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Republicans, Team USA and Paris Hilton stick it to 'em |
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Republicans, Team USA and Paris Hilton stick it to 'em
GOTCHA 1
Reps score Labor Day coup
The scheduling of the national Democratic and Republican conventions is always a game to see which party can hold its events last. That gives that party the advantage of knowing what the other has done, such as who will be the vice presidential nominee and what the keys to the platform will be.
I can't remember the last time one of the events was held after Labor Day, but this time the GOP will meet Sept. 1-4, the week after the Dems meet Aug. 25-28. And it's a double coup for the Elephant People. Not only will the Democratic strategy have been revealed, enabling the Reps to plan specific comebacks during their convention, but Sept. 1 is also Labor Day. This means the Reps will draw some thunder from the day that is traditionally the first day of the fall campaigns and traditionally a big, big day for the
Democrats, with numerous events featuring candidates and labor unions around the country.
We'll have to wait and see how the Dems answer the situation.
GOTCHA 2
Team USA beats China before games begin
Hand it to Team USA for a coup over the Chinese hierarchy with its choice of the flag-bearer in the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Beijing. The Chinese are in a high state of paranoia over protesters, particularly involving their international affairs in Tibet and the Sudanese genocide campaign centered around Darfur. The Chinese, which own rights to much of Sudan's mineral resources, support the government with such methods as UN vetoes of proposals trying to condemn the country's civil rights abuses.
First President Bush spoke publicly against the Chinese civil rights record, then Team USA announced that Lopez Lomong, one of the "lost boys" of Sudan, will carry Old Glory. Lomong was taken from his family at the age of 6 to be a soldier in the genocide wars, escaped and spent 12 years in refugee camps. Lomong made it to the US, where he gained an education and a career as a world-class runner. He says he is ecstatic at the opportunity to represent his new country in the 1,500 meter race and proud to carry its flag.
The choice came after the Chinese voided the visa of a former US Olympian who was to represent the athletes' Team Darfur, of which Lomong is a member. China's probably fuming, but it would be too dangerous to move against Lomong now, with tens of thousands foreign press members hanging on its every move.
Lomong says he doesn't intend to politicize the event. He doesn't have to. His presence says it all.
GOTCHA 3
Paris vs. "that wrinkly, white-haired guy"
Most of us would not claim to be close followers of Paris Hilton, but whoever engineered her web video answer to John McCain's "celebrity bashing" TV ad set her up for a marvelous piece of campaign humor.
She even offered an energy policy that sounds better than most of the guff that's going around. Guess she's not as dumb as she seems. If you haven't seen it and are looking for a laugh, it's worth a look. --Pat Keeble, editor: www.contracostainsider.com |
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City Council Candidates file for Novermber Elections |
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By Pat Keeble Editor, Contra Costa Insider CITY COUNCIL ELECTIONS
First-week filings
*denotes incumbent
**denotes incumbent who has taken out papers for re-election.
Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of seats open; if no number, it is 1.)
Some cities have directly elected mayors, city clerks or city treasurers; others do not, or those seats are not up in this rotation.
ANTIOCH
Mayor
*Donald Freitas
Council (2)
*Arne Simonsen
*Brian Kalnowski
City Clerk
Jolene Martin
City Treasurer
Donna Conley
BRENTWOOD
Mayor
*Robert Taylor
Council (2)
*Erick Stonebarger
*Robert Brockman
CLAYTON (3)
*Julie Pierce
*Gregory Manning
*William Walcutt
CONCORD (2)
*William Shinn
*Mark Peterson
DANVILLE (3)
*Newell Arnerich
*Michael Doyle
*Candace Andersen
EL CERRITO (3)
*William Jones III
*Letitia Moore
*James Bridges
LAFAYETTE (3)
*Carol Federighi
*Michael Anderson
*Carl Anduri
MARTINEZ (2)
Couuncil
**Mark Ross
**Janet Kennedy
Michael Alford
John Fuller
City Clerk
**Gary Hernandez
City Treasurer
**Carolyn Robinson
*Charles Martin
*David Sumner
OAKLEY (3)
*Brad Nix
*Kevin Romick
Patricia Anderson
ORINDA (2)
*Steven Glazer
*Victoria Smith
PINOLE
Council (2)
*Peter Murray
*Roy Swearingen
Treasurer
*Judy Lee
PITTSBURG (2)
*Ben Johnson
*Willis Casey
PLEASANT HILL
Council (3)
*Suzanne Angeli
*David Durant
*John Kevin Hanecak
City Clerk
*Martha McInturf
City Treasurer
*Suzanne Salter
RICHMOND (3)
*Tony Thurmond
*Harpreet Sandhu
*Nathaniel Bates
*Thomas Butt
*John Marquez
SAN PABLO (3)
*Sharon Brown
*Joseph Gomes
*Leonard McNeil
WALNUT CREEK (3)
*Gwen Regalia
*Gary Skrel
(*Charles Abrams - not seeking re-election) |
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Special District Candidate filings for Fall 2008 elections |
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By Pat Keeble Editor, Contra Costa Insider SPECIAL DISTRICTS
First-filings for Nov. 4, 2008, election
(Water, Sanitary, Health, Transit, Community Services and other utility services)
* indicates incumbent who has not yet taken out papers to seek re-election
** incumbent who has taken out papers to seek re-election
Number in parentheses is number of seats available; there is no number if only one seat is available.
Where no town of residence is given, the town is the name of the district; some are not available.
REGIONAL DISTRICTS
Districts shared by two or more counties or areas of the county.
Only wards all or partly in Contra Costa County and candidates filing in the county are listed.
East Bay Municipal Utility District
(shared with Alameda County)
Ward 1
**Lesa McIntosh, Richmond
East Bay Rec & Park
(shared with Alameda County)
Ward 1
*Nancy Skinner
Norman LaForce, El Cerrito
Whitney Dotson, Richmond
Ward 2
*John Sutter
AC Transit (West County)
(shared with Alameda County)
Director at Large
*H.E. Christian Peeples
Ward 1
**Joe Wallace, Richmond
Bay Area Rapid Transit
(share with Alameda County and San Francisco)
Dist. 1
**Gail Murray, Walnut Creek
Dist. 3
*Bob Franklin
Dist. 5
*Zoyd Luce
Dist. 7
*Lynette Sweet
Contra Costa Water
Div. 3
**Joseph Campbell, Clayton
Div. 4
**Bette Boatmun, Concord
Div. 5
*Karl Wandry
EAST COUNTY
Discovery Bay Community Services
(aka Town of Discovery Bay) (2)
*Patricia Lynn Knight
**Robert (Bob) Doran
Knightsen Town Community Services District
(2 -yr term)
**Jeffrey Robert Midkiff, Brentwood
(4-yr term) (2)
**Linda Weekes, Brentwood
*Niles Freeman
Los Medanos Community Health Care (Pittsburg) (2)
**Joe Rubi, Pittsburg
**Jimmie Cromartie, Pittsburg
West Contra Costa Health Care (2)
**Eric Zell, Richmond
*Deborah Campbell
*Desmond Carson
Bethel Island Municipal Improvement District (3)
*Olga Jones
*Thomas Knorr Jr.
*Sheila Goodson
Ralph Maloney, Bethel Island
Ambrose Recreation and Park District (Bay Point) (2)
*Eva Garcia
*Gloria Magleby
Byron Sanitary District (3)
*Harry Leighton
*Bruce Stuart
*Michael Nisen
Ironhouse Sanitary (3)
**Douglas Hardcastle, Oakley
**Michael Painter, Oakley
** Don Lew
Diablo Water (2)
*Edward Garcia
**Richard Head, Oakley
East C. C. Irrigation
Div. 2
**Mark Stuart Dwelley, Oakley
Div. 3
**Glenn Stonebarger, Brentwood
Div. 5
*Frank Maggiore, Brentwood
CENTRAL COUNTY
Central Contra Costa Sanitary (3)
*Mario Menesini, Walnut Creek
*James Nejedly, Walnut Creek
**Barbara Hockett, Alamo
Diablo Community Service (San Ramon Valley) (2)
**Robert Nilssen
*Marlee Headen
Dublin-SanRamon Services (3)
(shared with portions of Alameda County)
*Dan Scannell
*Dwight Howard
*Rich Halket
Moraga-Orinda Fire Protection
Div. 2 (1)
**Fred Weil, Moraga
Robert Nelson, Moraga
Div. 5 (1)
**Eugene Gottfried, Orinda
Brook Mancinelli, Orinda
San Ramon Valley Fire Protection (3)
**Kenneth Sandy, Danville
*Thomas Bongi
*Roxanne Lindsay
Mt. Diablo Health Care (3)
(Concord, Martinez)
*Grace Ellis
*Frank Manske
John Toth
Green Valley Recreation and Park (2)
(San Ramon Valley)
*Clinton Stockton
*Blythe Soria
Pleasant Hill Recreation and Park
(2-yr term)
*Joseph Hurd II
(4-yr-term -2)
**Sherry Sterrett
**Dennis Donaghu
Mt. View Sanitary District (3)
(near Martinez)
**David Maggi
*David Maggi
*Dorothy Sakazaki
Castle Rock County Water
(2-yr term - 1)
**Manfred Peter, Walnut Creek
(4-yr term - 3)
**Matthew Smith, Walnut Creek
**J. Fred Allen, Walnut Creek
**Charles O'Connor, Walnut Creek
WEST COUNTY
Crockett Community Services (2)
*Steven Loveseth
*Heather Rock
Kensington Police Protection/Community Services (2)
*Joan Gallegos
*Paul Haxo
Kensington Fire Protection (2)
**Don Donner
**Leslie Michael
West C.C. Health Care
(2-yr term)
*Eric Zell
(4-yr term - 2)
*Deborah Campbell
Desmond Carson
Eric Zell, Richmond
Rodeo Sanitary
(2-yr term)
**Robert Russey
(4-yr term - 3)
**Gaither Brooks
**Michael Carlson
**Barbara Russey
Stege Sanitary (2)
*Jay James
*Bea O'Keefe
West County Wastewater (2)
*Alfred Granzella
**Michael Caine, Richmond
James Cowen, El Sobrante |
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By Pat Keeble
Editor, Contra Costa Insider
Are you fed up with water restrictions or increased transit fees? Is your city ignoring your plea to fill potholes in front of your house? Do you think health care districts (formerly hospital districts) without hospitals have outlived their usefulness? Is your kid's school laying off teachers?
If so, now is your opportunity to run things.
While most of us are planning or enjoying a leisurely summertime, a few hundred Contra Costans are busily preparing to run for local offices in the Nov. 4 election.
On the ballot along with candidates for president, Congress and the state Legislature, voters are likely to find elections for city government positions and memberships on the boards of numerous special districts, which provide such services as water, sanitary and transit, and most of the county's school districts.
Filing opened last week, with only a small, initial flurry of activity. Most incumbents and many challengers will wait until the last week of filing to get in their nomination papers and file them.
In the first of four weeks of nomination filing, the coming elections in the cities of Martinez and Richmond appear most interesting, if filings are any clue.
Richmond, the county's only charter city, is holding its first election since downsizing the council from nine to seven. Hence there is the interesting phenomenon of five incumbents but only three seats to be on the ballot. Nathaniel Bates, Thomas Butt and John Marquez were among seven people who took out nomination papers the first week.
Martinez, like all the other cities in the county, has a five-member council elected under the state municipal code. Between redevelopment and the local beaver dam downtown on Alhambra Creek, they've fielded plenty of controversy in the past few years, so perhaps its not surprising that incumbents Mark Ross and Janet Kennedy have seen two would-be opponents take out papers, including John Fuller, a young, up-and-coming businessman, and council meeting regular Michael Alford.
In most other cities, incumbents have taken out papers but few opponents have done so, so far.
Any citizens can run for offices in these cities, school districts and special districts, as long as they are registered vote in the jurisdiction they seek to lead. There is no filing fee and primary requirements include getting nomination signatures from a small number of other voters registered in the jurisdiction.
Realistically speaking, would-be candidates find that running against incumbents is pretty hard to do, and most incumbents, with no term limits in sight, run for numerous terms, gaining the valuable name recognition that helps keep them in office. What wannabes should hope for is an open seat, such as is occurring on the Walnut Creek City Council, where three-term incumbent Charlie Abrams has announced he will not seek re-election.
Most voters are unaware of the existence of the many special districts in the county, mostly formed to provide various municipal services at a time when the territory they cover was unincorporated.
That unfamiliarity means most voters will vote the incumbents back in. They are either familiar with the names or figure that, since they probably haven't heard anything bad about them (most news media don't cover most of the districts), they're probably doing a good job.
Nonetheless, the 40-plus districts in Contra Costa County, ranging from BART to small irrigation districts, provide important services and are a big slice of public tax and fee expenditures. They provide most of the water, sanitary services and fire protection usually provided by cities in other scenarios.
Candidates for city offices must take out the filing papers with their respective city clerks. Those interested in district offices can take out papers at the County Clerk's office in Martinez. A few districts issue their own papers but all must be filed with the city or county clerk by 5 p.m. Aug. 8. In cases where incumbents don't file for re-election by that time, the deadline is extended to Aug. 13, for new candidates only.
In any cities and districts where the number of final candidates equals or is less than the number of seats up for election, they can decide not to be on the November ballot.
Further information about the elections can be obtained from the county at (925) 335-7800 or toll free at (877) 335-7802. Information can also be gleaned from www.cocovote.us. Details of city elections may be obtained from each city clerk. |
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