Some rather incoherent commentary from our humble elected officials (on three issues: Intermodal Station and waterfront development, affordable housing, and the City Manager)… Highlights include: Joe Eddy McDonald stating that there would be no delay in the Intermodal Station’s federal funding (but not mentioning the construction delay), plus stating that the surrounding development has nothing [...]

Call it the luck of the draw. The random alphabetic order for this year’s election (determined by the Secretary of State) starts with: R, T, Y, C, W, O. In Hercules, the random alphabet results in the following ballot order for City Council candidates: Kris Valstad, incumbent Joe Eddy McDonald, incumbent Myrna de Vera John [...]

Councilmember Don Kuehne is calling for a change in the composition of the City Council and is endorsing challenger Myrna de Vera in this year’s election. de Vera was Kuehne’s campaign chair in 2008, and Kuehne is simply returning the favor, however the endorsement does buck an obvious trend since all five then-sitting members of [...]

Tom Lochner reports… “Mayor Kris Valstad and Councilman Joe Eddy McDonald will face two challengers in their bid for re-election to the Hercules City Council in November — one a City Hall outsider [John Delgado], the other a member of the Planning Commission [Myrna de Vera].” The unofficial campaign slogans still stand.

Dan Romero has decided not to run. That leaves incumbents Kris Valstad (the current mayor) and Joe Eddy McDonald (the one that doesn’t care for the job) vying for reelection against newcomer Myrna de Vera (current Planning Commissioner) and John Delgado (who lost in 2008). The unofficial campaign slogans follow… Kris Valstad: The best is [...]

The West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD) — or, perhaps more accurately, the Richmond School District — needs new leadership. The behemoth school district is broken, broke, and fails to provide the quality education Herculeans deserve and pay for. One newcomer in this year’s election is Jason Freeman (the three incumbents are running for [...]

Since both incumbents are running for re-election — including Joe Eddy McDonald, although he openly despises the position — the filing deadline for potential candidates is 5pm this Friday, August 6. As reported in the Contra Costa Times, “Mayor Kris Valstad and Planning Commissioner Myrna deVera seek two open City Council seats, while incumbent council [...]

Myrna de Vera has released a statement (attached below) formally announcing her candidacy for City Council since qualifying. Considering her outspoken role on the Planning Commission, coupled with support from the powerful Filipino contingent (including, alas, Vice Mayor Ed Balico), de Vera is seemingly quite the formidable candidate in a race largely dependent on name [...]

It’s official. Joe Eddy McDonald is running for re-election… “Incumbent Kris Valstad, the current mayor, and planning commissioner Myrna deVera have been qualified by the Contra Costa County Election Office, said city clerk Doreen Mathews. The other incumbent, Joe Eddy McDonald, handed in his papers Friday and is expected to qualify this week, Mathews said.” [...]

John Delgado and Dan Romero will both be running for City Council this November. It is officially a horse race. Planning Commissioner Myrna de Vera has already announced her candidacy, and both incumbents — Kris Valstad and Joe Eddy McDonald — are assumed to be running although neither have announced their intention to do so. [...]

Rumors persist that both John Delgado and Dan Romero will run for City Council this November. I am unable to confirm the rumor at this time, but I can confirm that the two are strongly considering it. (I will post updated information as it becomes available.) John Delgado ran in 2008 and lost in an [...]

Planning Commissioner Myrna de Vera is running for City Council. Who else will make the field? Current mayor Kris Valstad will likely run for reelection, which would make it his fourth run for the office (he won in 2000 and 2006, and lost in 2004). The unbelievable word on the street is that Joe Eddy [...]

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 [...]

Measure D — the WCCUSD bond measure that would pay for school repair and construction (including a science lab at Hercules Middle/High) — passed last night with 62 percent of the vote (619 of 628 precincts reporting; 55 percent was needed). The property tax amounts to approximately “$48 per $100,000 of assessed valuation.” It is [...]

This post should have been published last night but damned it be the day Comcast has a “general service outage.” Today is Primary Day, the second best day of the year. The following offices and measures will be decided today, maybe. Federal Senator and Representative (District 7). State State Assembly (District 11), Governor, Lieutenant Governor, [...]

This is something that may have to be brought up again in an even year (when people will care), but the idea of voluntary spending limits for local campaigns is an interesting one indeed. The City Council of San Ramon has just approved such a spending limit (by law, it must be “voluntary”), and based [...]

Joe Eddy McDonald and Kris Valstad were announced as mayor and vice-mayor during the swearing-in regalia last Tuesday evening, which included Ed Balico making some odd comments… New Hercules council eager to get to work, mindful of sobering times By Tom Lochner Joe Eddy McDonald began his inaugural stint as Hercules’ mayor this week with [...]

It is probably somewhat inappropriate to describe post-election analysis as “afterbirth,” but oh well… – Don Kuehne ran his campaign as an incumbent, and in almost every single way, he was. Kuehne was hand-picked by Charleen Raines as her successor, and he received the endorsement of the entire City Council. That being said, Kuehne had [...]

All the votes have been counted… “In the Hercules race, Donald Kuehne beat John Delgado for the final seat by 26 votes. His lead narrowed by 23 votes since the previous update.” Ed Balico, Joanne Ward and Don Kuehne will join Kris Valstad and Joe Eddy McDonald on the Council for the next two years. [...]

From last night’s WCCUSD board meeting… “Please don’t close schools. That was one of many messages conveyed to the West Contra Costa school district board Wednesday night during an animated meeting on how the district should go about shuttering campuses to save money.“