Times: Hercules council recall targets respond

— by Jeffrey Wisniewski — 19 January 2011 — 4 comments below »

Tom Lochner reports… “Councilman Don Kuehne, who also is a target for recall by Hercules Recall, filed a response with the City Clerk that fine-tunes one that he circulated last week to the media. ‘Our city is facing very challenging times, but the grounds for recall are false,’ he says in the latest response, which he offered Monday. He says major changes have begun, citing the replacement of former City Manager Nelson Oliva with interim City Manager Fred Deltorchio; budget cuts worth $3 million; the commissioning of a citywide financial audit; and the termination of contracts with a company owned until mid-2010 by two daughters of Oliva.”

I wonder what precipitated all those changes.

4 comments already …

  1. # ron commented on 19-Jan-11 @ 11:54am

    To little, to late……….Wait till the next shoe falls, when the waste water deal is going to cost the residents of Hercules comes to light. What were you two council members thinking????

  2. # Susan Keeffe commented on 19-Jan-11 @ 12:17pm

    Interesting! Is he takiing credit for these things? We have been working very hard to get these changes in place and he wants to accept credit for our work?

  3. # David Isherwood commented on 19-Jan-11 @ 2:30pm

    Kuehne’s contention that Charlie Long’s contract was terminated due to acting without consulting the council is interesting. Apparently Charlie did not realize that the council has a long history of rubber stamping the City Manager’s recommendations.

    The concept of having a council comprised of members with diverse backgrounds is to be able to constructively challenge what is presented to them as “facts”. Neither Ward or Kuehne have demonstrated an ability to show original thought and hold their beliefs with conviction.

    I guess that now that Kuehne has someone else to follow everything should be ok?

  4. # Susan Keeffe commented on 19-Jan-11 @ 2:31pm

    I need to be clearer. When I said “we” I mean the citizens of Hercules who have been trying for years to get transparency, accountability, and a reduction of cronyism and nepotism. The remarkable investigative reporting of Tom Lochner, this blog by a courageous young citizen who was willing to speak up, and many others who have gone to City Hall and appealed for change – all of this effort has resulted in the changes to date. None of these is due to anything Kuehne has done. It is remarkable that he is claiming ownership of recent events. As far as I can see, all he has done is what he has done for years, vote “aye” only this time it is actually for a couple of improvements such as an outside audit and a community finance committee – both suggestions made by Long – who Kuehne voted to fire and continues to resist bringing back. That’s why Kuehne’s response is so amazing. His words and deeds don’t match up.

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