Last Tuesday, Amy Bublak, a current city council member of Turlock, visited California State University, Stanislaus’s Republican Party Club eliciting the university’s positive impact on her life that eventually inspired her current involvement in politics.
Bublak openly described how working in student government at CSU Stanislaus was the key event that foreshadowed getting involved in politics in her adult career.
She started as a recreation director and then became Student Body Vice President, and from there became Associated Students Inc. President.
According to Bublak, she never regarded herself as a “super motivated student.” Initially she came to CSU Stanislaus solely to play volleyball but not for educational purposes.
Bublak credits working in ASI to inspiring her love of politics.
“Its amazing the the things I learned from professors and administrators [as ASI President],” Bublak said “I definitely encourage you to get involved in student government in some way. It opens a lot of networking as well but it was a lot of fun.”
Janie Costa, the current president of CSU Stanislaus’s Republican Party Club invited Bublak to share her experiences with students who share an interest in politics.
“Even though I don’t consider myself directly affiliated with the [Republican] party, I can still appreciate that a local politician came to visit the college,” John Bernard (junior, Political Science).
“If not for education at this university, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Thank God for this place, it molded me into the person I am.”
Bublak enjoyed the university so much so that she did not want to leave.
She was paid to be ASI President, paid to live in the dorms, receiving pay from the sociology department.
After winning a second term, a student suggested “you should run for city council!”
At that time, she was not considering the position. Little did she know the suggestion indefinitely planted the seed for the future.
Instead she decided to utilize the degrees she obtained and apply them to working as a police officer. But her post-collegiate career in criminal justice was bombarded by the reality of the glass ceiling.
“I don’t think I would recommend any woman work in the police force in this area. It’s definitely not fun coming to work knowing you’re either treated unequally or not part of the camaraderie of your peers.”
She decided to pursue an alternative career path and ran for city council.
When asked why she thinks she’s been successfully re-elected, Bublak predicts it was her non-partisan voting as well as her ability to connect with people universally.
“I can talk to any type. I’m not really a cliquish-person, I don’t belong anywhere per se which is kind of fun.” Bublak said. “Eventually people get who you are. After four years, people figure out what kind of public official you are and I was fair.”
According to Bublak, Turlock is about 87 percent conservative. The City Council itself is very liberal in their voting.
“I was essentially Switzerland. I didn’t lean one way or the other.”
Fitting to her character, she still considers her former ASI election opponents her friends today.
Bublak gave students an honest portrayal of a career in city council.
“Politics is a fun game. It’s a blast.”
As much as she enjoys her line of work, Bublak discovered early on, the drudgeries of working as a public officer. One of her hardest experiences was laying people off.
“We had to lay off 30 people.These were people’s families. But we also have opportunity to really give back to the community. So its give and take”
Bublak recognized that Turlock still needs to grow in socio-economic acceptance and understanding.
“We’re so quick to judge and put people in a box based on their skin color,”
She hopes that one day Turlock will be as socially accepting of diversity as other areas of California.
As far as her long term future in politics, as she puts simply, “only if the people want it.”
“If people don’t want me to represent them, I’m not going to do it. That’s the last thing I want.”