Parks Board candidate Foley claims endorsement of a group that may not exist
By Allen Payton
Antioch resident Mark Foley, candidate for the East Bay Regional Parks District Board of Directors in Ward 7, in the November election, is claiming an endorsement by Friends of Urban Creeks. There’s just one problem with that. The group may not exist.
Environmental leaders and those involved in saving the creeks in the East Bay say they’ve never heard of it, before.
Ron Brown, Executive Director of Save Mount Diablo, isn’t aware of any such organization.
“I, too, saw the Friends of Urban Creeks endorsement on Foley’s web page and I have no idea who that is,” he said. “I tried to look them up with no success. There is an Urban Creeks Council, but I believe they are a 501c3 [non-profit ogranization] and not allowed to be engaged with candidate campaigns.”
In a voicemail message left for the Herald, on Monday, October 27, Seth Adams, the Land Conservation Director for Save Mount Diablo reiterated what Brown said.
“I’ve never heard of such a group,” he said. “Most non-profits can’t endorse candidates. So it would be unusual for an environmental group that’s not more political, like the Sierra Club. Most of us do not endorse candidates.”
Foley’s opponent, Oakley Councilwoman Diane Burgis is the Executive Director of Friends of Marsh Creek. She says she’s never heard of the organization, either.
He failed to respond to attempts by phone and email to contact him for this article.
Foley does have the endorsements of the county’s Democratic Central Committee, as well as of seven American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME) unions and organizations The parks district employees are members of that union.
The full list of Foley’s endorsements can be viewed on his website at www.markforparks.com.
One interesting thing with endorsements in the race is that both candidates are “dual-endorsed” by State Senator Mark DeSaulnier and State Assembly Members Jim Frazier, Susan Bonilla and Nancy Skinner, as well as Antioch Councilman Tony Tiscareno.
Burgis has the endorsements of Parks Board Director Ted Radke who is not seeking reelection, retiring Congressman George Miller and County Supervisor Mary Piepho. The full list of Burgis’ endorsements can be viewed on her website at www.dianeburgis.com.
Ward 7 includes Antioch, Brentwood, Byron, Discovery Bay, Oakley, Pittsburg, Bay Point, Martinez, Crockett, Hercules and Pinole.
I am a staff member of Urban Creeks Council. We do not endorse candidates and have never heard of a group called Friends of Urban Creeks.
Why do we have so many candidates, this year alone, that feel they had to either pad or out right lie about their credentials? Felons even.
This is a sad state of affairs folks but it shows how far a once wonderful nation has sunk.
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