Payton Perspective: Backed by the badge, businessman, Councilman Barbanica is best for Contra Costa Board of Supervisors
With experience in law enforcement, private sector and government he offers common-sense views unlike his left-leaning opponent
By Allen D. Payton, Publisher
In the race for Contra Costa County Supervisor District 5 seat held by Federal Glover who is retiring after six consecutive terms, Antioch Councilman Mike Barbanica is clearly the best choice to replace him. He faces Pittsburg Councilwoman Shanell Scales-Preston in the November run-off, after both made it past the four-candidate March primary election. The district includes the county’s northern waterfront cities and communities from the Senator John A. Nejedly-Antioch Bridge in East County to Hercules in West County.
Scales-Preston is Too Socialist and Progressive
Scales-Preston has some applicable experience having served as a councilmember and rotated vice mayor and mayor for the City of Pittsburg for the past six years, as well as on the four transportation boards serving East County, three for just the past two years, as past president and current member of the East Bay League of California Cities, and chair of the Los Medanos Health Advisory Committee. That committee worked with the now defunct healthcare district where Antioch Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe was the executive director for which the County Board of Supervisors settled with two of his female employees over sexual harassment claims for $350,000.
According to her bio on the City of Pittsburg’s website, Scales-Preston grew up in the City of Pittsburg graduated from Pittsburg High School and earned a degree in Political Science with an option in Pre-Law from Cal State East Bay. Her career has been in government, working for over 20 years as a staff member for both former Congressman George Miller and now Congressman Mark DeSaulnier.
That’s one of the challenges I have with Scales-Preston. Unlike her current boss, DeSaulnier who was a restaurateur in Concord before getting elected to local, then state and now federal office, Shanelle hasn’t worked in the private sector. So, she can’t truly understand what it takes to create jobs or wealth and grow the economy. That’s what is one of the key issues that needs to be addressed in District 5, especially along the waterfront.
Another issue I have with Scales-Preston is her political alliances and from whom she has accepted and promotes endorsements. They include Our Revolution East Bay, which according to their website, ourrevolutioneastbay.org, is “a progressive political organization that emerged from the historic Bernie Sanders campaign.” Sanders for decades described himself as a democratic socialist and has been the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate, except when now-Vice President Kamala Harris was serving. Those are not the kind of bigger, more expensive government views we need on the Board of Supervisors.
That brings up another issue, the blatant injection of partisan politics into local, non-partisan races, which I’ve harped on for the past 12 years, ever since Antioch Councilwoman Monica Wilson put her face and name on one side of a mailer and Obama’s on the other. Scales-Preston’s running a billboard ad on Highway 4 in Antioch with her face on one side of the ad and Harris’ on the other side. That’s completely inappropriate, and unnecessarily, and foolishly divisive. Scales-Preston also touts the endorsements of several Democratic Party organizations, including the State Party which surprisingly is opposing Prop. 36, the anti-crime measure, on the November ballot.
Finally, the other alliance and endorsement Scales-Preston promotes in her campaign is from the nation’s top abortion provider, Planned Parenthood. As I called out District Attorney Diana Becton for doing the same in 2022, I’m calling out Shanelle. Why would a Black woman take the endorsement of an organization founded in racist eugenics which by Margaret Sanger who spoke about and worked to eliminate the Black and brown races, which includes Hispanics, and has been very successful. Because the majority of abortions in the U.S. each year are by Black and Hispanic mothers. That’s why Planned Parenthood continues to focus and located their so-called “clinics” in neighborhoods with high populations of African- and Hispanic Americans. Scales-Preston is literally siding with the organization that continues to work against her own people of color. (Please see Margaret Sanger: Ambitious Feminist and Racist Eugenicist, https://womanisrational.uchicago.edu/2022/09/21/margaret-sanger-the-duality-of-a-ambitious-feminist-and-racist-eugenicist/)
While I like her and find that she’s a nice lady in our few conversations, Shanelle is seriously misdirected in her thinking and views and needs some experience with a job in the private sector before running either for re-election or higher office, again.
Backed by the Badge, Councilman, Former Cop, Business Owner Barbanica is Better and Best for the Board
Barbanica, on the other hand, has a much broader career experience having served as an officer and retired lieutenant after 21 years with the Pittsburg Police Department, where he helped fight against eight dirty cops, one of whom is still in prison for murder. He also worked as a sexual assault detective and a homicide detective, where he “helped women in the worst times of their lives,” Barbanica stated. That included saving a 13-year-old girl from repeated sexual assaults from an older man. He also ran the traffic division, oversaw not only Code Enforcement and all the other specialized enforcement units, including gangs, alcohol and tobacco, and street-level drug dealing teams.
He developed and led a six-officer team for six years, that worked on violent and street-level crime, which was reduced by almost 24% over a few years. Barbanica also ran the K-9 and Field Training Officer programs, and the Emergency Operations Center working with the FBI after 9-11 to prevent any terrorist attacks inside local industrial plants.
For the past 19 years he’s owned a successful, local real estate business in both residential and commercial sales, property ownership and management, the appropriately named Blue Line Property Real Estate & Management. That has given him the experience of dealing with renters and owners, understanding the issues that both sides have to deal with.
For the past four years, Barbanica has also served on the embattled Antioch City Council where he’s been the mature voice of reason in spite of the chaos, cronyism and corruption in which he did not participate. Nor can he be blamed for it, as he was on the short end of a variety of 3-2 and 4-1 votes while at the same time he was able to push for and successfully obtain majority votes in favor of his proposals, such as body cameras for police officers and dash cams for their vehicles, and tougher penalties for sideshows. In fact, Barbanica was the one who found common ground with the mayor to include penalties for advertisers planners, participants and spectators, as well.
He also pushed for expanding Antioch’s Code Enforcement by seven officers, doubling it to 14.
Barbanica has developed private-sector solutions to the challenge of homelessness in our county. He worked to revise the existing HUD contract with the County “to make it more palatable for owners to want to do business with homeless residents,” he said. “The program was actually my wife’s idea. We started with one single mom with her children, one of whom is disabled, and who are still housed with us, today.”
They expanded it to include homeless veterans.
“We work with seven different agencies to get people off the street and today, we have over 575 people housed that were facing homelessness or instability, who now have a roof over their head,” the candidate shared.
Barbanica’s platform focuses on his top priorities which are public safety, homelessness and blight.
Asked about economic development he said, “It’s always a constant. But we have to deal with the other issues, first. If we want business to come here, we have to provide them a place where their business will thrive.”
Regarding the Northern Waterfront Initiative, “It needs retooling,” Barbanica stated. “Because the zoning doesn’t match the long-term plans and developers have struggled and are very frustrated with the County. I’m going to be an advocate to develop that area and work with those developers but balance it with the concerns for the environment.”
He will also work on the Green Empowerment Zone, “to bring green jobs into our county to boost our local economy,” he added.
Barbanica also worked to bringing in 1,100 new, upscale homes in the Sand Creek area of Antioch in which “both sides, the developer and the environmental community, specifically Save Mt. Diablo, were satisfied,” following multiple meetings.
About transportation, he says supports extending BART to Tracy and back to Pleasanton, as well as completing the Highway 4 bypass / extension and building Route 239 from Brentwood to Tracy to connect Highway 4 to I-5, 205 and 580, “an East Bay loop” he said. It will permanently open East County for economic development. “Finally, it’s being planned after being on the books for almost 65 years,” Barbanica added.
Not surprisingly, he has the support of law enforcement, including Contra Costa County Sheriff David Livingston, the Contra Costa County Deputy Sheriffs Association, Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Association, Contra Costa County District Attorney Investigators’ Association, California Association of Highway Patrolmen, PORAC – Police Officers Research Association of California, as well as the Police Officers Associations of Antioch, Pittsburg, Concord, Martinez, Hercules, Brentwood, Clayton, Moraga, Pinole, Pleasant Hill, Richmond and Walnut Creek and the United Professional Firefighters of Contra Costa County.
Regarding the police scandals that affected both the Antioch and Pittsburg Police Departments, one thing needs to be clarified. When Antioch’s mayor and one councilwoman were irresponsibly and publicly calling for all 35 Antioch officers caught up in the racist text scandal to be fired – most of whom merely received the texts, but didn’t send any, and before the investigations were completed, and most returned to their jobs – Barbanica was again, the voice of reason. He said he, the mayor and other council members needed to shut their mouths and let the investigators work through the process, and not give the dirty, guilty cops anything they could use to keep their jobs, such as claiming their terminations were politically motivated. Yet, his opposition has been attempting to twist his words to mean something he didn’t.
One additional thing I like about him, having dealt and worked with with him in a councilman-reporter relationship for the past four years, Barbanica is available and responds to phone calls, texts and emails including any and all questions no matter how challenging. I respect that in an elected official.
“I truly believe the media’s responsibility is to keep government and politicians honest, and the people informed,” he stated. I completely agree.
On a personal note, Barbanica is married to Kristine, they have three children and six grandchildren, most of whom live in the area. Two of his children have followed him into law enforcement as his son is a Pittsburg Police Officer who “works my old beat with the same call sign assigned to it,” Barbanica shared. His youngest daughter is a prosecutor in another county in California. His older daughter is a physician’s assistant.
For the benefit of the northern portion and all of Contra Costa County, please join me in supporting Mike Barbanica as our next Supervisor representing District 5.
To learn more about him and his campaign visit www.mikebarbanica.com.
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Mike Barbanica 2024 & sign
