Kristin Olsen is the new kid on the block - at least for South San Joaquin County.

The former Modesto City Councilwoman and current Assemblywoman representing  California’s sprawling 25th district – which stretches from Modesto all the way to the Nevada state line and from Arnold to Madera - outlined her platform Tuesday night as part of the South San Joaquin Republicans’ “Candidates Night”.

She is vying for California’s newly minted 12th district seat – which includes Manteca, Lathrop, Ripon Escalon and Oakdale  along with much of Stanislaus County–is something that Olsen, who described herself first as a “wife and mom of three children,” has dedicated herself to.

Her husband, whom she said she wished to introduce to the audience, was in New Hampshire fulfilling a lifelong goal of watching the primaries unfold while campaigning for Rick Santorum.

Olsen talked tough about what she wants to see change in Sacramento.

“California isn’t the beacon that it once was,” she said in reference to attracting new residents from the rest of the country. “It’s our deterrents that are winning – our oversized government and our excessive regulatory system.

“Government needs to serve us, and I’m committed to funding the core strengths of our system. Problems are simple and solutions are complex, but that’s what I want to tackle – balancing the budget doesn’t take rocket science but it does take courage, resilience and dedication, and that’s what I want to bring to this office.”

Olsen served on the Modesto City Council for five years and was a strong advocate for local control – learning as much as she could about people and the political process while serving in that capacity so that she could affect more change.

Just taking a quick glance around is all it takes, she said back in July, to see how much the state is changing.

“We’ve got declining enrollment in schools, and that’s because people in California are leaving,” she said. “I want to restore pride in our state. I want people to want to come here – I want to see businesses that want to come here. That’s not going to happen unless we roll back some of that excessive regulation that’s making it so hard to attract those companies.”

She said that it wasn’t right that California maintains the third worst business tax climate in the United States while the lives of microscopic fish are being valued more than those of human beings.