As a Sonoma County planning commissioner, Rue Furch has been leading the environmental struggle for 16 years, in developing the general plan, in advocating for studies of the water supply, for keeping Santa Rosa’s waste out of the Russian River, and much more. She is a dedicated and wise defender of our county.
But in Sonoma County elections, every candidate, including Efren Carrillo, pretends to be an environmentalist. How can we distinguish the true from the false?
The vast sums of developer monies supporting Efren Carrillo raise real questions about Carrillo's intentions and ultimate loyalty should he be elected to the Board of Supervisors. The major local consultant for the “Preservation Ranch” development project, which comes before the Board of Supervisors, recruited Carrillo to run, and is now a very close consultant and advisor to Carrillo.
Should we believe that with millions of dollars of development money at stake for the logging of 17000 acres of coastal forest and 90 new Mc Mansions, that Carrillo will turn his back on his political mentor and the twenties of thousands of dollars the developers provide for him to run? No.
Carrillo can’t count on his record (he has none) and hundreds of small supporters the way Rue Furch can. For campaign funds Carrillo has mostly the developers, loggers, Russian River gravel miners, and industrial agriculture.
When Carrillo spoke at Sea Ranch a few days ago, he drove there with the lobbyist for the Syar Corporation. Syar is the gravel mining operation that is mining the Russian River. Syar just had its permit renewed by the Board of Supervisors, but a new Board may challenge their continued mining. Is it believable that the Syar lobbyist has coincidentally developed a new friendship with Carrillo and wants to drive him around to political events? No.
Is it believable that Carrillo will turn against his new friends if he is deciding their issues on the Board of Supervisors? No.
Thursday afternoon Carrillo was wooing voters at the Chamber of Commerce event on the square in Sebastopol. Who was there handling him? The Syar lobbyist and the ‘Preservation’ Ranch lawyer.
We all know that Carrillo’s (and Sharon Wright’s) supporters on the Board of Supervisors just voted in the middle of the election campaign to increase the allowed campaign contributions to $5000 so that the few well-heeled river miners, developers, and loggers can pour more money into Carrillo’s and Wright’s campaigns. They are desperately fearful that they will lose control of the Board of Supervisors!
Nobody believes that Wright is an environmentalist! Why are her developer supporters pouring money into Carrillo? Because they believe Carrillo is their best chance to maintain control of the Supervisors!
The bottom line; “Who will Carrillo turn his back on if he is elected to the Board of Supervisors; his gravel-mining, developer, well-heeled supporters, or us, the West County public?”
That’s why we should vote for Rue Furch, who has an environmental record and is supported by Sonoma County Conservation Action, the Sierra Club, the United Farm Workers, and the Latino Democratic Club.