By Allen Payton

The Antioch Chamber of Commerce announced on Wednesday, that by a vote of the Board of the Directors, it “formally endorses Dr. Sean Wright for Mayor of Antioch” and that “this is the first candidate the Chamber has endorsed in six years.”

“Dr. Sean Wright has been the CEO of the Antioch Chamber for the past six years.  He has been a champion for business, education, the City of Antioch and the East Contra Costa region,” said Chamber Board Chairman Richard Pagano. “Sean has utilized his skills, knowledge and work ethic to bring the Chamber back from financial distress and he is what the City of Antioch needs right now.  We know who he is, what he stands for, and share his vision for the future of Antioch.”

The announcement further stated “The Antioch Chamber of Commerce believes Sean Wright has proven his commitment to supporting and growing the Antioch business community in the past, and will continue this into the future as Mayor.  More than any other candidate, he has the capacity to lead the City of Antioch toward a greater level of success, and the Antioch Chamber of Commerce fully endorses Sean Wright for the office of Mayor of Antioch.”

Wright, who is also a chiropractor in Antioch, is not a member of the Board of Directors. Attempts to reach him for comment for this report were unsuccessful before publication time.

The Antioch Chamber of Commerce is made up of about 350 Antioch area member businesses and organizations and is the largest Chamber in East County. The Chamber is a 501c6 non-profit business league, and according to IRS rules, the organization can participate directly or indirectly, or intervene, in political campaigns on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office, so long as that is not its primary activity.

By Allen Payton, Publisher

A mistake was made in the phone number for Appointed Antioch School Board Trustee Fernando Navarro in the September issue of the Antioch Herald, which arrived in mailboxes, this week. The correct phone number for his campaign is (925) 727-6357.

I apologize for not having the correct the number in his ad, which he provided us before we went to print.

Having filed her papers to run for the Antioch School Board on August 12, Crystal Sawyer-White announced the reasons for her candidacy in a press release, on Sunday, August 28. The owner of a local tutoring company and former Parent Education Teacher for teen mothers in the Mt. Diablo Unified School District, also offered the following about her background:

“Hello Antioch Residents,

I am running to become a School Board Member of Antioch Unified School District. I have lived in Antioch for over 12 years. I am married with two children. My daughter graduated from Deer Valley High School and she is also a recent graduate of Grambling State University. My son currently attends Diablo Vista Elementary. I am enthusiastic about the quality of education over the past few years within the Antioch Unified School District. Because of my background and experience, I feel I can contribute to our community’s continual success in providing our children with a world class education. I am fully aware of the myriad of challenges both our children and school district face. Since making Antioch my home, I have been actively involved not only as a parent but in education as well.

Here are some of my qualifications:

• Master of Science in Education(with an emphasis in Curriculum and Instructional Strategies) 2012
• Co-founder and owner of Bay Area Tutorial that focuses on student academic achievement and graduation. This includes tutoring foster youth in collaboration with Contra Costa County Office of Education Youth Development Services
• School Site Council – Diablo Vista Elementary 2.5 years
• Member-LCAP (Local Control Accountability Planning)
• Parent Advocate for children with autism and special needs
• Advocate for parents with intellectual disabilities
• Former Parent Education Teacher for Teen Mothers at Mt. Diablo Unified School District

Currently, I am substituting to pursue completing my teaching credential.

My goals are straightforward. I plan to work collaboratively with our fellow Antioch school board members to improve our quality of education for students in addition to providing teachers and parents tools needed to help meet these milestones and goals. Here are some of the following goals and milestones I would like to help our school district achieve:

• Increase attendance
• Increase graduation rates
• Increase college enrollment
• Increase teacher retention
• Increase parent involvement

With your vote I will help to put children first.”

Sawyer-White is one of seven candidates for school board, including one incumbent and two appointed incumbents. The election is Tuesday, November 8.

Ballot designation challenge must be filed by Monday, August 22

By Allen Payton

After he was elected Mayor of Antioch in 2012, Wade Harper stated that he had retired as a lieutenant with the Tracy Police Department to serve as mayor full time. However, he was only age 48 at the time and his retirement payments wouldn’t begin until after he turned 50. With 24 years as a police officer in El Cerrito and then Tracy, his retirement at 3% times the number of years he worked is equal to 72% of his final year’s salary.

The pay for his part-time position as mayor, is only $942 per month in the form of a stipend, plus $450 transportation allowance, a $100 per month communication allowance, plus medical benefits, which is far less than his monthly pension.

So the question arose of why would a police officer retire almost two years before being eligible to collect on his retirement?

It was confirmed this week, that Harper did not actually retire in 2013 from the City of Tracy Police Department, as he has claimed. Instead, he resigned, according to City of Tracy staff.

“Mr. Harper did in fact resign in 2013,” said Kim Dunaway with the City of Tracy Human Resources Department.

When asked again, “so, he didn’t retire?” she replied, “No. He resigned.”

Allegations about the reasons for Harper’s resignation have not yet been verified.

But, Harper has continued the misrepresentation about the end of his law enforcement career. In his ballot statement during his campaign for County Supervisor in this year’s June primary election, he wrote “24-year law enforcement veteran police manager (retired).” His ballot designation was “Mayor/Retired Policeman.” His ballot designation for his re-election campaign is also “Mayor/Retired Policeman.” 2016 Harper Supervisor Ballot Statement  Harper 2016 Mayor Ballot Designation Worksheet

The only way to force a candidate to change their ballot designation once it has been accepted by either the County Clerk or City Clerk is in court. A challenge must occur within 10 calendar days after filing closed and anyone can challenge it. Filing closed on Friday, August 12, so a challenge in court must occur by Monday, August 22.

When reached for comment about the issue and why Harper was allowed to use the term “Retired Policeman” in his ballot designation for the County Supervisor’s race in June, County Clerk and Registrar of Voters Joe Canciamilla responded by email.

“For city council races the city clerks are the elections officials and would be the ones to decide on ballot designations,” he said. “For us we rely on what the candidates provide on their ballot worksheets. We have no authority to investigate.”

“The code allows for ten days for someone to challenge a statement or designation from the date filing closes,” Canciamilla added. “They have to go to court for a writ of mandate.”

City Clerk Arne Simonsen confirmed the 10 day challenge period and what he did to verify Harper’s information.

While Harper is receiving his retirement pay through the California Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) and used that on his “Justification for use of proposed ballot designation,” according to Antioch City Clerk Arne Simonsen.

“I had based my approval on his use of Retired Policeman in the Supervisor’s race,” he said. “I called PERS to verify he is receiving his retirement pay.”

Asked if he called the City of Tracy to verify, Simonsen responded, “I did not call the City of Tracy.”

He then showed a copy of Harper’s Ballot Designation Worksheet, which is a public document and can be seen, here:

Harper wrote “I am currently a PERS retiree after serving in law enforcement 24 years.” However, he did not provide any contact names, phone numbers or email addresses for Simonsen’s office to verify the information.

When asked if another candidate could not use the term “retired” in his ballot designation because he was laid off, why could Harper use the term if he resigned from police work before he had reached retirement age, and is now employed as a teacher at Antioch High School, Simonsen replied, “Obviously both the County Elections Office and I believed that he was a retired police officer.”

Two of Harper’s three challengers responded to the news. All three were asked if they planned to challenge his ballot designation in court, but none were willing to commit to doing so, yet.

“It’s unfortunate that Wade has lied to the community, once again,” said Gil Murrillo.

When asked when else he believed Harper had lied to the community Murrillo replied, “Not fulfilling his zero tolerance for crime commitment and his promise of 22 more police officers.”

Mayor Pro Tem Lori Ogorchock also responded.

“I’m in awe, actually,” she said. “I don’t know that I personally want to challenge it. He has to live with himself. I’m totally shocked. I’m befuddled to be honest. I don’t know what the reasoning is. I’m just sad. I don’t know why anyone would not tell the truth.”

Wright had no comment, at this time.

Harper responded by email with the following statement:

“Thanks for making me aware of the rumblings.  This is the answer to your question.  During a speed dating type meet and greet sponsored by the chamber of commerce in 2012 I was asked if I were to get an emergency call from the City of Antioch and the Tracy Police Department, which would I respond to.  I was a full-time lieutenant at the time.  While running for mayor at that time I could not say the City of Antioch would be the priority.  Once elected to the mayor’s position I decided to take an early retirement and focus on being mayor.  I was able to utilize my retirement savings from ICMA and my CALPERS retirement the following year.  I left the city of Tracy, in good standing, to serve the citizens of Antioch.  I was celebrated with a luncheon and was honored.  I am an ICMA & CALPERS retiree.  I welcome any challenge to my retirement status and designation by any of my opponents.  I served am happy to serve.  I have attached my service retirement 10-99R form.  Feel free to use it.  I redacted my social security number and payment amount, which is above $90,000 for my combined service at the Emeryville Police Department. The Tracy Police Department as a state employee.

Campaign season is in full effect.” Harper PERS 1099R form redacted

When asked additional questions regarding the allegations surrounding his resignation, Harper responded “You have my statement. I was not forced to resign.”

Please check back later for further details.

Dave Miller who is challenging incumbent Assemblyman Jim Frazier in his race for re-election in the 11th Assembly District, issued a statement opposing Frazier’s proposal for an increase in the gas tax.

Following is Miller’s statement:

There are two undisputed facts that everyone should know: California has the highest Gas Prices of any state that is not an island. There are a number of reasons for this and all of them originated in our legislature.

Gas and Diesel taxes hurt the working poor more than any other group.  The working poor are more likely to commute farther for work -that alone is enough of a burden, they have to drive more.  In addition to that, increasing the Diesel tax means that it costs more to deliver goods and services.  Businesses pass along the higher delivery cost to customers in the form of higher prices.  Which means our dollars don’t go as far as they used to.

Assemblyman Frazier, the chairman of the Transportation Committee, knows this.  He just doesn’t care.  He knows that the people that will be the most affected by this are too busy trying as hard as they can to eek out a living that they don’t have the time or money to pay attention.

Knowing that, yesterday Assemblyman Frazier joined with State Senator Jim Beall, according to the LA Times, to unveil their new gas tax plan.  Here are some highlights:

• Additional 17 cent per gallon tax on gasoline.
• Additional 30 cent per gallon tax on diesel.
• $165 annual fee added to the registration fees for electric cars.

The creation of a new political bureaucracy – The Office of Transportation Inspector General. (I wonder how much of the new gas tax will have to be used to pay for that…)

Assemblyman Frazier is hoping that no one notices another key point of his tax plan.  It is designed to increase inflation annually thus triggering a higher tax on gasoline automatically.   Inflation is calculated by looking at the Consumer Price Index.  The more things cost – the higher inflation is.  So he is going to increase the costs of all goods and services by increasing the cost of fuel.  By tying his tax to inflation Assemblyman Frazier is taking his planned price increases for all goods and services -caused by his tax plan- and turning them into a self-fulfilling prophecy of ever increasing gas taxes and higher inflation.

This is not his first attempt to increase the tax on each gallon of gasoline. On January 6th of 2016 Assemblyman Frazier introduced AB-1591 which would have increased the tax on gasoline by 22.5 cents per gallon and 30 cents per gallon of diesel.  In addition to the new gas tax AB-1591 would have increased the cost of annual vehicle registration from $38 to $165 depending on your vehicle.  Like his current proposal AB-1591 would have also been tied to inflation and automatically increased annually.  AB-1591 died in committee.  But Assemblyman Frazier told the L.A. Times that he would try to push for a lame duck session to get his new bill passed.

The big issue with trying to force it though a lame duck session is that you may end up with enough legislators that lost their elections, or decided to retire, that might vote for something that their constituencies do not want since there is no political consequence.   What Assemblyman Frazier is doing here is putting politics before people.

As many of you know Jim has skipped out on 2 scheduled debates with me.  The most recent he had a fellow democrat try to come to his aide by saying that he was stuck in a committee hearing.  When the truth is that he had an hour and 45 minutes after the conclusion of his meeting to get just 35 miles.  Even if he hadn’t left the capitol for 30 minutes after his hearing AND got caught in traffic, and hit every red light, he still would have been able to make it to the debate.

So, I have issued a challenge, anytime, anywhere. I will debate Mr. Frazier anytime, anywhere. But, he is too scared to debate a serious contender that knows the Assemblyman’s record better than the Assemblyman himself does.

Frazier is seeking his third term in the Assembly. The 11th District includes all of Antioch. For more information about Miller, visit his website at www.electdavemiller.com. The election is on Tuesday, November 8.

On Thursday, August 11, Antioch resident Karl Dietzel filed the papers required to establish his candidacy for a seat on the Antioch City Council. Dietzel, a first-generation immigrant to the United States, and who regularly attends city council meetings, said that he had decided to run because of his desire to help Antioch become a more desirable, family-friendly city that attracts economic development and high paying jobs.

As the Gateway to the Delta, Dietzel said that Antioch should be a natural fit for strong investment, but that a lack of strong leadership had led the city into a “downward spiral.”
Preventing Antioch from achieving economic success are the twin problems of an excessive crime rate and blight, according to Dietzel. These problems are exacerbated, he said, because of a city government that is out of touch with local residents and is more interested in political maneuvering than serving the citizenry.

To address these issues, Dietzel said his campaign would focus on reducing crime and aggressive code enforcement. Dietzel said that focusing city resources on these two areas while ensuring that residents have a voice in their government were absolute prerequisites for bringing in the type of economic development that Antioch residents would like to see.

“My top priority will be to address the high crime rate in Antioch,” said Dietzel. “While all of us are victims of the excessive crime rate, I am personally vested in seeing this matter addressed, as I live in one of the most depressed, crime-ridden areas of Antioch, the Sycamore corridor.”
Dietzel continued, “As a city, we need to make good on the promises of Measure C (i.e., a tax measure passed by local residents which was to ensure additional law enforcement personnel were hired), and stop coming up with excuses for not getting the job done. I support the immediate hiring of all authorized and funded police officers, community service officers, and code enforcement personnel.”

Dietzel is also calling for a work-load study to be done to ensure that money obtained from the taxpayers for law enforcement is being used efficiently, and for the use of a ‘shot-spotter’ system to help our police officers move quickly and decisively to reduce violent crime.
The problem of blight, including trash dumping, graffiti, and homeless encampments, not only detracts from the desirability of Antioch as a place to live and work, but is a factor in the amount of criminal activity, as well, said Dietzel. “The fact is, unless we take immediate action to reduce crime and blight by bringing on the police officers, community service officers, and code enforcement personnel needed to get the job done, talk of economic development will remain a pipe dream.”

Dietzel also addressed a lack of transparency and even-handed dealing by city officials. “We need far more transparency in government,” he said. “Right now, deals are made behind closed doors, ignoring the wishes of our citizens. The shabby treatment of the over 5,000 residents seeking to ‘Save the Yard’ is just one example of our city administration being out of touch with the people.”

“We need change, and we need it now,” concluded Dietzel. “If we continue to elect politicians who are using their positions as stepping-stones to higher office, we’ll never turn the city around. If you want someone who will get the job done, rather than talk, vote for me, Karl Dietzel, for Antioch City Council.”

This is Dietzel’s second run for the city council. He placed sixth out of eight candidates in the 2014 election. He helped lead the unsuccessful effort to defeat Measure C in 2013. (See related article, here)

For more information, contact Dietzel via email at aloha@yahoo.com, call him on his cell phone at 925-354-9321 or visit his campaign Facebook page.

Allen Payton contributed to this report.