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“No on Measure A Committee Chair” Rishi Kumar’s Speech at Cupertino Rally

“We are no longer a county that provides healthcare — we’ve become a healthcare operation trying to run a county.” – Rishi Kumar

Rishi Kumar, Chair of “No on Measure A Committee “, Santa Clara County Assessor Candidate, voting member of Democratic Party Central Committee, former Saratoga City Council member, speaks in opposition to “Measure A” in front of Cupertino Library Sunday (10/19/2025)

(Rishi Kumar, Chair of “No on Measure A” Committee, Santa Clara County Assessor Candidate, speaks at Cupertino Rally)

YouTube Video can be found at the bottom of the page, and below is the transcript from Rishi’s speech.

” How many of you have already voted No on Measure A? And how many of you are planning to vote No on A?

No on A! No on A! No on A!

For transparency — I chair the No on Measure A committee. It’s a registered FPPC committee with Sacramento. I have to give a lot of credit to my friend Dan, who understands the process inside and out. We’ve got a phenomenal team.

Dan saw this coming early and said, “Rishi, we need to get ahead of this. We need to make sure we’re part of the No on Measure A campaign.” That’s exactly what we did.

Back in early August, we began collaborating — because we could see the signs. We worked together with:

  • Mayor Liang Fang Chao,
  • Assemblymember Kansen Chu,
  • Mayor of Palo Alto, Lydia Kou,
  • Mayor of Monte Sereno, Rowena Turner,
  • Mayor of Monte Sereno, Liz Lawler.

Now, if you were listening closely, you might have noticed — these leaders come from across party lines.

You have me, a Democrat. Liang Fang Chao is Independent. Kansen Chu is a Democrat. Lydia Kou is a Democrat. Liz Lawler and Rowena Turner are Republicans.

That is what represents America.

There’s a reason I’m wearing purple today — because we’re not red states or blue states. We are the United States of America.

This is not about going left or going right — it’s about going forward.

And when we go forward, we’re going to reject Measure A. Reject Measure A — because if we don’t, here’s what will happen:

The county’s deficit is projected to hit $4.4 billion by 2030. How much will Measure A raise right now? $300 million. What’s their plan for the remaining $4 billion? There is no plan — except to raise your taxes again.

Santa Clara County, with a population of 2 million, spends $7 billion on healthcare.

Los Angeles County, with five times the population, spends only $12 billion — out of a total $43 billion budget.

Like Mayor Liang said, we’re spending nearly four times more per person than L.A. County. That’s unacceptable.

We are no longer a county that provides healthcare — we’ve become a healthcare operation trying to run a county.

So what did we do? We wrote the ballot argument against Measure A — and the rebuttal — all within two days. We worked fast, submitted it, and the county accepted our statement. If you open your ballot guide, you’ll see our names there:

Liang Fang Chao, Assemblymember Kansen Chu, and myself.

We were the early ones. Others are now jumping on the bandwagon — but it’s already too late, because the Mercury News has officially opposed Measure A.

Measure A is heading for a colossal defeat!

In the last few weeks, I’ve been mentioned in about 20 different media stories — and Measure A keeps giving. Why? Because the county made another mistake: they used taxpayer dollars to send out political mailers to every home. We are filing a lawsuit against the county. Our demand is simple — for every taxpayer dollar they misused, they should pay ten dollars in punitive damages back to the taxpayers.

The press has picked it up, and it’s getting traction. So please — whenever you can, talk to the media. Let them know the truth. Because the county has no plan — except to keep raising taxes. There’s a new 50-cent transportation tax coming next year. Many cities are planning parcel taxes and library bond measures to fill their gaps.

That’s not the way forward. We need to cut the fat. Let me give you two examples:

  • The county healthcare budget exploded from $1.5 billion to $7 billion — with the same population. You can easily trim $3–4 billion there.
  • The VTA light rail system is losing about $1 billion a year. Cut that funding.

That’s $4 billion right there — enough to fund law enforcement, schools, and essential healthcare without new taxes.

It’s time to cut the fat and reject Measure A.

No on A! No on A! No on A!

Thank you. “

(Rishi Kumar’s “No on Measure A” Speech on YouTube)

Appendix: Some of Rishi Kumar’s Media Contribution on “No on Measure A” (Full List)

More Speeches at the Rally:

  • Chie Kan , Hostress, Small Business Owner (opening speech)
  • Tony Guan , VP of ERFA PAC, Board Member SVCA (speech)
  • Kansen Chu , Former CA Assemblymember (D) (speech)
  • Liang Fang Chao , Cupertino Mayor (speech, more details, 中文微信版)
  • Athan Joshi , Junior at Los Altos High School (speech, more details, 中文微信版）
  • Edward Escobar , Founder of Citizens United (speech)
  • Chuck Page , Former Vice Mayor Saratoga (speech)
  • Rishi Kumar , Former Saratoga Councilmember (speech, more details, 中文微信版)
  • Dave Johnson , Chair of Santa Clara GOP Central Committee (speech)
  • Ha Phan , Vietnamese Community Leader (speech)
  • R “Ray” Wang , Cupertino Councilmember (speech)
  • Long Jiao , Cupertino Union School District Trustee (speech)
  • Bryon Do , East Side Union High School District Trustee (speech)
  • Lily Liang , Owner of Delta Properties (speech)
  • Dipak Awasthi, Milpitas City Planning Commissioner (speech)
  • Annita Chen, San Jose Small Business Owner (speech)

<Back to “No on Measure A” Rally @ Cupertino Library Oct 19th>