Commissioner de Vera Running for City Council
— by Jeffrey Wisniewski — 11 June 2010 — 4 comments below »
Election season is officially here.
Planning Commissioner Myrna de Vera has announced her intention to run for City Council this November. Two seats will be contested — those currently held by Mayor Kris Valstad, who is expected to run for reelection, and Joe Eddy McDonald, whose open apathy during meetings suggests he would not run again, however is still considered a contender until he officially withdraws.
Myrna de Vera’s profile has risen the past few years, mostly due to her rather outspoken role on the Planning Commission, but also because of a series of awards she’s received by various organizations in the community and elsewhere.
de Vera should be considered a formidable candidate for the Council, not only for her record of service and name recognition, but also because she will most likely be backed by the strongest political group in the city — the Fil-Ams — which will probably include the support of uber-councilmember Ed Balico.
To the Filipino-Americans of this dynamic City of Hercules,
Let’s get together and help our “Kababayan” Myrna de Vera to be the next
Mayor of Hercules. We did this with our past mayors: Ed Balico, Gony Solidum,
Ed Manuel, Andy Paras and Frank Batara. Its about time to empower Hercules
Women Politics. Her educational background and community services speaks
volume. Let’s vote for her this coming November election.
Vicky Servillon-Calub
subwayqueen1@comcast.net
415-407-3519
Vicky:
I know your support is well intentioned, but this kind of partisan, ethnicity based support is likely to backfire.
I will vote for Myrna if she has the experience, integrity and independence to earn my vote.
I will NOT vote for her just because she happens to be Fil-Am.
In fact it may be a liability with Hercules voters that she is so closely tied to Balico.
Based on the recent Grand Jury report, he has some serious ethical issues as a result of his involvement in the affordable housing scandal.
Myrna has done a pretty good job on the Planning Commission.
She should distance herself from the current crop of public officials as much as possible.
Otherwise the stench from the recent scandals will settle on her, as well.
The Fil-Am community should support qualified Fil-AM candidates, but should not blindly support candidates like Balico just because they are Fil-Am. Otherwise it looks like the Fil-Ams care only about their parochial interests, and not so much for the interests of all Herculeans.
Give me a break, Vicki! Voting for her because of her race is stupid. We’re the same ethnicity, but she’s NOT getting my vote because she was Balico’s protegee. Now she’s trying to distance herself because the s%$@ is about to hit the fan. No way. He’s corrupt and s^!# rolls downhill! Some of it will splatter on her too.
Balico and the rest of the Hercules City Council all need to be thrown out of office for doing NOTHING but turn a blind to all the corruption within the walls of City Hall. Oliva twisted his lies so that his kids were “running” the affordable housing which is suppose to be a contracted agency (despite the fact that affordable housing staff used City supplies and City staff to do things). He has also made it easy for friends to get loans for homes and jobs (hello! His own secretary Eguzki Olano went from working in affordable housing one day to being a fully-benefited City employee the next and then gets a home!!!), and let’s not talk about all the new positions and raises granted to people who DO NOT have the qualifications and never went through a proper hiring process. As far as Balico is concerned, he has done some things for his friends as well. Favors like getting permits. And let’s not talk about Mike Sakamoto or even the crook before him, Ken Hobbs. PEOPLE WORKING IN CITY HALL TALK AND IT GETS AROUND. ALSO, SOME OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO BENEFITTED FROM KNOWING OLIVA AND BALICO HAVE BIG MOUTHS AS WELL! Now, we have Myrna trying to distance herself from her former mentor. Ha! I’m not buying it either. Myrna, no vote for you!