Progressive Sebastopol Endorses Lynda Hopkins and Bernie Sanders

[wildflower]

What doesn’t make sense to me is why corporations like SYAR (cement manufacturers….that mine gravel from the Russian River), conventional wineries (that spray glyphosate/herbicides etc), the construction industry, the Farm Bureau (pro GMO) and other pro business orgs would donate to a candidate who says she is an organic farmer and professes to have a “proven commitment to protecting our environment and caring for our land”.

Businesses such as the above consider their contributions to be investments, not donations that they give just to be nice, right?

Will these industries hope to “get” something for their investment?

If so, what do they hope to gain?

This doesn’t seem to fit with the overall “green” message of this campaign.

Are these profit based "interests" (along with Koenigshofer, Upchurch and the rest of Efren's "handlers") the ones you want to be making the important decisions about what happens to and in Sonoma County?

[wildflower]

SERIOUSLY?
You have shown that you do not have the interests of county workers in mind, nor the ever growing inequities of living in Sonoma County.
And I believe that your conclusion is naive.
How will Lynda stand up to these strong business interests and all of her advisors, not to mention her constituents in the face of controversial decisions?
You are naive about politics and serving on a board . You have obviously never experienced it.
Ask Efren what that is like!

In answer to Marty's question, this excerpt from the Progressive Sebastopol Voter Guide June 2016

We share a concern about Hopkins’ donors from the construction and wine industries. Hopkins replied convincingly to this concern with clear, carefully considered independent positions that seem unaffected by who her donors are....

[jbox]

SERIOUSLY?
You have shown that you do not have the interests of county workers in mind, nor the ever growing inequities of living in Sonoma County....

What "Peacetown" is concerned about is the diminishment of essential public services due to the escalating unfunded public employee pension obligation which is taking up a larger percentage of the budget with each succeeding year. It's not just about the interests of county workers, right? Roads, libraries, and other services that were a bedrock part of the social contract are now subject to sales or property tax increases, and that just ain't right.

As for the money behind Lynda's campaign she has not given an indication she is obligated to the donors, in fact she is not. Noreen had the same situation when she was in Sacramento. Any assumption she is bought and paid for is presumptuous. That said Supervisors have to represent the best interests of the County and all the people which means compromise, some horse trading, and pissing some people off some of the time. Give her a chance before you get your dander up so much.

[scamperwillow]

I'm sorry, but I am not wiling to "give someone a chance" with the swing vote on our board for the next four years. Are you kidding?

Hopkins is heavily backed by real estate, development and gravel mining money - and big wine and Farm Bureau who are opposed to banning GMO’s. She may not have started out to seek this support, but she is clearly the chosen one of the interests that want to develop our county, our coast, our community separators and mine the River. She claims she can be independent from these forces, but as a young farmer with two small children and no political experience and apparent aversion to conflict, do we really think she can stand up to the pressures that will come to bear from these forces when she is the swing vote on a project they want? Especially when her family is very involved in the wine industry in the Fourth District.

Noreen Evans has fought for many years for the causes that are important to our district - preserving the coast, saving our parks, writing a homeowners bill of rights to protect families facing foreclosure and standing up for working people. She knows how to stand up to these forces as she has done for years. She has a proven track record and is not an unknown.

By the way, that vote that Noreen took on the city council many years ago to increase pensions...Did you know that it was a unanimous vote of the council which included Janet Condron, Sharon Wright and Mike Martini - all of which now support Hopkins...hmmmmmm.

As for the money behind Lynda's campaign .... Give her a chance before you get your dander up so much.

[Peacetown Jonathan]

I want to thank the last dozen posters or so, both that agree with our endorsement of Lynda Hopkins, and those that do not, for returning the focus of this forum thread to its intention: which candidate to vote for as our next County Supervisor. From the beginning, this has been a challenging recommendation, though it was unanimous for every one of the nine members in our group.

The issue of trust is a big one, alongside who is more likely to implement innovative solutions that are different than the ones we have used for the past decade, especially for the devastating attainably priced housing crisis we now have in our community.

I invite folks to judge for yourselves as we did, by watching some of the the Candidates Video Debate two minute videos here. When either viewed remotely or through in person interviews, these convinced our group to endorse Lynda Hopkins.

I also want to do a shout out to Supervisor candidate Tom Lynch, who has made some astute comments on this and other forums during these past few days (his campaign website is here). Whether or not he wins, Tom's voice is an informed and important one in the ongoing effort that our County Government and our grassroots activists will be making to effectively address our heart-breaking housing crisis. I am sorry that Progressive Sebastopol and the Sonoma Independent missed making videos of him answering key questions. But I look forward to the insights and contributions he will be making to our collective herculean effort to create thousands of new attainably priced housing units in Sonoma County.

[riverosprey]

Are you kidding me? Noreen Evans moves here from Santa Rosa with over $80,000 of special interest money from the same boomers she represented at the city council and state legislature. Sorry---Fifth District voters are not stupid---we need new ideas, not the same old s*** different day. Truth hurts, but Noreen is absolutely unsuitable for the huge challenges ahead.

If Lynda Hopkins and I are in the top two June 7, Noreen will move back to East Santa Rosa, where she belongs. If it's Lynda and Noreen (don't be so sure, my poll numbers are rising :), then there will be a conversation, but one of the main reasons I entered this race was to educate the voters that Noreen is the last of a generation, who created these problems. You say Noreen was not alone, but ask just about anyone who voted for the unfunded pension benefit, they will tell you they regret it, acknowledge it as a problem, and want to try to fix it; Noreen doesn't recognize the problem, doesn't accept her responsibility in it, nor her complicit actions trying to make it worse, and doesn't have a clue how to solve it.

I'm sorry old friend Marty, but I am not going to give Noreen Evans "another chance", to continue to be a "hack" for the first wave of retiring Baby Boomers, who she represented for twenty years, with failed policies that jeopardize the pensions of ALL union workers and have undermined ALL the programs local and state government once provided for generations and can no longer.

Noreen Evans has fought for many years for the causes that are important to our district - ...

[riverosprey]

Thank you Jonathan for your kind words :). I decided to take our campaign for "junior second dwelling units" on the road today. I sent out a robocall (shhhh...shhhh), to 89000 "unique landlines", throughout ALL Sonoma County, with the following message:

"My name is Tom Lynch, and I’m running for Fifth District Supervisor. We have an affordable housing crisis in Sonoma County, BECAUSE OF SONOMA COUNTY! We need to allow homeowners the ability to create second dwelling units, without $30-50,000 in fees for permits. I support what Marin County is pioneering, “junior second dwelling units”, with zero impact fees, no utility hook-up charges and no “affordability covenants”. We need to work together toward a sustainable future. This message is paid for by Tom Lynch for Supervisor."

I apologize to anyone disturbed unduly by the robocall. But I share with many the belief we have to do much more, than what we're doing, to help people with an affordable roof over their head. Ernie Carpenter has never supported second dwelling units, and to listen to Noreen parrot Ernie in the debates, espousing the lame solution of "jurisdictional zoning", requiring her much maligned "developers" to provide affordable housing in new subdivisions, which is already the case. But you are not going to provide more affordable rentals in our rural areas, with this solution, because there are no plans for new subdivisions (hello!).

Looking forward to meeting you Jonathan!

...I also want to do a shout out to Supervisor candidate Tom Lynch, who has made some astute comments on this and other forums during these past few days (his campaign website is here). ...

[wildflower]

Are you kidding me?...

Tom...let's face it. You're a one issue guy, endorsed by the Republican party who when asked at the candidates'forum what your position on GMOs was, drew a total blank! I got the impression that you didn't know what a GMO is!

The Lynda Hopkins campaign is nothing more than a front for those in power who want to stay in power and actually want to accrue more power. Hopkins wouldn't state a position on GMOs either.

[gratonite]

Vote for local representation, not the candidate who just moved here and has taken the bulk of her funding from gravel mining, waste management and big business. There is a reason the 4th district is trying to put their local candidate in office: to try silence the voice of the 5th district that will prevent expanded gravel mining.

Hopkins own inherited farm and those of her supporters businesses are in the 4th district.

Drive through the town of Forestville; they support Tim Sergent because he is an actual long time resident, not a carpetbagger with lots of corporate funding who moved here to take over and do the bidding of her $138,000.00 worth of out of district endorsers.

Please think it over and vote for an actual local who has live and worked here for 20 years, and has taken none of that big gravel mining, environment decimating 4th district money.

Vote for Tim Sergent.


(Also, I really dislike the original poster's attempt to align anyone with Sanders or any presidential candidate. Sanders doesn't endorse anyone in the 5th district, especially not that recent transplant who has no credentials or work experience--enough about Stanford--lots of people went to college. Unlike Hopkins, most had to pay for it themselves. Hopkins hasn't had to pound the pavement or work for a career or take an entry level job in her life. How can she look people in the face and pretend to understand the working people of the 5th district? Run in the 4th district Lynda...that's where you money came from.)

[Dorothy Friberg]

Although I am sympathetic to the heart of this matter I think it is not a true solution. There is already a surfeit of second dwellings, tiny houses, cabins, and other so called illegal structures in our district. I myself dwell in one because I cannot afford the fees to break ground the "county way". Hopefully a majority of the supervisors will find a way to do this without too much pain (it needs to be addressed soon) to homeowners and newbies alike. Also how do you propose to provide water and services to these "new dwellings"? As was previously mentioned on WACCO, "nothing is free". Please also address existing marijuana plantations and their impact to services such as water and law enforcement. .

T... We need to allow homeowners the ability to create second dwelling units, without $30-50,000 in fees for permits. ...

[wildflower]

Wow! Another day another glossy $20-40,000 mailer from the Hopkins campaign!
But don't be fooled by this seductive assault on your mailbox!
This isn't a "fresh face" by any means, even though we would love to believe that. I have every reason to believe that this campaign is a front for the same tired, old faces you've been seeing for years. These are the same old faces of politicians, lobbyists, attorneys and resource extraction industries that would love to stay in power and milk the remaining resources from this old "cash cow " we call home, Sonoma County.These are basically the same people and business interests that brought you Efren Carrillo.I'm not saying he was all bad, but....No fresh faces here!
After all, we still have a few remaining forests to destroy for more grapes, a beautiful river and tributaries to mine for gravel/cement and water and an epic, stunning coastal area that would be great for estate homes, rentals and even more wineries. Right?
As far as I can tell, Sonoma County never met a vineyard permit it didn't like.
And you want to talk to me about potholes?!?
Get real.
Vote for Noreen Evans, someone who will actually work to protect the rights of people and our beautiful, essential environment. Someone with experience and plenty of it, not just a bunch of college degrees and a boatload of corporate donors.(sorry Lynda)

[Richard Nichols]

I agree with you Wildflower. My fear is that to many progressives and liberals are going to fall for the con.
And the fake progressives, liberals and democrats, as well as a bunch of wealthy republicans and DINOs are basically funding Hopkins and running her campaign.
The "fresh face" position sounds so refreshing! Whereas the old saw about "career politicians" makes it sound like Noreen has some nefarious reason to run. But the reason she is running is because she is a true public servent, with a record to prove it. Why would we want a totally inexperienced person to become supervisor?
Run for school board, Lynda, to get some experience.

Anyway, I will be totally done with west co politics if people who should know better vote for Hopkins and she wins. I will consider the idea that we are some kind of an enlightened enclave as utterly and completely bogus.

This sounds cynical for good reason, just look at what goes in the world.

Wow! Another day another glossy $20-40,000 mailer from the Hopkins campaign!...

[podfish]

... liberals are going to fall for the con.
And the fake progressives, liberals and democrats, as well as a bunch of wealthy republicans and DINOs
....
Anyway, I will be totally done with west co politics if people who should know better vote for Hopkins and she wins. I will consider the idea that we are some kind of an enlightened enclave as utterly and completely bogus.

This sounds cynical for good reason, just look at what goes in the world.

off topic events made me pretty cranky right now, and then this crosses my email. I'm so sick of this demonization without any sense of self-irony while doing it. Yeah, the road to hell's paved with good intentions; the REAL progressives, liberals, non-republicans, and DWAR (demos who are real) are the source of a ton of them. Do you really believe that political battles revolve around good&evil like that??? Of course the events in this small corner of the world matter. But the endless vilification and attribution of nefarious motives is ridiculous. And even the implication that we really might be "some kind of enlightened enclave" is kind of pathetic self-aggrandizement. I don't mean just to jump on one poster, we all indulge in such hyperbole at times, but right now a rant seemed overdue.

[Peacetown Jonathan]

Sebastopol political power broker Richard Nichols, a coordinator of the inappropriately named Sebastopol Tomorrow just wrote:

"I will be totally done with west co politics if people who should know better vote for Hopkins and she wins"

I know that a lot of people are on the fence about the Hopkins/Evans race, and, as I wrote, it certainly was a challenging decision for our group to make to endorse Hopkins, as we did.

But Richard's promise provides the best reason yet to vote for someone who can move us from the failed policies, crony politics, and "No We Can't" approach to what our County government is capable of, policies that have brought us to where we are today.

No attainably priced housing for rent or sale. Insufficient funds to repair roads. County prison and probation costs soar by $28 million in four years while Libraries remain closed Mondays going into their sixth year for lack of just $1 million (hours down to 40 per week from 70 hours in 1981).

Locally, no bike trails for Sebastopol. Not even a painted line. Not a single purchase of electric vehicles for the City fleet.

Yes, we did get the hospital reopened, because of Dan Smith and Joan Marler, and because we, the people, failed to listen to our self-appointed power brokers of negativity. We failed to listen to the deceptive campaign by Sebastopol Tomorrow and its "experienced" political allies to vote for Jim Horn (endorsed by Richard endorsed. ) Instead we voted for the the Doc and Cop, and have an emergency room again.

I am hopeful that Lynda Hopkins will be our next Supervisor, and that we will have a County Government willing to tackle the cutbacks in public services and the absence of green solutions and alternatives that are needed for our common good.

And then, Richard, your well-deserved retirement will await you.

I agree with you Wildflower. My fear is that to many progressives and liberals are going to fall for the con. ...

[Richard Nichols]

I made no mention of good and evil. I just look at the players. The motives of Hopkins backers are not nefarious. Its right out there, 5th district spot is the swing vote. It has been mentioned in main street press. Vilification, not really, I did not write in an "abusively disparaging manner." (the definition of the word). And for that matter, your response is full of hyperbole, so take your own advice please.

I'm not going to stretch this thread out, we have both had our say.

...But the endless vilification and attribution of nefarious motives is ridiculous. . ...

[podfish]

... for that matter, your response is full of hyperbole, so take your own advice please.

hey, I'm just letting my id out for a stroll. Since I'm not trying to persuade anyone about anything, my advice doesn't apply to me. You (the royal you, the advocates) would better serve your causes if you come across as far more reasonable than me.

[Richard Nichols]

You gave me a good laugh as you usually do, and I'm already retired. Power broker indeed. I think you fancy yourself just that, and that also is good for a laugh.

Sebastopol political power broker Richard Nichols...

[riverosprey]

Sing it to me Jonathan!

So if you are a progressive Democrat in favor of fiscally sound policies that restore cuts to homeless services, social programs, roads, schools, environmental restoration and intergenerational equity, and want fairness and sustainable pensions.

The Boomers who control the unions, and benefit the most from throwing the next generations under the bus with twenty years of FAILED GOVERNMENT, call you (ME) a Republican. They say I'm a one issue candidate, and oppose affordable housing in a passive aggressive way, because it's going to create growth (in our rural communities that are dying).

I am a progressive Democrat fighting for a restoration of all the services Sonoma County once provided, that Noreen Evans and Lisa Maldonado have undermined, with policies that favor the boomers and compromise the hopes and dreams of the next generations. Lisa is a demagogue...my favorite quote of H.L. Mencken, saying a demagogue, "...is someone who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue, to men he knows to be idiots."

Thank you for your good works Jonathan and Progressive Sebastopol!

Sebastopol political power broker Richard Nichols, ...

[Peacetown Jonathan]

Tom, thanks for the kind words...I look forward to meeting before too long and discussing solutions for attainable cost housing.

Meanwhile, I read your informative data on the top pension earners from the County. I am wondering which unions they belonged to? I am not sure whether I saw SEIU positions in those high ranks; were they there? Lisa frequently says that the big pensions go to unions other than the SEIU workers: law enforcement, probation high level managers; whose ranks she says are continually expanding. I asked her what portion of the county budget was SEIU and which union represented the management contracts but she did not answer. What do you think?

[scamperwillow]

Lisa is the expert, but management is generally not in a union at all. And the really big union pensions go to police and fire.

...Lisa frequently says that the big pensions go to unions other than the SEIU workers: law enforcement, probation high level managers; ...

[riverosprey]

Hi Marty,

I agree, it's the classic a rising tide lifts all boats, including management and safety...and their retirements are off the charts.

Our public servants are as much a victim of these unfunded pensions, as the public with loss of services and the next generations that have to pay for them. The problem is for the last twenty years our political leaders paid a benefit without funding it, and now Sonoma County retirement obligations are short $1 Billion and rising.

I would have voted for these benefits as well, just as you say Noreen did. But the problem now is Noreen does not acknowledge the problem nor has she any inkling or plan to change it; kind of like we're all frogs in the pan of boiling water.

I wish Noreen a long and healthy retirement, but I do not want her to be our next Fifth District Supervisor. Let the voters decide. Their may be some surprises Tuesday, I know a lot of people have taken a second look at the field :0).

kind regards, Tom Lynch www.tomlynchforsupervisor

Lisa is the expert, but management is generally not in a union at all. And the really big union pensions go to police and fire.

[wildflower]

I'm sorry, Tom, but I find your tirades so annoying.
(Is it ok to say that?)
It's just like just someone pushes a button on the tape player and on that old tape goes again ...and again...and again.....and....
I just think that someone as intelligent as you might expand your knowledge/interest base into some new areas.Best
wildflower

Hi Marty,...

[Barry]

...It's just like just someone pushes a button on the tape player and on that old tape goes again ...and again...and again.....and....

There have been redundant arguments and information regarding the candidates for supervisor on all fronts.

Please only post new info or a novel opinion.

Thanks!

[beshiva]

if you want redundancy, wait till, IF, Lynda Hopkins gets in!

There have been redundant arguments and information regarding the candidates for supervisor on all fronts.

Please only post new info or a novel opinion.

Thanks!