Editor:

My State Assembly campaign has discovered another breach of the public’s trust, as it relates to Jim Frazier’s stewardship of the 11th Assembly District. Last month, it was discovered that Mr. Frazier’s Chief of Staff, Jay Day, according to State Assembly publicly compiled State Employee salary records, received a $102,000 per year salary. In 2016, his salary went up to $120,000 per year, surpassing the base salary of his elected supervisor, Mr. Frazier.

Members of Assembly can appropriate Salary dollars any way they see fit, within their staff. Assembly Chief of Staff salary range, anywhere from $68,000 in Bakersfield, to $135,000 for Members of Assembly with leadership positions in the Chamber. A standard cost of living adjustment (COLA) for an employee earning a $102,000 wage would be about 3-4% or in Mr. Day’s case, around $3,500. This $18,000 raise Mr. Day received, that Mr. Frazier approved, is what some people in this district are lucky enough to earn working their fingers to the bone in a year’s time, thanks in large part to regulations placed on small businesses by Democrats.

This salary announcement comes conveniently two weeks after Mr. Frazier proposed the single largest per gallon fuel tax in the history of the Golden State. Mr. Frazier drew the criticism of voters from San Diego to Shasta with his proposed 17 cents per gallon fuel tax increase, which is 30 cents per gallon for diesel and also adds an additional $38 per year DMV Registration Fee. The criticism of his fuel tax has been loudest in AD-11, where voters not only drive literally hundreds of miles a day, to get to work, but also enjoy evening and weekend boating on the various waterways surrounding the San Francisco Bay Estuary.

I can’t answer as to what Jim was thinking when he approved this bump in salary. I can tell you that as your Assemblyman, I will fight to give my per diem back to the State Treasury, as Assemblywoman Baker, has done. I’m told per diems are optional to Members of the Assembly, and as such, I will get on the highways, and come home to my family just like many of you who work in Sacramento do every evening.

As someone who has worked in Government for nearly 30 years, and plans to once again, I will be available to take your call, respond to your emails, invite you to meetings on issues that are important to you, help refer you to the proper government agency to help solve your problems, inform you of my vote in the chamber, using social media almost instantly, hand out my personal cell number to those who ask for it.

Twenty-eight years of government service does that to a person. And I can assure you as I sit here, My Chief of Staff will not make more than I do. As a taxpayer, I’d like to know what I’m getting for my money right now. You should also.

Dave Miller

Candidate for Assembly, 11^th District, California

 

She, Terry, Navarro are only candidates to raise or spend more than $2,000

By Allen Payton

Only two of the seven candidates in the Antioch School Board race filed financial campaign reports on time, for the latest period that ended Saturday, September 24th and were due on the 29th. Former school board member Joy Motts turned in her report to the County Elections Office on Monday, which shows she has raised and spent the most.

When asked about her report, Motts explained in an email on Tuesday, “460 was filed yesterday. I had a fundraiser last Monday so did not get all info to my Treasurer (Don Freitas) until Tuesday. He completed 460 late Friday and I drove it to Martinez yesterday.”

Her reports, including one from the semi-annual reporting period ending June 30th, show Motts started the year with $1,522.30 cash on hand and has raised a total of $6,593 this year. That gave her a total of $8,115.30 to spend on her campaign. To date Motts has spent $6,914.57 this year. Attempts to obtain her 2015 reports were unsuccessful as of publication time. Once that occurs we will know if there were any additional expenditures, last year.

Her largest contributions were $2,000 from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) 302, $1,000 from the Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association Local No. 104, $503 from the Antioch Education Association, which is the local teachers’ union, $500 each from Delta Schools Political Action Committee, former Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan and Republic Services, the garbage company for Antioch.

Besides her filing fee, Motts’ largest expenditures were $2,500 for her Walnut Creek-based campaign consultant Cliff Glickman, $500 for a Latino voters’ slate mailer to a southern California company, $436 on signs to Belleci Design in Pittsburg and $321 for a fundraiser at Southern Café in Antioch.

She had an ending cash balance of $1,200.73 for the latest reporting period.

Terry

Appointed incumbent Alonzo Terry raised $3,286 and spent $3,046.07 during the period and for his campaign. His largest contributions were $500 from himself and $250 each from Odessa Lefrancois and Trinity Tomsic. Besides his filing fee Terry had to reportable expenditures were $2,061.07 to Francisco Rojas in Sacramento for signs and $345 to The Print Club in Antioch.

Navarro

The other appointed incumbent, Fernando Navarro raised $2,450 and spent $1,803 for his campaign. His largest contributions were $1,000 each from himself and Grow Elect, a Sacramento-based political action committee. Besides his filing fee Navarro’s largest expenditures were $700 for ads in the Herald and $400.58 for road signs from Fast Signs in Antioch. His forms show he filed the 497 form for contributions of $1,000 or more received after August 10th, before he received them. He actually spent the $1,000 out of his own pocket on August 11th, the day he filed his papers to become a candidate. Navarro said he would file amended forms showing that as a non-monetary contribution to his campaign and on the actual date it occurred.

Other Candidates

None of the other candidates, Mike Burkholder, Diane Gibson-Gray, Gary Hack, nor Crystal Sawyer-White, filed financial reports, because none of them has yet reached the $2,000 threshold in either campaign contributions or expenditures. Each of the five candidates were asked via email if that was because they haven’t yet raised or spent $2,000 in their campaign or if it is late, and if they plan on spending more than that amount in their campaign.

Sawyer-White responded with, “I filed a 410 on September 21, 2016. I have a small campaign team. I have been financing my campaign primarily on my own. I have only received $225.00 in donations thus far. I do not plan to go over $2,000. I plan to have a fundraiser event soon.”

Hack responded to the questions, with “I filed a Form 470 prior to the deadline – no committee and below $2,000.”

Burkholder’s treasurer Martha Parsons responded, stating he “did not file because he had not raised $2,000, yet. But, we have it now. We will be filing the next cycle.”

Gibson-Gray did not respond to the emailed questions.

See the financial reports for Motts, Terry and Navarro, below. To see all the documents and forms submitted by candidates in the school board race, click here.

The next filing period ends on October 22 and the second pre-election campaign finance reports are due on the 27th.

The election is Tuesday, November 8th.

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In making our decision about who to endorse for Mayor of Antioch and City Council, one choice was easy. Kenny Turnage II is by far the best choice for the Antioch City Council. He has a background in growing a business in Antioch, and serving the community in a variety of ways, including as a member of the Economic Development Commission.

He has the best combination of experience, understanding of the issues, and willingness to speak out on the problems we face and hold people accountable to solve them. Turnage knows how to get things done. Antioch needs him on the City Council.

The second choice for council was more difficult. Fred Rouse offers both the time availability and fiscal knowledge as a retired businessman. We like his service on the City’s Administrative Appeals Board. But, we believe he needs more experience and understanding of the issues and how to deal with them and encourage him to run, again in two years.

Councilwoman Mary Rocha has served Antioch, well while in public office for 32 years, including 16 on the school board, four as mayor and 12 years as a council member. We applaud her commitment to serving and working to make Antioch better and for being the only incumbent to attend our forum and face the tough questions.

But she, Councilwoman Monica Wilson and Mayor Wade Harper, who are both seeking their second terms in their positions, have failed in two very serious ways: police staffing and Measures C and O oversight.

In 2013, they promised us 22 more police officers if we passed Measure C. We voted for it and gave the council an extra $5.5 million per year to spend. We have a net four sworn police officers, as a result and they can’t explain exactly how and where the rest of the money was spent. That’s unacceptable. They have not earned the right to be reelected.

Karl Dietzel has some good ideas and we encourage him to continue speaking out on the various issues as a resident, but not as a council member.

Lamar Thorpe has been somewhat controversial since getting involved in Antioch politics, four years ago. A false accusation against him by an ex-girlfriend, nine months after she claimed it happened, during his senior year in  college, has followed him for nine years. This paper was part of that by reporting on it, the best we could based on the information we had. Thorpe refused to speak with our reporter, at that time, because he had lost trust in the media and was tired of dealing with the issue.

But, now that Thorpe has spoken to the Herald, it is clear what he was accused of never happened. He was still punished for it, in an on-campus disciplinary process. While it took him a year, Thorpe won his appeal and his record was expunged. That issue should no longer be allowed to affect his ability to put his skills, energy and positive ideas to work to benefit Antioch. We need that combination on the Council, now.

While we disagreed with his leading the Measure E campaign, this year, his reasons for working to pass it were   different than the out-of-town casino that funded it. As a result, Thorpe paid the price and was removed from his seat on the Economic Development Commission by the current city council, an action supported by this newspaper.

However, his efforts proved to be successful, as the voters of Antioch overwhelmingly sided with Thorpe and passed the ballot measure in June.

The voters should side with him, again and elect him to the City Council.

In deciding who to endorse for Mayor of Antioch for the next four years, we were torn. While Gil Murillo has some good ideas, and we like his aggressive promises for local job creation, we believe it would be best if  he waited a few years, learned more about the local issues and ran for city council, then. We suggest the new mayor appoint Murillo to the city’s   Economic Development Commission.

We like Mayor Pro Tem Lori Ogorchock’s leadership over the past two years and willingness to be the lone voice of reason, on the city council. But, if she’s elected Mayor, she will have to step down from her council seat and the council will have to appoint her replacement for the remaining two years of her term. We’ve had too much of that in the past and prefer to have all five council members elected by the voters.

Dr. Sean Wright’s leadership has turned around the Antioch Chamber of Commerce over the past six years. His regional connections and efforts are already helping Antioch economically. His energy and vision will serve us, well.

If you want both Wright and Ogorchock on the council, we recommend you join us and vote Wright for Mayor, and we’ll get them both. With Turnage and Thorpe on the council, it will be a dynamic combination of four strong leaders who will help solve our city’s crime and blight problems, and bring businesses and jobs to Antioch.

Endorsed by Assemblyman Frazier, Brentwood Police Officers’ Association, County Prosecutors’ Association and Antioch community leader Iris Archuleta

With absentee ballots getting mailed out next week, Brentwood City Councilmember Steve Barr wanted to inform the public that he is running a strong campaign for County Supervisor, displaying his commitment to using tax dollars responsibly, and share some of his key endorsements.

Barr, who was the top votegetter in the primary election, is currently in a runoff that will be decided November 8th. As a Brentwood City Councilman he has made both fiscal responsibility and public safety top priorities.

“I decided to run for Supervisor because there is a lot of important work that needs to be done regionally such as providing regional public safety resources, making sure East County gets its fair share of transportation funding, andhelping our agricultural community,” said Barr. “And we need to do this in a fiscally responsible way, making sure we have money saved for when there’s the next recession or downturn.”

Barr has many accomplishments as both a City Councilmember and former School Board Trustee. From building the new Brentwood Dispatch Center that will improve public safety regionally, to helping manage a roads and paving program that was voted by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission as the best in the Bay Area, Barr has found ways to provide great service while cutting excess, pushing community priorities, and saving money. This was a big part of why Barr earned the endorsement of the East Bay Times.

Barr’s direct style and honesty has helped him accomplish a lot, and it also has earned him the support of many individuals and leaders throughout the District.  The Brentwood Police Officers’ Association, the County Prosecutors’ Association, and many other community leaders, organizations, and elected officials from across the district have all joined up to support Barr because they know he is someone they can always work with, even if they disagree.

“Steve’s openness, willingness to listen and his ability to be upfront and honest in his responses are refreshing,” said community leader Iris Archuleta. “He doesn’t pretend to know everything, but is clearly caring enough to learn.”

Assemblymember Jim Frazier agreed.

“Steve is a true leader who doesn’t crave the spotlight, but shows up for the tough assignments, is very direct and honest, and uses his financial skills to make sure our tax dollars are spent wisely,” Frazier stated. “He is the leader I trust and know everyone can work with.”

Barr responded to the comments of support.

“I appreciate the support of law enforcement and community leaders,” he said. “I look forward to working with them to improve things in our county.”

Barr’s background includes being a small business owner for 35 years and a Liberty Union High School District Trustee. He is married, and they have two children.

Contra Costa County’s 3rd Supervisorial District includespart of Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley, Discovery Bay, Byron, Knightsen, Bethel Island, Diablo, Blackhawk, and Tassajara. Please visit www.SteveBarrForSupervisor.com for more information about the campaign.

It’s time the Antioch School District had a majority of board members who will put the interests of the students, first while protecting the taxpayers.

Appointed incumbents Fernando Navarro and Alonzo Terry, who have each served less than a year on the board, filling vacancies due to resignations of past board members, have been doing well during their brief time in office. They’ve proven themselves to be good listeners, fiscally responsible and honest about the problems in the district.

Navarro, who has two children in Antioch schools, is the only Hispanic member on the board and candidate in the race, is fully bilingual and bi-cultural. He is the only one who can effectively reach out to that part of our community.

Crystal Sawyer-White, a substitute teacher in another school district and owner of a tutoring business, has a Masters in Education, and a child in the district, as well. She has demonstrated her commitment to the students in Antioch, having served on a site council and LCAP committee.

All three support bringing back shop classes to the schools, as well as entrepreneurship classes, teaching students how to start and run their own businesses. That should serve both the students and our community well, as we work to grow our local economy and create local jobs.

These three are also the only candidates to address the realities of the serious problems facing the district, citing the statistics of how few students are proficient in math and English, as well as the dangers of the district’s continued deficit spending and reduction in the reserves. They will serve the district well and have committed to getting the school board meetings either televised on local TV or at least live streamed on the district’s website – and in their first year in office. That will bring the district and board meetings into the 21st century for greater transparency.

The other four candidates, incumbent Diane Gibson-Gray, former school board members Joy Motts and Gary Hack, and news site publisher Mike Burkholder, joined forces and based upon a false assumption, chose not to participate in the televised candidates’ forum the Herald sponsored. They chose to play politics instead of being available to answer questions from residents and other candidates, and even refused to answer questions we emailed them four days prior to asking them at the forum.

The worst thing is three of them, all but Burkholder, proved to be untrustworthy by offering one reason they couldn’t attend, then the day before stating it was due to their false assumption. Burkholder just simply never committed to attend the forum on Friday night, which is just as bad.

This was after two attempts to reschedule the forum to accommodate their schedules, that week, costing the other candidates money in lost business and child care expenses.

We were both surprised and disappointed in their actions and poor decision-making. Not being willing to answer questions that other candidates are asked and answered from us, the public and fellow candidates disqualifies the four from serving in public office.

We need citizen representatives on the Antioch School Board who will put students first, and protect the taxpayers.

It’s time to put the problems of the past behind us with leaders who are afraid of transparency and the use of 21st century technology to keep the public informed, and move forward with three responsible, respectful and available leaders on the board.

Fernando Navarro, Alonzo Terry and Crystal Sawyer-White are those leaders. We encourage you to join us in voting for them on November 8.

By Allen Payton

The latest campaign financial reports, submitted by candidates in the Antioch City Council race, and due on Thursday, September 29, shows Ken Turnage II in the lead in contributions received for the reporting period and total expenditures made for the campaign. However, Councilwoman Monica Wilson has a slight lead in overall fundraising.

Turnage

The report for the period ending September 24th shows Turnage has raised $10,445 and loaned his campaign $2,000 for a total of $12,445 in total contributions, and has spent $11,249. But, his first report for the year shows an additional $2,950 in contributions bringing the total for his campaign to $15,395.

8:20 PM, 10/3/16 UPDATE: However, Turnage informed the Herald, Monday night, that he had returned the contributions reported on his first form, when he dropped out of the race, this summer. He later re-entered the race and many of his supporters contributed, again. Turnage said he will file an amended 460 form to reflect those refunds and that the amounts reported on his 460 form dated 9/29/16 are correct. While it still means he raised the most funds for the reporting period, the corrected information gives Wilson a slight edge in total fundraising for the campaign. (Please see, below).

8:20 PM, 10/3/16 CORRECTION: Most of Turnage’s contributions are from within Antioch. His largest contributions include $1,500 from Antioch resident Gloria Martin, $1,500 from Gordon Gravelle of Suncrest Homes in Antioch, $1,000 from Michael Lippitt of Danville, and $500 each from Antioch Realtor Rick Fuller and Joe Stokely of Stokely Properties a property management firm in Walnut Creek.

Most of his expenditures were also in Antioch, with his largest individual expense of $4,334 to The Print Club in Antioch. Turnage also paid a total of $5,170 to two southern California companies for slate mailers, as well as $500 to Emily Bernardi an Antioch-based website developer. He ended the period with $1,197 cash on hand.

Wilson

As in her campaign for County Supervisor, earlier this year, almost all of Councilwoman Monica Wilson’s contributions were from outside of Antioch, and most of her expenditures were, as well. She raised $5,445 during the reporting period and a total of $6,897.09 for her re-election campaign, so far this year. But, she formed her committed in 2014 and with the amounts received that year and in 2014, her total amount received is $12,527.09 for her campaign.

While she spent $4,317.75 during the period, Wilson’s report shows she has spent a total of $9,852.29 during her campaign, this year. Her expenditures for her campaign total $11,819.67. However, in February she transferred $5,209.54 to her Supervisor campaign committee. So, Wilson has only spent $6,610.13 on her re-election campaign, placing her in a close third place for expenditures behind Lamar Thorpe (see below).

She has an ending cash balance of $1,127.25 with no accrued expenses or outstanding debts.

Wilson’s largest contributions include $1,500 from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union, $1,000 from Republic Services, Antioch’s Pacheco-based garbage contractor, $800 from a retired teacher in San Rafael, $500 each from PG&E, political consultant Melody Howe Weintraub of Lafayette, and Louisa Zee Kao, of Hillsborough, the President of the Zika Group, which is the owner and developer of the former Higgins Ranch in Antioch’s Sand Creek area, and $320 from herself. Her only reportable contribution from within Antioch was $100 from school board president Diane Gibson-Gray.

Wilson’s expenditures include $1,568.52 to AABCO printing in Concord, $851.44 at a restaurant in Lafayette, $832 for signs from a printer in Richmond, $700 to a Florida consulting firm for web services, and $665.32 for campaign signs from a company in Kentucky.

Thorpe

In third place for fundraising is Lamar Thorpe with $9,574.33 during the reporting period. He’s in second place for spending, just ahead of Wilson, having spent $6,848.91 and had an ending cash balance of $2,725.42.

Like Wilson, most of Thorpe’s contributions were from outside of Antioch, from people throughout the state and country. His largest contributions were $1,000 from Operating Engineers 3, $972.33 from himself, $527 from his wife, $500 from a business owner in Maryland, and $400 from a businessman in Texas.

Most of his expenditures were also made outside of Antioch. His largest expenses were $2,208 on slate mailers with companies in southern California, $965.60 for advertising on Facebook, $704.51 for a banner from a company in Texas, $621.03 for campaign software, $480.13 on phones, and $479.53 on signs from another business in Texas.

Thorpe appears to believe in complete transparency and full disclosure, as he reported every contribution and expense, even though the rules only require details on those of $100 or more.

Rocha

Councilwoman Mary Rocha’s reports show she had contributions of $8,042 and is in a close fourth place for expenditures at $6,146 for her re-election campaign. However, her latest report is off by $96.82, as Rocha’s expenditures actually total $6,242.82.

Her largest contributions include $2,500 from Republic Services, $1,000 from Antioch landowners and developers Lucia and Monte Albers of Brentwood and $500 from former Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan of Alamo. Only $1,252 of her reportable contributions were from people in Antioch.

Rocha’s largest expenditures were $1,777.62 for printing of a mailer to Markots in Brentwood, $1,395.20 for printing to AABCO in Concord, $700 for advertising to the Herald.

Rouse & Dietzel

Fred Rouse and Karl Dietzel each submitted a form 470 declaring they will receive and spend less than $2,000 in their campaigns.

As of August 10th, candidates are required to report any contribution of $1,000 or more within 24 hours. Those reports and each candidate’s 460’s can be seen, below. NOTE: We will post Wilson’s report(s) from 2014, when she formed her 2016 committee, once they are received.

The next filing period ends on October 22 and the second pre-election campaign finance reports are due on the 27th.

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The three forums sponsored by the Antioch Herald and held, this week, for candidates for Antioch Mayor, City Council and School Board can be viewed on TV in October. The forums will be televised beginning Sunday, October 2nd on Delta TV (Comcast Channel 24 and AT&T U-verse on Channel 99) and the schedule is as follows:

Antioch Mayoral Candidates Forum

Sundays at 5 pm

Thursdays at 2 pm

Fridays at 11 am

Antioch City Council Candidates Forum

Sundays at 7 pm

Tuesdays at 11 am

Thursdays at 4 pm

Antioch School Board Candidates Forum

Sundays at 1 pm

Mondays at 11 am

Thursdays at 6 pm

Efforts to post the forums for viewing on YouTube are also underway. Check back to the AntiochHerald.com for details.

The Contra Costa Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is conducting interviews of candidates in the November election throughout the county. The completed videos can be viewed on the group’s Facebook page or heard on SoundCloud.

Below is a list of the candidates who are participating in the video interviews and the release status of their videos.

“We’re aiming to get all the videos released before the ballots hit the mailboxes and Early Voting/Absentee Voting By Mail begins on October 10^th,” said Evodio “Vo” Walle, President-elect and Chair, Government Affairs Committee of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Contra Costa County,

Candidates who would like to be included in the interviews, please contact Walle at (415) 572-3568 or vo@h5c.org, or email GAC@h5c.org.

Also included in the completed videos is Gilbert “Gil” Murillo.

For more information about the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce visit www.hc5.org.