By Allen Payton

Antioch School Board Trustees Joy Motts and Gary Hack, both in their first terms in office, face two challengers in the November election.

Former trustee and educator Walter Ruehlig is seeking to return to the board and Debra Vinson, an educator, counselor and clinician who is running for the second time. She ran unsuccessfully for the Antioch School Board in 2012, also.

The major issues, this year are expected to be the district’s finances, as well as the Dozier-Libbey Medical High School independent charter conversion.

The election is Tuesday, November 4.

Tuesday & Thursday, September 16 & 18, Antioch Council Chambers

By Allen Payton

The Antioch Chamber of Commerce and the Antioch Herald will co-host two nights of forums for the eight candidates vying for two seats on the Antioch City Council, the four candidates seeking the two seats on the Antioch School Board, the four candidates, two each for the two districts that included Antioch on the County School Board, as well as Measure O, the Antioch business license tax on the November ballot.

“This will provide the voters in Antioch the opportunity to ask questions of and learn more about the candidates and Measure O, to make a more informed decision before they vote,” said Chamber CEO Dr. Sean Wright.

The first two forums will be held on Tuesday, September 16 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., with a debate on Measure O from 6:00 p.m. to 6:45 p.m., followed by the city council candidates’ forum from 7:00 p.m to 9:00 p.m.

The forums for the two school board races will be held from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 18, starting with the County School Board candidates at 7:00 p.m, followed by the Antioch School Board candidates at 8:00 p.m.

Both nights will be held at the Antioch City Council Chambers, 3rd and H Streets in downtown Antioch. Be sure to bring your questions and submit them at the beginning of the meeting.

The format will include an opportunity for the candidates to ask each other questions and challenge each the responses from their opponents.

By Allen Payton

In a brief conversation with Antioch City Clerk Arne Simonsen, after filing for Antioch City Council closed at 5:00 p.m., today (Friday, August 8, 2014) he said there were seven candidates who had qualified for the ballot. There are three more people who filed their papers in the final hour, which he was processing to determine if they will qualify. “Most likely they will,” he said.

Diane Gibson-Gray – Qualified

Lori Ogorchock – Qualified

Anthony Segovia – Qualified

Tony Tiscareno – Qualified

Lamar A. Thorpe – Qualified

Steven Bado – Qualified

Karl Dietzel – Qualified

Jeffrey Hall-Cottrell – Awaiting verification of signature count

Amber Avelino – Awaiting verification of signature count

Sandy McGee – Awaiting verification of signature count

So, we could have as many as 10 candidates for the two seats that are up for election in November. Check back for the final list of qualified candidates, later tonight or tomorrow.

Diane Burgis

Incumbent Ted Radke to retire and endorses Burgis

On Thursday, August 7, 2014, Oakley City Council Member and Executive Director for the Friends of Marsh Creek Watershed, Diane Burgis, announced her candidacy for East Bay Regional Parks District Board, Ward 7. Incumbent, Ted Radke, is retiring and not seeking re-election.

Ward 7 includes the Cities and communities of Antioch, Bay Point, Bethel Island, Brentwood, Byron, Clyde, Crockett, Discovery Bay, Hercules, Martinez, Oakley, Pacheco, part of Pinole, Pittsburg, Port Costa and Rodeo.

“Ted Radke has served our community with distinction on the East Bay Regional Parks District Board and I am honored to have earned his endorsement upon his retirement,” said Burgis. “My professional life has been devoted to conservation, protecting open space, habitat restoration, and clean water. I will use my experience to expand on Ted’s legacy and enhance our regional parks.”

“People were questioning whether he was getting ready to retire. A few people encouraged me to think about running,” Burgis said. “Then when the time came, I spoke with Ted about a month ago. and he said he was thinking about retiring but wanted to make sure someone who he felt good about was wanting to run. I told him I was interested and he was supportive of that.”

“I can think of no one better suited than Diane Burgis to serve on the East Bay Regional Parks District Board,” said Ted Radke, current Board Member of the East Bay Regional Parks District, Ward 7.  “Diane’s commitment to bettering our environment and ensuring access to open space, conservation of habitat, and environmental education programs makes her an excellent choice to replace me on the Board. I expect Diane to inject new energy and ideas into the Parks District organization.”

Burgis was elected to the Oakley City Council in 2012. Currently, she serves as Executive Director of Friends of Marsh Creek Watershed, a grassroots nonprofit based in East Contra Costa County that focuses on issues related to conservation, water quality, habitat restoration, and environmental education.  Since taking over the organization in 2007, Burgis has helped transform the nonprofit from a local grassroots group into a nationally recognized organization.  In 2011, Burgis was awarded the “Watershed Champion” award by the Contra Costa County Watershed Forum for her work to build partnerships and provide leadership in protecting, restoring and enhancing creeks and watersheds. 

Burgis has also been endorsed by Congressman Jerry McNerney, State Senator Mark DeSaulnier, Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan, Assemblyman Jim Frazier, Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia, Contra Costa County Supervisor Mary Piepho, Supervisor Federal Glover, Oakley Mayor Randy Pope, Oakley City Council Members Doug Hardcastle and Kevin Romick, Hercules Mayor Myrna de Vera, Martinez Mayor Rob Schroeder, Pittsburg Mayor Sal Evola, Antioch Council Members Mary Rocha and Tony Tiscareno, Brentwood Mayor Bob Taylor, Brentwood Council Members Steve Barr and Joel Bryant.

The Antioch City Council candidate filing period is open until 5:00 pm on Friday, August 8th. The law provides that the filing period be extended by five (5) calendar days if an incumbent does not file.

With the passing of Council Member Agopian and in consultation with the County Elections Office, City Clerk Arne Simonsen has declared that Council Member Agopian’s seat is now vacant. There is no longer an incumbent of that Council seat to file for reelection.

The candidate filing period will only be extended five (5) days in the event that the remaining incumbent does not file by 5 p.m. on August 8th.

Publisher’s Note: Although this candidate’s announcement was mentioned in a previous article, the complete news release was not published on this site, until now.

Following Congressman George Miller’s announcement on January 13, that he will retire and not seek re-election, retired Judge Tue Phan-Quang announced his candidacy for California’s 11th Congressional District. The district covers a large portion of Contra Costa County including the northern and western portions of Antioch.

Judge Tue is married with four sons and eight grandchildren. He and his wife have been residents of Danville, since 1995. Judge Tue immigrated to the United States after the fall of Saigon in April, 1975. A trained attorney in Vietnam, he completed his law studies at Drake University Law School in Des Moines, Iowa. He was a Hearing Officer with the Iowa Department of Job Service for four years. He was appointed Assistant Attorney General with the Iowa Department of Justice in 1987.

Judge Tue moved his family to California in 1988. He was a trial attorney with the Immigration & Naturalization Service, District Counsel Office in San Francisco from 1988-1993. From 1993-1995 he was an Administrative Law Judge with the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board in Sacramento. He was then appointed Immigration Judge In March 1995 in San Francisco where he served until his retirement in December 2012, to run for Congress.

Tue is a Republican. The only other candidate in the race, currently is State Senator Mark DeSaulnier, a Democrat.

For more information about Judge Tue, view this video made for his 70^th birthday by clicking here, or contact Van Phan by email at vaphan@pacbell.net or (925) 984-0980.

Karen Mathews-Davis

STOCKTON – Former Stanislaus County Clerk-Recorder Karen Mathews Davis announced on Thursday, February 6 at the Stockton Police Department, that she will be a candidate for the 9th Congressional District, which includes most of Antioch, despite receiving death threats to herself and family if she chose to run for the seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Karen was assaulted in 1994 after she refused to cooperate with members of a domestic terrorist group who had made demands on her while she was serving as the Stanislaus County Clerk-Recorder. Her attacker was convicted and sentenced to 19 years in prison.

“After receiving the threat several weeks ago, I almost dropped out of the race but after prayer and a great amount of support from my husband, I decided I must go forward.”

Karen who is a native of Stockton served as the City Clerk in Manteca for 3 years from 1981-1984 and as the Clerk-Recorder in Stanislaus County for 11 years from 1990-2001 winning 3 county wide elections by wide margins. “My public service has been guided by my ability to work to solve problems, I balanced my budgets and saved the county of Stanislaus money during my years of serving there, we need a member of congress who is interested in District 9 and not the political labels and partisan bickering.”

Karen and her husband George run a small business in Lodi and are active in their church.

By Allen Payton

Following Congressman George Miller’s retirement announcement last week, two candidates who have been suggested as potential candidates for California’s 11^th District, which Miller represents and includes part of Antioch, have said they won’t be running.

Contra Costa District Attorney Mark Peterson said last Friday, that he’s focused on his reelection, which is on the ballot in June, and won’t be running for Congress.

Another high-profile individual, who is known nationally, Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberg, who lives in the district issued the following statement, on January 14.

“I believe I can best use my skills, experience, and the public platform I have been given as an advocate for the traveling public and for promoting safety in general and I am not considering a run for public office,” Sullenberg said.

He’s known as the Hero of the Hudson for the emergency landing in the Hudson River, of the U.S. Airways plane he was piloting, five years ago, last week.

The 62-year-old native of Danville is a best-selling author and has received honors from both Presidents Obama and George W. Bush. He is now an airline safety advocate.

So far, only State Senator Mark DeSaulnier on the Democrat side and on the Republican side, retired federal immigration Judge Tue Phan-Quang, who lives in Danville, have announced they will seek the open congressional seat, for which filing opens February 10^th. More information about the judge can be learned from a Youtube video, by clicking here.

The voter registration figures for the district are 49.5% Democrat, 25% Republican and 21% independent.