Clinical psychologist Harmesh Kumar, who is running for a seat in November on the city council in Concord, Calif., has burnished his political credentials since he made his first valiant, but unsuccessful, bid six years ago for the same position.

An appointed member of Concord’s Measure Q Committee — Q is a sales tax measure that is expected to generate about $9 million in revenue for the city over five years — Kumar served from 2006-2010 as an appointee to the Concord Human Relations Commission, including the chairman’s post during the last year of his term.

A resident of Concord for more than 20 years, he has also been active in the Indian American and interfaith communities, serving on the board of the Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County for over 10 years and launching the annual Spring Diversity Festival (Baisakhi) in downtown Concord nine years ago.

His community involvement has resulted in key endorsements in the race, with 11 candidates, including incumbent and retired army general Dan Helix, vying for two open five-year seats on the seven-member council.

Kumar’s endorsements have included the Contra Costa Democratic Party Central Committee, Speaker Pro Tempore of the California state Assembly Fiona Ma, and U.S. Congressman John Garamendi.

The Indian American psychologist in 1993 founded the Hume Center, a Concord-based for-profit mental health agency. He is also founder of Therapeutic Residential Services, an agency providing assisted living and nursing home facilities to seniors and the developmentally disabled

The Concord council candidate told India-West that, if elected, he hopes to address the budget issue that “62 percent of the city budget goes to the police department.”

“Safety is everybody’s concern,” the psychologist acknowledged, but he pointed out that many small business owners in Concord routinely submit written complaints about petty crimes and are told police officers are swamped with work and complaints have to wait.

“There have been about two rapes per month and about 40 robberies. And the police department paid out $1.5 million in out-of-court settlements in sexual harassment cases,” Kumar fumed.

Rather than spend money on police removing the homeless periodically from the streets, he supports transitional housing for the homeless. He also supports recruiting volunteers to staff citizen complaint phones at the police department instead of uniformed personnel.

The 53-year-old Kumar’s platform includes revitalizing downtown Concord and the two BART stations, making the East Bay city “a vibrant business and community hub,” and creating a “world-class education and training center in Concord.”

Married with one daughter, the Indian American candidate hopes to close loopholes in the city’s retirement system, including one boondoggle allowing city workers with as little as one month of tenure to be eligible to join the city’s retirement system.

Kumar began his career in 1983 as a social scientist with the World Health Organization’s Collaborative Center for Mental Health and Research in its psychiatry department and nursing college in Chandigarh. 

From 1984-1986, he was assistant editor of the Indian Journal of Clinical Psychology, a journal of the Indian Association of Clinical Psychologists. In the U.S., Kumar taught graduate students at the Rosebridge Graduate School of Integrative Psychology and was president of the Federation of Indo-American Associations of Northern California.

Kumar told India-West that he has spent about $69,000 of his own money so far in the campaign and has raised only $100 from outside sources. He hopes to do some fundraising before the Nov. 6 election.