Editorial endorsements

Thank you for your thoughtful assessment of the many local candidates and issues on the ballot. I appreciate the Almanac taking the time to vet the candidates in particular since there is so much mud slinging on this online forum that can give a reader the wrong impression.

The downtown and El Camino plan is the most important issue to me, too, and I'm grateful the Almanac realizes it is. Everyone wants the end of blight along ECR and this plan, in whatever form it ends up, will make that happen. I thank Rich Cline and Heyward Robinson and the rest of the city council for putting in place a community driven process to make this happen back in 2007. It's taking a long term view and respecting community input from all places that this visioning process represents. I respect that and want leaders like that to remain on council.

I know there will be posts lambasting my (shockingly) positive opinion, but I really appreciate the work they have both done so far and want to see it continued rather than pressing the restart button and just hoping we get something on El Camino someday. Change takes a long time in Menlo Park due to the spirited community we live in, and maybe that's good. But don't let this measured progress imply none has been made. This plan is the work of more than three years and thousands of community inputs. Let's see it through by supporting these candidates.

Thank you, Almanac, for recognizing the importance of this issue for the future of Menlo Park. I agree with your endorsements for Menlo Park candidates.

"Mr. Horsley's many years of experience in county government, along with his service on the Sequoia Health Care District board, gives him the nod in this race. We support Don Horsley for county supervisor."

I just want to point out that Don Horsley is the president of Sequoia Health Care District. He ran for that position knowing that 2 Grand Jury Reports had recommended it stop receiving the Tax Payer taxes since it sold the Hospital. The reports also stated that the Grant-Making District should dissolve.

Jack Hickey has asked me to join him for the sole purpose of implementing the Garnd Jury recommendations. I have joined him for that purpose. The Tax Payers are the victim.

So here the is the Almanac (I'm assuming Mr. Gibboney made these decisions), endorsing Mayor Cline and Heyward Robinson and advising they be returned for another term. He also implies he would have endorsed Boyle for another term, if he had decided to run.

Yet he endorses Measure L, the pension reform issue. The only reason for L, is because this council made the decision in 2007 to yield to the unions and incur this impossible pension benefit package.

This council has refused to recognize the budget deficits must be curtailed. This council hired the present City Manager and even gave him a raise and a one year extension. There are no other parties responsible except them.

So why in the world should they be returned to office? The Almanac's reasoning simply makes no sense.

Reality is simply being ignored here, and quite frankly the Almanac's endorsements for council should be ignored.

He is right on Measure L.

Since Bohannon is generously paying the Almanac for weekly advertisements for his project, his endorsement of Measure T would seem biased.

What do the League of Women Voters, the SEIU, Move-on.org and Gail Slocum all have in common. They want the Unions to dominate the California political landscape. And why is that? It is because the once worthy Democratic Party has veered so far to the left that it needs the Unions to prop it up. So the Unions through forced contributions from its members support the far left elements of the Democratic Party. These contributions go to candidates who are committed to giving the unions egregious pensions and benefits at the expense of the common folk.

Meanwhile responsible Democrat Chuck Bernstein is viciously attacked in blast e-mails from Gail Slocum as receiving support from the Tea Party- which is not true, she knows it is not true, and yet she sends these e-mails anyway.

Until the Democratic Party stages a coup against the far left elements within its own party and promote responsible people like Chuck Bernstein, it will continue to be marginalized. It has already started in the rest of the country and sooner or later will come to California.

This will be evidenced in the mid term elections where the House of Representatives will go to the GOP and Nancy Pelosi will face a serious challenge from Steny Hoyer (D-MD) just to be House Minority Leader.

In the Senate the Democrats will most likely maintain a two vote advantage (3 if you count the President of the Senate as a tie breaker).

California is headed to financial ruin and all the Democrats can do is fiddle while Sacramento burns.

It is time for the residents of Menlo Park to wake up. Do you want the incumbents who have accomplished nothing except putting Menlo Park in a financial hole and doing nothing about the blight on El Camino Real or do you want a moderate team of One Democrat, One Republican, and One Independent to dig Menlo Park out of the whole created by the incumbent candidates and revitalize El Camino Real?

The clock is ticking with only 20 days to go. I urge all voters to save the city and vote for responsibility over cronyism and competence over ineptness. Please vote for Peter Ohtaki, Chuck Bernstein, and Russ Peterson so that Menlo Park can reverse its downward spiral and once again become a vibrant community.

Unclear how The Almanac mssed the opportunity to take a stand on County of San Mateo Measure U.

Passage of measure U would allow the San Mateo County charter to be amended to define the filling of vacancies on the Board of Supervisors (people who manage our taxpayer dollars in the form of over $6 Billion annually) by election or appointment. The County sorely needs this change to poke a hole into the biosphere our Board of Supervisors has adopted, and allow the fresh air of democracy to flow into the insular atmoshphere our Board of Supervisors has acquired. I think our local voters should have better reporting, better analysis and endorsement, of this important and timely measure, particularly after the behaviour of the current Board of Supervisors in resepct to the recommendations the County Charter Review Committee.

Leslie,

I'm not sure of the $6 Billion annually, The BOS just approved $1.82 Billion. I agree passage of measure U is important to San Mateo County. If it does not pass and Don Horsley loses to April Vargas, It would be possible for the Service League of San Mateo County to appoint Don Horsley to replace Mark Church's seat for District 1.


Web Link

Leslie and Michael
You are both perfectly on point--this has been an endless game of political musical chairs--played out in full view of the public to keep the voters too dizzy to notice who is hiding in plain sight. Even the press has become hypnotized by this ritual dance that circles round and round the public trough.

Leslie and Michael
You are both perfectly on point--this has been an endless game of political musical chairs--played out in full view of the public to keep the voters too dizzy to notice who is hiding in plain sight. Even the press has become hypnotized by this ritual dance that circles round and round the public trough.

The Almanac's Council picks supports experienced voices of reason on the Council, and the best of the field.

The Editorial's first reason was, rightly, High Speed Rail. There is nothing that would do more to harm Menlo Park than an elevated 4-track sound generator like this. Cline and Robinson have worked hard and effectively with other mid-Peninsula leaders to seek getting it undergrounded. Decisions on it will come up very soon, and we can't afford to lose our clout on that now with a Council full of new members who will fact a steep learning curve on a wide range of complex issues and who don't have the regional contacts and respect already established that we need.

Second was El Camino/downtown, again rightly a major focus. All this hoopla over Measure L and Measure T are really misplaced. Everyone running supports 2@60, and the voters will already have decided by the time the new Council is seated. All but two running support Measure T, but it too will already be decided as of November 2.

Ohtaki is a reasonable third choice for the exact reasons the Almanac gives - the Council should have a voice similar to John Boyle's up there. Ohtaki is also really smart, has some experience from the Fire Board, and brings CFO level of financial expertise (even deeper knowledge there than Boyle's actually). He also has a very calm and respectful demeanor -- unlike Bernstein. And, unlike Keith, he is decisive and not a "politician" that wants to please everyone.

Great work, Almanac. Thanks for keeping the big picture and the real issues for the next 4 years front and center.

Hey Hank - Before you go accusing and finding "boogeymen," kindly check your facts.

I looked on line and found that the San Mateo County Chapter of the Tea Party (whose site is called MyLiberty), did indeed endorse in this Council race.

Their three recommended candidates for Menlo Park City Council are Bernstein, Peterson (a former Republican), and Phtaki (a Republican).

(And the County's Tea Party chapter also endorsed all the Republican candidates for statewide office.)

Meanwhile, the Almanac story noted that the Unions (San Mateo County Labor Council) did not endorse anyone in the Council race. I suspect they are unhappy to see that everyone running supports 2@60 and didn't like that the Council imposed that and much more last spring after negotiations reached loggerheads.

But perhaps you don't want to be bothered with those facts...

Again why return the incumbents when they have made time after time lousy decisions. They hired this city manager, from a So. California "hell bent for growth" City. He has carried through on this kind of agenda. However, he works for the council, and they just don't ever say no. Ultimately it is council not the City Manager to blame for our deficit budgets and poor fiscal decisions.

The chief reason why pension benefits were raised was to appease the unions, and the leader of that was Kelly Fergusson, who was and still is completely beholden to the unions. She continues to support her decision by opposing Measure L. Robinson has continually been in lock step with Fergusson and he needs to be replaced. Note he doesn't endorse Measure L.

Furthermore, to give credit to Robinson for HSR is really not accurate. He still wants HSR, just as he wants Measure T, with his proposed tennis courts on top of the 140 foot high buildings.

Just remember Robinson got on council because he was Fergusson's campaign manager 6 years ago and she then supported him fully 4 years ago. They so often vote as a team such that on virtually every issue, there are 2 votes you can count on being identical.

Replacing Cline is much more of a difficult choice. He has been a real leader on HSR and is the ONLY person on council who really understand what is going on with that obnoxious project.

Boyle is gone; probably because he couldn't win with his pro HSR position at any cost to the city. Good riddance in my opinion.

So we need plenty of new faces. Keep Cline if you want, but Robinson must go and we need much new leadership. The Almanac is off base here.

"I looked on line and found that the San Mateo County Chapter of the Tea Party (whose site is called MyLiberty), did indeed endorse in this Council race."

Certain people are spewing this garbage everywhere. Dirty politics at its finest.

When I do a search of Tea Party San Mateo County I find

Web Link

(they aren't endorsing anyone)

and

Web Link

(19 members! ditto on the endorsements)

I also searched and found the MyLiberty site: Web Link

They come across as a little, well, out there, don't they? In fact, I almost wonder if some of the Cline/Robinson folks put this site together as a way to slam opposing candidates? But no, I think Cline and Robinson are just incompetent, not evil!

Meanwhile, to those of you who like to spread the vile: beware,some of it may end up sticking to you.

Dear Editor –
You really missed an outstanding candidate for Menlo Park’s City Council – Chuck Bernstein. He is one of the most capable and knowledgeable candidates I've known in many years. Uniquely, he brings experience as a member of numerous state, regional, and local committees and commissions (including Menlo Park’s Budget Advisory Committee, Residential Review and Child Care task forces), a deep understanding and working knowledge of city budgeting processes, and many years as a consultant creating successful business plans, and as a business owner providing services while balancing budgets and managing personnel issues. As a result, he can hit the ground running in service of our town.

Chuck’s support spans the community because of his emphasis on fiscal responsibility through controlling costs and increasing revenue, not taxes, as well as his tireless efforts to preserve and improve Menlo Park’s small town character.

I have had the pleasure of working with him over the past decade or so, and can attest that he is an action-oriented, thought-provoking, creative, witty, honest and hard-working team player. Our Council and our community would be extremely fortunate to have his common sense executive leadership. He has my vote.

Dear Serial Voter

The MyLibertySanMateoCounty site has been around for over a year and they have a Board listed on the site that does not in any way resemble Gail Slocum. It and other Tea Party Patriot sites say "if you live in San Mateo COunty, MyLiberty is your 9/12 Project and Tea Party Patriot group."

MyLibertySan Mateo is doing phonebanking and Get Out the Vote activities now, and they already endorsed for a lot of races all up and down the ticket. Yes - they are very conservative -- and it's scary that there is an active consituency in our area like this that endorsed Bernstein, Ohtaki and Peterson in our council race.

This is not some sort of made up "front group" for some Menlo Park interests. Just ask Don Horsly... He got endorsed too.

Get the facts! Get your heads out of the sand...

Serial Voter states:"and it's scary that there is an active consituency in our area like this that endorsed ....."

What is scary is that any voter relies on endorsements rather than making an independent judgement as to who are the best qualified candidates. Typically candidates don't get to pick their endorsers so why blame the candidates if someone you don't like endorses them? Sounds like guilt by involuntary association.

Due to repeated violations of our Terms of Use, comments from this poster are automatically removed. Why?