Times: Three Hercules City Council candidates raise $10,000 each
— by Jeffrey Wisniewski — 24 October 2010 — 2 comments below »
Big money for McDonald, in particular… “[Joe Eddy] McDonald, retired postmaster of Rodeo and Hercules, raised almost $16,700 as of Oct. 16, mostly from unions and businesses, private citizens and several West County office-seekers and officeholders, according to campaign finance records. [...] McDonald also itemized numerous donations of less than $100, even though under state rules he could have lumped them together and reported them as a sum; among his small contributors were several past and former officials of NEO Consulting Inc., the company that runs Hercules’ Affordable Housing Department under contract, including former CEO Taylor Oliva; former board members Adrianna Oliva and Gabrielle Oliva; and current employee Jonathen Sakamoto.”
The amount Kris Valstad has raised ($10.4k) differs greatly from the amount he provided in his recent Patch candidate profile ($5k). Maybe he doesn’t think people kept track of this stuff.
Is Joe Eddy McDonald working for the residents who overwhelmingly support the Waterfront development, or for the unions who have now made it clear they want to stop the project from moving forward?
I think this article answers that question.
The heavy contributions from unions to McDonald’s campaign may explain the mysterious presence at a recent council meeting of union members who made uninformed comments regarding the waterfront development. The baseless statements made by the union reps were clearly intended to scare residents from supporting Anderson Pacific’s plans to move forward with the development. If McDonald put the union members up to it, that suggests McDonald is actively trying to throw a wrench in plans to develop the Waterfront.
But why? Maybe it is just spite on his part, because Waterfront residents have the temerity to question his “leadership.” Maybe it is payback for the unions to reward them for their past and continued political support. Whatever his true motivation, it is clear Joe Eddy McDonald is in bed with the very unions who have made it abundantly clear they intend to cause problems for this long promised development.
And now yet another reason the project has been so hopelessly stalled … there appears to be at least one councilmember who places a higher priority on placating his “special interests” than on serving the public’s interest. How many other council members are beholden to these unions?
And as an aside, I wonder why Sims Metal Management is chipping in $1,000? Maybe another case of back scratching; has the city or redevelopment agency ever contracted with Sims? If so, that contribution should spell trouble for McDonald.
CC Times: “McDonald, retired postmaster of Rodeo and Hercules, raised almost $16,700 as of Oct. 16, mostly from unions and businesses, private citizens and several West County office-seekers and officeholders, according to campaign finance records.
His largest donation was $2,000 from International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 302.
He also got $1,000 from Sims Metal Management of Richmond; $1,000 from the campaign of West County school board incumbent Charles Ramsey; $750 from Contra Costa Coalition for Business; $750 from Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 159; and $500 from The Red Barn Co., the developer of Hercules New Town Center and Hercules Market Hall.”
At the meeting held by Mr. Long with the community regarding the Waterfront development last night, it was revealed that there are “discussions” going on with the local unions who want to put a lock on all jobs that would come from this massive and complex new urbanism project. Instead of a free market wherein the City and the developer could entertain bids to get the most value for our tax payer dollars, they would be required to only use union workers . With the new information regarding Mr., McDonald’s heavy union contributors, it appears he is not able to be objective in any matters requiring a vote on the Waterfront. It has now been revealed he is aligned with these special interests. Many of us were wondering why union members appeared with gross disinformation/misinformation at a recent City Council meeting. Why did they show up just at that meeting -when the Waterfront residents were in force asking about the delays in the project and for more information? They had to be invited and told the misinformation by someone. Many thought the City Attorney was behind their appearance at that meeting. It now appears that the someone may have in fact been a City Council member, Mr. McDonald! If true, then this is an abuse of his position – Council members must remain objective in order to make the best decisions. Someone had to feed these union reps the misinformation their speakers spouted much to the amazement and almost amusement of the community, which includes, by the way, residents who have strong union ties themselves. I would like to see an investigation into Mr. McDonald’s connections with local unions and learn how this is impacting the progress of this important development – a development that will benefit the entire region and could become a nation-wide model of new urbanism and “greener” communities.