Carl Guardino

Carl Guardino is the President of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. [ [http://www.jigsaw.com/scid8837101/carl_guardino.xhtml] Jigsaw reference]

From the Silicon Valley Leadership Group's Bio page [http://svlg.net/about/staff/guardino.html] Silicon Valley Leadership Group Bio Page]

In February 2007, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Guardino to a four-year term on the California Transportation Commission [ [http://www.catc.ca.gov/ctcstaff/members.htm] CTC Bio Page] [ [http://www.catc.ca.gov/Press%20Releases/Press_Release_021407.pdf] Press Release announcing appointment] .

Guardino has been the chief executive of the Leadership Group since 1997. He previously served as a vice president with the organization between 1991 and 1995. In between, he held an executive position in governmental affairs with Hewlett Packard. Earlier, he spent six years on the staff of Central Valley Assemblyman Rusty Areias, the last three as his chief assistant.

Involvement with transportation

Guardino raised the sales tax by a half-percent with Santa Clara CountyMeasures A & B in 1996 that funded 19 road and rail improvements with a $1.4 billion sales tax. This measure was a 10-year sales tax that expired in 2006.

Guardino also co-managed of the Santa Clara County 2000 sales tax measure. This measure extends the 1996 A & B from its original expiration in 2006 another 30 years to 2036. This measure was to cover:
* the local cost of building BART to Santa Clara, California by way of San Jose, California
* the Santa Clara portion of Caltrain electrification
* Dumbarton Rail Extension
* and numerous other projects.

The Federal Transit Administration has questioned the value of building a rail system that requires a $100 subsidy per rider. [ [http://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/morgue/2005/2005_12_07.guest07rail2.shtml] 'Caltrain Metro East' -- a better transit plan than BART-to-San Jose] [ [http://seattle.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2005/03/07/story1.html] BizJournal mention of the FTA not willing to fund BART-to-San Jose.]

The other projects are deferred until the vision of BART has been completed.

In the April 19, 2006 San Jose Mercury News revealed that the organization which Guardino heads, Silicon Valley Leadership Group, made a lobbying trip [ [http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/14376283.htm] Silicon Valley Leadership Group wants to lower it sales taxes] to Sacramento to obtain support for sales tax exemptions for larger businesses. Specifically, two bills - SB 1291 [ [http://leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=sb_1291&sess=0506] SB 1291 Elaine Alquist] and AB 2218 [ [http://leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=ab_2218&sess=0506] Alberto Torrico] - that would have exempt companies from state sales taxes for purchasing equipment used in manufacturing and research.

At the same time, Guardino and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group were busy pushing June 2006 Santa Clara County Measure A. This measure was to raise the Santa Clara County sales tax to 8.75% (the highest in the state of California [ [http://www.boe.ca.gov/cgi-bin/rates.cgi] Sales tax rates from State of California] ). SB1291 and AB2218 would have exempted SVLG companies from the sales tax increase proposed in Measure A. The additional money was needed to cover the cost overruns incurred by the BART-to-San Jose project.

The June 2006 measure lost 57%-43% [ [http://www.sccgov.org/elections/results/june2006/] June 2006 Election Results

MEASURE A1115/1115 100.00% Vote Count PercentNO 153,592 57.13%YES 115,239 42.87%Total 268,831 100.00%

] [ [http://www.mv-voice.com/morguepdf/2006/2006_06_16.mvv.section1.pdf] Letters to the Editor (p19) Patrick Moore Transportation Chair,Sierra Club, Loma Prieta Chapter]

Other Associations

Guardino is the chair of City Year San Jose Silicon Valley. In addition, he serves on the boards for the Second Harvest Food Bank, the Housing Trust of Santa Clara County and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Guardino also hosts "The CEO Show," a radio talk featuring top Silicon Valley CEOs and other executives that airs every Tuesday at 7 p.m. on KLIV AM 1590, and writes “Corporate Culture,” a monthly column in San Jose Magazine.

Guardino was born and raised in San Jose and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from San Jose State University.

References

External links

* [http://vtawatch.blogspot.com/] VTA Watch - local blog watching transportation.
* [http://bayrailalliance.org] BayRail Alliance -- local transit advocacy group