I was advised yesterday afternoon by a prominent labor leader that, “There is a good possibility that Lt. Governor John Garamendi, Attorney General Edmund G. Brown, Senator Mark DeSaulnier, and Assemblymember Nancy Skinner will attend the Council Meeting tonight and they have very limited time.  Upon their arrival if they would be permitted to speak it would be very much appreciated.”

As it turned out, all but Garamendi showed up and spoke, asking both sides to engage in serious negotiations until there is a resolution that enables people to go back to work. Jerry Brown offered his services as a mediator and promised to “lock both sides up until they reach and agreement.”

I would like to think Garamendi failed to show up to avoid embarrassment about his decision as a State Lands Commissioner not to require a Bay Trail link as a condition for renewing the Chevron Long Wharf Lease.

As several people have correctly pointed out, Garamendi will be running for a Congressional seat in a district that does not include Richmond, which of course, is represented by George Miller. When I wrote, “No one in Richmond, or anywhere else for that matter, should vote to send him to Congress” (Vote No on Garamendi for Congress, July 21, 2009), I misspoke. I was really referring to people in east Contra Costa, those from “anywhere else for that matter”.

Like the other candidates, Garamendi is looking for endorsements, support and money in Richmond, and I hope he finds precious little.