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LWV League of Women Voters of California
Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, Santa Clara Counties, CA March 5, 2002 Election
Smart Voter Full Biography for Thomas A. "Tom" Benigno

Candidate for
United States Representative; District 11; Republican Party

This information is provided by the candidate

Thomas A Benigno born February 17th 1936 in Oakland Ca. Youngest of 6 children. Attended schools in Alameda & San Joaquin counties. Joined the Air Force Reserve unit from 1954 to 1962 Honorable Discharge. Worked various jobs until 1955 when I started my career in the grocery industry. While in the business I started to farm part time in the San Joaquin Valley. I met my wife Joyce and we were married in 1959 we started our family in 1961. Gradually I left the grocery industry to farm full time in the Tracy area.

In the 70's I opened my first store in Tracy Ca. In 1983 I had a major set back. I was a victim of a violent crime in Tracy, where I was hospitalized. In 1996 I was forced to close down my businesses. This is when I got involved in Politics. City council meetings, Board of Supervisors, Bay Area Governments, Farmer Markets committee, many meetings dealing with beautification of cities and it's infrastructure. Stockton, Pleasanton, Dublin, San Ramon,and other areas dealing with Downtown vitalization programs.

Later in 2000 I ran for State Assembly in the 17th district. In 2001 I filed my papers for another race when the 17th district was changed in part to the 26th district. During this period I also filed my papers for the Republican Central Committee,Fourth Supervisoral District. This will allow me to have a voice in the committee to vote on issues that come up in the selection of committee rules. This is a very important part of the party's policy making process.

This is when I decided to run for Congress. The decision to run against another Republican was not a hard decision to make. It was the thing for me to do. I thought I could represent the new district that I worked in and raised my family and, where I had ties on both sides of the hill.

During this time is when I started my TV show called Citizen's Voice. As the founder and host, I find many topics that are close to my heart. The show is in it's fourth year in some 32 cities in the 11th district.

My knowledge of the grocery business and farming enables me to go different levels of government to explain the problems that businesses have in maintaining a balace of what's good for consumers and what's not. This is where I execel in my love of the business and my country. I go well beyond my priorities of politics to view the issues as the way they should be, but some times offend those with my point of view. I call it as I see it.

My unpredictable ability to forcast or to vision future events is only that I'm in-tune with reality, such as the terrorist attacks. I predicted those four years ago because of our open door policies. We have been under seige since long before the attacks. I suggested that we call for the National Guard in our schools three years ago. The pundits said it was against the constitution. Since then we have lost 132 children. I asked to have our borders closed down four years ago. I suggested we call for security on our borders and our airports. All these issues that I talk about are all part of what I'm about.

Some of our politicans have let us down by adopting some of these policies, that will harm our country for generations to come. NAFTA,WTO,The one World Banks the United Nations are all hurting our country for generations to come. Our domestic policies must be prioritized before we help other countries. It's time for benigno.

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: January 28, 2002 11:50
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