John Dennis
- Office: Congress, District 11
- Election Date: June 7, 2022
- Candidate: John Dennis
- Due Date: Monday, April 11, 2022
- Printable Version
Thank you for seeking GrowSF's endorsement for the June 7, 2022 primary election! GrowSF believes in a growing, vibrant, healthy, safe, and prosperous San Francisco via common sense solutions and effective government.
The GrowSF endorsement committee will review all completed questionnaires and seek consensus on which candidates best align with our vision for San Francisco and have the expertise to enact meaningful policy changes.
We ask that you please complete this questionnaire by Monday, April 11, 2022 so we have enough time to adequately review and discuss your answers.
Table of Contents
Vision
GrowSF believes in a growing, beautiful, vibrant, healthy, safe, and prosperous San Francisco. We work to propose and pass laws that align incentives of private businesses and individuals to promote shared prosperity for every San Franciscan.
As a candidate for federal office, your day-to-day responsibilities in office will affect not just San Francisco, but California and the United States as a whole. As a representative of the people of California and of San Francisco, the policies you bring to Washington should reflect the best of what we have to offer.
This section of our questionnaire seeks to help us gain an understanding of your alignment with our vision for San Francisco. Note that some of the questions may be outside the scope of the office you're running for.
Short-form questions
Please mark the box that best aligns with your position. You may explain any position if you so desire, but this section is designed to be a quick overview of your governing philosophy and view of the problems of the city, state, and/or country.
If you are not familiar with San Francisco in particular, feel free to skip the questions about it. But please do answer the questions about state and federal policy.
Small Business
| In San Francisco, in general, is it too hard, just right, or too easy to… | Too hard | Just right | Too easy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open a new businesses | X | ||
| Run a business | X | ||
| Hire staff at a living wage | X | ||
| Obtain various licenses (liquor, entertainment, etc) | X |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
Why can't San Francisco be known as a pro business city? Would that make this a better or worse place to live? Politicians put up obstacles to business so they can extract something that will advance their careers. Let's call out this practice and put an end to it. Hurts the average San Franciscan.
| Should the state or federal government have more say, the same say, less say, or the same amount but of a different variety on… | More say | Same amount | Less say | Same, but different |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small business creation | X | |||
| Rules & permitting fees enacted by cities and states | X | |||
| Corporate tax policy | X | |||
| Tax incentives for high tech, green tech, or other desirable industries | X |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
I'm a non interventionist in foreign policy, and a non interventionist in domestic policy. Capital in the hands of businesses can improve lives. Not so much with governments.
Housing
| In San Francisco, in general, is it too hard, just right, or too easy to… | Too hard | Just right | Too easy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expand your home (adding new stories, rooms, decks, etc) | X | ||
| Demolish your home and redevelop it into multifamily housing | X | ||
| Redevelop things like parking lots and single-story commercial into multifamily housing | X | ||
| Build subsidized Affordable housing | X | ||
| Build market-rate housing | X | ||
| Build homeless shelters (including navigation centers and "tiny homes") | X |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
I'm a developer with one project in the city. I won't do another. A bad experience. Enough said.
| Should the state or federal government have more say, the same say, less say, or the same amount but of a different variety on… | More say | Same amount | Less say | Same, but different |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zoning | x | |||
| Taxes and fees on homebuilders | x | |||
| Oversight of cities' housing policies | x | |||
| Building subsidized Affordable housing | x | |||
| Building market-rate housing | x | |||
| Building homeless shelters | x |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
I understand the efforts by Scott Wiener to make it easier to build in SF. But I'm not comfortable handing that kind of leverage to Sacramento. Let's fix regulations on the local level.
Now if Wiener and Sacramento could pare down CEQA that would be a good thing…
Public Safety
| In San Francisco, in general, is it too hard, just right, or too easy to… | Too hard | Just right | Too easy |
|---|---|---|---|
| File a police report | X | ||
| Recover a stolen item like a bike or laptop computer | X | ||
| Arrest & prosecute criminals | X | ||
| File a domestic violence or rape report | X | ||
| Charge & prosecute domestic violence or rape | X |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
Filling out the reports isn't difficult. Getting a result is the hard part in San Francisco. Got to fix that. Recalling Boudin will be a good first step, but lots more to be done to reestablish safety/law & order in SF.
| Should the state or federal government have more say, the same say, less say, or the same amount but of a different variety on… | More say | Same amount | Less say | Same, but different |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal justice administration at the state or city level | X | |||
| Police funding | X | |||
| Rehabilitation of prisoners | X |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
Resolve our problems locally.
Education
| In San Francisco, in general, is it too hard, just right, or too easy to… | Too hard | Just right | Too easy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attend a school of your choosing | X | ||
| Transport children to school | X | ||
| Hire teachers | X | ||
| Fire teachers | XXX | ||
| Set public education curriculum | X |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
Our daughter has attended private schools in SF. We didn't feel the public options were strong enough for us. The response by the SFUSD during COVID made us feel like we made the right decision.
| Should the state or federal government have more say, the same say, less say, or the same amount but of a different variety on… | More say | Same amount | Less say | Same, but different |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standardized education curricula | X | |||
| Public School funding | X | |||
| Private Schools | X | |||
| Religious Schools | X | |||
| Staffing levels | X | |||
| Advanced, remedial, or special needs education | X |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free: Same reasons as above.
Budget
| Do you think San Francisco spends too little, too much, or just enough on… | Too little | Just enough | Enough, but badly | Too much |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Police and public safety | X | |||
| Street cleanliness | X | |||
| Homeless services | X | |||
| Affordable housing | X | |||
| Parks | X | |||
| Roads | X | |||
| Bus, bike, train, and other public transit infrastructure | X | |||
| Schools | X | |||
| Medical facilities | X | |||
| Drug prevention and treatment | X | |||
| Arts | X |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
The streets would be cleaner if the "homeless" (street drug addiction) problem were better addressed. Mass transit seems substandard, and seems like it's less safe now. I love supporting the arts, but just with private money.
| Do you think the state or federal governments spend too little, too much, or just enough on… | Too little | Just enough | Enough, but badly | Too much |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Police and public safety | x | |||
| Street cleanliness | x | |||
| Homeless services | xxx | |||
| Affordable housing | x | |||
| Parks | x | |||
| Roads | x | |||
| Bus, bike, train, and other public transit infrastructure | x | |||
| Schools | x | |||
| Medical facilities | x | |||
| Drug prevention and treatment | x | |||
| Arts | x |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
Same as above, prefer problems be solved locally. If elected, I'll bring federal money to San Francisco, but focused on infrastructure. Our current representative gets federal money for the "homeless" irrespective of outcomes, effectively subsidizing drug addiction and overdoses. I will change that approach.
What are the top three issues facing San Francisco, California, or the Nation and what would you like to see change?
San Francisco:
- Street drug addiction
- Crime/Safety
- Cost of living
Nation:
- Federal overreach from privacy to civil liberties
- Interventionist foreign policy
- Spending deficits and massive debt.
In San Francisco, we have to make the city, if not inhospitable, at least far less hospitable to be homeless. The city has become a magnet, a hub, for those who want to live the drug addict lifestyle. We can continue to help, but also we have to accept that it is no longer acceptable to live that way in the city.
To reverse federal overreach we have to limit the activities of Washington to the enumerated powers in Article I Section 8. And we must reorganize the intelligence and law enforcement agencies in DC. They have lost their way.
Tell us one thing you think needs to change in San Francisco, California, or the Nation that the average voter wouldn't know about.
Stop referring to the problem as "homelessness." The problem is primarily, though not exclusively, a street drug addiction matter. See it in that light and the solutions become clearer.
I think few people realize how much they are spied on by federal agencies. Liberty and privacy matter.
Policy
Now that we know where you align and differ from our vision for San Francisco, we'd like to get some details about how you intend to use your elected office to achieve your goals.
Why are you running for Congress?
To bring my vision of what the government should and ought to be to Washington. In order for us all to live together as peacefully and prosperously as possible we need to agree to follow our own rules.
What is your #1 policy goal?
Reduce the overreach of the federal government. In order to do that, the intelligence and federal law enforcement agencies need to be reorganized.
How will you build the coalition and political capital to enact your #1 goal?
I'll use my libertarian principles to find common ground on both sides of the aisle.
Will the power of the office of Congressmember be enough to achieve this goal?
A representative works in the part of the government responsible for lawmaking, so it's a good place to be. Developing relationships to find common ground is a skill I think I have, and that's at the root of good legislation.
What are your #2 and #3 policy goals?
Balanced budgets and advancement of a non interventionist approach to the world.
Will the power of the office of Congressmember be enough to achieve these goals?
Moreso on #2 than #3. I hope to develop a relationship with the president on some level to affect #3.
What is an existing policy you would like to reform?
In certain industries the federal government gives advantages to large players over smaller ones. Agriculture comes to mind. I'd like to end those advantages.
What is an "out there" change that you would make to state/local government policy, if you could? (For example: changing how elections work, creating a Bay Area regional government, etc.)
Out there? I'm a libertarian, where do you want to start? ;-)
I don't think there's any good economic reason for a government created entity to have control over the money supply. I'd at least like to fully audit the Fed and ultimately move to a market based money supply, not a centrally controlled one.
Personal
Tell us a bit about yourself!
How long have you lived in California? What brought you here and what keeps you here?
31 years. Business brought me here and this is where I started and raised my family. We have roots here now. Having lived in cities around this country and in 5 other countries no place fits quite as well for our family as San Francisco
What do you love most about California and/or your hometown?
The people attracted to this city.
What do you dislike the most about California and/or your hometown?
Some of the people who have come here have brought a bad combination of political ambition and awful ideology with them. I'd like to help change that.
Tell us about your current involvement in the community (e.g., volunteer groups, neighborhood associations, civic and professional organizations, etc.)
I'm the Chairman of the San Francisco Republican Party, where I've been active for nearly 15 years. I've run for office several times, including for this position and for the Board of Supervisors.
If you see any errors on this page, please let us know at contact@growsf.org.