![](http://contracostaherald.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Graves-speaks-to-supporters-940x1024.jpg)
Senior Deputy DA Paul Graves speaks to his supporters at the kick-off of his campaign for DA on Friday, Sept. 22. Photos by Katie DeFerrari
“This election has become about the future of Contra Costa County” – Paul Graves
By Allen Payton
On Friday night, Sept. 22, about 100 people gathered in Pleasant Hill to help Contra Costa County’s Senior Deputy District Attorney Paul Graves officially kick off his campaign for DA in next year’s election.
Surrounded by colleagues in the DA’s office, two former District Attorneys, police officers, deputy sheriffs and even criminal defense attorneys who represent the people he prosecutes, Graves was showered with accolades from leaders in county law enforcement.
Deputy District Attorney Colleen Gleason was first to share her thoughts about her colleague.
“Paul is a leader. He’s right there in the trenches with you,” she stated. “Nobody works harder on Paul’s team than Paul. That’s the kind of leader Paul is.”
“You knew he had your back,” Gleason shared of her experience working with Graves. “He had only one rule. You kept in contact with your victims’ families. This is a job of service. Paul leads by example and through service.”
“He is a natural born problem solver. Paul is known as being one of the best strategic thinkers in the legal community. There’s always a line out the door of his office,” she continued. “He’s fought at every level. He knows the terrain. He knows the community, what works and what still needs work.”
“He has a plan for attacking human trafficking in our streets. He has a plan for preventing crime. He also has the ability to sell these ideas. That’s because he’s won the respect with everyone he’s worked with,” Gleason said. “Over the past few months I’ve seen him win over people who didn’t want to like him. As he put it, he kept making friends. Paul is able to bring out the best in the people around him.”
Regarding the campaign, she said, “this is a fight he needs to win not just for him but for all the community. This time he needs us to have his back.”
“Paul is not only the leader this county deserves but the problem solver it needs,” Gleason concluded.
![](http://contracostaherald.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/supporters-300x225.jpg)
Graves kick-off attracted a large turn-out of family, friends, colleagues in law enforcement and other supporters.
Next to speak and share his perspective on Graves was Deputy Sheriff’s Association President Sean Welch.
The word got around and people were asking, “Did you hear Paul’s running? I knew it was all over for the others in the race,” he stated.
“We know him as a great leader for us. He’s the type of guy who takes the investigator’s hands and walks them through the process to make sure they’re convicted and go to prison,” Welch explained. “Tact, integrity, honest and truthful. Sound principles above all else. Confidence, knowledge, loyalty, endurance. These are all things I look for in a good leader and I believe that Paul represents all of them.”
“The DA has goals of keeping people safe,” he shared. “Paul respects victims of crime and their rights,” but he will “hold criminals accountable for their actions.”
“Diana Becton and another person on that list were caught plagiarizing. To think she actually got picked as the interim DA,” said Welch. “The worst thing you can do as a law enforcement officer is to lie especially on their forms. To me it is unforgivable. I would no longer have a job. For a simple copy and paste of a sentence, one sentence. It was disheartening that was looked over.”
He continued his criticism of Becton saying, “she’s never been a prosecutor. She’s never done it. The stories of people taking a nap during the day and people had to wait around. She has been a public defender. It’s kind of the opposite side.”
“One thing that was amazing to me being in law enforcement after the plagiarism, the local paper endorsed him (Graves). Even the paper’s behind him,” Welch added. “We take it very seriously when we get behind someone.”
“The majority of all law enforcement in the county are supporting Paul,” said Clayton Councilman Dave Shuey, the MC for the evening. “His amazing empathy. Even some defendants come back and tell him he did a good job. One particular defendant he put away who came back and thanked Paul for it.”
“I’ve been a defense attorney for 25-plus years,” he stated. “Paul has the unique ability to look at both sides. He never loses sight of the victims and he wants to do right by the families.”
Shuey then introduced Graves’ wife and children.
“He’s done 70 trials and had 20 convictions of people, in prison for life who are never coming out again,” he added as he introduced the candidate.
Then Graves spoke to his supporters in the room.
“I look around the room and I cannot be anything but fired up and excited about this campaign,” he exclaimed.
He introduced former District Attorney Gary Yancey, saying, “he taught me what I needed to know about being a prosecutor. It’s about appreciating people in the office. I’ve patterned my work as a prosecutor on Gary Yancey.”
“Then I got to work with Bob Kochly (who was also in attendance) who became my next DA. Honesty and integrity,” Graves stated. “It makes me feel like I’m standing in from of my dad and he’s saying ‘you done good and you got this.’”
“It’s about the people in the community,” he continued. “For years I coached a baseball team, the Bulldogs. Seeing them now as young men, I can’t tell you how much it means to have them here. These are the families a DA needs to remember, who want to be raised in a safe community.”
Then Graves spoke about his colleagues in local law enforcement.
“The vast majority of the people who are here are in law enforcement,” he stated. “They work long hours. They work late nights. To have their support is really humbling. They see me day to day.”
Graves thanked his wife and children.
“Nothing prepares you for a county wide campaign,” he explained. “I feel like a bad husband and father for it. But they want me to do what’s right.”
Speaking of his wife, Graves said, “she’s my moral compass and the greatest person I’ve ever met. I’m just trying to be half the person she is.”
He then shared how he made the decision to run, first against his then-boss, Mark Peterson.
“Back in May,” Graves started to explain then stopped. “It was actually something that started in our office last November. I had the people in our office who I respect ask me to step up and run. It was a difficult decision.”
“I talked to my wife and told her I was going to run against my boss and I will probably get demoted and if I lose my career,” he shared. “She said we’ve always tried to do the right thing. This is the right thing. So, let’s do it.”
Then Graves shared about the support from his colleagues.
“I looked to the left and to the right and everyone stepped forward with me,” he stated. “This campaign has never been about me. It’s about us. I’m not running for me. We’re running for this position together.”
Graves then shared some of the reasons he wants to be Contra Costa’s next District Attorney.
“Honesty, integrity and ethics are the primary concerns of this office,” he stated. “Who will put public safety first? Who cares that we can drive on our freeways without getting shot at, about human trafficking? Who cares about victims of crime?”
“It’s not going to be easy. But when you’re doing it for the right reason, for the right cause nothing is lost,” Graves said, encouraging his supporters. “When we go forward we need to know what this campaign is about. This election has now become about the future of Contra Costa County. The battle lines have been drawn. I’m going to keep fighting for you.”
“We need to fight together for this. I will never quit. I will fight for this county until my dying breath. Where public safety is taken first where victims’ rights are the focus and an office that people say that’s where I want to work,” Graves concluded.
For more information about Graves’ campaign, visit, www.paulgravesforda.com. The election will be held in June 2018. If no candidates wins during the Primary, the top two vote-getters will face off in the General Election next November.
Read MoreAdvocates, Supervisors bash popular Laura’s Law mental health program report
By Daniel Borsuk
A popular county mental health program was on the receiving end of criticism from supervisors, mental health advocates and parents of persons afflicted with mental health disease who cited how the $2.25 million a year Assisted Outpatient Treatment Program needs to be repaired.
On a 5-0 vote, supervisors Tuesday approved the July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017 annual report from Mental Health Services officials on the county’s Assisted Outpatient Treatment Program, even though Mental Health Services Administration Program Manager Warren Hayes attempted to put a positive spin on the five-year old program that generated an ample amount of criticism from supervisors and mental health watchdog advocates alike.
The popular AOT program is a product of the implementation of Laura’s Law about 5 years ago. While AOT has gained its fair share of advocates, it has been tagged with criticism mostly associated with its bureaucratic regulations and time delays.
Antioch resident Douglas Dunn blasted the way county “unnecessarily duplicates” activities for applicants needing AOT services. This limits the number of people admitted to receive mental health services, said Dunn, who also serves as a commissioner on the Contra Costa County Mental Health Commission.
In the 2016-17 year, county mental health officials had 177 individuals referred to the AOT, 42 persons were determined to meet program eligibility and were referred to Mental Health Services for inclusion in the program.
The department reported that 25 AOT cases are still pending. In addition, 91 cases are closed because they are not AOT eligible due to several factors such as mental health officials are unable to contact the prospective client or the client is unwilling to cooperate with county mental health workers.
The bureaucracy involved in getting persons potentially admitted into AOT drove Sharon Madison, a parent who also serves on the National Alliance on Mental Illness, to plead with supervisors “Let’s get our loved ones into treatment. It’s taking way too long to get people into the program.”
The county report indicates it takes more than 120 days per case to reach resolution.
“A number of individual cases are taking much longer than 120 days from referral to service,” the report stated. “The program may wish to consider utilizing the court petition sooner as a means to encourage participation in mental health care.”
District 1 Supervisor John Gioia criticized the AOT report for not adequately addressing the county’s mental health problems with the homeless population.
“I want a special report on the homeless population to be prepared,” Gioia demanded. But the likelihood that such a report will materialize is doubtful because few of the supervisor’s colleagues supported his request at least publicly.
District 2 Supervisor Candace Andersen said the program needs to take into consideration those who might be eligible for AOT services are held in county’s jails.
2018 Board Calendar Approved
Without batting an eye, supervisors approved a 2018 calendar, a schedule that calls for 36 regularly scheduled board meetings and 17 canceled board meetings due to a variety of reasons such as major holidays like Christmas Day, because it will be celebrated on Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2018.
So far, this year, supervisors are scoring a solid 96 percent attendance record when it comes to conducting county business. Supervisors have canceled one regularly scheduled board meeting, the Oct. 10 meeting, mainly because there were not enough items to place on the agenda, according to Board Chair Federal Glover.
Another factor, but not necessarily an overriding reason why the Oct. 10 meeting was canceled was because Glover was in Atlanta, Georgia attending an American Public Transportation Association conference. District 3 Supervisor Diane Burgis of Brentwood was also supposed to attend the transit conference, but the Contra Costa Herald learned, Burgis decided not to attend the confab at the last minute.
Other Business
In other business, supervisors unanimously approved as a consent item for $585,000 of private foundation grant funds for the Stand Together CoCo Project that the supervisors recently approved to provide legal services for undocumented residents of Contra Costa County. (See related article)
The county public defender’s office is spearheading the program on behalf of the county, but the five private foundations that are stepping up to the plate in doling out funds to support the program in its initial year’s rollout requested that the county pony up $500,000 to jump start the first year of the ambitious program.
Private donations include a $275,000 grant for 24 months from the Y&H Soda Foundation, a 12-month $100,000 SF Foundation grant, a $100,000 grant from The California Endowment, a $50,000 East Bay Community Foundation grant to go into effect July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019, a $50,000 Firedoll Foundation grant, and a $10,000 Richmond Community Foundation grant.
In another consent action, supervisors approved the Public Defender’s Office request to fill the $94,956 a year administrative analyst position to manage cases associated with the Stand Together CoCo program.
Read MoreSB 751 would eliminate the limit on reserves for most small school districts and raise it to 10 percent for others
SACRAMENTO – School districts will have a greater ability to manage their own fiscal affairs under a bill that Gov. Jerry Brown signed on Wednesday.
The bill, SB 751, jointly authored by Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo and Sen. Steve Glazer, D-Orinda, eliminates the reserve cap for most small school districts and substantially reduces reserve fund obligations for large school districts.
“This measure significantly reverses an ill-advised law limiting local school reserve funds. School districts will now be able to more fully prepare for a rainy day, which may be right around the corner,” Glazer stated. “I would hope that eventually we can eliminate any type of cap on school reserves and keep the state out of micromanaging local school districts’ budgets. I want to thank Senator Hill and the California School Board Association for their leadership on this critical local control issue.”
Glazer represents most of Contra Costa County in the California State Senate.
Read MoreContra Costa College, Diablo Valley College-Pleasant Hill Campus, Diablo Valley College-San Ramon Campus, Los Medanos College-Pittsburg Campus, Los Medanos College-Brentwood Center, will resume a regular class schedule and student services beginning today, Friday, October 13. Outdoor sport activities will continue to be limited until further notice, but indoor activities including theater performances will still be held as scheduled.
The weather forecast for this weekend calls for increasing winds that may hamper firefighting efforts and contribute to poor air quality. We encourage students and staff to continue monitoring email, website and social media over the weekend for any updates.
Read MoreWalnut Creek, CA – Today, Wednesday, October 11, 2017, Congressman Mark DeSaulnier (D, CA-11) announced he will host his 50th town hall and mobile district office hour since coming to Congress in January of 2015. The town hall meeting will be held at the Shadelands Art Center on Monday, October 16th at 6:00 p.m. in Walnut Creek.
“Town halls are one of my favorite ways to interact with constituents,” said DeSaulnier. “There is something special about traveling the district and hearing directly from residents in their neighborhoods—it is a direct display of democracy at work.”
Residents are invited to join the Congressman to listen to a presentation and legislative update. During the town hall constituents will have an opportunity to ask questions, share their opinions on actions taken by this Administration, and discuss issues import to our community.
Walnut Creek Town Hall
Shadelands Arts Center
6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
(Door Open at 5:30 p.m.)
Please RSVP online at www.desaulnier.house.gov/town-hall-rsvp or call 925-933-2660. For more information or to request ADA accommodations contact Congressman DeSaulnier’s office in either Walnut Creek or Richmond.
Read MoreContra Costa College, Diablo Valley College, Los Medanos College, and centers at Brentwood and San Ramon, will be closed tomorrow, Thursday, October 12, due to poor air quality as a result of the fires in Solano and Sonoma counties.
The District will evaluate the situation and provide an update as new information becomes available. We encourage students and staff to continue monitoring email, website and social media.
Read More![](http://contracostaherald.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Byron-accident-10-10-17-2-1024x768.jpg)
The driver’s vehicle where it ended down the deep embankment off the Byron Highway, Tuesday evening. Photos by ECCFPD.
Transported to trauma center by medical helicopter
By Allen Payton
A man was able to extricate himself from his heavily damaged car after driving it off the Byron Highway and down a 25-foot, steep embankment Tuesday evening about 5:36 p.m. Seven East Contra Costa Fire personnel arrived on the scene and located the man near his car, near Holey Road in Byron.
According to the report by Battalion Chief Jack Gonzales, the rescue crew “secured the scene with the use of fire apparatus” and the driver “was provided medical aid and packaged in a stokes basket for a low-angle rescue.”
“AMR provided ALS care” to the man who was then “brought up to the roadway and was transferred to REACH3 (helicopter) for transport,” the report further states.
The driver was by himself in the vehicle and sustained “head and chest trauma” and “was transported…to John Muir Trauma Center in Walnut Creek.”
The accident, which backed up traffic on the Byron Highway, is under investigation by the CHP.
Read MoreOn August 14, 2017 the Court’s Juvenile Division, which hears delinquency and dependency matters, moved from Martinez to Walnut Creek. Hon. Rebecca C. Hardie, Supervising Judge of the Juvenile Division pointed out that “this move allows better access to Juvenile Court for people throughout the County.” Buses and BART are within walking distance. There is also ample parking.
Hon. Jill Fannin, Presiding Judge of the Superior Court of Contra Costa County added that “detained minors will now be transported through private entry points and will no longer have to walk shackled down public hallways.”
This move re-opens three courtrooms and clerks’ offices that were vacated in 2012 as a result of significant budget cuts.
Departments presided over by Hon. Rebecca C. Hardie, Supervising, Hon. Lois Haight and Hon. Barbara C. Hinton as well as the Juvenile Clerk’s Office are now housed at 640 Ygnacio Valley Road in Walnut Creek. Juvenile Hall in Martinez will continue to house the department which is currently presided over by Hon. Susanne M. Fenstermacher.
The Court is holding an Open House on October 11, 2017 to showcase this new location. Presiding Judge Fannin and Supervising Juvenile Judge Hardie will take this opportunity to express their gratitude for the support that the Court has received from the County Board of Supervisors, the City of Walnut Creek, our county justice partners, and the juvenile bar. Their combined efforts helped to make the move a resounding success.
“The support of local government and the legal community for this change has been tremendous” said Judge Hardie.
Read MoreSACRAMENTO – Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed a measure that will give Bay Area voters a chance to create an independent inspector general for BART to hold the sprawling transit district accountable for its spending, service to riders, and timely delivery of capital projects.
The inspector general was proposed by state Sen. Steve Glazer, D-Orinda, as part of a bill, SB 595, by Sen. Jim Beall (D-San Jose) that will ask voters to raise bridge tolls to fund transportation projects designed to relieve traffic congestion in the bridge corridors.
Glazer wanted voters to be given the option of creating the accountability czar as a condition of his support for placing the measure on the ballot. Other major transit agencies, including those in Washington D.C., New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, have long had inspector generals to serve as an independent check on the bureaucracy.
“If an independent check is good enough for transit systems in most of our major metropolitan areas, it should be good enough for BART,” Glazer said. “BART will get about one billion dollars from toll revenues generated by this measure, so it’s vital that riders and residents have someone who be the public’s eyes and ears and will hold BART’s administration accountable.”
If approved by voters, the inspector general would be appointed by the governor from a list of three finalists nominated by the BART board. The person could be fired only with a two-thirds vote of the board and the governor’s agreement.
The BART inspector general would be tasked with investigating fraud, waste and inefficiencies, conducting audits and recommending changes in the agency’s practices that will improve services to riders.
Glazer, who has been critical of management-union relations that resulted in eight days of strikes in 2013, required in the inspector general’s job description that they assess whether management was using best practices to promote “positive and productive” relations with employees and their representatives.
“BART employees have as much to gain as the riding public by having an inspector general ensure that trains run on time, stations are safe and clean, and escalators and elevators work,” Glazer said. “They are hard-working, dedicated public servants who deserve an effective ally.”
Glazer also pushed for amendments to the bill that ensured Contra Costa and Alameda county commuters would see a fair share of congestion relief projects if the toll increases become a reality.
Projects to improve traffic flow on Interstate 680 and rebuild interchanges where 680 connects to state routes 4 and 84 were included in the final version of the proposed spending plan.
Glazer said he was proud of the collaborative process led by Sen. Beall, and Assemblymen David Chiu and Phil Ting of San Francisco and other members of the Bay Area legislative delegation. Members from throughout the region were able to provide input into the final proposal that included the crucial provision to oversee BART’s administration and spending.
“I look forward to voters determining whether to fund projects designed to relieve congestion throughout the entire region and providing independent oversight of BART,” Glazer said.
Read More
![](http://contracostaherald.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/carquinez-bridge-by-MTC.jpg)
The setting sun reflects off of the Carquinez Bridge’s towers. This bridge project was funded through Regional Measure 1. Photo courtesy of MTC.
By Metropolitan Transportation Commission
Governor Brown’s action today to sign into law Senate Bill 595 clears the way for Bay Area voters to decide – potentially as early as next June – on Regional Measure 3 (RM 3), which would raise tolls by up to $3 on the region’s seven state-owned toll bridges to finance the sweeping $4.5 billion package of congestion relief and mobility improvement projects identified in the bill. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), in its role as the Bay Area Toll Authority, is expected to decide by early 2018 when the RM 3 question will appear on ballots in the nine Bay Area counties. The Commission also will decide the amount of the proposed toll increase and whether the proposed increase would be instituted all at once or phased in over several years.
The RM 3 expenditure plan provides mobility improvements in each of the region’s seven state- owned bridge corridors, helping to speed up commutes and provide better travel options, particularly for those traveling to major job hubs, such as San Francisco and Silicon Valley. The plan includes numerous congestion relief projects in the bridge corridors, including new express lanes, a direct freeway connector from northbound U.S. 101 to eastbound Interstate 580 in Marin County to improve access to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge as well as improvements to the westbound approach in Contra Costa County; constructing a direct connector between Interstates 680 and 880 in Fremont and improvements to the I-680/State Route 84 interchange in Alameda County serving the Dumbarton Bridge; upgrading the I-680/State Route 4 interchange in Contra Costa County serving the Benicia Bridge corridor and the U.S. 101/State Route 92 interchange in San Mateo serving the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge; various improvements to relieve congestion in the Dumbarton Bridge corridor and improve State Route 37 in Marin, Sonoma, Napa and Solano counties; completing the widening of U.S. 101 to three lanes in each direction through the Marin-Sonoma Narrows. Major public transit improvements that would be funded by the measure include 306 new BART cars that will expand the fleet to accommodate record ridership; new ferries and expanded service and terminals across San Francisco Bay; further extension of BART’s Silicon Valley service to downtown San Jose and Santa Clara; extending Caltrain to downtown San Francisco; expanding transbay bus service and AC Transit’s bus rapid transit lines serving the transbay corridor; extending the new SMART rail system to Windsor; and expanding San Francisco’s fleet of Muni Metro rail cars to improve transit access not just to San Francisco, but within it as well. RM 3 also would fund a $150 million grant program to improve bicycle and pedestrian access to regional transit hubs and to close gaps in the San Francisco Bay Trail.
“Nobody likes higher tolls,” commented MTC Chair and Rohnert Park Mayor Jake Mackenzie. “But nobody likes traffic jams or crush-loaded train cars either. The Bay Area has been blessed by seven straight years of strong economic growth. But the price we’ve paid is the growing congestion on our freeways, railways and ferries. If our region is going to maintain its economic leadership, we have to invest in projects that will keep businesses and their workers moving. Gov. Brown and the state Legislature deserve a lot of credit for shaping RM 3 into a comprehensive and integrated strategy that will modernize both our highways and our transit networks.”
For details on the complete range of investments that would be funded if a majority of voters in the nine Bay Area counties approve RM 3, go to the MTC website or see the complete list, here.
MTC is the transportation planning, financing, and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.
Read More