By Barbara Zivica

There’s a plethora of candidates for both Mary Piepho’s seat (District 3) and Supervisor Federal Glover’s seat (District 5) and probably more to come.  Mrs. Piepho is not running for reelection. However, Glover, who has been on the Board of Supervisors since 2000, is running for another term.

For starters, let’s define a County Supervisor’s duties and responsibilities:  Appoint most county dept. heads, except elected officials and provide for appointment of all other County employees, provide for compensation of all county officials and employees, create officers, board and commissions as needed, appoint members and fix terms of office, award all contracts except those that are within the authority delegated to the County Purchasing Agent, adopt an annual budget, sponsor an annual audit of all County accounts, books and records, supervise operations of all departments and exercise executive and administrative authority through the County government County Administrator, serve as appellate body for Planning and Zoning issues, and serve as County Board of Equalization (the Board has created an Assessment Appeals Board to perform this function) and on the Housing Authority which oversees the Section 8 program.

Now let’s look at the candidates, so far and what district they are running in:

Running for District 5 ( Glover’s seat) are:

Federal Glover – former Pittsburg City Council Member. Served as Mayor from 1998 to 1999 and has been on Board of Supervisors since 2000.  Has stated his commitment to reinforcing a sense of community by building bridges of trust, inclusion and cooperation among the diverse elements of District 5.  According to Glover’s campaign manager Mary Jo Rossi whose name has come up in regard to backroom deals concerning the Navy land plan,  he has worked on improvements to BART and Highway 4, defended the county’s Urban Limit Line and wants to find ways to keep kids out of  jail.

Conrad Dandridge – In 2006 he ran for the District 4 seat in unincorporated Martinez  (Susan Bonilla won that race.)  Nominated by then supervisor Sunne McPeak, served as member of the Pacheco Municipal Advisory Council (closest thing to a city council in that unincorporated area.)  Worked as a Census Bureau field operations supervisor for the county in 2000.  He’s concerned that unincorporated areas have a leadership shortage and haven’t received proper attention by Supervisor Glover.

Anamarie Avila Farias – Martinez resident who currently serves as Vice-Mayor on the City Council.   Serves on 3 different boards: 2nd VP of East Bay Division,  Housing Community and Economic Development Policy Committee Member and current Board Member for the Latino Caucus and Juvenile Hall Auxiliary of Contra Costa County.

Running for District 3 (Piepho’s seat) are:

Steve Barr – Brentwood City Council Member.  Endorsed by Brentwood Mayor  Bob Taylor and Brentwood Vice Mayor Joel Bryant and Council Member Erick Stonebarger.  A licensed contractor and community activist.  Elected to the Liberty High School District Board in 2005, served as Board President in 2008 and completed his term on the board in 2010.  Ran for Mayor against Taylor in 2012. He was appointed to the East Contra Costa Fire District Board in 2011 – 2014 and recently reappointed in 2016

Diane Burgis – Oakley Resident – elected as an East Bay Regional Parks District Trustee in 2014, and executive director of the Friends of March Creek Watershed, a grassroots organization.  She was elected to the Oakley City Council in 2012 and was recruited by Supervisor Mary Piepho who is not running for re-election.  Burgis wants to encourage economic growth in East County.

Wade Harper – Former Antioch Unified School District board member from 2008-2010, elected to the Antioch City Council in 2010 with the help of Federal Glover and a campaign that stated that with his 22 years in law enforcement he would focus on reducing crime.  Harper became Mayor in 2012 and was the principal officer for Antioch’s Measure C, a half cent sales tax, which was promoted by telling the public that it would enable the hiring of 22 more police officers.  As it turns out, Harper didn’t fulfill his campaign promises to city residents.

Douglas Hardcastle – was elected to the Oakley City Council in 2012 and just completed a term as Mayor and is endorsed by current Oakley Mayor Kevin Romick.  He first served as an elected member of the Ironhouse Sanitary District from 2000 to 2012 and served as President of the board in his final year. He owns Hardcastle’s RV sales and repair company in Oakley and is known as a “straight shooter”.

Odessa Lefrancois – Pittsburg resident. Retired Navy vet, respiratory therapist and 2nd VP of Local Union 1 and a civil rights activist as President of the NAACP East County Branch.  Concerned about vets rights issues, unfair labor practices and community related issues concerning seniors.  (I found her use of the County’s logo in her “Vote Odessa Lefrancois” campaign presumptuous).

Monica Wilson – Member of the Antioch Economic Development Commission from 2011 to 2012, and currently a member of the Antioch City Council.  She has stated that public safety is a top priority and wants to apply her experience in business development on a larger scale. Her standby council members in the event that she becomes completely unavailable, includes Lamar Thorpe and Patrice Guillory, Thorpe’s wife.  Recently a Notice of Intent to Circulate Petition seeking to limit card rooms within the city was filed by Lamar Thorpe, Patrice Guillary and LaTanya Harmon.  The initiative is a back door ploy, sponsored by the California Grand Casino, to eliminate competition.

Filing opens on February 16 and closes March 11 unless the incumbent isn’t seeking reelection, as is the case in District 3. Then the filing deadline is extended to March 16.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 11th, 2016 at 6:12 pm and is filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.