Jim Maresca for Supervisor

[Dan Fein]

I voted for Jim Maresca today. I know Jim well, as I do several of the other candidates. I’ve been a supporter since he announced his candidacy, and 10 debates later I am more convinced that he’s the best candidate to be our next supervisor.

Environmental issues drive politics so strongly in the West County that all the candidates have taken similar positions on the environment. If the environment were the only issue facing the County the question of who is greenest becomes a central one. But it isn’t the only issue. With one possible exception, we are not likely to get a supervisor who doesn’t hold the environment as one of his/her highest priorities. For me this isn’t a differentiator.

The job of the County Supervisor is an executive position that requires deep knowledge and experience to be able to successfully manage the large enterprise that is Sonoma County. The Supervisor must judiciously balance the needs of all of the constituencies who are competing for scarce County dollars, and the competing desires of powerful forces that have differing views on County policies.

It’s not enough to be for something, the supervisor has to be able to consistently get at least two other supervisors to agree. This is an art, not a science and requires the ability to negotiate as well as fight for a cause.

The supervisor for the 5^th District, in particular, must also comprehend issues that are unique to governance of rural communities. In Sebastopol you have city government, but out here in the boonies the County is it and the supervisor is the mayor.

Jim Maresca stands out as the best among a field of good candidates whose hearts are in the right place. Jim is smart and articulate, but more importantly Jim’s background and breadth of experience as a priest, a teacher, an executive and a community activist means that he can bring the range of skills to the table that our next supervisor must have to meet the challenges of the office.

I urge you to join me in voting for Jim.

Dan Fein

[BizWrangler]

From the Sonoma West Times and News May 29, 2008 issue:

COMMENTARY: And yes, I vote
by Frank Robertson
People say, “Dude, how can you cover the 5th District supervisor’s race? Your wife has endorsed Rue Furch. Have you no objectivity?”

Actually, no. If the allegation is that reporters should be somehow unconnected and separate from the people they write about, forget about it.

We live here too. We can see what’s at stake and what is not. The ideal of a news writer with no pre-conceived ideas, no leanings, no feelings, nada, zip, zilch in the emotional department, is absurd.

Besides, it’s the gap between lofty human ideals versus the reality on the ground that is so often fertile territory for confusion, news, and a good story.

My wife Mary does in fact support Rue. She has given money to Furch’s campaign and has lent her name to the Furch campaign’s list of endorsees.

I haven’t, but I wonder if I should, not that it would make any difference one way or the other. Maybe it would make some people feel more comfortably aware of context when they’re reading Sonoma West’s 5th District reportage. Or maybe not. So I’m not even going to worry about it. It’s one of those things that you can’t do anything about.
As for husband-and-wife political relationships, let’s just say that at my house there may be disagreements. Did you know, for example, that I have to do the dinner dishes for life? Or until I recant an opinion piece I wrote several years ago defending the Russian River Redevelopment Project? We play hardball at my home.

As for my wife’s ability to judge character in political candidates, she’s thorough, intuitive and candid. She perceives, for example, that Jim Maresca, to put it politely, is an ego-driven opportunist who’s trying to buy his way into office. I agree. It’s not that Maresca has no skills; it’s just that what he seems best at is delusional self-promotion. He takes a greedy amount of credit for leading the low-river-flow protest, circa 2004, an outcry that involved hundreds of concerned Russian River advocates who probably never heard of Maresca.

People have been calling me up lately to question some of the other claims in Maresca’s campaign pronouncements. “That stuff about how he cleaned up the books for the Russian River Chamber of Commerce?” says Judith Neeley, a Guerneville bookkeeper who was on the River Chamber board of directors when Maresca served as executive director.

“A bunch of hooey,” says Neeley. “He didn’t know what he was doing. I wouldn’t be saying anything if he wasn’t out there bragging about all this stuff he never did.”

Oh really? If Maresca’s fudging on his chamber performance, and exaggerating his low-flow contribution, what else is he fudging on? Endorsements? Some in town say so. He’s got Gary Getchell, the long-time River resident, contractor and member of the Russian River Redevelopment Oversight Committee listed as an endorser on his brochures, but displayed on Getchell’s old wooden G.L. Getchell Contractor sign on Highway 116 in Monte Cristo there’s a Rue Furch placard.

So I’m keeping an open and objective mind when it comes to Maresca.
As for the question of ‘How can you cover the 5th District supervisor’s race?’, hey, I’m trying. Anyone who doesn’t like it is free to call the police, or write Rollie Atkinson, Sonoma West’s publisher, and tell him what you think. As Rollie likes to say, we’re the newspaper that listens.

- Frank Robertson is Senior News Editor at Sonoma West Times & News.

[maryr45]

bye

[BizWrangler]

I moved from Petaluma to the river area in 2000, and kept busy caring for elderly family members up in Seattle until 2003. Consequently, I was not involved or aware of local business and politics, knew no one, and had no affiliations or loyalties with anyone here.

Once I became a Notary Public in 2003, Steve Fogel, then the Russian River Chamber of Commerce Executive Director urged me to join and get involved. I took over the office space next to the Chamber when the locksmith shop closed, and attended a few monthly mixers. I didn’t know anyone at that time, and was not aware of any of the local politics.

When Steve killed himself, I knew, from mucho years of past experience as a bookkeeper having uncovered other embezzlement situations, that the Chamber needed, at the very least, better oversight procedures. I thought I could lend a hand, and in August 2005, I became a Board member. I immediately noticed at the August meeting that there were posting errors and information missing from the financial statements prepared by Jim Maresca. Supposedly, his ‘management company’ had been hired to manage the Chamber, and one of those duties was to maintain the books and prepare statements. I offered to look into the problem, and help him as needed.

I met with Jim in his office a few days later, and discovered the bank statements had not been reconciled since the previous April, and he didn’t know the proper way to post transactions or perform the reconciliation. My attempts to show him were met with his response that these procedures were ‘too much work’. I asked him to provide me with a CD of his Quickbooks files and also of the Excel file that held the membership data base, copies of the bank and credit card statements and the cancelled checks. He had not been using the Accounts Receivable portion of Quickbooks, and I intended to import the membership data, clean up the books and reconcile the bank account to the general ledger. I also asked him to provide me a list of the employees and their duties so I could come up with a procedural plan as to who would do what accounting functions each month.

I reported this meeting to the Executive Committee at the end of August, and to the rest of the Board at the September meeting. They asked me to help with this process, however Jim would not provide me with the CDs and information I had requested. Weeks went by, and so finally after the October meeting, which was held at the Chamber office, I went in and made my own CD backup of the Quickbooks file. I could not obtain the Excel database file, however as it was on a different computer. I also made copies of the bank statements and borrowed the old cancelled checks. I spent the next month printing out reports and going through the data I had to figure out what corrections needed to be made to the books. I kept asking for the remaining records I needed, including the membership file.

The first week of November, Jim finally dropped a Quicbooks CD and print out (in tiny TINY unreadable font on dark purple paper) off to me in my door mail drop. I needed the CD of the membership list, not this unusable printout. I prepared a list of corrections that needed to be made for a report I was going to make at the November board meeting. I never did receive the membership CD or list of employees and their duties, or copies of the credit card statements.

At the November meeting, before my report, Jim advised us that he and the Treasurer had made a copy of the Quickbooks file and had made ‘adjustments’ to them, and had a meeting set up the very next day in Santa Rosa with a CPA! This was all done without my knowledge. I went to the meeting. The records they had manipulated were out of balance because they had posted single sided journal entries and the Retained Earnings was out of whack at least $60k – which the CPA pointed out to them immediately. They had no clue what they were doing. She also pointed out to them exactly what I had been saying all along; that they were not actually reconciling the checking account, and their postings had thrown the Retained Earnings out of whack each time they tried.

I realized I had just been on a wild goose chase trying to help them straighten up the books. It seemed to me that some people were more interested in sweeping all of this under the rug so they would look good instead of setting things right. I never said Jim had attempted to appropriate any funds for himself, however clearly he did not have a clue how to read and interpret a Balance Sheet for reasonableness (a non-profit that has been losing money over the years would not show a positive $60k+ in retained earnings = hint…something is wrong here), or how his ‘management expertise/company’ were to provide accurate financial statements. Rather than set up appropriate procedures for the monthly accounting cycle, he tried to do it all himself, and made a mess of the books.

If anything, it was the lack of cooperation with me that was my main warning signal that Jim was not the management professional he claimed to be. One would think that a non-profit hard up for cash would welcome help with this from a Board member with over 35 years experience doing just this kind of work. We could have had this all straightened out within a month or so and moved forward. It could have been a great training ground for not only the Chamber, but the rest of the membership of how to set up a proper system.

July 4^th, 2005 was the year of the infamous Laser Light Show that wasn’t. The Chamber decided not to pay half of the $5k bill due to the poor performance. The Laser folks sued the Chamber, however the Chamber lost by default because Jim failed to show up for the court hearing. That cost the Chamber $2,500. I was not favorably impressed by his ‘leadership and management abilities’.

I had considered becoming the Treasurer, however after due consideration and legal advice, I decided to leave the Chamber. His supporters were whispering ‘We have to be nice to Jim because he is going to become the next Supervisor, and he could really hurt the Chamber.” Oh please.

I was kept out of the supposed ‘clean up’ after he left, which was fine by me because I had already wasted plenty of time. I did ask what ever happened to the compilation the CPA was going to use, and was blamed that it could not be done because I had the cancelled checks. Another cover up, and I was the scape goat this time, all to protect Jim and other people. I know some people bought into this hype, which only goes to show how little they really knew or understood. The CPA couldn’t work with the altered set of books, not to mention the Chamber didn’t have the money to pay for a CPA in the first place. Jim said we had the money in the budget, but that’s not the same as having the cash flow to do so.

So I take issue with Jim’s claims to have straightened up the books at the Chamber. I am of the opinion he functioned as a figurehead to get public face time. It was already a known fact that he planned to run for Supervisor. I feel he used the Chamber to his benefit, and failed to accomplish much of anything while the Executive Director.

The following is the list of corrections that needed to be made to his Quickbooks file which is on record for that Board meeting. A true fiscally responsible leader would know their limitations and hire and use the right professionals to do the job instead of doing it on their own, messing up and trying to cover it up. It is utterly stupid if him to now claim he cleaned up the books. I worry that since he cannot even manage a small budget like the local Chamber, how on earth can he possibly feel capable of dealing with complex financial issues on a County level, especially when employee benefits and jobs are at stake?

I don’t know what bothers me most; the fact he did not do the job he was hired to do and left the Chamber in a mess, the fact that he didn’t accept help when offered, or that he now professes to have cleaned up the books! I worry about the character of someone with this kind of a track record. It’s not one that earns my trust and confidence. If he had cooperated with me, we could have had this all fixed within a couple of months and moved forward without a second thought.

RRCOC Accounting Report

November 16, 2005

by Judith Neeley

Presently, the accounting process is a hybrid of two software programs, Quickbooks Pro and Excel. By using QB the way it is designed, there is no need to use Excel. By not having the accounting fully integrated in QB, the member billing is not up to date or accurate, and information cannot be obtained as needed. The Excel data needs to be entered into member files in QB, and the memorized transaction lists need to be compiled and used for billing dues.

A good number of a/r transactions were not recorded properly or even recorded, so the member a/r files are incomplete. One must first generate an invoice or sales receipt before depositing funds. Without doing this, and only depositing the money, the member transaction journal is incomplete – so sales reports cannot be generated, and there is no record of membership dues/payments. They all just go to the master profit loss statement, but not into member accounts. Consequently, you cannot send out bills or past due statements, generate reports showing who was billed and paid, can’t print labels for mailings, especially for things like the ballot (only to go to those paid in full), and there is no audit trail for billing transactions and payments.

To fix the above, once member files are updated/completed, one must go through each and every deposit and compare it to the member transaction journal to see if there was an invoice or sales receipt posted for their payment. If not, then that must first be done, and then the original posting of receiving payment has to be adjusted to apply payment to the invoice. This can only be done with the Accountant’s copy of QB, not with our QB Pro version.

A standard monthly accounting cycle has not being performed in a timely manner, and without all the data in QB, with some in Excel, billings are not going out to members for dues – why there is 0 activity in a/r aging for two summer months? Many overlooked (see me, Toni, Darrell in transaction journal for example) How many others? Since there are no anniversary dates in QB, many people paying months after the fact, thus their new anniversary date is new date of payment instead of when it should be, so they get additional months free – lost $$ to us.

A/R aging report – monthly balances growing, same with A/P.

All the bank reconciliations have to be undone and all corrections made month to month before properly reconciling the bank account. There are no reports for previous reconciliations, and QB Pro will not allow going back and re-printing old reconciliations, so the Accountants version is required to do this. Last February, in an effort to reconcile the checking account someone deleted the opening balance of $2,055.91, so since Feb 5^th, the checking balance has been off at least this much each and every month.

I compared the bank statements to the check register and discovered 75 checks missing (unaccounted for) from July 1, 2004 to 12/31/04, and 31 more for 2005 through Oct 18. Of these in 2004 26 of these had not cleared the checking account but the QB check register show that they did clear – so the bank balance is off for these, too. Of the 31 missing checks in 2005, 6 checks were posted as having cleared but they did not. All of these need to be researched and accounted for on a month to month basis before being able to reconcile. There are also some checks recorded out of sequence (check #s) which need to be verified, and quite a bit of $ in unresolved expenses that need researching ($2,474.88).

I still need to compare deposits recorded in QB to the bank statements to see what other adjustments may need to be made.

The beginning balance for the Master Card was recorded incorrectly, and that needs to be adjusted from an expense account to a balance sheet liability account. I have not yet looked at the 2005 Master Card statements to see how those payments were recorded.

Petty Cash procedures and cash sales procedures need to be changed. Now, $ coming in for sales of items like maps, etc. are put into petty cash and spent from petty cash. They are not recorded as sales. This procedure is incorrect and needs to be changed to a standardized accounting procedure per GAAP.

Cash from events – in particular 4^th of July – unprepared, no procedure, cash just getting stuffed into Jim’s pockets so he could take to office. Definitely not GAAP

Steve’s transactions need to be audited for proper posting in the G/L, and the payment from Mike applied accordingly. Because QB has a glitch that someone can knowingly generate a check that disappears from the records, this needs to be looked into closely to see that everything is recorded properly.

Need to audit other transactions (checks written, mostly) to assure posted to correct g/l account and vendor/customer. Have to break out wages from reimbursements, and post separately to different vendor/empl accounts to keep 1099 data clean.

Need 1099 data (ss numbers) Ernie Carpenter. Why is he paid as I/C?

Concern over changes from tax reports year to year for wages vs I/C, will
trigger an audit

Recommend correcting QB so it is accurate and reconciles properly, and to obtain accurate numbers. Here are options:

1. Use existing QB, and make changes to that. Will require immediately getting Accounting version to undo incorrect work.
2. Start over from July 1, 2004 using Philip’s copy, and repost activity.

3. Start from scratch

4. Use outside service with different software on their system from scratch

Then, can determine credit memos for those who are no longer members, and attrition rates, print all reports, etc.

Set up standardized accounting procedures and forms, and train staff how to do each month, regardless if processed in-house or not. It’s necessary to have a clean audit trail with the proper backup documentation regardless. We can later decide how much to process in-house (after paper documentation is done) and how much to send out, if that’s what is decided. A standardized monthly accounting calendar of processing steps needs to be created so postings are done in the proper sequence, and at the proper time each month.

Once QB is correctly posted and reconciled, turn over to a CPA for a FULL AUDIT. With the correct data and backup documentation, audit will be simple, fast, and accurate – thus much cheaper. A compilation will not account for all the discrepancies or fix any of them, so I consider this a big waste of money. We should get a full audit once our records are correct – giving RRCOC a clean bill of financial recordkeeping health.

Once QB is posted and reconciled, the monthly processing can be done in-house or sent out. I researched outside bookkeeping services, and they run from $36 to $40 an hour for QUALIFIED bookkeepers. Depending on how much is prepared in-house, and how many services you want sent out, it will take anywhere from 4 to 10 hours a month to process transactions provided all data entry forms are completed in-house first, and which month/reports need to be filed (i.e. sales tax, payroll taxes, etc).

Outside services can include updating lists in QB, posting all transactions, printing checks, printing invoices, reconciling checking, printing reports, payroll tax reports, having payments sent and deposited there, tax returns prepared, etc. For example, we may choose to do some in-house and others by the bookkeeper. In house work will require time each day to post to data entry forms as required (bank deposits, member set-up forms or status changes, credit memos, vendor updates, for example).

I am also concerned that the big change in wages v.s. prof fees from one year to the next (Jim and Ernie as prof fees/independent contractors instead of employees) will trigger an audit. I’ve done some research, and the IRS and EDD consider them employees – it’s up to the Board to prove otherwise. This could be costly. I recommend we have a labor attorney give us an opinion – I wouldn’t want this to come back at us later. I got some friendly advice from a legal consultant warning me about this.

Note after the fact, I hired a labor attorney and paid $468 for his opinion. He agreed with me. Due to the fact that the Treasurer can be held liable, I declined to replace Philip as Treasurer, but I never withdrew from helping to clean up the records and get things on track.

Jim Maresca moved here six years ago and five years ago decided he was going to become our next supervisor. He began to involve himself in our communities a year here and a year there to build up his resume. In a deceitful and Machiavellian way he has manipulated people toward his goals and used his wealth to buy influence and power that he is unworthy of.

Jim was part of stopping one timber harvest plan in Jenner, part of the low flow committee, part of ecotourism, and then he advertises as if "Jim did, Jim can, Jim will" He uses his money to slander the efforts of others who have lived in the district 20-30 years longer than he has; this from a priest and ethics professor? Come on. He breaks the Rotary pledge to keep politics out of the club by having everyone sign his "in-lieu" of petition to "get my name on the ballot, you don't have to vote for me" and then puts everyones names in an ad as if they support him. He is a poseur, a person pretending to be someone he is not. He is not an agent of harmony but one of destruction.

The mystery is how Dan has been so bamboozled by this flim flam man. Doesn't he see all the former supporters of Jim removing his signs from their properties after his attack ads? Do you notice inner circle members including Virginia Strom Martin distancing themselves from Jim's campaign? Haven't you spoken to the chamber members as to the mess Maresca left after he did his usual one year building up of his resume at the chambers expense? How can you delude yourself into thinking that this guy is a manager let alone leader capable of bringing people together with his petty deceits and intrigues.

Jim's attacks on Rue are especially heinous. How can Dan be party to this kind of gutter politics.

Mary

[Dan Fein]

So, Mary, tell me how you really feel ;-)...

I have not been “bamboozled” as you suggest. I support Jim’s candidacy because I’ve had numerous direct conversations with him on a wide variety of topics and issues. I support him because I think he consistently has the best answers.

I like Rue and I’ve had a number of conversations with her when I was on the General Plan Citizens Advisory Committee and since. I'm very aware of her talents and abilities. Tom and I serve on the RRROC together and have been friends for nearly 30 years. Tom bought me a drink to celebrate on the night my twins were born, and we spread the ashes of a dear friend who died tragically. I support Jim even though I know and care deeply for these folks. That hasn't been easy for me.

When I recently ran for a much lesser elected position than supervisor, I was regularly surprised and shocked at the descriptions that came back to me of the person my opponent was running against. From what I was told I had done I almost didn't want to vote for myself! Such things happen in elections where emotions are high and most people have to make a decision based on very little information other than what candidates say about themselves and the rumors, good or bad, true or not, that are spread by both supporters and opponents. Even when based on fact, such stories, incomplete and mixed with opinion, presumption and offense frequently bear little resemblence to the reality. And for every story there is at least one other version.

As for the negative ads, I too was dismayed by them. I was relieved that they were withdrawn after a relatively short time, but of course, you can’t put the feathers back in the pillow.

I can tell you that when I was running in the RRROC election there were many points at which the temptation to run negative ads was huge. After all, if the world only knew and understood what I knew and understood about my opponent how could they possibly vote for him? I’m glad I didn’t go there, but that’s easy to say after winning.

Politcal attacks take many forms. I can’t imagine that any of the candidates would call any of their opponents “deceitful”, “Machiavellian” or “manipulative”. I have to admit, though, that when I was a candidate I was not unhappy when others said bad things about my opponent.

Dan Fein

Jim Maresca moved here six years ago and five years ago decided he was going to become our next supervisor. He began to involve himself in our communities a year here and a year there to build up his resume. In a deceitful and Machiavellian way he has manipulated people toward his goals and used his wealth to buy influence and power that he is unworthy of.

Jim was part of stopping one timber harvest plan in Jenner, part of the low flow committee, part of ecotourism, and then he advertises as if "Jim did, Jim can, Jim will" He uses his money to slander the efforts of others who have lived in the district 20-30 years longer than he has; this from a priest and ethics professor? Come on. He breaks the Rotary pledge to keep politics out of the club by having everyone sign his "in-lieu" of petition to "get my name on the ballot, you don't have to vote for me" and then puts everyones names in an ad as if they support him. He is a poseur, a person pretending to be someone he is not. He is not an agent of harmony but one of destruction.

The mystery is how Dan has been so bamboozled by this flim flam man. Doesn't he see all the former supporters of Jim removing his signs from their properties after his attack ads? Do you notice inner circle members including Virginia Strom Martin distancing themselves from Jim's campaign? Haven't you spoken to the chamber members as to the mess Maresca left after he did his usual one year building up of his resume at the chambers expense? How can you delude yourself into thinking that this guy is a manager let alone leader capable of bringing people together with his petty deceits and intrigues.

Jim's attacks on Rue are especially heinous. How can Dan be party to this kind of gutter politics.

Mary