The Bee offered our recommendations in several important Fresno races over the weekend. Here's a recap:
For mayor, Ashley Swearengin.
One of Swearengin's great strengths is her demonstrated ability to bring people with different interests together, most notably in her work as director of the Regional Jobs Initiative. That's crucial as we move ahead. Without collaboration -- and on a regional basis, not just within the city limits -- Fresno and the Valley will not be able to solve the problems we face.Contrary to what we often hear, political toughness and an instinct for collaboration are not contradictory. In fact, politics is about collaboration -- the ability to find useful compromises among competing interests.
But collaborative skills alone are not sufficient. We must also have a leader who can bring those collaborative efforts to a useful conclusion. We're persuaded that Swearengin has more than enough of the political pit bull in her to do that part of the job.
For City Council:
In District 2, Andreas Borgeas.
He supports efforts to consolidate public safety services with the county as a means of both enhancing those services and saving taxpayer dollars. While stressing the need to meet the nuts and bolts of district representation, he has a clear understanding of the regional nature of many of our problems, and would work effectively with other council members and with county representatives.
In District 4, incumbent Larry Westerlund.
Westerlund has been energetic both in meeting the needs of his district and in serving the broader interests of the city. He has been an active supporter of downtown revitalization. Westerlund believes the city has made strides in economic development, but knows there is room for improvement.>
In District 6, Lee Brand.
Brand understands the opportunities for better service and savings that come with consolidation of public safety resources. He has a pragmatic approach to city problems, saying there are no silver bullets or quick fixes. Rather, he says, the city needs to make solid commitments in a handful of areas and then aggressively follow through to the finish.>
I am shocked, simply shocked that the Bee actually thought through a mayoral recommendation. How untypical, how refreshing, how wonderful!
Even the Bee gets one right occasionally. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. I fear that I will bust my record of never having voted for a Bee recommended politician.
I feel we need a police auditor, like every other comparable city in Ca...who lobbies so hard against this simple request? Tom's got it right on this one.
The Bee got the mayoral race right? I think not. As usual, the Fresno Bee has become a victim of believing the hype, and the political rhetoric or the self acclaimed "top tier" candidates. Although Ashley seems to be a nice person, the plain and simple facts are that she, along with Perea, Duncan and Dages have all taken plenty of special interest money. All of these candidates have taken money from developers and Perea and Swearengin, while spouting off false facts that they have accomplished and how they are promoting green technology, also have endorsements from members of the very same group who wants to build a nuclear power plant in our city. This plant will cost over five hundred billion taxpayer dollars and over four thousand acres of the peoples land by using eminent domain. Not one of these candidates have developed even one plan that will revitalize downtown or any other area for that matter. Swearengin has padded her resume and once again, the little guy who actually wants to work for the people, has been ignored by the Bee. I have been to various forums and the ONLY candidate who has developed real world plans that will benefit the people of our city and will actually create over $150,000,000 in surplus funds is Jim Boswell. Mr. Boswell has not taken ANY special interest money. He has not placed signs illegally and Jim Boswell is the only candidate who has developed plans that will make Fresno the city of the future. I just simply can'yt believe that The Fresno Bee has ignored the facts once again. We finally have a candidate for mayor who wants to actually work for the people, who has plans that will address EVERY issue we face without using taxpayer dollars and who has not been part of the special interest political group and yet, he is completely being ignored by the media. Our city will never become the great city we have the ability to become if our media sources and our people continue to allow the staus quo politicians pull the wool over our eyes. Electing anyone but Jim Boswell will simply keep Fresno on the list of cities that "could have been". How shameful it is to see that we have a great opportunity to finally elect a person as mayor who will put the people first, but once again the media supports those who are beholden to the special interests, have blatantly lied to the public and who will forget the people the day after they are elected.
The Bee has endorsed Ashley without examining the facts.
First, during her tenure at RJI she has been ineffective. I have yet to see any evidence that they have created any jobs. No one has ever explored this issue in the media. One can conclude that she will therefore be ineffective as Mayor.
Second, she has no political experience. As McEwen pointed out earlier she has not displayed any leadership skills.
Third, she has received more money from developers and businesses than any other candidate, although Perea is right up there.
Fourth, she is part of the elite inner circle of the Peoples Church, which put Autry and other insiders into office. This suggests she represent a small circle of religious and business people, not the common person.
The Bee has done the people of Fresno a disservice by writing more opinion pieces than investigative articles. Opinion pieces get confused with factual stories giving a distorted picture about the Mayoral candidates.
People need to think for themselves and be aware of the bias of the Bee.
My points above shows that Ashley is not the best candidate to be Mayor of Fresno.
Ron,
I'm not voting for Ashley but your conclusions based on your observations have no merit.
Have you approched RJI and asked what if any jobs were created? Just because the media has not explored the question you pose does not mean they were not sucessful.
"No political expirence" I am sure Ashley over the years has been involved in politics to some capacity. Not holding a previous office can aguably be a good thing. no bagage, no political favors, less enimies, fresh approoach to government, etc...
More money from developers then anyother candidate other then Perea? So what it takes money to run a campaign, connections with developers is a good thing we need this town to be developed, look at downtown.
The Peoples Church put Autry into Office? Come on get real what about the rest of Fresno that voted for Autry?
What is your definition of the common person, someone without religion who does not believe in business?
The Fresno Bee reports news, offers opinions, and tries to be accurate with the facts.
You assume Fresno Bee readers do not think for themselves, that is insulting.
I would suggest you do more research on Ashley as well as the other candidates.
Your conclusions on Ashley have no merit as I already stated above.
Rich,
You did not address any of the issues and problems that I highlighted in my post regarding Ashley's suspect background.
Unemployment has gone up since RJI implemented their plan, it is currently 11% in the City of Fresno. That tells me RJI has done nothing. You need to show me the numbers or back down. There is no evidence RJI has done anything, but collect paychecks and use their membership as a political base for Ashley.RJI people donated a load of money to her campaign. Some people think these folks are supporting RJI to get the subsidized cheap labor to fatten their profits.
If you believe that business and right wing churches should dominate Fresno politics than you are misguided. No that doesn't count as your average citizen - to answer your question.
You failed to make a compelling case to refute my points. Looks like you need to move beyond the opinion of the Bee and get your facts before you respond to me.
Ron,
The thrust of my post is that you make conclusions not based on facts.
How can I refute your points when I do not believe they are points to begin with?
Ronald, just a suggestion - if your goal is to persuade people, it's best not to belittle them like you did to Rich. Note that he stated is NOT voting for Swearingen, so he isn't just following the Bee's opinion.
You haven't exactly presented a compelling case, either, for that matter. Unemployment is up due to national events far beyond the control of any local organization.
Also, if you check the candidates' financial disclosure filings (Tom Boyajian helpfully posted them all on his website), it appears that Duncan and Perea have both collected far more from developers than she has. As for the People's Church connection, all I have is your hearsay.
Maybe the RJI has done a good job in bad circumstances, maybe it hasn't. The lack of substantive information on that is frustrating to me. I'm leaning somewhat towards voting for Swearingen. But I haven't been able to tell yet whether she really is an effective leader, or just someone who has managed to secure a lot of appointments through her connections.
Mike,
You make an interesting point in your last paragraph. I think many people do not have sufficient information about RJI to formulate an accurate opinion. Other than the PR that RJI has done for itself, there has not been a thorough examination of RJI's effectiveness.
My take: even before the economy was taking a downturn, there was little evidence RJI was successful. RJI launched its masterplan in 2003 and for the next 3 years, there was an overall increase in unemployment in the City of Fresno (from the American Community Survey, conducted by the US Census Bureau). Even before the subprime fiasco, there seemed to be little proof that RJI was doing its job. The onus is on RJI to show its effectiveness. I find it interesting that Ashley has not touted RJI's successes in her campaign. One would think that if RJI was successful, she would tout its successes in her campaign as proof points of her effective leadership.
Therefore, I do agree with you that it is hard to tell whether she is an effective leader or if she is just a political appointee using her connections.
It's undeniable that Autry was voted in by a vast number of voters, presumably inclusive of varried demographics based on the numbers....but who did he actually represent during his tenure at city hall? This election is different than past elections in that citizen's are expressing their displeasure with the traditional evangelical old school politics that have ruled Fresno for so long, ignoring the rights of the vast majority while pandering to the solicitous interests of the minority. Ashley's donations are, in fact, all vested interests...giving under a personal name rather than company name does not qualify one as a 'private' contributer; a rose by any other name is still a rose. Furthermore, I believe 2 of Ashleys contributers were from temporary employment agencies, if this is how she accounts for her alleged 20,000 jobs created we can all rest assured she has no real talent at job creation. Ranking 4th highest in poverty statewide and 3rd highest for child poverty is shameful. This situation was created by old school politics and is only being aggrivated by the current recession. Fresno citizen's deserve better, they deserve leadership that respects the needs of an entire community and strives for city wide health. We absolutely do not need another political puppet!
The latest unemployment figures show Fresno County continues to stay in double digits in unemployment.
This is yet another example of how RJI under Ashley's leadership has been ineffective. This suggests she will do a poor job in creating jobs for Fresno as mayor.
When will the Bee or some agency expose RJI for their lack of effectiveness? Ashley's background needs to be questioned.
As a Republican this seems like a fat government program that gives out pork to people for their own gain.
Here is a link to the story:http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/story/607206.html