By Emerson Drake
10/21/10
As fifty people listened to the candidates’ field the eight questions they were asked, some in the crowd were wondering if the fix was already in.
Prior to the start of the forum smart money was betting on Stephanie Burnside, the hand picked successor to Kristen Olsen, Marian Martino who spent time talking with Joy Madison from the Chamber of Commerce and several from the Alliance, and Jeremiah Williams who has been made promises by the Ridenour’s handlers for many years. The odd man out was Jeremiah Williams.
The man who bumped him was Brandon Mello another connected insider who praised the council and parroted the party line for fee and tax reductions while appreciating Joe Muratore’s Safety Committees handling of various issues (like McClatchy Square.)So apparently if you knew who to bow and scrape to prior to throwing your hat into the ring you could go further than most would have expected.
When it came to responding to questions that were asked with real answers many felt that Daniel ‘Dan’ Beynon gave most original, helpful, and well thought out answers.But since the citizens of District Five are being denied their due right to vote for Olsen’s replacement (after all if she had resigned back in July we could be voting at a very minimal cost) and the candidates would have been looking and responding to the voters instead of the committee members.
Unfortunately it was a well organized sham, and once again the citizens of Modesto were bamboozled by their elected leaders.
It was a very good example of why the Modesto City Charter change back in 2008 was a bad idea and even more pointedly why Measures ‘J’ and ‘K’ should be soundly defeated.
