voters should not let the opportunity to have Ms. Masry represent them pass them by. The Star supports Ferial Masry for the 37th Assembly District.