$20,000 - that's a whole lot of money. That could pay for at least three trips to China!

Why does an incumbent Council member, running for re-election in a District election need a $19,000+ campaign war chest...unless they're preparing to run for a higher office in the future.

Is Sarah Staley Shenk also running for District 2.
Loved her 2016 letter about concerns re Facebook.
Web Link

Drew Combs has pulled papers for District 2. Web Link He used to live near me in District 3 and I supported him in his prior run for office. So far, all eligible districts will have a competitive race. With the district-voting, one also needs less money to successfully run a grass-roots winning campaign.

As reported today in the Palo Alto Daily Post on Monday night the City Council will consider whether or not to amend
the General Plan to add more square footage for office development or alternatively transfer square footage from biotech use to office use, in east Menlo Park.

Will Kirsten Keith recuse herself from the decision? Two of her $950 campaign donations come from developers with projects affected by this decision

Candidates need to raise money for their campaigns, but there's a clear conflict of interest between donors and potential Council members who may later make decisions on commission memberships. At the least, campaign donations should be stated on commission or other relevant applications coming to Council. It may be that either a Council member needs to recuse themselves from a vote or donors are barred from applying for some positions. The members of the Districting commmittee are barred from a good deal of civic participation - maybe that should apply to campaign donors too. Let's ensure there's no pay to play.

It’s a shame that no matter who wins is not doing it to make Menlo Park better but to make themselves and others richer. Public servants have no concern for the general public.

In retrospect, this candidate pledged to work against the interests of his supporters.

"Although Measure M supporters say [Combs] could be relied on to work toward changes to the specific plan, he told the Almanac that if Measure M fails, he would regard that as the will of the people and an indication of their support for the specific plan. Therefore, he said, he wouldn't advocate changing the plan to meet Measure M objectives if the measure were defeated." — Oct 29, 2014 Web Link