Gray Davis Recall Sponsor, Ted Costa, and The National Tax Limitation Committee have endorsed Assemblyman Guy Houston for Contra Costa County Supervisor, District 3.
Incumbent Mary Piepho had received Ted Costa’s endorsement during her first Supervisorial race but her poor performance on the County’s financial problems made another endorsement from Ted Costa impossible.
Guy Houston has also been endorsed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. Houston also has the entire elected financial team of Contra Costa County supporting his candidacy. This includes Treasurer Bill Pollacek and Assessor Gus Kramer, Controller Steve Ybarra, as well as Sheriff Warren Rupf.
ANALYSIS
These endorsements are significant as Mary Piepho supporters claimed the earlier loss of the Howard Jarvis Group’s endorsement was mere Sacramento intrique. But with two more respected tax groups lining up for Houston, one of them by Republican Lew Uhler, and Costa’s representing a Piepho loss, such a charge seems more like sour grapes as the charges against Piepho of not standing up for taxpayers begins to stick. Meanwhile, Piepho now tries to place blame for County woes on the State, and by association, her opponent, Assemblyman Houston. But will she also impugn Assembly Democratic leaders and Local 1 union sympathizers Mark DeSaulnier and Tom Torlakson?
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Maybe it is just time to try something else. Two Piephos in politics at different levels (her husband David is involved in the CSD in Discovery Bay) and they both have effectively been zeroes, not listening to what the people want and getting it done. Let them go to work for awhile, learn how to run a company then try to run something larger. David still mooches a Fireman disability program and runs around in a Ferrari and plants $20k palm trees in his yard while he and his wife argue against bills that would bring much needed facilities into our schools because the $100 a year increase in property tax would be too much. Its for kids and education you dolts, ahhh, maybe this is why there is no education spending, she did not get one and she is doing fine…….
Cowellian,
Spoken like a true statesman.
The Times is really grasping for straws, what a joke
Does anyone know the name of our dogcatcher in east county ?
FWIW: I see the Times likes Piepho: http://www.contracostatimes.com/opinion/ci_9127260
~ editor Responds…This is an endorsement of morons working for a dying paper trying to gin up union subscriptions.
Reading this Website is pretty interesting. This Editor of this Website does a wonderful job of drawing people in to speak their piece. It appears he lets the people really speak what is on their mind. On this side of the hill I see much support for Mr. Houston. Not sure if everyone knows but the people of Alamo are tired of Supervisor Piepho and her antics. The statement she made about getting rid of two committees i.e. she was “getting rid of dead wood” was enough for the Alamo community to go out and become a city so they do not have to deal with her do nothing procedures again. Being a city we will have the ability to tell you Supervisor hit the road, we will do it ourselves. I take my hat off to Mr. Barber for being so open and giving his correct name. He has made the newspaper on this side of the hill with his objections of our Supervisors actions. The guy that said ’she works well with all the other supervisors” is out to lunch. So what he is saying is that our other Supervisors followed Piepho over the cliff of financial debt. If that is the case then all of them should go. You normally see votes that are split, but all the 5-0 stuff only proves they do not have a mind of their own. I can’t help but feeling Mr. Houston is much smarter and will be better prepared to make decisions about this County than our current Supervisor. She has not been so smart with the taxpayers money so far.
Just an observation from the outside looking in- You say Mary Piepho has helped create a financial mess. O.K., let’s go with that. So, you want to get her out and bring in Houston, who has helped create an even bigger financial mess. It doesn’t sound like you’re finding a solution, but substituting one financial mess for another. Maybe this election you might want to consider option 3: Vote for Pedro!
This Mr. Fish On must be pretty dumb. Just because Houston supported Piephor for Supervisor, found out she did a crappy job, now he’s trying to fix what she did to Contra Costa County. If I were Houston I would feel pretty bad about the mess she made in Contra Costa County and want to fix it too. As far as Arnold, he must be nuts. Our State is in enough debt and he wants to drag her along to what run up the debt, so he can blame it on her next year.? As soon as get off this website I am going to give the Governor a piece of my mind if he thinks she can head any committee. Better be a committee without money.
With Piepno’s financial experience she probably gets a blank look on her face and says I can’t be out of money I still have checks! Get a clue Mr. Fish.
Fish On must not have any education either. Or he has some trade school diploma guy. If he doesn’t think education is the key to success then it is obvious he is not one. Perhaps with his non educational attitude he is one of those guys that plays video games at his job all day waiting for something to happen. I wonder how he feels about his daughter not getting an education. Perhaps if she grows and works as a waitress with her High School Diplomia he will think about that College degree. This Mr. Barber sounds like he already has an education and Mr. Fish On sounds like he needs one. For anyone to think our Supervisor does not need an education to figure out what to do with the financial delemmia this County has got to be a half wit. Its not like she was a valedictorian with her High School Diploma. And Mr. Fish ON just in case you are a little confused about what that is, it called doing well in school with an A average and attending class all the time. As for Washington, Lincoln and Truman if they we running for Supervisor at this date in time I would tell them the same thing. Get and Education before you try to pretend you have one! Whether Mr. Fish On likes it or not education is the key to success. It is people like Mr. Fish On who think they are too smart to be educated. As for Houston returning the money when he gets elected the people of this County should demand a refund for the poor job Piepho has done thus far. She should be giving back every bit of raise she gave herself. What a legacy to have being the uneducated woman that put the County so far in debt they had to elect an educated man to get them out. LET US SING! BYE BYE MARY, BYE BYE SHOW, BYE BYE MARY, WE’RE GLAD TO SEE YOU GOOOOOOOOO.
140K! Not bad for a high school graduate.
Like Ted Costa, I supported (and voted for) Mary Piepho in round one. She is a very nice person and I believed she would provide leadership to address the financial challenges in our county. She either never found her voice or lacks the skills necessary to get the job done. Go to the BOS website and look at her voting record. You’ll see that she hasn’t addressed the fiscal problems challenging our county but joined the fiscal lunacy. The taxpayers of this county deserve better.
“Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me”
What does Mary Piepho and the Dodo bird have in common?… CENSORED BY EDITOR
~ Editor says, Renegade, don’t be a Dodo and Do-Do write better comments or become extinct on this topic.
Some dog catchers know what they are doing. Many Supervisors don’t.
“”"” It’s “anybody but Piepho”"”"”
for him and he’d vote for the dog catcher if he/she were running in opposition.
Well Said ………….
Mr. Barber is either kidding or just ignorant of history. All abstract and innuendo.
Who had Mary Piepho on a short list for his Assembly position in Sacramento AND suggested she run for the Supervisor slot in the first place? Houston. Who tried to tap Mary Piepho for an Administration position in Sacramento? Schwarzeneggar. I guess both of those fellows didn’t get Mr. Barber’s memo?
I’m sick of the petty harping on this college degree deal. It didn’t seem to hold back George Washington, Abraham Lincoln or Harry S. Truman, none of whom had college degrees. But if you insist on barking over Bios, then perhaps a visit to Mr. Houston’s site is in order. A Facebook page? Is this man running for Supervisor or Student Body President? No wonder the CC Times once called him “a political lightweight”.
Mr. Barber dislikes the Piephos. All of us here in East County and DB in particular are paaaainfully aware of that. But he should at least be honest in his motivations. He’s been pissed off since the no tow ordinance of last year and has been at risk of popping a vein in his neck since. It’s not really about Houston’s qualifications(which are what again?) on our pressing issues or his accomplishments that have benefited District III(feel free to provide even a short, short list). It’s “anybody but Piepho” for him and he’d vote for the dog catcher if he/she were running in opposition. So much for caring about the real issues.
Here’s one for Mr. Barber. Most Department heads in the County make $140k and up. Which of those will Mr. Houston be taking an axe to? If Board of Supervisor salaries are a problem, as you and others have stated, have Houston go out on a limb and talk numbers before the election. Will he repeal the recent raise? If he can’t do it officially, nothing prevents him from returning what he deems to be excessive.
Mr. Barber seems to repeatedly rant on the term “leadership”. Here’s your lead-by-example opportunity. Get your candidate to weigh in on these with specifics because I’ve had my fill of “all hat and no cattle” Politicians for this lifetime.
Hwy 4 Commuter thank you for highlighting what I believe is the fundamental issue of this election. Houston is employable in the real world and Piepho is not.
Piepho hides from her lack of education, she does not post a resume on either her political website or her BoS page. Why is that?
Aggressively dealing with the financial/labor issues facing this county is not a task for an uneducated amateur who entered politics via some divine right bestowed from her father.
And for those who want to prop up Piepho by pointing a finger at Houston’s business related civil litigation…I’ll save you the trouble….forget it. The matter was settled …end of story. There are 1000’s of business everyday that get tangled in civil litigation. Anyone who understands our legal systems knows better than to cast dispersions over this situation. But unfortunately you can’t hide the naked truth regarding no education and no real world experience.
In my opinion the BoS is far too cozy to really make the significant and difficult decisions necessary. A new point of view with bigger picture experience may be just what this county needs.
From what I have observed, all of Guy Houston’s endorsements have come from outside of Supervisor District 3; while Supervisor Piepho’s endorsements have overwhelmingly come from within District 3. That alone tells me something.
Assemblyman Guy Houston didn’t solve anything during his six years in the State Assembly, so what makes you think he’ll solve anything in Contra Costa County?
From what I have seen, Supervisor Piepho works very well with the other four supervisors which is the only way to start addressing the serious financial situation in which previous boards have put the current incumbents
Thankfully, it will be the people who actually live in District 3 that will reelect Supervisor Piepho and Guy Houston will have to go back to working for a living like the rest of us.
After reading this article one thing stuck in my mind
“charges against Piepho of not standing up for taxpayers”
This statement says it all. I’m a taxpayer and these Supervisors are suppose to be looking out for me, they are clearly not by thier actions in bed with unions and generous deals for public servants. Supervisors personal agendas are bankrupting contra costa. It must stop now.