Rebecca Young

• Office: Public Defender
• Election Date: November 8, 2022
• Candidate: Rebecca Young
• Due Date: Monday, August 29, 2022
• Printable Version

Thank you for seeking GrowSF's endorsement for the November 8, 2022 election! GrowSF believes in a growing, beautiful, vibrant, healthy, safe, and prosperous city 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, August 29, 2022 so we have enough time to adequately review and discuss your answers.

Table of Contents

• Vision
  • Short-form questions
    • The Public Defender's priorities
    • Budget
  • Long-form questions
    • The Public Defender's office
    • Victims' rights
    • Police
    • Budget
• Policy
• Personal
• Thank you

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.

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 city's problems.

The Public Defender's priorities

Should the Public Defender's office spend [more/less/the same amount of] time advocating for broader policy changes as it currently does?

Recognizing that resources at the PD's office are finite, how will you balance defending the accused with broader policy reform?

What are the top issues facing San Francisco, and what do you intend to do to solve them?

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
The DA's office				X
The Public Defender's office	X
Homeless services	X
Drug prevention and treatment	X

If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:

Is the Public Defender's office adequately funded?

Which Public Defender programs or departments need increased funding? Which could get by with less funding?

Tell us one thing you think needs to change in SF that the average voter wouldn't know about.

Long-form questions

This section is optional.

We know your time is short, so please feel free to respond to the questions below which you think are most relevant to the position you're running for (but you are, of course, welcome to answer all of them). It is not necessary to answer these questions to secure our endorsement, but more context always helps us make better decisions.

The Public Defender's office

What is your position on first time non-violent drug dealing charges? What is your position on repeat or violent drug dealing charges?

What will you do differently from your predecessor?

What are the top criminal justice system reforms that you think San Francisco should implement?

What does success look like to you?

Victims' rights

Do the accused receive adequate support from the Public Defender's office? Why or why not?

What would you change about the support the accused receive?

Police

What do you consider are some recent successes and struggles of SFPD? In what ways could the SFPD shift its priorities to better serve the city? How should the SFPD interact with homeless individuals?

Budget

If you could wave a magic wand, how might you change the budget for the DA, Public Defender, and SFPD?

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 Public Defender?

What is your #1 policy goal?

How will you build the coalition and political capital to enact your #1 goal? Will the power of the office of Public Defender be enough to achieve this goal? What are your #2 and #3 policy goals?

Will the power of the office of Public Defender be enough to achieve these goals? What is an existing policy you would like to reform?

What is an "out there" change that you would make to SF / local government / policy, if you could? (For example: adding at-large supervisors, changing how elections work, creating a Bay Area regional government, etc.)

Personal

Tell us a bit about yourself!

Why did you become a defense attorney?

Why do you have an interest in being Public Defender?

What do you want to be remembered for, and why?

How long have you lived in San Francisco? What brought you here and what keeps you here?

What do you love most about San Francisco?

What do you dislike the most about San Francisco?

Tell us about your current involvement in the community (e.g., volunteer groups, neighborhood associations, civic and professional organizations, etc.)

Thank you

Thank you for giving us your time and answering our questionnaire. We look forward to reading your answers and considering your candidacy!