By Allen Payton

In a rematch of the 2014 election for Congress in District 9, Democrat Representative Jerry McNerney will face retired U.S. Marshall Tony Amador in the November election.

After entering the race on the last day possible, Amador edged out fellow Republican candidate, Stockton Police Sergeant Kathryn Nance, who had been campaigning for over a year, by 2.9% of the vote.

“I want to thank those who supported me,” Amador said. “We’re going to need the help of independent and Democrat voters, and Kathryn’s supporters, as well.”

“I want to congratulate her for fighting the fight,” he added.

The latest vote count, as of Friday, June 10th at 6:47 p.m., McNerney had 50,144 votes or 55.7%, Amador had 19,644 votes or 21.8%, Nance had 16,975 votes or 18.9% and Libertarian Alex Appleby had 3,218 votes or 3.6% of the vote.

District 9 includes most of Antioch and the rest of far East County in Contra Costa County, as well as most of San Joaquin County, plus Galt in Sacramento County.

Amador is leading Nance by only 435 votes in San Joaquin County where they both live, but in the Contra Costa portion of the district he’s leading her by 1,907 votes. Amador is leading Nance by 327 votes in Galt.

To see the the election results as they’re updated, visit the California Secretary of State’s website at: http://vote.sos.ca.gov/returns/us-rep/district/9/

 

By Allen Payton

While the County Elections Office continues to count ballots and provide updates, it’s clear that both Supervisor Federal Glover and Martinez Councilwoman Anamarie Avila Farias have taken the top two spots in the race for District 5 Supervisor, and will be in the November run-off.

County Elections Office staff stated they had 56,000 ballots in the county left to count as of Wednesday, not including 19,000 provisional ballots nor those ballots that were postmarked by Tuesday and received by today.

As of the Thursday afternoon vote count update, Glover holds the top spot with 10,443 votes which is 35.26% of the votes and Avila Farias is in second with 9,197 votes which is 31.05%. Trailing in a distant third is former Martinez Mayor Mike Menesini with 4,339 votes or 14.65%, Hercules Mayor Dan Romero with 3,930 votes or 13.27% and then Conrad Dandridge with 1,604 votes or 5.42%.

Avila Farias received a large boost of support from both the firefighters and the deputy sheriffs in the county, with over $68,000 spent on her behalf.

The Elections Office has 28 days to certify the election and is expected to provide another update, later today and more next week, as the remaining ballots are counted. District 5 includes most of the portion in Antioch north of Highway 4.

Following are the results from the County Elections website as of Thursday, June 9, 4:04 p.m.:

ANAMARIE AVILA FARIAS		9,197	31.05%
CONRAD DANDRIDGE		1,604	5.42%
MICHAEL MENESINI		4,339	14.65%
FEDERAL GLOVER (I)		10,443	35.26%
DAN ROMERO		3,930	13.27%
WRITE-IN		107	0.36%
Total		29,620

By Allen Payton

An update on the Contra Costa County Elections Office website on Thursday, June 09, 2016 at 4:04 p.m. shows Brentwood City Councilman Steve Barr expanding his lead over East Bay Regional Parks District Board Member Diane Burgis, to 1,930 votes. Burgis expanded her lead over Oakley Councilman Doug Hardcastle to 1,227 votes, with about an additional 4,000 votes counted.

Barr has secured his place in the November run-off. If the trend continues as the remaining ballots are counted, Burgis will have secured her place, as well, as the top two finishers face off in the General Election.

The latest vote counts and percentages are as follows:

ODESSA LEFRANCOIS		1,787	5.73%
DIANE BURGIS		7,044	22.57%
STEVE BARR		9,014	28.88%
MONICA E WILSON		2,798	8.97%
DOUGLAS F. HARDCASTLE		5,817	18.64%
WADE HARPER		4,684	15.01%
WRITE-IN		66	0.21%
Total		31,210

By Allen Payton

Election results from Tuesday night show Brentwood Councilman Steve Barr in a commanding first place lead and East Bay Regional Parks District Board Member in second place in the race for District 3 Supervisor. But, the battle for second place to determine who will face Barr in the run-off election in November may not yet be decided.

Oakley Councilman Doug Hardcastle trails Burgis by just 1,025 votes and according to County Elections Office staff, there are still about 56,000 vote-by-mail ballots in the county, turned in at the polls, Tuesday that are left to be counted. That figure does not include an additional 19,000 provisional ballots, plus the ballots turned in to the 19 City Clerks’ offices, on Tuesday, nor those ballots postmarked by Tuesday and received by this Friday.

All the ballots of those who voted at the polls were counted and included in Tuesday night’s totals.

According to the County Elections website, the results for the District 3 race as of Tuesday night are as follows:

Steve Barr – 7,996 votes, 28.9%

Diane Burgis – 6,136 votes, 22.2%

Doug Hardcastle – 5,109 votes, 18.49%

Wade Harper – 4,234 votes, 15.32%

Monica Wilson – 2,516 votes, 9.11%

Odessa Lefrancois – 1,584 votes, 5.73%

Vote counts will be updated as the County Elections office has them, with the first one expected on Friday.

By Allen Payton

The final financial reports were due on Friday, June 2 for the candidates in races for Contra Costa County Supervisor. In District 3, Oakley Councilman Doug Hardcastle continues to maintain his lead in total contributions and total expenses. East Bay Regional Parks District Board Member Diane Burgis shows the most in monetary contributions. Brentwood Councilman Steve Barr is in second in that category. But, Burgis shows the second most spent during the campaign and the most in outstanding debts.

Below is the summary of the campaign finances based on the latest reporting (please see copies of their reports at the bottom of this story):

Doug Hardcastle

Monetary Contributions Received during the period: $1,300

Loans Received during the period: $1,000

Non-Monetary Contributions Received: $1,400

Total Contributions Received for the period: $3,700 (1st)

Monetary Contributions Received during the campaign: $27,308.16 (4^th)

Total Contributions during the campaign: $52,633.16 (1^st)

Payments Made during period: $2,511.13

Accrued Expenses (unpaid bills) for the period: $ -0-

Total Expenditures Made during the campaign: $52,155.00 (1^st)

Ending Cash Balance: $478.16

Outstanding Debts: $16,500 (2^nd) – all loans from himself

Hardcastle submitted two amended reports showing $700 in additional monetary contributions and a $750 in-kind contribution not previously reported.

 

Steve Barr

Monetary Contributions Received during the period: $2,567

Loans Received during the period: $ -0-

Non-Monetary Contributions Received: $ -0-

Total Contributions Received for the period: $2,567 (2^nd)

Monetary Contributions Received during the campaign: $30,352 (2^nd)

Total Contributions during the campaign: $40,752 (3^rd)

Expenditures Made during period: $ -0-

Total Expenditures Made during the campaign: $38,768 (3^rd)

Ending Cash Balance: $3,984

Outstanding Debts: $7,000 (3^rd) – $5,000 in loans from himself

Barr submitted an amended report showing a change from an in-kind contribution of $450 to an Accrued Expense.  His amended report obtained, today will be posted later, this evening.

 

Diane Burgis

Monetary Contributions Received during the period: $2,000

Loans Received during the period: $  -0-

Non-Monetary Contributions Received: $ -0-

Total Contributions Received for the period: $2,000 (4^th)

Monetary Contributions Received during the campaign: $31,655 (1^st)

Total Contributions during the campaign: $31,755 (3^rd)

Expenditures Made during period: $8,137.80

Accrued Expenses (unpaid bills) for the period: $23,370.06

Total Expenditures Made during the campaign: $50,043.18 (2^nd)

Ending Cash Balance: $5,082.43

Outstanding Debts: $23,470.06 (1^st) – $100 in a loan from herself

 

Monica Wilson

Monetary Contributions Received during period: $2,095

Loans Received during the period: $  -0-

Non-Monetary Contributions received: $ -0-

Total Contributions Received for the period: $2,095 (3rd)

Monetary Contributions Received during the campaign: $29,170.92 (3^rd)

Total Contributions for the campaign: $31,216.86 (4^th)

Expenditures Made during period: $5,254.59 paid down previous unpaid bills of $1,874.98

Accrued Expenses (unpaid bills) for the period: $ -0-

Total Expenditures Made during the campaign: $34,470.54 (4^th)

Ending Cash Balance of $3,175.32

Outstanding Debts: $1,250 (4^th)

 

Odessa Lefrancois

Monetary Contributions Received during period: $ -0-

Loans Received during the period: $  -0-

Non-Monetary Contributions received: $   -0-

Total Contributions Received for the period: $  -0-

Monetary Contributions Received during the campaign: $13,025.00 (5^th)

Total Contributions for the campaign: $13,025.00 (5^th)

Expenditures Made during period: $2,312.22

Accrued Expenses (unpaid bills) for the period: $ -0-

Total Expenditures Made during the campaign: $11,590.02 (5^th)

Ending Cash Balance of $1,434.98

Outstanding Debts: $ -0-

She will have to file an amended report, as hers once again, does not show the Year to Date Totals on the Summary page.

 

Wade Harper

Monetary Contributions Received during period: $ -0-

Non-Monetary Contributions received: $   -0-

Total Contributions Received for the period: $ ^-0-

Monetary Contributions Received during the campaign: $9,725.00 (6^th)

Total Contributions for the campaign: $9,725.00 (6^th)

Expenditures Made during period: $ -0-

Accrued Expenses (unpaid bills) for the period: $ -0-

Total Expenditures Made during the campaign: $8,950.54 (6^th)

Ending Cash Balance of $774.46

Outstanding Debts: $ -0-

Publisher’s Note: For full disclosure and as explained in the March issue of the Antioch Herald, I, the writer of this article, am the paid consultant for Doug Hardcastle’s campaign for County Supervisor.

Barr 460 0522-060216

Barr Amend 0424-052116

Burgis 460 0522-060216

Hardcastle 460 0522-060216

Hardcastle Amend 0101-042316

Hardcastle Amend 0424-052116

Harper 460 0522-060216

Lefrancios 460 0522-060316

Wilson 460 0522-060216

By Allen Payton

It has been confirmed by Jeff Koertzen, Chair of the Democratic Party of Contra Costa County, that former President Bill Clinton will be in Antioch on Monday, June 6th to campaign for his wife Hillary in her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Reports have been circulating since Thursday that campaign staff were at Nuce Nuce Deli in Waldie Plaza in Antioch’s downtown looking for a location for the event.

UPDATE: The event will be held at Marsh Elementary School, 2304 G Street, Antioch at 2:00 p.m. Doors open at 1:00 p.m.

Contra Costa County voters can receive and cast their ballots at seven Regional Early Voting sites throughout the county before Election Day.

Regional Early Voting sites are structured so that any registered Contra Costa voter can vote at any location. For example, a Concord resident who works at Bishop Ranch in San Ramon can vote at the site in either of those cities.

The Regional Early Voting sites will be open for voting on Saturday, June 4th from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm.

The sites are geographically balanced and are located in convenient and accessible locations.

·        Prewett Water Park Multi-Purpose Room, 4701 Lone Tree Way, Antioch

·        Bay Hills Community Church, 4100 Klose Way, Richmond

·        Lafayette Learning Center, 3491 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Lafayette

·        San Ramon Community Center at Central Park, 12501 Alcosta Blvd., San Ramon

·        Pittsburg City Hall, 65 Civic Ave., Pittsburg

·        The Salvation Army Church, 3950 Clayton Road, Concord

In addition to the Regional Voting Center sites, vote-by-mail voters can continue to drop off their ballots at “CoCo Vote-N-Go” drop-off boxes at all 19 city hall buildings and the County Administration building on 651 Pine Street, Martinez.

For more information on Regional Early Voting, visit www.cocovote.us.

By Allen Payton, Publisher

It has come to my attention that some people think the full-page ad about Antioch Councilwoman Monica Wilson who is currently a candidate for Supervisor, entitled “The Wilson Watch” in the June, 2016 issue of the Antioch Herald was paid for by me or was from the Doug Hardcastle for Supervisor campaign. This is to clearly state that it was not paid for by me, nor by anyone associated with Doug Hardcastle or his campaign, for which I am a paid consultant, as I explained in the March, 2016 print edition of the Antioch Herald.

The ad was purchased by a party who chose to place it in the paper, and remain anonymous, which is why I required the words “Paid Advertisement” be placed at the top of the ad.

While the purchaser is not required to be identified, because the ad is not considered a political advertisement under state law, as it does not advocate for or against a candidate, I informed the purchaser that if I am legally required to provide their name(s), I will. They accepted that fact before placing the ad.

Refusing to run such an ad would be considered censorship. However, neither I nor the Antioch Herald accepts any responsibility for the content of the ad.