Fifth District Candidate Tom Lynch “Confronts the Real Issues”

In a recent Press Democrat editorial piece former Press Democrat editorial editor Pete Golis wrote an oped piece titled “Will county candidates confront the real issues?” Mr. Golis invited the different Supervisorial candidates to share their ideas about the future of Sonoma County...below is part of the heart and soul of our campaign.

In response to last Sunday’s column by Pete Golis titled, “Will county candidates confront the real issues?” Yes! For almost a year we have been advocating a reallocation of our resources toward the greatest needs in Sonoma County. We look forward to the Press Democrat covering the detailed positions of all the Fifth District candidates for Supervisor. The following is the heart and soul of our campaign.

A long difficult recession lies ahead with declining revenues and increasing expenditures. Our local governments have taken a windfall of increased property and sales taxes and given it to themselves with increased salaries and benefits with little increase in programs and services, nor additional funds expended on roads and infrastructure. For each of the last four years Sonoma County has reduced our essential services over each of the previous years.

A recent Sonoma County Housing report notes that since 2000 the median household income in the County has declined by 2%, while the County Strategic Plan notes that salaries and benefits for County staff have increased by 65%. Recent data received from County Administration shows that of the 4000 full time workers at the County, the top 1000 salary plus benefit average, is $165,378 per year! It doesn’t get any more real than that does it? This trend continues.

At the County we need to avoid the problems administrators of the City of Santa Rosa have recently created. In March the City entered into a contract giving workers a 13% raise over the next three years. If one were to add “step raises”, increased retirement set aside and increased health care costs…there are many workers who will receive over 20% more in salaries and benefits during this period. Two weeks later City administrators expressed concern at declining revenue and said there may be massive lay-offs and furloughs without “revenue adjustments”.

Our current Board of Supervisors are in the midst of very difficult negotiations trying to reform unfunded promises made by previous Boards. They are also dealing with large unexpected increases in retirement set asides and health care costs. The County is negotiating in good faith one year contracts with labor because we don’t know what the future portends. Promised benefits that County workers have depended upon and planned their retirement around for years may change; the alternative is layoffs and an eventual collapse of the whole system. I do not envy them their task.

There are deep fiscal problems ahead and we must try to avoid the bankruptcy fate of Vallejo. Unfunded obligations made by government can be thrown out by a bankruptcy judge; and in order to avoid a societal meltdown don’t think the Federal Government wouldn’t pass emergency laws to allow government to renegotiate unfunded pension and benefit promises just like United Airlines and General Motors have done. We all need to work together using our heads and our hearts to solve problems; divided we fail.

I have met and spoken with many County workers as well as the Deputy Sheriffs Association, Service Employee International Union (SEIU), and the North Bay Labor Council. All have asked what should we do to remedy the Counties budget problems. I have said to all, we are in a recession and in order to avoid the layoff of hundreds of County workers and further cuts in essential services we need a temporary freeze on salaries and benefits. We cannot expect the County to solve all of our problems; we need to enlist the support and involvement of everyone in our community to be part of the solution…we need to leverage our tax dollars to greatest effect by restoring cuts to our struggling non-profit and volunteer organizations.

More resource needs to be applied to prevention not reaction; more gains from contributors, less the liability of our failures. We have criminalized poverty, and ignorance and mental illness. With 5% of the World’s population we now have 25% of the global prison population in the United States. In a recent interview retiring Supervisor Mike Reilly noted that in the last few years our criminal justice costs have gone from 40% of the general fund to 60%. We cannot arrest ourselves out of our problems. It is not right to burden law enforcement with the care of our mentally ill…we must restore cuts to Human Services and Mental Health programs.

The measure of all our challenges with respect to the environment, the economy and government services is sustainability. We are in the midst of the largest transference of wealth from younger generations to older generations in the history of the world. We have to have courage and vision to face these issues together and solve them. “Together Toward A Sustainable Future” is our slogan. Join us!

Position to the Stop the 101 Casino Coalition

The following statement regarding my opposition to the 101 Casino is on the website:
http://www.stopthecasino101.com/id122.html This is where other candidates are allowed to present a position (none from the 5th thus far in this forum).

At a recent Democratic Club debate a couple of my fellow candidates expressed opposition to the Rohnert Park casino and stated they were going to “negotiate the best deal” they could get from Station Casinos in order to offset the social and economic cost to our community in Sonoma County. How does one “negotiate the best deal” walking into a room having already accepted the inevitability of this casino? I stated that I am a community activist and as the next Fifth District Supervisor I would fight the casino and I even encouraged those opposed to think of clever ways to defeat the casino with “civil disobedience”
(http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20080401/NEWS/478055661/1305/ELECTION&template=kart) . I have also signed a pledge that I will not knowingly accept any contributions nor hosted fundraisers from supporters of the casino.

The labor unions understandably support the casino; they feel it would support union members with good paying jobs building and operating the casino. I stood in front of the North Bay Labor Council and when asked how I felt about the casinos I said, “…I am opposed to the Casino!” I do not think the unions nor some local political leaders in search of jobs and dollars, realize the social, environmental and economic costs to our community with this project. There are consequences with the aquifer, wastewater, gridlock, public safety, and further erosion of the social fabric in our community. Large amounts of money will be taken out of the County, disproportionately from poor families, minorities and the elderly -- looking for a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that would free them from their economic suffering.

We need economic justice for Native Americans, but this is not the vehicle to choose. Additional harm on the backs of other’s sufferings, along with unacceptable burdens thrust upon our communities. Our cities and County are looking for money anywhere they can find it regardless of the eventual problems that will occur. Making deals with casinos is a Faustian bargain that will not be a panacea for our budget problems but will open a Pandora ’s Box of unexpected travail. There are other solutions to our lack of funding if we have the courage and vision to utilize them.

Since 2000 the median household income in Sonoma County has declined by 2% while salaries and benefits for County staff has increased by 64%. Of the 4000 County workers the top 1000 average compensation is over $160,000 per year. For four years now the County has cut programs and services from that of the previous year. In front of most of the Unions representing Sheriff’s deputies, SEIU Service Employees Int’l Union, and North Bay Labor Council I have been asked what can we do to stop the demise of our Human Services, Mental Health programs and lack of funds for roads and infrastructure.

I have said in a conciliatory tone that we are in a recession with declining income and increasing costs. Their ranks are being thinned through attrition of retirement without rehiring. In order to avoid additional layoffs of less senior workers and corresponding cuts in programs and services; we need a temporary freeze on salaries and benefits. Also the community cannot rely upon our County workers to solve all our problems; we all have to step up to the plate ourselves and work toward a better future for everyone…we need to leverage our resources better by restoring funding cuts to our non-profits and volunteer organizations. Also we need to focus more on prevention; less on reaction…try to get more the gain from contributors, less the liability of our failures.

The unions were gracious host to me and they understand that I want to represent them along with the interests of everyone in Sonoma County. We need courage and vision with difficult times ahead. We need leaders who are up front and honest. Why do we elect our political leaders if not to solve problems?

Thank you to Stop the Casino 101 Coalition for giving all of the Supervisorial Candidates an opportunity to provide their detailed and well thought out positions on the Rohnert Park casino. Please go to our website (www.TomLynch4Supervisor.com) to learn more about our ideas of working “Together Toward A Sustainable Future”. Join US!!!

tlynch@tomlynch4supervisor.com
707-827-3415

Tom "Manure Man" Lynch for Supervisor

The Registrar of Voters allowed us to use my nickname on the June ballot. In January of 1986, in protest of Santa Rosa’s illegal discharges of wastewater in the Russian River, I drove a tractor and a broadcast manure spreader through downtown Santa Rosa and covered four city blocks with cow manure. Since then I have been honored with the nickname “Manure Man”. The Registrar staff laughed and said this is going to be an interesting election.

Our campaign flyer says, "We must freeze County salaries and benefits and restore funds to our nonprofit and volunteer organizations. To avoid the loss of hundreds of County jobs from Human Services, Public Safety, and Mental Health along with more cuts in essential services, we must reallocate our resources to serve the greatest needs in Sonoma County." This is the heart and soul of our campaign.

We continue …Since 2000 the “median household income” in Sonoma County has declined by 2%. Salaries and benefits for County workers has increased by 63.5%...Of 4000 County staff the average compensation for the top 1000 is over $160,000 a year!

A long difficult recession lies ahead with declining revenues and increasing costs. The County has taken a windfall of increased property taxes and given it to themselves, with no increase in services nor additional tax dollars spent on roads and infrastructure. For each of the last four years the County has reduced programs and services. Especially hard hit have been our Human Services and Mental Health programs including closure of Oakcrest (Norton), the Fulton Road facility and now cutbacks to the alcohol and drug treatment programs at the Orenda Center.

The last two weeks have been very interesting with union meetings for many candidates. I have met with a committee of the Deputy Sheriff’s Association (DSA 500+), spoke to an auditorium full of Service Employee International Union members (SEIU 3000+), and answered questions from representatives of most of the labor unions in Northern California at a forum hosted by the North Bay Labor Council. I will be forever grateful to all the unions for their gracious hospitality. As Supervisor my door would always be open as I represent the unions interests balanced with the interests of all my constituents.

I shared with unions the same message I’ve been saying to the rank and file members of all our public employee unions for months now. I’ve talked with members of Sonoma’s finest…Sheriff’s deputies walking the streets of Guerneville, I’ve met Permit and Resource Management Department staff tasked with protecting our land and resources, Human Service and Mental Health professionals. I am offering honest and realistic solutions to our problems.

What I have said at debates and to individuals alike when asked how do we address our budget problems. We need a temporary freeze on salaries and benefits in order to avoid further cuts in essential services and lay-offs of County workers. Going into a recession we need more County workers helping people, not less. Also we can’t expect our County workers to provide all our essential services by themselves, we all have to step up to the plate and participate in improving our communities…one way is by leveraging our tax dollars to greatest effect by restoring the cuts to our struggling non-profit and volunteer organizations. Further, we all need to work toward more prevention and less reaction, more the gains from our contributors, less the liability of our failures.

I grew up in Iowa as an “economically disadvantaged” child. Our public servants helped my family, and three out of four “at risk” children became contributors, one became a liability and the Orenda Center helped him on his road to recovery. As Supervisor I look forward to working with our County staff, non-profits and volunteers. “Together Toward A Sustainable Future.”

One more column before the June 3 election (thank you Vesta!). To those who support what we have to say, go to our website http://www.tomlynch4supervisor.com/ and join us. Spread the word to all that you support our pragmatic progressive agenda. Thank you for your support!

Thank You SEIU and the Deputy Sheriff's Association!!

Tonight was a very difficult one for me. I felt more stress than when I covered four city blocks of downtown Santa Rosa with cow manure from a broadcast manure spreader 22 years ago. I was invited to address within an hour of each other the Sonoma County Deputy Sheriff's Association and the Service Employee International Union.

Both unions represent a total of 3600 +/- County workers and my mission was to meet them both and try to get their support for my supervisorial campaign. The deputy sheriff's association was a small cordial election committee with good questions...SEIU was a raucus caucus with over 150 members, again with lots of good questions. Why did I feel so stressed? Part of my solution to the budget problems of Sonoma County is calling for an across the board freeze on salaries and benefits in order to protect the jobs of less senior County workers.

I have spent countless hours trying to fathom the County budget and craft a realistic solution to save jobs, programs and services. I believe as a candidate for public office it is incumbent upon me to offer honest solutions. To me the inescapable conclusion going into a recession with declining revenues and increased costs is three fold...

1). We need to freeze salaries and benefits to avoid more cuts in social services and mental health programs.
2). We need to reorient our resources to more proactive and preventive measures rather than reactive solutions.
3). We need to restore cuts to non-profits and volunteer organisations to work with us toward solving problems.

Thank You SEIU and the Deputy Sheriff's Association for being such gracious hosts and letting me explain my positions. There are tough days ahead and I sincerely believe we need to build up our reserves and hold the line to avoid more lay-offs. We desperately need more of the essential services our public servants provide.

You welcomed me and made me feel at home...I like the term "Bedouin hospitality" whereby if one invites someone into their tent they are to be treated as family so as to not dishonor their house. Both groups excelled with warm collegial hospitality and I will be forever grateful to them for that.

There are hard times ahead. We all need the courage to discuss the issues openly and honestly without fear nor recriminations. Tonight was a break through for me where many dark imaginings I've had of proposing realistic solutions proved to be unwarranted. Thank you again to our County workers for allowing me an opportunity to share my thoughts on creating a sustainable future.

L.
Tom Lynch

Time for Open and Honest Debate on the Issues

A letter in last month's Gazette expressed concern with my call for a "freeze" on County salaries and benefits. An honorable, hard working member of our community doing great work at the County, one of our public servants, said that he was "amazed that the County's money problems are based on the salaries and benefits of County employees. As a County employee I haven’t seen any 10% raises in salaries and benefits." County workers are not the problem. I do not want to reduce but, I do want to reform.

I stated, in the column in question, that while the median household income in Sonoma County has declined by 2% since 2000, there has been an increase of 70% in salaries and benefits for County employees (this from the County Administration themselves). Presently, the average base salary/benefit of County staff is $112,000 per year for all 4,037 full time employees with perhaps 700 earning over $150,000 per year. I met with a department head for four hours yesterday (Mar 5) and she confirmed that and showed how this data is determined. I will post additional information on our website. Of course, I do not fault our public servants for their good work but, going into a recession we need fiscal responsibility.

I want to represent ALL who live in the Fifth District. I have been working with our County employees for 28 years and I feel we are blessed with a very capable, courteous, educated and hard working group that bust their butts working for a rough bunch while making all of our lives better in the process. But, I also believe, in the light of present economic realities with increasing costs and declining revenues, we need to reassess and reallocate our resources. The chickens are coming home to roost and we must not be afraid to debate the issues in an honest and forthright manner.

We are poised to start cannibalizing our less senior workers at the County. There aren't enough increasing property taxes, or cuts in mental health services, or reductions in monies to non-profits to continue increasing the salaries for managers and union alike. The next step to fund continuing increases in salaries and benefits for more senior hires is to lay off younger workers; those whom we will soon need to replace retiring workers. It's kind of like eating your seed corn. Sure the old paradigm holds true; "last one hired, first one fired" but, not while everyone else is getting a raise. To me, laid off workers are a cut in a program or service. I will not support continuing increases in salaries and benefits through the loss of less senior employees.

Sun Tzu wrote 2500 years ago in his treatise The Art Of War, "The acme of all skill is to avoid the battle and win an ally". I want to be a conciliator. I want to find that third way between those opposed and those in favor. For almost thirty years I have been part of leading the way in West County toward a sustainable environment with a viable economy and effective government services. I am not a Lite beer commercial catering to the "lowest common denominator" consumer lest I offend someone. I will tell you what I think and embrace others seeking realistic solutions. Political leaders need to present themselves clearly to the voters. Why do we elect our political leaders if not to solve problems? To solve problems we need to begin an open and honest dialogue without fear or recriminations.

Please join us! Don't let special interests from outside the district or those with "deep pockets" buy this election. Get involved! Study the positions on the issues being presented by the candidates and ask them for specifics. Don't accept bland generalities. Check out our website at: www.TomLynch4Supervisor.com. Support progressive social change.

(p.s. to John Hubiak and anyone: I would be honored to meet you and earn your support. Please call me at 827-3415)

"Let he who is without sin cast the first stone..."

The following was submitted in February to the Press Democrat and for review by a local reporter. Paul Gullixon at the Press Democrat called and we had a nice conversation. He said that they would not put this in as an oped piece as then all other candidates (8) would ask for equal time. A letter to the editor would work with 200-225 words. I was going to send a letter and then got distracted with other more important things...Life! ;0)

Seeing the consequences and repercussions a fellow candidate for Fifth District Supervisor has endured recently regarding unpaid taxes, I too must admit to similar challenges in my past; albeit ten years ago but who’s counting? Anyone who has spent several decades working, living and raising a family in West Sonoma County understands the unique economic challenges that sometimes occur. This applies to current supervisorial candidates and is understood by the voters of the 5th District. Better I share some of my life experiences now in order to attempt to keep the campaign focused on the real issues we face; creating a sustainable future for Sonoma County.

In June of 1996 I opened the first internet café in Sonoma County, the Intern@tional Café in Forestville. In retrospect this was a bad idea that I was totally responsible for. I lost a lot of money and had to ask subcontractors, suppliers, and friends for patience in paying them back. It took me several years to finally work my way out of a very difficult situation while spending countless hours worried about how to avoid bankruptcy and honor my debt to all my local friends and creditors, many of whom I’d known for almost twenty years.

If one were to review my public record at the County from this period of time one could say it looked like Sherman going through Georgia in the Civil War. I had to do bill paying triage and learned much through surviving this ordeal. I have been current on all taxes for years and am willing to show reporters my tax returns, any loan documents they request and my clear unblemished credit report.

In addition to the above I was arrested once for past acts of civil disobedience. In protest to the city of Santa Rosa’s continuing illegal discharges of wastewater in the Russian River, in January of 1986 I covered four city blocks of downtown Santa Rosa with cow manure delivered from a broadcast manure spreader (thus being given the nickname “Manure Man”). I later went back before Christmas in 1986 chained to the seat of a dump truck, dressed up as Santa Claus and dumped 10,000 pounds of coal in a large stocking on the steps of Santa Rosa city hall for which I was arrested for “illegal dumping.” Those days are behind us as Santa Rosa can now proudly claim to have one of the most innovative wastewater systems in the world.

At 50 years old with almost thirty years of local community service and involvement, I have a deep knowledge of how things work and don’t work in Sonoma County, and a broad array of life experiences that will serve the Fifth District as a newly elected Supervisor. I am an environmentalist, a business man, a participant in good works, while serving on numerous boards and committees. I will endeavor to campaign on the issues and ideas of the challenges ahead. Thank you all for your understanding and consideration.

(Tom Lynch is a Guerneville builder and community activist running for Fifth District Supervisor)

Time to Freeze County Salaries, Benefits, and Non-essential Hires (Cont...)

Here's the latest in the West County Gazzette Candidates Forum for Feb....thank you Vesta Copestakes:

The first debate for the 5th District Supervisorial seat was held at the Sebastopol Veterans Auditorium. Thank you for the fantastic job to Stephen Fuller-Rowell, Larry Hanson, Jane Stuppin, David Benefiel, and Maggie Briare with SOS Save Our Sonoma and Atascadero Green Valley Creek Assn.!! What strengthens me in our campaign for 5th district Supervisor is finally after 50 years on this planet and almost 30 years raising a ruckus in West County; I am seeing more clearly the task ahead. Disparate ideas, thoughts and issues are starting to connect and make sense. I said at the debate we are in the midst of what may be the largest transference of wealth from one generation to another in the history of mankind. It is too easy for one generation to burden another. The measure of all our challenges with respect to the environment, the economy and government services is sustainability. Since college when I majored in political science I have studied unfunded obligations and generational equity. When I ran for Congress in 1990 one of my positions was “entitlement programs should be based on need”. We have to reallocate our resources to address our most pressing needs and leverage our time, talent and treasure to greatest advantage. I see clearly that part of a local solution is we need to freeze County salaries, benefits, and non-essential hires. Money saved should be used to restore funds to our struggling non-profits, volunteer and faith based organizations, and improvements to roads and infrastructure. After months of efforts with Public Records Act requests, hundreds of hours of research and questions to staff, then to parse data from highest to lowest paid worker; finally last week we placed on our website all the “budgeted” salary and benefit totals for each of our 4037 public servants for 07-08 (names removed of course). An unprecedented occurrence that should be in the public record every year as part of an open and transparent government (www.TomLynch4Supervisor.com) . I love the internet; one 350kb file, the size of a small photo; with data that illustrates the reason we are so close to a fiscal disaster with our County government. I see in one of my fellow candidates monthly missives that he quotes data from our website; and proposes “an immediate 10-15% cutback” in salaries among some workers. Of course the problem with this is due to the fact that there are about 20 different “bargaining groups” of union and unrepresented employees, all with contracts, some which will not expire for several years. Unfortunately nothing is immediate when it comes to government. I will provide well thought out, intelligent and detailed positions; as your Supervisor I would work hard to reform the system with creative and innovative solutions like a spending freeze. I recently received from County administration 10,000 pages of detailed salary and benefit information from the 06-07 “actual payout”. I suspect with overtime, etc. instead of 112 staff with over 200K/year and 384 staff with over 150K/year the actual 06-07 payout will top 800 public servants earning over 150K/year in compensation!
Since the year 2000 the median household income in Sonoma County has declined by 2% while County salaries and benefits have increased by 70%. As arcane and boring these numbers are in the telling; there are real social consequences to these figures. I am writing more in depth on my website…check out my issues page, we also have a new Google video from the debate. Finally I just wanted to say in the ever expanding field of 5th District Supervisorial candidates I feel we are fortunate to have such a qualified group of dedicated individuals with a broad array of personal and professional skills and the courage to serve. I am honored to be in the political arena with such distinguished company. I sincerely respect each of my fellow candidates for their good deeds, and I look forward to us all working together toward a sustainable future in Sonoma County. Peace out...and again thank you Vesta for this wonderful “Forum for the Future.”

An Army Travels On It's Stomach...Napoleon Bonaparte

The catchy title above may lead one to believe I am going to refer to Weight Watchers and/or my diet mantra "eat less; move more"; and how I think this is a prescription for solving problems we have with our government services as well (www.sonic.net/tlynch/salary.htm). Nice how I fit that all into one sentence as I get ready to "put the bite on ya". I am setting you up for a plea for funds so be careful!!

The second-half (July 1st to December 31st) donations for the 5th District Supervisor race have been filed at the Sonoma County Registrar of voters. My fellow candidates have all met the filing deadline (Jan,31) and I have reviewed their list of contributors. Of course most of the money raised is from outside of the district or from wealthy candidates large loans to their own campaigns. If one were to count only money raised in the 5th district I think we would come in as the #2 recipient of campaign contributions.

Alas we are #3 out of 7 in contributions; but the bottom line is we are #4 with money in the bank. Unfortunately money is the mothers milk of politics and we need funds from our fairy godmothers out there to get the message out. I encourage you to donate through our website under the donate button with paypal or send checks made out to "Friends of Tom Lynch" , 601 Johnson Street, Sebastopol, Ca. 95472.

To our advantage I am perhaps a little better known than most of the candidates through my 28 years involvement in West County activism, theatre and politics (http://www.tomlynch4supervisor.com-a.googlepages.com/pastisprologue). We also have a strong message calling for a freeze on Sonoma County salaries, benefits and non-essential hires with money saved being reallocated to our struggling non-profits, volunteer and faith based groups, and outsourcing to private business where competitive. But we need to get out our message...

There is a Chinese proverb,"...a closed book is nothing more than a block of paper." If you look at the front page of our website there is a Google video of my final comments at the recent Sebastopol debate in which I said to a wonderful audience of 200, "...one supervisor is not going to solve our problems...we need to ALL work together to do this or we're in a lot of trouble." If YOU support reforms and reallocations toward a progressive agenda for change; we need YOU to join us with your time, talent and treasure. Thank you for your support.

peace and love,

Tom Lynch

http://www.tomlynch4supervisor.com/

Been a great week!

We had our first debate Saturday, Jan,26 a the Sebastopol Veterans Auditorium. Big thank you's to SOS Save Our Sonoma, the SCWC Sonoma County Water Coalition, and the Atascadero Green Valley Creek Association. I was a little nervous this being the first debate for Supervisor in the Fifth District in 12 years. You think about it the last Supervisor "elected" not "appointed" to office in Sonoma County was when Mike Reilly ran in 1996...now we have two open seats up for election including Tim Smith's seat from 1988. Interesting...

Lot's of great questions and answers with a standing room only crowd. We will be trying to put some videos up soon. Meanwhile check out the good job that Sonoma West did...including a front page photo at:

http://www.sonomawest.com/articles/2008/02/01/sonomawest/news/news1.txt

5th District forum draws overflow crowd
More candidates expected to enter race
by Frank Robertson - Sonoma West Staff Writer
ALL ALIGNED — Candidate Tom Lynch (standing) was joined by five other announced candidates for the 5th District Board of Supervisors seat now held by Mike Reilly who is retiring. Other candidates pictured from left is Rue Furch, Maddy Hirshfield, Dan Kahane, Jim Maresca and Guy Smith. The forum held last Saturday at Sebastopol’s Vets Memorial hall was organized by the Sonoma County Watershed Coalition and was moderated by Stephen Fuller-Rowell. The Primary Election is June 3 and run-off would be held in the November General Election if no candidate wins 51 percent of the June vote. - Photo by Rollie Atkinson
SEBASTOPOL - Nobody really won or lost the first debate in the 5th District Supervisors race last week.“I'd call it a draw,” said Jeannette Dillman, a Guerneville resident among the standing-room-only crowd of more than 200 who packed the Sebastopol Veterans Auditorium last Saturday.Rue Furch's formerly delinquent taxes, prominent in last week's news, came up briefly but didn't seem foremost on the minds of voters polled after the debate.
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Dillman said she's still a Furch supporter despite the flak Furch caught from critics who say her property tax issue set a bad example for a sitting Sonoma County Planning Commissioner and candidate for Supervisor.Despite that “I think she has a good working knowledge of the County,” said Dillman. “I think she'd do a good job.”“I deserve criticism,” said Furch, in her opening statement at Saturday's debate. “I've handled them,” she said of her back taxes. “I've fixed it.”
As expected at Saturday's forum all six attending candidates - Furch, Tom Lynch, Maddy Hirshfield, Dan Kahane, Jim Maresca and Guy Smith - spoke of their desire to preserve the West County's rural character and strengthen its tourism and agricultural base.“All of us have excellent environmental credentials,” said Jim Maresca, so the voters' challenge is to put the best person on “the team that runs the county for the next four years.”Graton resident Guy Smith said he cares passionately about the West County's natural environment and healthy ag industry and can bridge “the dichotomy” between the two camps.Dan Kahane, an environmentalist by profession and self-declared “un-politician,” said the environment is his top concern and that “all other issues fall under that umbrella.”Guerneville resident Tom Lynch reminded the audience of his early activist years fighting Santa Rosa wastewater discharges when he earned the nickname Manure Man for spreading fertilizer in front of Santa Rosa City Hall.Nowadays “My wife won't let me get arrested so I'm doing things more responsibly,” said Lynch, who's calling for a freeze on county spending.
Maddy Hirshfield emphasized her background in healthcare and the “established relationships” she has within government and the community as an aide to state Assemblywoman Patty Berg.Most of the questions last week dealt with watershed issues important to the forum's co-sponsors, Save Our Sonoma County and the Atascadero and Green Valley Creek Watershed Council.Environmentally “We are all pretty much all on the same page,” said Hirshfield after the forum. With the candidates views sounding remarkably similar, Hirshfield agreed that voters will be assessing traits such as character, personality and style.“People forget most of what they hear” when political candidates talk, said Hirshfield. “People will remember how you make them feel.”People will also be seeing some more candidates. With the first day (Feb. 11) still two weeks off to officially enter the race, the 5th District field has now grown to 10. Candidate Eddie Alvarez of the Roseland area did not attend Saturday's event owing to a death in the family. Two other marginal candidates, Narayan deVera, a world health activist, and Phil Graf a conservative gun advocate, have taken out petitions to circulate in lieu of paying filing fees.And now supporters say there's a viable tenth entrant, Efren Carrillo, who will announce his candidacy within the next few days.
Carrillo, who's active in the Roseland area and serves on the board of directors of the Southwest Community Health Center, was formerly a business and field representative for state Assemblyman Joe Nation.Carrillo works as education and government relations manager for Redwood Credit Union and is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley. He graduated from Roseland School and Santa Rosa High School.An 11th potential candidate, Karrie Singler of Forestville, also took out a petition in lieu of filing fee this week.

Need for consensus with Monte Rio sewer...

Last night there was a meeting of the minds regarding possible solutions to Monte Rio's septic/sewer problems at a home in Villa Grande. I said I felt one of the reasons the design for the Monte Rio sewer failed was a lack of continuing involvement of the original CAC (citizen's advisory committee) to continue to educate those opposed. The County also arrived after a solution was made and "waterboarded" the solution down everybodies throat including threats of condemning a portion of a long time River familie's property. Further our public servants at the PRMD (Permit and Resource Management) and the SCWA (Sonoma County Water Agency) made no secret their lack of concern and outright opposition to doing the job of even getting the project out to bid.

Sun Tzu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Tzu) wrote in "The Art of War" 2500 years ago,
"...the acme of all skill is to avoid the battle and win an ally." Today diplomats work toward a third way between those opposed and those in favor, parties in conflict with each other; a path that tries to resolve and build consensus. We need peace makers, conciliators, leaders experienced in resolving issues without the polarization experienced in Monte Rio with the sewer issue that divided the community.

At the Friday night meeting all parties agreed to work toward consensus with each other to find another solution. Let's hope we can keep moving with an affordable plan that retains grant monies and is not as divisive as the previous solution.

Time for County Spending Freeze?

Hi friends and supporters...

Below is an opinion piece I just submitted to Vesta Copestakes at the West Couny Gazette. More to follow.

L.

Tom

Time for County Spending Freeze?

Thank you Vesta for making space in the Gazette available for Fifth District Supervisorial candidates. Not wanting to impose too much on your hospitality I will keep opinion pieces brief with longer in depth coverage on our website (www.TomLynch4Supervisor.com).

To me the environment includes ecology, economy and government services accounted for in the County budget. I know how arcane and confusing the use of our tax dollars can be, but it is an important issue that needs to be addressed and I promise to keep it simple.

The slogan of our campaign is “Together Toward a Sustainable Future” The measure of all our challenges with respect to the environment, the economy and government services is sustainability. Are we conducting ourselves in such a way that we do not compromise the future for ourselves, our children and other beings we share this planet with?

Regarding our County's government services I have spent hundreds of hours the last six months perusing myriad public records including past and present budgets. I have filed a couple “public records act requests” with Sonoma County Human Resources; the various personnel in those offices have been very helpful and cooperative. County staff knows full well that as public servants the books are open to anyone to review to see what is going on. My last request I received 1542 pages including the total salary and benefits for every single one of our 4279 employees (average salary and benefit is over $100,000). I have met with many department heads and staffers enlightening me through a very difficult learning curve as they explain why our roads and mental health services are deteriorating as the County revenues increase.

Since the year 2000 , the “median household income” in Sonoma County has declined by 2% , while the salary and benefits of county employees have increased by 70%; on average 10% per year. The County has taken a windfall of increased property taxes and given it to themselves; but even these monies have not been enough since during each of the last four years, there have been cuts in programs and services from the level of the previous year. Reviewing proposed “memorandums of understanding” that the County staff are negotiating with some of the unions representing employees it appears that the 10% annual raises in salaries and benefits will continue for many. Consequently the resources to sustain this will come from more reductions in programs and services and higher fees and taxes.

I am a pro-labor progressive environmentalist who believes in fiscal responsibility. We have a moral obligation to take care of the poor, the victimized, to educate our children and try to keep at-risk youth out of the criminal justice system. We rely upon our government to provide all of us with social programs, public safety, to protect the environment, and maintain our infrastructure including roads, sewers and water systems. Creative and innovative reforms are needed in order to avoid the loss of hundreds of County jobs and huge cuts in our essential services.

We are moving into a recession where jobs are being lost, pay cuts are being made, and businesses are reducing hours to avoid layoffs. The boomers, all 76 million of us, are starting to retire in an unprecedented demographic event with no money set aside in Social Security and Medicare except a bunch of phony I.O.U.’s. The era of “peak everything” approaches.

Should we consider a freeze on County spending with monies saved going to non-profits, volunteer and faith based groups, and outsourcing to private businesses if they are competitive?

Is it time we consider a re-allocation of some of our tax money toward other means of solving problems and fixing things that might be less wasteful and more economical?

These are just a couple of questions that must be addressed with respect to challenges with the environment, the economy and government services if we are to work together toward a sustainable future. I look forward to being part of developing a new vision. The change will come from the bottom up not the top down.