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West County Times Says Throw the Bums Out
October 15, 2004

The West County Times posted its City Council endorsements today, recommending a clean sweep of incumbents and filling the five vacant positions with newcomers.

This is the second time in a row the Times has skipped over me. In the 2001 mayoral election, the Times endorsed Anderson, but I still ran second in a field of four sitting City Council members.

Being one of the recommended “sweepees,” I cannot help but comment at least in my own defense. The editorial notes, “The most troubling aspect of all of this is that the leadership of the city seems unwilling to investigate exactly what happened.” As far as I know, I am the only City Council member who has both privately and publicly gone on record as requesting a Grand Jury investigation of Richmond’s financial debacle. The entire City Council, as I recall, supported a State audit, which will soon be reported.

I am also one of a very few Council members who has continually complained about the quantity and quality of information made available to the City Council over the past few years, including a budget that is virtually indecipherable. It was Mindell Penn and I who first brought to light the shortcomings of the City’s SAP system in the face of vehement staff denial.

It is a little known fact that three of the four incumbents now running did not support the selection of the city manager on whose watch the financial crises occurred. The Charter does not give the City Council authority over the selection of department heads, so the lack of permanent managers cannot be laid on the City Council. I was, however, personally involved in recruiting the current interim city manager, whose selection the Times has praised.

In reciting the qualifications of the endorsees, the Times cited only their education and employment experience but nothing about how they propose to balance a budget that is still tens of millions out of whack. Not a single detail. That’s because no challenger has provided a plan. What the City Council needs are critical thinkers and problem solvers with the backbone to reverse an embedded culture that has relegated the operation of Richmond to a staff riddled with incompetence. Some of the endorsees have shown a tendency for scrapping, such as Soto and Booze. Whether the others are up to the equivalent of a parliamentary street fight to reverse the course of a municipal leviathan remains to be seen. The last thing we need right now are nice guys.

Neither did the Times comment on the political position of their endorsees on perennial hot button issues in Richmond, such as land use, street sweeping, fences, privatization of city services, the environment, use of the shoreline, planning, development and industrial safety. There was not one projection of what any of them would do about Point Molate or ongoing contract negotiations with five public employee unions on which tens of millions of dollars will depend.

Unlike previous elections, the Times did not interview the candidates. Only answers to written questionnaires were requested.

The Times, of course, is entitled to their opinion, and we to ours. The voters will decide.

Other endorsements of various organizations and individuals, to the best of my knowledge, are listed following the Times editorial below.

Posted on Fri, Oct. 15, 2004

Five for Richmond
TOM

THERE IS NO KIND OR euphemistic way to put this: The city government in Richmond is in the midst of a crisis in leadership that cannot be allowed to continue. We think the voters here must send a strong message to its government that things need to change in City Hall.

Four incumbent City Council members are vying with 11 challengers for the five open seats on the nine-member council. We recommend that Richmond voters reject all four incumbents because they have not proved equal to the task of managing the city's business. Under their watch, the city has experienced an alarming decline in revenues that left it looking at a $38 million shortfall. What is even worse is that this shortfall seemingly took the council by surprise. As events unfolded, it was clear that they didn't have a clue they were in so much trouble. During that same tenure, the city has seen an exodus of top management personnel, which has left it with virtually no permanent department heads. It is now working on its third interim city manager in a little over a year.

The most troubling aspect of all of this is that the leadership of the city seems unwilling to investigate exactly what happened. If they do any substantive questioning at all, they do it in private. We do not support conducting the city's business out of public view. But that council seems to operate within a culture of secrecy. It does not seem to understand or accept the notion that the public has a right to hear all of the debate as well as see the final vote.

With so many candidates running for the council, it can be a daunting task for voters to sort through them.

Of the challengers we recommend that the voters select: Tony Thurmond, Eldrick Osborne, Arnie Kasendorf, Andrés Soto and Courtland "Corkie" Boozé. We feel that this group of candidates can add some new blood and a breath of fresh air to City Hall.

Thurmond is a relative newcomer to Richmond, but he brings with him an impressive background. He graduated from Temple University and holds two master's degrees from Bryn Mawr, one in social service and the other in law and social policy. He is an independent consultant who contracts to nonprofit organizations and causes. He has a background of running nonprofit programs.

Osborne, who is a supervisor at the Kaiser Permanente optical lab, has lived in Richmond for 35 years and correctly states that balancing the city's budget should be its top priority. He points out that if the city cannot balance its books, it will lose the confidence of its residents.

Kasendorf is retired and has lived in Richmond for only 14 years, but he has become well-known in that period of time. His list of volunteer service to the city is staggering. He has been a primary advocate for senior citizens. His energetic and collaborative style would be a welcome addition to the council.

Soto is a lifelong resident of Richmond and is also well-known for his community activities. He is currently the policy director for the Trauma Foundation. He spent five years working in the county health department as a program manager. Soto is not shy about sharing his strong views on many subjects and will not be intimidated into any kind of group-think. On this council we view that as a particular asset.

Boozé is well-known to many voters in Richmond. He has run for the council unsuccessfully on three previous occasions. Boozé is considered by some as a bit of a gadfly, but we think he brings an interesting perspective, worth listening to, to any discussion.

All of our recommendations are based on the premise that these individuals will do their utmost to see that tough decisions are made to balance the books and that the people can expect them to do the public's business in public, not in private sessions.

To find a list of editorial endorsements by the Times so far, please see www.contracostatimes.com.

OTHER ENDORSEMENTS

ChevronTexaco

· Penn

· Bell

· Osborne

· Marquez

· Kasendorf

Council of Industries

· Penn

· Bell

· Scharff

· Booze

· Bates

· Kasendorf

· Osborne

BAPAC (Black Americans Political Action Committee)

· Butt

· Penn

· Bell

· Osborne

· Marquez

Miller/Hancock/Gioia

· Butt

· Soto

· Penn

· Bell

· Osborne

· Marquez

RichPac (Richmond Chamber of Commerce Political Action Committee)

· Bell

· Osborne

· Penn

Sierra Club/East Bay League of Conservation Voters

· Butt

· Soto

· McLaughlin

Richmond Firefighters Local 188

· Bates

· Scharff

· Kasendorf

Richmond Police Officers Association (RPOA)

· Butt

· Bates

· Scharff

· Marquez

SEIU Local 790

· Soto

· McLaughlin

· Osborne

· Marquez

· Thurmond

Contra Costa Central Labor Council

· Soto

· McLaughlin

· Osborne

· Marquez

· Thurmond

Contra Costa Construction and Building Trades Council

· Soto

· McLaughlin

· Osborne

· Marquez

· Thurmond

· Butt

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