Jared Huffman and CVS Supporters

I got an invitation to join Congressional candidate Jared Huffman for coffee at the Sebastopol Senior Center this Thursday. Many of the listed "hosts" read like a who's who of supporters of the proposed CVS/Chase project on the Pellini site, most notably Kathleen Shaffer. Her "under the radar" email buddy, Linda Johnson, along with Design Review Board detractor Marty Webb, are also listed. Several others listed are signatories to pro-CVS correspondence to City Hall. Is this a case of "guilt by association"? Perhaps he is unaware of who he is hanging out with in Sebastopol.

This sure sends a scary message to me. Needless to say, I won't be attending, and I will have to reconsider any support that I might have given him, and will let others know as well. Did anybody else get invited?

Huffman is part of the machine. He is accepting Corporate donations and says he won't publicaly criticize Obama.
Consider Norman Soloman. No corporate money and he's in nobody's pocket.

I got invited, both by postcard & by phone. I'm planning to go. I hadn't known about the CVS associations of the hosts, but I'm curious & can use this opportunity to express my opinions about the multiple inappropriateness of the project. Maybe I won't change any minds, but I can speak as a business owner who thinks it's bad for business.

Did you stop to think that maybe they are simply involved business people and this has nothing to do with CVS? Last City Council meeting I went to there were roughly 250 (not my count) business people in favor pro the CVS project. No big conspiracy there: just the other side of the agrument.

Maybe this is simply a grouping of those same concerned, involved people that just happened to be at a City Council meeting.

What can Jared Huffman do for CVS?

Unless you do a survey or ask the 250 "business" people (how do you know their affiliation anyway?) you don't know why they support the project. I'm sure the family that owns the property, the realtors selling it, and all of their friends were asked to attend in support of the sale.

The pro and con sides of this issue both actively recruited people to attend the meeting. I doubt that there were very many "involved people" just happening to attend. It's good ole fashioned community organizing.

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Posted in reply to the post by Geni Houston:

Did you stop to think that maybe they are simply involved business people and this has nothing to do with CVS? Last City Council meeting I went to there were roughly 250 (not my count) business people in favor pro the CVS project. No big conspiracy there: just the other side of the agrument.

Maybe this is simply a grouping of those same concerned, involved people that just happened to be at a City Council meeting.

What can Jared Huffman do for CVS?

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Not all "business" people are looking out for the interests of the community. There is already a CVS and a Rite Aid. Nobody NEEDS one more big pharma company in Sebastopol. What is charming about the town is all of the small business owners and community supported products and agriculture. Those kind of businesses destroy the cultural integrity of the community.

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Posted in reply to the post by rekarp:

Unless you do a survey or ask the 250 "business" people (how do you know their affiliation anyway?) you don't know why they support the project. I'm sure the family that owns the property, the realtors selling it, and all of their friends were asked to attend in support of the sale.

The pro and con sides of this issue both actively recruited people to attend the meeting. I doubt that there were very many "involved people" just happening to attend. It's good ole fashioned community organizing.

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I was not able to get to the meeting with Jared Huffman until halfway through. While I was there, nothing was said about CVS/Chase. The issues discussed were state & national questions, which we might have expected since he's running for Congress. I came away excited, pleased, & impressed. Lots of intelligent questions were asked, & Huffman delivered intelligent, unguarded answers. On jobs, housing, taxes, environmental standards, military spending, national debt, & economic incentives, he described strategies that make sense & serve the people & the land. I'm happy to say this candidate satisfied my mind & won my heart.

Thanks, Sandy for the update. That was exactly my point, why create a "situation" with Mr. Huffman when it had absolutely nothing to do with CVS. Seemed inflamatory.

And I do know the affilication of most of those in business people in attendance. I served two terms (6 years), two terms on the Business Outready Committee, one year as Chair and I have 199 clients in the Sebastopol zip code (yes, I counted them).

I would not presume to know WHY those in attendance were pro CVS - not my point. And for the record, I appreciate those who have a different opinion than myself on this project and any other.
What I don't appreciate is being told that one should "be ashamed" of their support/opposition or trying to find conspiracy theories where there aren't any.

Thanks, Geni. I strongly oppose the CVS/Chase project for many reasons. When talking with City Council members Kathleen Shaffer & Patrick Slater at last night's event, I appreciated that while we're opponents on this issue, we are not burdened by animosity nor prevented from being allies on other important questions.