Video: Pinole Recall campaign makes its case to voters

January 30, 2008

Below see public comment from Jeff Rubin, with CCOP, regarding the Pinole Recall, presented at the January 29th Pinole City Council Meeting. Rubin recounts the common story (in Contra Costa County) of how city councilmembers and Recall targets Maria Alegria and Stephen Tilton are supported by union special interests looking for a big payday from upcoming contract negotiations. Rubin will appear on KPFA-FM 94, Thursday, January 31, at 7:00 a.m. Watch the video of the entire meeting.

Good evening council, staff, and people in the audience and watching on TV. I’m Jeff Rubin. At the January 10 Candidates’ Forum, Maria Alegria said her Form 460s were available to the public, so I thought I’d have a look.

I see where the International Association of Firefighters, the union representing the Pinole firefighters, has given Maria another $3,200 since January 1. That brings the firefighters union’s investment in Councilwoman Maria Alegria for their upcoming contract negotiations with the city of Pinole to $10,700 over the last four years. That’s roughly 16% of the more than $65,000 Maria has raised since 2004, most of it from special-interest groups, some of which, such as TKG Development, have contracts with the city on which Maria votes. Additionally, Councilman Stephen Tilton has accepted $3,500 from the International Association of Firefighters since 2006, including $1,500 since January 1, a period in which he did not declare any expenses. Stephen, why are you accepting money when you’re not spending it?

By contrast, Mayor Peter Murray and Councilwoman Mary Horton have accepted no money from the firefighters’ union, or any other union, during that time.

The Pinole firefighters’ contract expires in a few months. I have heard they will negotiate for retirement at FULL PAY at age 50. Can the city afford to allow ANY employee to retire at age 50, with the possibility that employee will live another 20 to 40 years, while the City of Pinole pays FULL medical benefits AND retirement pay?

Pinole is already in debt. Are Maria and Stephen willing to bankrupt the city to pay back the firefighters’ union for their massive campaign contributions? The city should pay only what it can afford to its firefighters - and to all of its employees. It’s highly unethical when elected officials accept such huge amounts of money - $10,700 for Maria and $3,500 for Stephen - from an organization whose contract they’re going to negotiate and vote on. Maria Alegria and Stephen Tilton have accepted the money. It appears that their votes have been bought. The purchase of political favors cannot - and will not -be tolerated in Pinole.

Both of them need to be recalled.

Written by admin · Filed Under POLITICS

Comments

2 Responses to “Video: Pinole Recall campaign makes its case to voters”

Marilynne L. Mellander on January 30th, 2008 10:39 pm

PRO & NO on RECALL ARE NOT CONFRONTING
REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY GONE BAD!!!!!!!

I attended last night’s meeting and it was very hostile…at one point, Senorita Alegra
started a verbal catfight with a public speaker…the pro-recall people weren’t much
better…lots of name calling and childish innuendo….one guy got mad because his
gay son who lives at home was disrespected….I spoke against redevelopment,
gave out Municipal Officials for Redevelopment Reform (MORR) booklets and chided ONE
person who will remain anonymous for stating that most people don’t understand redevelopment and given the current situation in Pinole, it’s imperative that they do…when I arrived one individual who will remain unnamed gave me an ominous warning, MORR book in his hand, that I’d better not say anything that was not true…very unsettling…
The meeting went on until 12:15AM and as you can imagine at the very last moment
they voted to pass some kind of agreement with “TKG” (?) developers who’ve been
allowed to sap Pinole for millions…redevelopment is bad business…the map in the
huge glossy Jan. 2008 Redevelopment Review had a fold out map that showed
literally the ENTIRE city of Pinole is included in the redevelopment plan…
MLM

— A response:

Re ‘Reporter’ Marilynne’s take on the (2nd) meeting she’s attended: I cordially said, as she
came in, ‘be sure to get your facts straight’. She didn’t. I was not–haven’t been– “a public official” since 1965. She’s in the wrong war. At the wrong place. Wrong time. As a private individual, a vocal local citizen, I’d appreciate being “out of your
loop”. Thanks. Jack Meehan
Jacqueline Stambaugh on January 31st, 2008 1:16 pm

I too was at the same council meeting, and I thought it very strange and inappropriate to have such a, given the climate, important vote to occur at such a late hour when most of the Pinole citizens had gone home. Something smelly about that. Maybe I don’t fully understand all the inner workings of governing a city, but I do know something is fishy when I smell it. I have read many sections of the just released report on Pinole’s Redevelopment Agency, and believe that the Redevelopment Agency is broken and should not continue to fund anymore projects until all current contracts are audited for legality and the Agency establishes and enforces stricter guidelines for funding. I have a hard time understanding how elected public officials can allow our hard earned money that we, as taxpayers, can be distributed so haplessly and with little or no oversight! I don’t know about you, but, if everybody ran their business in the same fashion the Pinole Redevelopment Agency has run things, there would be a lot of people out of business.