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The Pleasanton Weekly today endorsed Congressman Jerry McNerney (D-Pleasanton) for re-election on Nov. 2 and at the same time endorsed San Ramon Mayor Abram Wilson for election as the 15th State Assembly District’s new representative.
Wilson, a Republican, is challenging State Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan (D-15th), who is seeking re-election to her second term in office.
McNerney is being challenged by Republican David Harmer, a San Ramon attorney.
The newspaper said its staff first met McNerney when he and his wife Mary stood at the corner of Farmers Market and Main Street seeking votes for his singular effort among Democrats to challenge Richard Pombo’s re-election bid for the 11th Congressional District.
“Few stopped to shake his hand, but we did and took an immediate liking to this long-time Pleasanton homeowner-turned-citizen-activist whose son urged him to challenge Pombo when other Democrats wouldn’t,” the newspaper said.
McNerney lost that race but came back strong in 2006 to win the Democratic Party nomination and in November the Congressional election. He did it again in 2008 and the Pleasanton Weekly is again supporting his bid for re-election to a third term in office on Nov. 2.
“Not only has McNerney made his mark in Washington and the district he serves, especially in areas of energy, transportation, education and veterans’ affairs, but he continues to be our ‘Congressman on the corner,’ as he likes to call his frequent Pleasanton chats on Main Street and in other Tri-Valley locations,” the Weekly’s editorial states.
“Whether it’s serving meals to homeless veterans at the recent Stand Down at the Fairgrounds or at neighborhood homecomings when we gather to welcome back Pleasanton military men and women from Iraq and Afghanistan, McNerney is there with a Congressional citation in hand,” the editorial continues. “He comes back from Washington almost every weekend to his home in Val Vista where he and his wife Mary have raised their children and are often seen at hometown events such as First Wednesday street fairs.
The Pleasanton Weekly’s editorial adds: “His Republican challenger in this year’s election is David Harmer, a San Ramon attorney who has represented the Pacific Legal Foundation and is campaigning as a lifelong Ronald Reagan Republican. Except for a pre-primary reception at Barone’s Restaurant and an invitation-only speech at Castlewood Country Club, where he unknowingly crossed a union picket line, we’ve seen little of Harmer in Pleasanton. We appreciate McNerney’s efforts to work for the constituents in his hometown and the 11th Congressional District that he represents and urge voters to cast their ballots for his re-election on Nov. 2.”
In its endorsement in California’s 15th Assembly District, The Pleasanton Weekly notes that San Ramon Mayor Abram Wilson lost his 2008 bid for the 15th State Assembly District that covers the northeast portion of Pleasanton to Democrat Joan Buchanan of Alamo, a former member of the San Ramon Valley school board. Shortly after her election, she campaigned for election to the 10th Congressional District seat that was being vacated by Ellen Tauscher, who was appointed by President Obama as undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security at the U.S. State Department. That brought shouts of protest from some in the 15th Assembly District who felt she was violating their trust in voting her into the state Legislature.
“Since then, Buchanan has done a commendable job as assemblywoman although generally following the majority on key votes, including this month’s agreement to approve another stop-gap budget for California that was nearly 100 days overdue ‘because, she said, ‘it was late and we needed to move on,'” the newspaper states.
The Weekly’s editorial adds: “Wilson calls the fiscal year budget another way of subsidizing the future and ‘kicking the can down the road again.’ He signed a ‘No New Taxes’ pledge and insists that he would take to Sacramento the same determination that has made San Ramon fiscally strong with no unfunded employee pension liabilities and ample reserves to meet municipal budget crises.”
The Weekly points out that Wilson is well-known in the Tri-Valley where he meets frequently with the mayors of neighboring cities, travels with them to Washington to lobby for federal dollars to help the Valley’s cities and school districts, and serves as a member of the board of the Tri-Valley’s community television system where he is working to keep the system on air despite dwindling support from cable companies.
As a member of the League of California Cities, Wilson has also joined other mayors in supporting a ballot measure that would prevent the state from seizing local gas tax and other municipal revenues to pay for state budget shortfalls, actions by the Legislature that have cost San Ramon’s redevelopment agency $3 million this year — and have cost Pleasanton more than $4 million in local taxpayer revenue.
The newspaper’s editorial states: “Wilson’s success as mayor of San Ramon and a team player in Tri-Valley endeavors makes him a better choice for the 15th Assembly District in the Nov. 2 election.”
–Pleasanton Weekly staff.
–Pleasanton Weekly staff.
I think David Harmer will do a much BETTER JOB !!!
I do not think Pleasanton Weekly should endorse any candidate!
My initial reaction to endorsements is always “who cares?” But then I’m saddened to imagine the mass of lemmings out there who can’t make up their own minds. Please if you’re going to vote at least know why you’re voting for someone other than “so-and-so told me to vote this way”.
I agree that no newspaper that wants to portray themselves as reporting the news should be partisan…another sign of what is wrong with our political system…the news media should try to be impartial. How fast are all the liberals to criticize Fox and vice versa… I am for politics out of churches and news media…especially a small town publication like the WEAKLY…
If the Weekly had done its homework, it would know that the City of San Ramon has more than a 30 percent shortfall in its pension fund and has sold a $15M bond to cover this shortfall, a bond that we the taxpayers of San Ramon will have to repay with interest. It also would know that while Wilson does participate in Tri-Valley mayors’ events, three of the four mayors in the Tri-Valley: Mayor Mike Doyle of the Town of Danville, Mayor Tim Sbranti of the City of Dublin, and Mayor Jennifer Hosterman of the City of Pleasanton have endorsed Buchanan. They clearly recognize the work Buchanan has done for the valley. Lastly, it would know that Wilson pays his city manager the highest compensation in the State – $350K which has has a built-in 10% annual salary increase. Does anyone have a 10% increase? Wilson is a just another hypocrite who claims to be a fiscal conservative, but not when it comes to his own interests. Par for the course for newspapers these days…some simple fact checking would have told them what most in San Ramon already know.
I think it is truely sad that the paper would indorse a Jerry NcNerney when he was Nancy’s lap dog. I am a Senior Citizen and have seen my Health Insurance double this coming year because of the Obama Health insurance. He may be a nice person, but that is not why you vote for someone it is the RECORD. He is for CAP and Trade, tell me how is that going to get new jobs???? Gloria
” I am a Senior Citizen and have seen my Health Insurance double this coming year because of the Obama Health insurance.”
Health insurance premiums doubled before the health care bill passed. In fact, it was Blue Cross’ big increased in premiums that helped convince some in congress to pass the bill.
” I am a Senior Citizen and have seen my Health Insurance double this coming year because of the Obama Health insurance”
And I am a working non-senior who has seen my social security contributions increase exponentially to cover the cost of COLAs and benefits for seniors who spent every dollar they earned and now sit around crying that the current workers need to pay more to give them an increase in social security payments. I am eternally grateful that the benefits have been frozen again this year! Everyone who has collected social security for more than a couple of years has already been paid FAR MORE than the total dollars that they ever contributed. You people are breaking the backs of the workers! Do you think MY health care benefits have gone down? And I don’t get medicare either. If the AARP did not have the biggest lobby in DC we would not have this problem.
Thanks to the free spending Democrats my cost of living at age is out of control, everything costs more especially my medical coverage. My M.D. has already told me that if I want to keep him as a private practitioner he will have to charge me to suppliment what he is going to lose as a result of the Obama Care. Thanks a heck of a lot, just what I needed to hear at age 81 on a fixed income. I will not vote for the Pelosi lap dog Mc Nerney,at least with Harmer we may be able to get the a path of fiscal discipline, by stopping this wreckless spending by Pelosi and her gang of theives.
I think McNerney needs to be replaced. He is a left wing Democrat who has voted the “party line” with the current administration. Those policies were doomed to fail, and have failed. They were pushed on the American public despite 70% of ordinary Americans opposing those things. We don’t need a “Yes man” representing our interests when all he does is follow the “party line” of the left that is pushing bigger government, higher taxes, more entitlements, a socialistic model, and which ignores the will of the people.
Throw out McNerney. Give Harmer a chance.
To Member,
Be careful who you throw in. Harmer’s views are way out of the mainstream. Look on the other threads and read how he wants to abolish all public schools. His campaign has been completely unresponsive to all my inquiries about his position on financial regulations. He seems much more interested in gaining political power than representing the citizens of this district.
Let’s see. We have Harmer who wrote an opinion piece to ‘Abolish Public Schools’ and we have McNerney who has voted for legislation that furthers Wealth Re-Distribution. I find it quite unlikely that Harmer would be able to affect CA public schools as a US representative. It is a fact that McNerney furthers wealth re-distribution. All the McNerney e-mails and literature about abolishing public schools is diverting the attention away from McNerney’s record.
GOP 11th Congressional District nominee David Harmer has a six-point lead — 48 percent vs. 42 percent — over incumbent Democratic Rep. Jerry McNerney in an exclusive KPIX-commissioned poll released tonight.
SurveyUSA called 750 people between Oct. 8-11 using an automated telephone system.
“who has voted for legislation that furthers Wealth Re-Distribution. ”
What legislation are you talking about? Are you talking about TARP? Yes, McNerney voted for that, and that took wealth from tax payers and re-distributed it to failed investment banks and wealthy Wall Street executives. He also voted for a financial reform bill whose aim was to put safeguards in place to prevent the need for such bailouts in the future. A critical part of that bill is that requires many (but not all) over-the-counter derivatives to be traded on a public exchange. OTC derivatives brought down Lehman Brothers, AIG, and others. Had these been traded on a public exchange, the problem would never have grown so large that fear of “contagion” would have caused the Treasury or Federal Reserve to bail AIG (and many others) out.
“I find it quite unlikely that Harmer would be able to affect CA public schools as a US representative.”
But he will be able to affect financial regulation. His campaign has repeatedly ignored my enquiries regarding Harmers stand on this important issue. It is relevant that Harmer writes opinion pieces for Cato. Cato authors have made many extreme proposals regarding financial issues. They have proposed eliminating the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the FDIC entirely — including federal insurance for bank deposits in checking and savings accounts. Can you imagine the chaos that would have ensued if deposit insurance had not been in place during the banking collapse of 2008? Will Harmer follow the Cato agenda and call for the repeal of all investment banking regulation?
The Pleasanton Weekly is very correct to endorse our fine Congressman Jerry McNerney. He has done a fantastic job. The GOP carpetbagger in the race DOES NOT EVEN LIVE IN OUR DISTRICT and should never be given serious consideration for the job.
In the age of gerrymandering, I am OK with someone who lives within 5 miles of me and wants to represent me in Washington. The most recent poll reflects that this is not a major issue.
What is a major issue is McNerney’s voting record. He is a very nice guy and is one who will hold townhall calles (but highly scripted and filtered), but he is out of touch with what the current majority of his constituents want.
How you can endorse BOTH of these candidates who are polar opposites on just about every issue affecting California and the Tri-Valley shows that you guys have NO CLUE who or what you’re endorsing.
Patriot – I recommend you do some critical investigation of the financial reform bill before you speak so highly of it. It wouldn’t have averted the previous crisis and won’t avert the next one because with all its 2,000+ pages it didn’t deal effectively with capital requirements and derivatives.
And I bet you believe the 2,000+ page healthcare bill will help streamline medical services and reduce health care costs …
Apparently the Pleasanton Times beleives in supporting mcnerney because he DOES NOT LISTEN TO THE TAXPAYERS HE IS TO REPRESENT, HE VOTED FOR A HEALTH CARE BILL THAT TAKES AWAY 500BILLION DOLLARS FROM SENIOR CITIZENS HEALTH CARE, AND IT WILL PROVE TO BE THE WORST BILL EVER APPROVED BY OUR CONGRESS AND SENATE. EVERYONES HEALTH CARE IS GOING SKY HIGH. HE ALSO VOTED FOR A 800 BILLION DOLLAR STIMULUS THAT DID NOTHING BUT CLOG UP TOILETS IN THIS COUNTRY. VOTE FOR HARMER AT LEAST HE LISTENS.
Pleasanton Weekly says Wilson signed a “no new taxes” pledge as if they think it’s a good thing. (I would agree…it’s a very good thing.)
Are they aware at one of those “Congressman on the corner” meetings a couple years ago, MCNERNEY SAID HE THINKS THE TOP INCOME TAX RATE SHOULD BE 90%? (I was there. I heard it with my own 2 ears. It did NOT get a very favorable reaction from the crowd.)
I’m curious…why does PW think it’s a good thing for Wilson to be against tax increases, but they don’t mind that McNerney is for job-killing, economy-destroying taxes?
I’ll be voting for David Harmer.
” didn’t deal effectively with capital requirements and derivatives.”
Where did I ever say that it did? I said that it went in that direction but didn’t go far enough, in my opinion. And my whole point is that Harmer appears to want to go in the other direction. Cato wants to further de-regulated the derivatives market and remove capital requirements. Why won’t Harmer address the issue?
The Pleasanton Weekly is once again showing its slobbering love affair with Jerry McNerney; and Jeb Bing is showing his affinity for the politics of his home town of Chicago (also home to Al Capone, the notoriously corrupt Mayors Daley, three recent governors indicted and/or convicted for corruption, and last but certainly not least Barack Obama, Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod).
Jerry McNerney is Nancy Pelosi’s little pooch – he has supported her over 90% of the time. He is a tax, tax, tax and spend, spend, spend liberal. He is such a coward that he refuses to hold an open town hall meeting (evidently those pesky voters are too fearsome). Rather he has phone town hall meetings where Republicans and Independents that register for the call mysteriously don’t get connected to the call (yes, that is right out of Pelosi’s playbook – she openly advised all Democrat Congresspersons NOT to have open town hall meetings).
So, if you like Pelosi’s methods and agenda of socialism, racial warfare, unfettered illegal immigration, and bankruptcy for the nation, vote for Jerry McNerney. If not, vote for David Harmer.
Hey Chet,
Are you aware that Harmer might already be in congress if it wasn’t for the fact that Garamendi, who doesn’t live in CD10, ran against him in his own district?
Were you opposed to Garamendi running in CD10?
David Harmer’s Tea Party Movement, although involving many well-meaning people, has largely been stirred up, by rich vested interests. (Notice that David Harmer accepted a bailout money bonus, when he left JP Morgon).
Their message is..the rich should not have to pay any taxes! I pay my taxes! Why should rich people not have to pay any taxes?
In adddition to keeping it so the rich don’t have to pay any taxes…
the other purpose of the Tea Party movement, is to protect certain vested interests…specifcally, the Oil and Coal industries (no wonder they are targeting Jerry McNerney (a green energy pioneer)….and the Health insurance companies…who have been ripping us all off, and have no plan, whatsoever, for providing healthcare for all Americans.
zzzzzzzzzzzz……..liberals endorsing liberals. What else is new?
To Markm8128,
“The rich don’t pay taxes”. What on earth are you talking about? Look at the IRS statistics my friend. 86% of ALL Federal Income taxes are paid by the top 25% of income earners.
The top 1% of income earners (the REALLY rich) pay 39% of ALL Federal income taxes.
Don’t shoot the messenger….These are the facts. It’s time to educate yourself, and break away from the liberal media who are afraid to tell you what is truly going on.
Wow! Lots of angry people expressing their views.Surprising thing to me is how many intelligent Pleasanton residents are ignorant of the facts in this election. Both sides seem to lap up whatever the liberal press or conservative right feeds them.No serious fact checking…just anger.The negative mailers from Jerry’s and David’s troops(along with all the other politicians) have become direct deposits in the recycle bin for our family.We also have never listened to any of the endorsements of the Weekly as the paper has a long history of not researching so that they get the facts objectively as they should.
Sure would like to hear some suggested solutions rather than all this partisan bickering!!!
Markm8128,
The tea party movement is locally organized and run. I have no idea where you’re getting your info. (Ha ha – yes I do…but it’s still not right.) To get the truth, I suggest you attend the Golden State Rally for America tomorrow at the fairgrounds. It was organized by a local mother who is concerned about her children’s future. I don’t think you’ll find there what your post says about the tea party.
McNerney’s district runs from Gilroy through Pleasanton, on out to the San Joaquin, and north to Lodi. I hope some of the other newspapers have a better grasp on who is the best candidate. Of course, they don’t have the wisdom that you achieve when you meet someone at the Pleasanton Farmers Market. Duh..!!!
Just a couple of quick comments:
1. Newspapers have been endorsing candidates since the 1940s. Typically, management and the editorial staff make these decisions.
2. If your FICA taxes had gone up exponentially, Works Both Ways, they would have doubled, then doubled again and so on.
3. Taxes in the U.S. are among the lowest in the world.
4. Ronald Reagan cut the rate for the richest people from 70% to 28%. Isn’t that enough?
5. It’s funny how few people talk about corporate tax reform. General Electric generated $10.3 billion in pretax income, but ended up owing nothing. G.E. actually recorded a tax benefit of $1.1 billion. Exxon Mobil last year reported a record $45.2 billion profit and paid more taxes than any corporation. None of it went to the IRS. Why? Company-owned subsidiaries overseas. Eliminate them, make U.S.-based companies keep their corporate offices in the U.S. and a huge amount of the deficit will disappear overnight.
6. I’d suggest that you read the book “Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich – and Cheat Everybody Else.” It’s an in-depth study of how the tax codes have been rewritten (and rewritten, etc.) to protect the very wealthy, who now hold more of the country’s money than any other time in history. It also points out that the ultra-rich of the day supported high income taxes for the wealthy to — wait for it — redistribute the country’s wealth. You can get it from your local public library f you can’t afford to buy it.
These people are terrible, is the the BEST we can come up with. Where are the really good people that have brains and conviction and stand up to the extreme left or extreme right. We are losing our country and what it stood for with these losers. But I guess the Pleasanton Weakly is in that category too.
So,the top 1% of income earners pay 34% of federal income taxes. Well, if that’s true, it’s because they’re the ones with the money. In 2007 the top 1% “earned” 24% of all household income.
In fact income distribution has been growing more unequal since 1979, thanks primiarily to changes in government policies from Reagon onward.A 2009 study by economist Emmanuel Saez reports that as of 2007, the top decile of American earners pulled in 49.7 percent of total wages, a level that’s “higher than any other year since 1917 and even surpasses 1928, the peak of stock market bubble in the ‘Roaring 1920s.'” And of course, as always, inequality in wealth is even greater.
So when cries of “socialism” greet very modest suggestions to slightly reverse this trend — such as rolling back the Bush tax cuts for the rich, — it’s simply absurd. What are talking about here? Returning the marginal (not average) tax rate — that’s on the highest PORTION of income by high income households — back to 39.6% from the current 35%. Hardly a radical change. Were Reagon, Nixon and Eisenhower socialists? Under Reagon, the top marginal rate was 50%, under Nixon, 70% and under Eisenhower, a whopping 91%!
Why should we care about income inequality? Well, of course, there’s the desire to support the moral values of equal opportunity and economic justice, which both slide as income distribution becomes more skewed. And, simply put, great inequality undermines both democracy and the social fabric of our communities.
Moreoever,just as growing inequality during the Roaring Twenties led to rampant financial speculation whose bubble ultimately burst, so, too, has the recent speculative bubble been fueled by all that extra money accruing to those at the top. Financial deregulation (advocated by the wealthy, of course) didn’t help, either.
Economists are a generally conservative and pro-capitalist lot, the most conservative among the social scientists, anyway. So one should take note when a study by the Southern Economic Journal found that “71 percent of American economists believe the distribution of income in the US should be more equal, and 81 percent feel that the redistribution of income is a legitimate role for government.”
Even former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan confessed to being “very disturbed” about the growing inequality in America,saying,in 2005, “this is not the type of thing which a democratic society – a capitalist democratic society – can really accept without addressing.”
So please, beware of demogogues who try to frighten people with slogans and false labels, stoking fear and confusion. After all, how else do you get people to vote against their own interests and for the interests of the small percentage of the wealthiest Americans?
Vote the bums out! Regardless of party affiliation.
Stephanie,
I’m having a hard time understanding your point. I can’t even tell which side you are arguing for or against. But one correction I’d like to point out. You said we are a “a capitalist democratic society”. This is not true. We are a Representative Republic.
This is an irresponsible and biased endorsement of a liberal candidate by a liberal local newspaper.
The PW apparently doesn’t see it newsworthy to cover the Tea Party at the Fairgrounds this week nor see it necessary to report the fact that McNerney refuses to debate Harmer in public…Selective reporting???
The claim in this article is that McNerney has made is mark in the 11th district yet fails to point out that McNerney voted with Pelosi 96% of the time and virtually never stands up against his own party’s positions…
I am not at all impressed at the PW’s coverage of local politics…
I thought Stephanie’s comments were very clear and appropriate.
She is trying to explain that governmental action to re-distribute wealth is nothing new. Government has been in the business of redistributing wealth as long as it has been taxing, borrowing and spending! Her point is that in the past 40 years, government has again and again reduced the tax obligations of the rich and of corporations, thus re-distributing the wealth in their favor.
Largely as a result of these tax reductions, the rich (including corporations)have become much richer and more powerful politically. The middle class, as it existed 40 years ago, has virtually disappeared. At that time a majority of middle class families had only one full time wage earner. The middle class remains sizeable today thanks only to the fact that so many households have two incomes supporting them. However, today many of these “middle class” families have no little or no discretionary income and little time to devote to becoming politically well informed and involved. The numbers of poor are increasing as it becomes harder and harder to become/remain middle class.
When the distribution of wealth becomes as unequal as it is today, a representative republic is only an ideal, Joe. The reality is more and more that representation is obtained only by those who have the money to buy it. I do not think that is what our founding fathers intended when they wrote the Constitution.
So voter beware of all the campaign literature, the talk show hosts and the “news” media. They are all paid for (by whom?) and they would like to buy our votes. Unfortunately, some of them are rather devious in the ways they go about it.
They will try to convince us that someone or something is wrong and evil by name calling and using derogatory words over and over and over as if the more we hear them the more we will believe they are bad or evil. I worry that this approach will be successful, even though it is reverting to 2nd grade mentality.
They try to get us fighting mad by using words with emotional connotations, innuendos, half-truths, quotes taken out of context and downright lies, and I ask myself, “Could it be that they are appealing to my emotions because they have no real information or details that will appeal to my rational mind?”
It’s not easy these days to sort it all out, but I try, and I fear more the name callers and rabble rousers and those who look to them for political direction than I do a return to a tax structure more similar to what it was 40 years ago when the rich had very good lives, it wasn’t such a struggle to be and remain middle class, and the poor had reasonable hope of moving upward.
YOUR district needs poll watchers! You are most likely to experience voter fraud, TPP’s Natl. reports that u r.
Harmer is a Carpetbagger and should not be given any serious consideration as our Rep. Harmer DOES NOT LIVE IN OUR DISTRICT. Us who and live in District 11 know we have a fantastic Congressman in Jerry McNerney. Jerry lives in the district and has been working hard for us all. Jerry has delivered as promised with bills he wrote, promoted and had signed into law that greatly benefit our soldiers, veterans and families. Thank you Jerry McNerney!!!