Contra Costa Herald

News Of By and For The People of Contra Costa County, California

Supervisor Glover offers a July 4th message – Reviving the American Dream

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Federal Glover from his Facebook page.

By Federal Glover

As we celebrate July 4th, 2018, Americans stand at a crossroads:  do we stand up for those ideals our founding fathers put before us in the Constitution or do we our head down a path that continues to erode the institutions and values that Americans have held for 242 years.

Over the past 18 months, our country has been undergoing a sea change that is remaking the way the world sees us and – more importantly — the way we see ourselves.

This Fourth of July, I almost don’t recognize this country anymore.

The America I knew growing up in Pittsburg was a land of opportunity that allowed a laborer from Mississippi to find a well-paying, blue collar job in the steel mill, buy a car and home and allowed our family to live in relative comfort and security. There was opportunity here. There was hope. We dreamed about a better country and the possibility of Martin Luther King’s Dream of worshipping and living in a land and time when we were judged by the content of our character – not by the color of our skin.

I was fortunate enough to go to school in a city where I had classmates from all around the globe.

We were not isolated from the events that were happening in other parts of the United States. We kept tabs of what was happening in Selma, in Memphis and other parts of the South. Many African American families in town still had relatives in those far away places where history was being written.

Still, those events seemed far away. My best friend was Italian American. We grew up eating at the New Mecca Restaurant, pizza from Carlos’ Pizzeria and hamburgers from The Pirate drive-in. We expanded our taste buds to include lumpia and adobo cooked by our Filipino friends’ mothers and grandmothers. We bought groceries from the market a few blocks away which was owned by a Chinese American family.

As a member of the Pittsburg High School football team, my teammates were made up of a multitude of nationalities from families that had roots in Italy, Greece, Great Britain, the Philippines, Ireland, Mexico and, of course, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana.

Even when a major retailer was picketed in downtown Pittsburg for not hiring African Americans and King’s shocking assassination broke the peace and calm of our city, the residents and political leaders came together to examine the city and how it could weather the violence that hit other U.S. cities.

Even with the civil rights battle at our doorstep, our community found a way. Change was in the air. It didn’t happen overnight and we had obstacles to overcome, but we had hope. Our dreams – our common dreams — were still intact.

Today, that hope is withering away. Our dreams seem to be fading away. The gains and progress made over the last 60 years is in serious danger. The foundations that made our country strong is more fragile and the beacon of freedom and light for people throughout the world has grown dim.

Refugees who believed in the Statue of Liberty’s “send me your tired, your poor, your wretched refuse,” are being treated like criminals; the needs of our planet seem to taking second place to need for profit; more obstacles are being placed in front of voters; corporate profits are not trickling down to the workers who toil for 20th Century wages shrinking our great middle class; home ownership –- a critical part of the American Dream – is out of reach for most people; the unregulated proliferation of guns has made our streets more dangerous; and the re-emergence of blatant racism threatens to destroy our civil society.

Most disheartening, our Congress, instead of acting as balance to the extreme policies coming from the current administration, has succumbed to the fear of losing an election instead of standing on principle.

For those who might want to give up hope and let cynicism replace our dreams, there are signs that that the American Dream is still alive.

I am heartened by the renewed vigor and interest being displayed by our neighbors, local leaders and government representatives. Instead of giving up, they are injecting new energy and new blood into our communities.

The marches and demonstrations in behalf of women, science, LGBTQ, truth, immigrants and against racism have inspired a new generation of activism that we haven’t seen since the 1960s.

Young people – inspired by high schoolers who have seen their classmates gunned down on campus – have launched a movement to hopefully not only make their campuses safer, but to make our greater society safer and saner.  As they grow into adulthood and assume their place in our society, there is hope.

People are not content with speeches and marches in the streets, they are taking their principles into the voting booth and into the halls of our capitols and city council chambers.

Ordinary people who were once content to let the status quo play itself out, are snapping out of their lethargy and are stepping up to the plate. New community groups are springing up made up or our neighbors, who might not want to run for public office, but are willing to make the phone calls, send the e-mails and knock on doors and are creating a wellspring of change in our cities and county.

I’ve seen the first stirrings of renewed activism myself when a group of middle-schoolers in Bay Point went up against the political might and influence of the alcohol lobby to limit sales of alcoholic beverages in their community. We saw it again on June 5 when Bay Area voters passed a measure to improve our transportation system and San Francisco voters spurned the lies and misleading commercials of the tobacco industry to pass a measure limiting tobacco sales in their city.

The words of Bob Dylan, “The times, they are a-changing!” suddenly have found a new audience. People are beginning to believe they can make a difference again. As stated by that great statesman Abraham Lincoln: That “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.” This is the American Dream.

Happy July Fourth! Celebrate in safety and give thanks that we live in this great country where the possible is … well, possible … for everybody.

Glover represents District 5 on the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors.

OPINION: Republicans in California – The perpetual race for second place

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An argument in favor of Travis Allen for Governor

By Brenda Higgins

This commentary originally appeared on OCPolitical.com on June 2, 2018. Republished at the author’s request.

Travis Allen

Polls are not hard to understand.  The science of polling, even with the basic college level understanding of how the math behind it works, is also easily understood to be not just subjective, but fully within the manipulation of the pollster.

It doesn’t take a scientific poll to see and comprehend what has happened in elections in the U.S. and around the world in the past three U.S. election cycles.  People with a real power to vote, have done so. And, they have done so in outright rebellion to those in power who have told them what to do and how to vote.  In spite of the effort of this ruling class of politicians and pollsters and pundits, people have rejected their group-think advisements to vote as they are being told to vote, and they are voting, with a level of enthusiasm and fervor, that we have not seen in our lifetime.

People have, in massive numbers, rejected what they have been told, and voted for candidates that experts said could not win.  My opinion is based upon my own very unscientific polling. I knocked on people’s doors and talked to them about things like health insurance and abortion. I called them on the phone and talked to them about unions and school bonds.  I knocked on their doors to remind them to vote or show up to their caucus. I have done this many thousands of times in the past few election cycles.

They want to talk about things that aren’t in the polls.  In 2014 in Arkansas, people expressed angry reflexive passion to vote for any candidate with an “R” by their name. In 2015 there was fury over more special elections and efforts to create more special taxes to fix things they thought were already paying taxes for.  In Nevada in 2016 they only wanted to talk about Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders and had no interest in hearing anything else.  In 2018, as I talk to people on phones and at their front door, about the down-ticket, they want to talk about Travis Allen.

The politicians and pollsters and pundits, have told people in the past three election cycles that whatever they are feeling or thinking as an individual, sitting in their living room in front of their TV or behind their computer screen, the way that they should think because a lot of people think that way, and this is who you should vote for because all the other people are going to vote that way.  The American public has rejected that instruction out of hand and have become inherently distrustful of the media and of ‘establishment’ politicians.  Funny thing it, the media is now telling them that this has happened because of Donald Trump. The media misses it again. The rebellion is not ‘because’ of Donald Trump. Donald Trump is because of the rebellion.

So, it is in 2018, California.

Here’s a poll.  How many Democrat governors have we had in California since 1959?  That is more than a half century.  Think about that, because in the past three election cycles, Democrats, Republicans, pollsters and media pundits, continue to tell Californians that they can only have a Democrat governor.

In the past 59 years, we have had three Democrat Governors.  Brown, Brown, Davis, and Brown again.  Three. And one, Grey Davis, was kicked out of office by the rulers of California, the California people.  In the same time period, we have had four Republicans, Schwarzenegger, Wilson, Deukmejian, and Reagan.

Reagan’s two terms were after the two terms of Edmund G. Brown. and before two terms of his son, Jerry Brown.  Jerry Brown had ANOTHER two terms, after Schwartzenegger ousted Grey Davis. The last time we had a one term Governor was Culbert Olson in 1938. He was a Democrat. Before Culbert Olson, sequential Republicans held the office for nearly 50 years. You have to look back to 1894 to find another Democrat Governor.  My point is, there is not a long or strong history of support for Democrat Governors in this state, and in the last three election cycles, voters in every other state have rejected Democrat governors by wide margins.  Republicans are Governors in 33 states.  In 32 states, Republicans control BOTH houses of the legislature.  In 2010, Republicans controlled ONLY FOURTEEN STATES.  14, in 2010.

The tide has changed, and California citizens are missing the benefit of conservative ideals.

In the past three election cycles, the pollsters and pundits and party leaders (in both parties actually) are telling the voting public to sit down and be quiet, that there may never be a republican Governor in California again.  In keeping with their pearl clutching and hand wringing, over their polls, and research and infinite wisdom, they have given us, Meg Whitman and Neel Kashkari in the past two races for Governor.  There was a bizarre victory lap when Neal Kashkari lost by less than expected in 2014.  These two were barely Republicans, they were wealthy people who spent their own money and the party rejoiced in that.  Kashkari, who had never held public office and supported Obama in 2008, was outspent by something like 10 to 1, so he got more votes per dollar than Meg Whitman.  The party leaders bizarrely counted in a victory and called on Tim Donnelly to step down because (by default)  Kashkari was the party ‘standard bearer’.

Now we have another non-Californian, rich guy, and they are asking the voters to do the same.  Take one for the team, vote this way because we are telling you that everyone else is going to vote this way, and we need to have a candidate at the “top of the ticket”.

Gone is any language about reclaiming the governor’s mansion at any time in the future, the strategy is simply to get someone bland enough, lack luster enough in policies, and rich enough to pay for some TV commercials, but not to win.

There is no strategy to re-take the governor’s mansion or find and promote a conservative candidate for governor in California.

Donald Trump did not have a path to 270.  There is a scientific poll.  The historic fact however, is that he far exceeded that necessary 270.

In 59 years, a member of the Brown family has held the governor’s office for 24 years, six terms.  There are no more members of the Brown dynasty, but the professionals are telling us that it is time for the Newsom/Pelosi dynasty to be coronated.  There is nothing you can do about it, we have given you this proper second place finisher, please just sit down and let us tell you how to vote.  Ruling, establishment, elitism, but in their tone deafness, they miss, that THIS is precisely what the rebellion has been aimed at.

Remember, this is what they told us about Hillary.  It was her turn.  She had the money, the experience, she was the most “qualified” and that Donald Trump was a joke. The coronation of the next ruling member of the Clinton dynasty had arrived.  Sit down Peasants.   The pollsters always leave out one thing.

The ruling class are not rulers, and the people are still in charge, and their not buying this.

Cox is a big government advocate still. No matter what he tries to do to distance himself from his own ideas. His only voting record, is his vote for Pro-Choice, Open Borders, Libertarian, Gary Johnson.  Cox has never won a race.  That makes him a perfect choice for the second place strategy.

Travis Allen has never lost a race, and was never expected to be in office.  The pollsters, pundits and ruling class have counted him out, and told him to sit down and wait his turn for the entirety of his political career.

Historically, it is time for the Governor’s Mansion to be turned back to the Republicans.  Someone needs to tell the leadership of the Republican party, they dont know it yet.   There is no justification for rolling over and paying dead with a second-place candidate.  Californians, just like Americans across the country in the past three elections, have risen up to remind you, who is in charge, and they seem to be pretty tired of Second Place.

Higgins practiced family law for 17 years prior to becoming a pro-life activist. She is currently the Executive Director of Stanton Healthcare SoCal, a non-profit medical center for women who’s mission is to replace Planned Parenthood with life affirming medical care. She writes for both OCPolitical and The127Activist.

Editor’s Note: Opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Herald, or it’s publisher and editor.

 

Congressional candidate responds to accusations of anti-Semitism

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John Fitzgerald

Editor:

I find it interesting that simply pointing out the fact that Jews played a predominant role in the African Slave Trade https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7VkQSb7JlI&feature=youtu.be along with questioning Israel and challenging their control over U.S. foreign-policy, consequently gets me labeled an anti-Semite and NAZI by Former Republican Chairman, Ron Nehring. I will bet that he has NEVER taken the time to read the numerous and informative links I have provided on my website that substantiate my claims. Does Mr. Nehring find it interesting that the ONLY historical issue that lands people in prison– in eighteen countries and counting– is the holocaust? This is a fact! Why is this and why do so many people get imprisoned under Orwellian Hate-Speech laws, simply for challenging any aspect of it outside the “official narrative?” Please read:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/05/08/nazi-grandma-ursula-haverbeck-who-denies-holocaust-taken-jail/589613002/

Also, watch this video of Monika Schaefer, who is also serving time in prison for apologizing to her mom’s spirit in a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0_BZphQ7Qo. Isn’t debate good to rule out falsehoods, etc. and to glean fact? So why is the holocaust off-limits but no other issue? Also, why did South Carolina recently pass a similar Hate-Speech law strictly focusing on Israel and anti-Semitism in public schools and college campuses. Please read: https://www.reuters.com/…/south-carolina-passes-bill-to-fig….

Now Tennessee is soon doing the same and a federal law was just introduced last week in Congess to cover all 50 states for a similar anti-Semitism bill: https://www.thefire.org/new-federal-anti-semitism-act-same…/. I find this remarkable and, even moreso, troubling! No matter the issue, taboo or not, why is our 1st amendment (free-speech) being eroded and only for questioning Israel and/or Jewish interests and no other country or people? We supposedly live in a free and civilized society, yet how free are we if we cannot express contrary opinions without fear of being deemed afoul of the law? Also, isn’t this a slippery slope that may lead to more draconian laws and/or measures in the future? After all, shouldn’t one’s opinion– no matter how offensive it may be to some– along with what’s deemed “truth” stand on its own merit when scrutinized? I think so.

I challenge people to go to my website and find any information that I post that is incorrect or anti-Semitic. I research every issue extensively and take what I claim very seriously and I hope you will do the same. I am not an anti-Semite by any means, but only a person of strong values, morals and character who has the courage to challenge controversial and, what many people perceive to be “taboo” subjects that a certain sect of society try to suppress and/or, subsequently, deem off-limits. Thank you and please remember to vote June 5th. Here is my website:  http://johnfitzgeraldforcongress.com/

John Fitzgerald

Candidate for Congress, CA District 11

Editorial: Graves is the clear choice for Contra Costa District Attorney

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Paul Graves

By Allen Payton, Publisher & Editor

In the race for District Attorney there is one candidate who has the experience to be the top prosecutor we need in Contra Costa County. That’s Senior Deputy District Attorney Paul Graves.

Unlike his current boss, Interim D.A. Diana Becton, who was appointed on a 3-2 vote of the Board of Supervisors, last year, Graves has 22 years of experience prosecuting crime in our county. She has never prosecuted a single case. Yes, Becton served for 30 years as a judge, but that’s not the same thing.

Also, Graves was the first candidate to declare and was willing to run against his former boss, Mark Peterson, who had not yet resigned following a controversy regarding lack of disclosure of loans to himself from his campaign funds.

Becton only entered the appointment process after Peterson’s resignation, which doesn’t show me a serious interest or commitment to the position.

Although accused of being part of the problem, Graves was not part of Peterson’s inner circle. He’s running to restore integrity to the office. Becton on the other hand, admitted to plagiarizing large portions of her application for the position. Yet, three supervisors still voted to appoint her.

The third candidate in the race, businessman and attorney Lawrence Strauss, is opposed to the death penalty – even for cop killers. That to me is an immediate disqualification. If you’re going to be the top prosecutor in the county, you need to be willing to follow and enforce all laws in our state, whether you agree with them or not.

Another thing to look at is who is backing the candidates. Graves has the support of all the Deputy District Attorneys, as well as all of the police officer associations, in the county. Those who enforce the law know Graves is the one candidate who will do the same.

Becton’s backers include the ultraliberal, former San Francisco D.A. and now U.S. Senator Kamala Harris and worse, the soft-on-crime billionaire George Soros. Why are they interfering in our county’s law enforcement? Do we really want to model our D.A.’s office after San Francisco’s? Of course not.

Worst of all, Becton is missing too many days from the office for a job that pays her more than $250,000 per year.

We need a prosecutor who will restore leadership and integrity to the Contra Costa D.A.’s office. Voting for Paul Graves will accomplish that.

OPINION: Latest vile anti-Semite running for Congress is from Contra Costa County

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By Ron Nehring

Originally published on Flash Report. Republished with permission.

It’s happened before: Some vile racist or anti-Semite runs for an office they have no chance of winning in the hopes of drawing attention to themselves, or their cause. This is exactly what happened earlier this year when Holocaust denier Arthur Jones ran for Congress as a Republican in the heavily Democratic 3rd Congressional District of Illinois. He has been denounced by the Republican Party but will still appear on the November ballot as a result of winning the uncontested GOP primary in the district.

John Fitzgerald is using is campaign website to peddle anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and falsehoods. Image source: Facebook.

Well, now we have another one of these guys. This time it’s here in California. Today’s vile anti-Semite is John Fitzgerald, who is running for Congress in the heavily Democratic 11th Congressional District in Contra Costa County. The district, in which Hillary Clinton won 71.% of the vote in 2016, is currently represented by Democrat Mark DeSaulnier.

Fitzgerald has zero chance of winning this seat, yet he currently has the official endorsement of the California Republican Party by virtue of being the only Republican running for the office. Under rules adopted by the party following the passage of California’s deeply flawed top-two primary system, the party endorsement goes to any Republican running for state legislature or Congress when they are the only party member running. The Board of Directors may take an affirmative step to reverse the endorsement, which of course should happen immediately.

Screen shots above and below from John Fitzgerald’s campaign website, taken May 26, 2018 at 3:24 PM PT.

In a post on his campaign website that went up on May 23rd, Fitzgerald peddles numerous anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. He asserts as “truth” that Jews “played a prominent role in the African slave trade,” linking to an article that further peddles this conspiracy theory. He goes on at length peddling numerous other anti-Semitic claims and theories. I won’t link to his website or post because I have no interest in driving up his search results, but you can Google this guy yourself.

So, what should be done about this?

First and foremost, absolutely no one should vote for this guy. Unfortunately, the state party website lists Fitzgerald as the endorsed party candidate, and since many Republicans rely on the site for guidance when voting, combined with his being the only Republican candidate, he will get an unfortunate number of votes. But certainly all that should come to a screeching halt now.

Second, the state party Board of Directors, which is entirely composed of good people I know personally, needs to reverse Fitzgerald’s default endorsement.

And third, Republicans should speak out against Fitzgerald and candidacy for his blatant anti-Semitism. Let’s not wait and see if this gets traction and only then condemn this vile individual who has soiled the good name of our party – we should affirmatively reject both his candidacy and his ideas because they offend our principles.

The Republican Party was founded on the most noble of causes – the abolition of slavery. Just over 100 years later, people of both parties came together in support of the civil rights movement and the abolition of segregation. Racism and anti-Semitism have no place in our country, and good people of both parties have the responsibility to condemn it regardless of the source.

Nehring is the former Chairman of the California Republican Party.

Writer concerned East County Fire unable to respond to more than one call at a time

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Guest Commentary by Bryan Scott

An auto accident was reported at 4:05 pm on Tuesday, February 13, 2018, in Oakley.  It was a two-car accident, with one person injured who was subsequently transported to a hospital.  The accident occurred at the intersection of East Cypress Road and Bethel Island Road, in Oakley.

It took nearly 16 minutes for help to arrive (15:58 minutes).

The reason for the lengthy response time is that all resources of the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District (ECCFPD), the agency that provides emergency medical and fire services for the area, had responded to another auto accident that was reported at 3:38 pm, 27 minutes earlier.

This prior accident was in Brentwood, at the intersection of Sycamore Ave. and Brentwood Blvd.  All three stations responded to the accident, and four victims were airlifted to area hospitals.

Help for the Oakley accident came from a neighboring fire district, Contra Costa County Fire Protection District (ConFire), as well as the county-contracted ambulance service provider. The two Confire stations nearest to the Oakley accident are in Antioch at 315 W. 10th Street and 196 Bluerock Drive.

According to Google Maps the stations are 10.3 and 11.2 miles away from the accident site, respectively, with normal driving time estimated at 21 and 20 minutes.  Arriving in 15:58 minutes means that flashing lights and a siren take about 20% off the normal driving time.

The nearest ECCFPD fire station to the Oakley accident is located at 540 Ohara Ave. in Oakley.  According to Google Maps it is just 4.2 miles from the accident scene, eight minutes normal driving time by car.  With a siren and flashing lights first reponders might arrive, from the closer fire station, in six minutes and 24 seconds.

The Monthly Operational Report issued by ECCFPD doesn’t list the severity of the injuries suffered in either accident.  An ECCFPD Facebook posting says that four victims of the Brentwood accident were transported to hospital by helicopters, shown in a picture the agency posted.

Consider this:  The human heart beats about 70-times per-minute, and pumps about 5-7 liters of blood per-minute.  It has been estimated that blood makes up 7% of a body’s weight, so for a 150-180 lbs. person there will be 4.7 – 5.5 liters of blood in the body.  Those of us with larger proportions will have more.

In a severe accident a cut to a major artery by glass or a piece of metal can cause blood to be pumped from the body, and rapid death.  Less-severe trauma to the body’s circulatory system would, of course, take longer to cause death.  But without immediate aid to staunch the loss of blood, a traffic accident victim has only minutes to live.  It doesn’t take long to lose four or five liters of blood.

State-mandated funding for ECCFPD is less than $94 per-person, while areas in Central County have funding for the same emergency medical and fire services at $449 and $370 per-person, according to the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission.  This funding allocation rate was set four decades ago, before East County experienced 1,500% residential growth.

Response times throughout the ECCFPD service area exceed municipal and industry goals by a wide amount, and the 115,000 residents are in danger because of this underfunding practice.

The County’s Grand Jury has issued several reports on the situation, a government task force has studied it, and the inadequate service has been noted by consultants, the media, and on a Vasco Road billboard that was erected by concerned citizens.

Oakley City Manager Bryan Montgomery has obstructed efforts to get property tax funding shifted to ECCFPD, so that ECCFPD can do a better job of protecting Oakley’s 40,000-and–growing population.

Like many top government managers, Montgomery wants to protect his agency’s budget.  This is a noble goal, but he is doing so at the expense of Oakley resident safety.

Bryan Scott is Co-Chair of East County Voters for Equal Protection, a non-partisan citizen’s action committee striving to improve funding for the ECCFPD.  He can be reached at scott.bryan@comcast.net, or 925-418-4428.  The group’s Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/EastCountyVoters/.  

Guest Commentary: Senator Glazer ignoring 115,000 constituents in East County fire district

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By Bryan Scott

East of Clayton and Antioch lies a broad swath of what used to be Contra Costa County farmland.  The California State Senator representing this area, Steve Glazer, seems to be ignoring the public safety needs of the people who now live there.

While East County used to contain just 8,000 residents and the largest irrigated orchard west of the Mississippi, the 249-square mile area now contains the cities of Brentwood (2016 pop. 60,532) and Oakley (pop. 40,622), along with the unincorporated communities of Bethel Island, Byron, Discovery Bay, Knightsen, and Morgan Territory.

All combined East County has a rapidly growing population of over 115,000 Californians.

A 2016 report by the Contra Costa County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) stated that emergency medical and fire services provided by the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District (ECCFPD) were funded at a rate of $94 per-person.  The report also said that these same services were funded at the rate of $449 and $370 per-person in central parts of the county.

This low funding level has forced ECCFPD to close five of the eight fire stations operational in 2010, and drastically reduce staff.  Response times are at levels that far exceed any industry standards or goals.

In an interesting parallel, the nearby city of Lathrop in San Joaquin County has experienced significant growth and continues to grow due to its location along Interstate 5.  From 2000 through 2016, according to the US Census Bureau, it grew by 97%.   Lathrop’s 2016 population was 22,073, and the city expects to be at 35,000 by 2020.

The fire and emergency medical services that Lathrop Manteca Fire District (LMFD) provides are funded at a rate of $316 per resident (2016).  Lathrop is part of a 100 square-mile, mostly rural, area served by LMFD, with over 30,000 total area residents.  The district has four fire stations, 33 career firefighters, and 25 reserve/volunteers.

Yet, in East Contra Costa, have steadily deteriorated and the population and development grew.  In 2016 ECCFPD recognized the funding crisis, called a “public safety emergency” by another elected official, and passed a resolution pleading for help from Senator Glazer and others in the legislature.  You can view Resolution No. 2016-21 on the ECCFPD website.

The crisis was also the subject of reports by the Contra Costa County Grand Jury and a government task force, and it was noted by industry consultants as well as the media.  Concerned residents have erected a billboard along Vasco Road, a major arterial route into East County, drawing attention to the crisis.

“The District lacks sufficient funds to provide fire and emergency response to the communities it was created to serve,” said a three-page letter the ECCFPD Board sent to Senator Glazer in 2016, signed by then Board President Joel Bryant.

So far, Senator Glazer has done little or nothing to address this issue.

A review of bills authored or co-authored by Senator Glazer shows a wide range of subjects.  He’s sponsored ten “Awareness” month/week/day bills, several bills to ban smoking on public beaches and in parks, and one bill to change the names of California places because the names commemorate Civil War-era figures.

But he’s authored or co-authored no bills to improve the public safety of his ECCFPD constituents.

The Courage Campaign is a group of mostly online organizations that advocate for progressive causes in California. Representing an estimated 1.4 million members, the Courage Campaign uses digital tools with grassroots community organizers and targeted messaging.

The group focuses on the areas of Economic Justice, Human Rights and Corporate and Political Accountability.  It annually ranks California Senators and Assembly Members, and for 2017 Courage Campaign gives Senator Glazer a letter grade of “F,” along with a numeric score of 32 out of 100.

The “Courage Score” as it is called, grades California legislators on political courage, how well they stand up for their constituents.  While 16% of the all California Senators received an “A” grade, 40% received an “F” grade in 2017, including Senator Glazer.

According to the California Senate website, each Senator represents 931,349 Californians.  So the residents of the ECCFPD service area represent only about one-eighth (12.35%) of Senator Glazer’s district.

It is clear that Senator Glazer is not acting to address or improve the public safety emergency involving his constituents of the ECCFPD service area.

Bryan Scott is Co-Chair of East County Voters for Equal Protection, a non-partisan citizen’s action committee striving to improve funding for the ECCFPD.  He can be reached at scott.bryan@comcast.net, or 925-418-4428.  The group’s Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/EastCountyVoters/.  

Fire District, East County Voters, CoCoTax all encourage “yes” vote on Measure A

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The East County Voters for Equal Protection (ECV), led by Co-Chairs Hal Bray and Bryan Scott, are encouraging voters within the 249-square mile service area of the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District (ECCFPD) to vote “Yes” on Measure A. 

A “Measure A” mail-in ballot has been distributed by mail to voters throughout the district by the Contra Costa County Clerk, Elections Division.  The measure was initiated by the ECCFPD Board of Directors.

A “Yes” will reduce the number of Directors of the oversight Board from nine to five.  All other fire districts in Contra Costa County have five-member boards, as do many cities, school districts and other special districts.

“An elected Board removes even the appearance of conflict between Board members, the agencies that appointed them, and the residents they represent,” said Bray.  “Reducing the size of the Board will make it easier to manage the operation of the District; the District and the residents of the District win on both counts.”

All seats on the Board of Directors will be filled by an election in November of this year as ECCFPD moves from an appointed Board to an elected Board.  The current nine-member board has been appointed since the creation of the fire district in 2002.

When the County’s Board of Supervisors consolidated three fire districts into a large regional district, ECCFPD, there was opposition from some East County residents who believed their community, such as the cities of Brentwood and Oakley, would lose influence.

Consequently, the largest concentration of residents, Brentwood, was given the most seats on the board, four, while the smaller city of Oakley got three seats.  The much less-populated unincorporated areas of the county received two seats.

Since all Board positions will be filled by popular vote, the assignment of Board seats by political jurisdiction is no longer necessary.

The Contra Costa Taxpayers Association (CoCoTax) also encourages East County residents to vote “Yes” on Measure A. 

“The best government is the most local government, with more direct access and accountability at the polling place,” said Jack Weir, CoCoTax President.    

While the change will have minimal fiscal impact on district finances, the change will improve the efficiency of district administration, according to the “Argument in Favor of Measure A” submitted by Fire Chief Brian Helmick.  His statement indicates it will be easier to build a consensus, he believes.

Ballots may be returned by mail, or dropped off at Oakley City Hall, Brentwood City Hall, or the Discovery Bay Community Center during regular business hours from Feb. 12 to March 6. Ballots may also be dropped off at County Elections Division, 555 Escobar Street in Martinez by 8 p.m., on or before March 6.

A County Elections Division Voter Services Center at the Brentwood Community Center will be open on Saturday, March 3, from 9 am – 3 pm, Monday, March 5, from 9 am to 6 pm, and on Tuesday, March 6, from 9 am to 8 pm, to receive ballots.

“East County Voters for Equal Protection” is a non-partisan, grass roots, citizens’ action committee formed to address the issue of unequal funding of fire and emergency medical services existing in 249 square miles of Eastern Contra Costa County.  About 120,000 residents, as well as those who work and play in Eastern Contra Costa, have services funded at a level one-fourth to one-third of those levels in other parts of Contra Costa County.  For more information contact committee Co-Chairs Hal Bray at hal.bray@pacbell.net or Bryan Scott scott.bryan@comcast.net.    The group’s Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/EastCountyVoters/

Frazier: One Delta tunnel is a deception

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California WaterFix (i.e. Delta Twin Tunnels) route. From californiawaterfix.com

SACRAMENTO – Assemblymember Jim Frazier, D-Discovery Bay, issued a statement on Thursday, after the Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced it is significantly altering the proposed WaterFix project to construct one larger tunnel first and build a second tunnel later.

Assemblyman Jim Frazier

On Wednesday, the DWR sent a memo to the local public water agencies participating in the development and construction of California WaterFix and issued the following statement from DWR Director Karla Nemeth.

“WaterFix is a long-overdue infrastructure upgrade that will maintain a reliable water supply for 25 million Californians while also protecting the Delta ecosystem. With the current stated support of the participating public water agencies, the state is proposing to pursue WaterFix as planned, but also explore an option to implement construction in stages. This prudent approach aligns the urgent statewide need for action with the project’s current support. We are eager to move forward with WaterFix to protect the Delta and water supplies.”

The memo further states “The option for a first stage includes two intakes…one tunnel, one intermediate forebay, and one pumping station.”

Frazier responded with the following statement:

“The Department of Water Resources is trying to sell its latest WaterFix revision as a one-tunnel plan, but that is smoke and mirrors,” Frazier stated. “Their plan still calls for two tunnels. The new plan still poses the same threat to the Delta’s environment, agricultural economy and way of life. There still is no cost-benefit analysis or economic justification for the project.  The project still does not create a single ounce of new water.

DWR has shape-shifted the size of the tunnels. This is now an entirely new project. The process must start over from the beginning, with an entirely new Environmental Impact Report.  The proposed new and even larger tunnel will have even greater ecological and economic impacts on the Delta.

DWR can’t just amend the EIR and biological opinions and pass it off as legitimate. The size and scope of a project this size demands a thorough process and the ability for the people of the Delta to voice their concerns.

DWR’s method for estimating the cost of its revised plan is also curious. Instead of doing a comprehensive cost analysis for the revised proposal, they gave us lazy math. They just took $16.3 billion cost estimate they have been using and chopped it into thirds.

When I was a construction contractor, I couldn’t just change my building plans without bringing it back for review. DWR and the Administration should not be exempt from process that all building projects are subject to in California, especially on one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the state’s history.”

Writer challenges DVC Professor who lectured students to violate laws, abolish “white democracy”

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Professor Albert Ponce during his lecture. Screenshot from YouTube video.

Dear Editor:

Some time ago, I read an article about Diablo Valley College Professor, Albert Ponce. It was obvious from what I read—if the article was accurate—that the man is either a communist or an anarchist; I’m not sure which. I wanted to find out a little bit about the man and after a few minutes I happened unto a webpage in which some of his students expressed their feelings about the professor. Some were complimentary (sycophantic), but many described a man who is an abusive bully. A man who attacks those who do not agree with his beliefs and that intimidates students who simply want the opportunity to express their own opinions and worldviews. It seemed that Dr. Ponce doesn’t like to teach as much as he likes to indoctrinate. (See YouTube video of Ponce’s lecture). (See additional related article.)

After reading all of this information, I wrote Professor Ponce and challenged him to a debate. I simply wanted to see if his beliefs were founded on personal experience. Surely, a man like Dr. Ponce has lived in Cuba, China or at least one of the former Soviet Bloc nations. I’m sure that with all he has to say about the wonders of Socialism and Communism, he must have worked on collective farms and been able to compare socialist production models against those of the capitalist west. In order to support his socialist beliefs, he must have extensive experience as a concentration camp guard, abusing, torturing and perhaps even killing a few inmates. I’m also sure that his students would like to see personal photographs of him rubbing shoulders with Raul Castro, Vladimir Putin or China’s Xi Jinping. Surely, Dr. Ponce’s platitudes are not based on simple vitriolic rhetoric, talking points and baseless revulsion he feels for the United States. Please tell me that his experience abroad can’t be limited to Chiapas, Mexico in 1999 (I was in Cuba conducting research of my own that year) where he blamed the North American Free Trade Agreement for the problems of the indigenous tribes.

Surely, he must know what it’s like to observe grieving relatives being forced to dig the corpses of their rotting relatives from temporary graves, one piece at a time. He must have experience urinating and defecating on graves as the widows of his enemies looked on. He must surely have extensive experience in all of these things or he is just an empty wind bag.

The irony of Professor Albert Ponce is that all that he has gained and earned was achieved in a free society. I heartily congratulate Dr. Ponce for his academic success. Nobody can take that away from the man. He obviously recognizes the hard work it took, the sleepless nights, living without to make his tuition payments, sacrificing to realize his dreams, etc. I’m sure that along the way, he was allowed to express an opinion, a point of view or a long-held conviction. He must have expressed those ideals during some examination, either vocally or in writing. His doctoral dissertation must have expressed some of his personal doctrines and beliefs, and because of that liberty to express those beliefs, he didn’t suffer the indignity of having the dreaded Secret Police come to his door at night to frighten him into silence. And yet, with all of his rich experience, now he wants to shutter the hearts, minds and passions of students, parents or others who don’t agree with him. His weapon at present is intimidation, but by every insinuation of his hateful speech, it is clear to see that his weapon of choice may one day be a rifle or a gun.

The First Amendment doesn’t have to protect the beautiful utterances of historic poetry, classical music or our favorite and profound Bible passages. The First Amendment was fashioned to protect the stupid, the hateful and the obtuse declarations of the vilest among us. That is free speech. That is living in an open and free society. When I first came to this country, the Klu Klux Klan was still allowed to march down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. People who stood on the sidewalk witnessing this, yelled at the klansmen and expressed their verbal rejection of them, but they knew that this hate group had as much right to protest in our nation’s capital as any other citizen’s group. To be honest, I felt freer and safer back in those days than I do right now.

The most profound statement that I have found on free speech I heard in a movie called, “The America President.” It says,

“America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You’ve gotta want it bad, ’cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say, “You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.” You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.”

If Professor Ponce can just get past the visions of his own grandeur, maybe he can stop long enough to listen to what his students want to tell him. Maybe he can actually be a teacher and learn something himself.

Maximo A. Gomez

Los Banos, CA

Gomez is the author of “Beyond This Vale of Tears One Cuban Family’s Story,” a guest writer for the Salinas Californian newspaper, a former senior intelligence analyst with the United States Army, a former associate pastor at First Baptist Church in Los Banos, an evangelist, and recently started his own ministry.