“Its a LIE! No on Measure A!” – Cupertino Mayor Liang Fang Chao shared her astonishing findings, at the “No on Measure A” rally in front of Cupertino Library Sunday (10/19/2025)
YouTube Video can be found at the bottom of the page, and below is the transcript from Chao’s speech.
“First of all — let’s talk about the county health system.
Our county hospitals are bleeding money. They’ve been losing money every single year.To date, about one billion dollars have already been taken from taxpayers — from you — just to fill the holes they created in the hospital system. To cover those losses, they’ve cut money from public safety, from family, senior, and children’s services, and from housing.
All to plug the gap in a system they mismanaged.
This year’s deficit is $600 million. They project it will grow to $1.5 to $3 billion within the next five to ten years — and that’s before the federal funding cuts kick in. So the real question isn’t just about raising the sales tax.
The real question is:
Should we throw more good money after bad money into a failing system?
My answer? Hell no!
No bailout for mismanagement.
We need reform, not another tax hike!
Now, I say this with deep respect: My dad was a doctor. My mom is a nurse. My childhood dream was to become a nurse. And I grew up in hospitals. I have the utmost respect for doctors, nurses, and emergency workers. But if we keep letting the county leaders run our hospital system into the ground, it’s not just the hospitals that will go bankrupt.
The entire county could go bankrupt.
And we’ll all go down with it. That’s why we must take a strong stand today and say:
“NO on Measure A!”
[Applause]
Now let’s talk about the truth behind the numbers.
Hospital costs have nearly tripled. And even worse — the county leaders have not been honest with us.
By law, there’s a cap on local sales taxes. Counties are not allowed to raise them beyond that limit. But in 2023, they quietly worked with Senator Cortese to pass a special state law giving Santa Clara County a personal exemption — just so they could legally raise your taxes. That’s right — one special loophole for one county.
That’s not leadership. That’s slimy politics.
They claim this tax is “necessary” because the hospitals are losing money. But look at El Camino Hospital — right here in the same county. It’s funded by a 1% property tax and runs a surplus of $130 million a year.
It can be done! There is a way to run hospitals efficiently!
Yet Santa Clara County now spends 55% of its entire budget on health care. We’ve practically become a health care district. Other counties — Alameda, San Diego, Los Angeles — spend only around 25%. We’re spending twice as much as they are. And when you compare cost per resident? Santa Clara County spends three times more per person than L.A. County. Don’t take my word for it — check the Mercury News Editorial (link).
All the data is there.
(below is excerpt from Mercury News Editorial Article)
“The only reason Santa Clara County leaders were able so quickly to place the sales tax measure on the same ballot as Proposition 50, the statewide redistricting measure, is that they had been working on the tax increase for two years, long before Trump’s return to office.
(Quoted from Mercury News Editorial’s Article Denouncing “Measure A”)
In 2023, at the urging of county officials, Sen. Dave Cortese, D-San Jose, pushed through SB-335 (SB-335 Transactions and use taxes: County of Santa Clara, link). enabling Santa Clara County supervisors to seek voter approval for the sales tax increase. At the time, Cortese argued(source) the tax was needed to address significant and growing budget challenges.
The legislation limited the increase to five-eighths of a cent. If not for that limit, Williams told us, he would have recommended the board place a larger sales tax increase on the ballot.
Which is exactly the sort of thinking that concerns us. In 2023, according to data from the state Controller’s Office, Santa Clara County spent $5,046 per resident, at least 19% more than any of the nine other California counties with at least 1 million residents, and more than double San Diego, Orange, Alameda and Fresno counties.
Before asking residents for more tax money, county officials should find a way to spend what they have more efficiently.”
This is hard evidence the county leaders don’t want you to see.
I’ve spoken privately with many mayors and city councilmembers. They’ve told me they don’t support Measure A either. But they won’t say it publicly — because they want the county leaders’ endorsements for their next elections.
So you, the voters, must pay attention. If any candidate supports Measure A, ask yourself:
Do they even understand how to run a public agency?
Because if they can’t see what’s wrong with Measure A — they’ll run every office they touch straight into the ground.
[Cheers]
We all support public health.
We all support doctors and nurses.
But we need reform, not another tax.
There are better ways:
- Some counties lease hospitals to private operators under public oversight.
- Others form health care districts with independent boards.
There are options. But the county is telling you there’s only one choice — another tax.
That’s a lie. It’s lie after lie after lie. And we are done being lied to.
It’s time to stand up to the county leaders and demand reform. We want sustainable funding for our hospital system. We want to care for those who need it most. But we cannot keep throwing good money after bad.
Enough is enough.
Vote NO on Measure A!
Thank you.
[Applause]
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)
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