A series of workshops will be conducted to gather public input to the redrawing of the districts represented by Contra Costa County’s five supervisors.

“Everywhere I go, people keep asking about how the district will look,” said Supervisor Federal Glover, who represents District V. “It is a topic that is generating a lot of interest.”

Every ten years, the county is mandated to realign the districts so that each supervisor represents about the same number of people.

The 2010 Census shows that Contra Costa has grown to 1.2 million people with most of the growth occurring in the eastern portion of the county represented by Districts V and III. Slower growth occurred in the other three districts.

The District V workshops will be:

• Bay Point/Pittsburg, 7 p.m., May 19 at the Ambrose Community Center, 3105 Willow Pass Road in Bay Point.

• Antioch, 7 p.m., May 23 at the Antioch Community Center, 4701 Lone Tree Way.

• Far East County, 7 p.m. May 25 at Oakley City Hall, 3231 Main Street, Oakley.

Today, by a partisan 3-2 vote, the Senate Committee on Elections and Constitutional Amendments approved three Sen. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) measures that help address serious abuses of the initiative process and give the public critical information they need when casting their ballot.

“California’s initiative process is broken,” said DeSaulnier. “The measures approved today attempt to restore the initiative process to what Governor Hiram Johnson intended in 1911. “Governor Johnson never envisioned that his initiative process would be dominated as it is today by special interests that often mislead voters.

“Simply stated, voters need to be better informed when they cast their votes. Voters need to know who is behind the initiatives and who is opposed to them. Petition circulators need to disclose whether they are being paid to gather signatures or are volunteers. It also only makes sense to require that initiatives be fiscally responsible and include funding when they create public costs.”

Below are summaries of the three legislative measures:

Senate Constitutional Amendment 4 prohibits initiative measures that increase state and local government costs from taking effect, unless the measure provides for the funding required to cover its costs.

Senate Bill 334 requires the Secretary of State’s ballot pamphlet to include a list of the five highest contributors of $50,000 or more in support of or opposed to each ballot measure.

Senate Bill 448 requires individual who circulate an initiative, referendum, or recall petition to wear a badge identifying him or her as a “paid signature gatherer” or “volunteer signature gatherer” and identifies if and where he or she is registered to vote.

James Madison wrote, “A people who mean to be their own Governors must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives.”

Secretary of State Debra Bowen, California State PTA, Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, and California State Association of Counties support one or more of these measures. SB 448 will next be heard by the full Senate and the remaining two bills will be heard in Senate Appropriations Committee within the next few weeks.

DeSaulnier represents the Seventh Senate District, which includes Antioch and most of Contra Costa County.

Says Public Safety Is Number One Priority of Local Government, Pledges to Fight for Funding

By Allen Payton, Publisher

After a hard-fought, vitriolic campaign, underdog candidate Mark Peterson, a 25-year deputy district attorney, 15-year Concord councilman and three-time mayor, won by an 18% margin in November and was sworn in as Contra Costa County’s new District Attorney, yesterday to an overflow room filled with deputy district attorneys, judges, law enforcement personnel, elected officials including Congressman John Garamendi as well as many supporters.

After speeches by one of his court-room opponents in the Public Defender’s office, David Headley, former council colleague and now State Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, former Concord Mayor and Retired General Dan Helix, Sr., as well as Appeals Court Judge Mark Simons, the 52-year-old Peterson was given the oath of office by Contra Costa Superior Court Judge John Kennedy and then had his turn at the podium.

He gave a gracious speech, speaking to those in the DA’s office who supported him, as well as those who didn’t, as well as in the Public Defender’s office and on the bench, and thanked the Concord Police Officers Association and Contra Costa Firefighters who supported him in his campaign. Peterson also recognized, his opponents Dan O’Malley and Elle Fallahat, who were given a round of applause.

“We were never enemies. We were political opponents,” Peterson said. “We were colleagues then. We are colleagues, today.”

Peterson also introduced and thanked his wife Penny, daughters, one of whom did led the Pledge of Allegiance, and one who sang the National Anthem, and parents (it was his mother’s 81^st birthday), who he credited for teaching him the value of hard work, which he applied during his campaign and it paid off.

“My parents are great heroes to me. They were missionaries in a small town in Alaska …where I was fortunate enough to grow up,” he stated.

Peterson then asked and answered the question, “how did I get here?”

He also thanked the Seeno and Garaventa families, who supported his campaigns, financially.

He quoted President George Washington, who said, “The administration of justice is the firmest pillar of government.”

He acknowledged the seven new Deputy DA’s he had the privilege of swearing in, earlier in the day.

He mentioned lists of individuals in both the DA’s and Public Defender’s offices, as well as judges he appeared before, and the court staff who have had an impact on him and his career.

“Each one of those is a part of who I am, today,” he said. “Each one of those cases has helped influence who I am today.”

“And I know the criminal justice system is not a perfect system,” Peterson added. “But it’s an inherently a very, very good system and the system works because everyone in this room who’s a part of it does such a great job. And of course we have a Court of Appeals here to tell us when we’re wrong. (To laughter). And hopefully we don’t do it too often.”

He then recognized the DA’s office, including the 85 Deputy DA’s, the 25 investigative staff and the over 40 support staff and had them stand, which they did to applause.

“We have an excellent staff,” Peterson acknowledged. “I know during these last couple of years that we’ve had some bad publicity and we’ve had challenges in our office and there’s things we want to improve and want to work on and make better. But we have an excellent office. We do a very good job protecting this community.”

“The people in our office are committed to public safety and committed to keeping our community safe,” he added.

“So each one of you has contributed to who I am. Each one of you has shaped the perspective I bring to the District Attorney’s office. So in a very really sense each one of you will be helping me in lead that office.”

“So when I screw up it’s your fault,” Peterson joked. “ Not really. I hope that doesn’t happen. I really do mean that each one of you is part of me leading this office.”

He mentioned his service on the Concord City Council and the successes in reducing crime by over 40% and adding 29 police officers to the department.

“I’m very proud of that relationship. I think I learned a great deal from it and it was a privilege to serve in that capacity,” Peterson shared. “Although I was mayor and you might think I got a little prideful, I take the job seriously, but I don’t take my job too seriously.”

He then read some responses and one letter he framed which he received after he proposed fast food restaurants post calories next to a list of food items on the wall, so people can know.

A note from his staff said, a man had called to voice his opinion and said “he’d rather see the I.Q. of those running for office posted on election night, so he would know if he’s voting for a moron or not.”

Peterson said, “I got a big kick out of that so I framed it and it hang in my office. So I will take my job seriously, but I hopefully won’t take myself too seriously.”

He then touched on budget concerns the county and his department currently face.

“I know these are tough economic times. I pledge to work with the county to look for ways to save money,” Peterson exclaimed.

“But I want to remind everyone that the number one priority in local government is public safety. I pledge to work collaboratively with the Board of Supervisors,” he stated. “The Board has a difficult task ahead of them. I will fight for funding. I have a responsibility, a duty to represent every citizen, every voter in every city and every unincorporated area of this county.”

“I promise to speak professionally, but forcefully for those citizens and voters,” Peterson said. “Our office is understaffed and underfunded. I believe we must look for structural changes to the county budget.”

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Newly elected Antioch School Board Trustees Gary Hack and Joy Motts will be given their oaths of office, tonight at an earlier than normal board meeting. The meeting will begin at 5 p.m. for the ceremonies followed by a brief reception, according to board President Claire Smith. The board will say farewell to outgoing trustee Teri Lynn Shaw, who was not reelected, last month.

The board will then go into closed session at 5:45 p.m. followed by its regular meeting beginning at 7 pm.

The meetings of the school board are held in the chambers at the district offices, 710 G Street, in historic downtown Rivertown.

To see the meeting agenda, visit www.antioch.k12.ca.us.

 

Agopian, Motts Widened their Leads

County Clerk and Registrar of Voters Steve Weir has announced that the November election has been certified and provided the final numbers in the two close races in Antioch.

Gary Agopian came in second, winning one of the two seats up for grabs in the Antioch City Council race. His 7,795 votes beat third place finisher (and former Councilman) Arne Simonsen by 157 votes, who ended with 7,638. The first place finisher was Wade Harper, who had 9,228 votes (or 24 percent of the vote).

Councilman Reggie Moore lost his bid for re-election to a second term, coming in fourth with 18 percent of the vote. He was followed by Councilwoman Martha Parsons, who was appointed to the council two years ago and received just under 17 percent.

In the Antioch School Board race, Joy Motts won one of the two available seats, expanding her winning margin to 252 votes over John “Jack” Yeager. Motts had 6,525 votes to 6,273 for Yeager (Motts had led by only four votes on election night). Coming in first in the crowded, eight-candidate field is Gary Hack with 6,853 votes. Teri Lynn Shaw failed to win re-election to a second term, finishing fourth with 13 percent of the vote.

The City Council is expected to accept the election results and seat Agopian and Harper as new Council members at tonight’s meeting. Ceremonies begin at 6 p.m. in the council chambers, 300 H Street, Antioch.

For final details on all candidates and races in the county visit www.CoCoVote.us.

Final Results Expected Today 

As of 12:30 p.m. today “the county has 18,000 provisional ballots left to count, and Antioch will have a fair number of those,” said County Clerk/Registrar of Voters Steve Weir.

Weir was asked if the outstanding ballots could have an effect on the outcome of the City Council election, which currently shows a spread of 153 votes between second-place finisher Gary Agopian and third-place Arne Simonsen.

He replied, “They can’t overcome that. Simonsen was doing better in the mail-in ballots. It will help whoever was doing better on Election Day.”

When asked if he would request a recount, Simonsen, who is vacationing in Scotland, gave this statement, “True that the race between Gary Agopian and I is probably the closest in the county. I trust the work of the County Elections office and will live with the results, as we accomplished the goal of replacing the two incumbents.”

He added, “I’d be shocked if the final results changed anything.”

Weir said, “We hope to have the final update posted this afternoon. So look for it.”

To see the election results, please visit www.CoCoVote.us.