THE PHANTOM: Behind the curtain
Daily News Columnist
Updated: 07/10/2010 12:16:57 AM PDT
“The South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council wasn't the only special interest behind the attack mailer that targeted state Assembly candidate Yoriko Kishimoto in the weeks before the June 8 primary election.
… Ed McGovern, a well-respected campaign manager who has worked on the Peninsula for two decades, told The Phantom that he and his client DMB Associates brought the idea for the mailer to the labor group and paid $30,000 to help make it happen.
"It was my idea and I told the folks at DMB we should do it and we went to labor," McGovern said.
…Why did DMB want Kishimoto to lose? McGovern said she opposed the developer's plans to build up to 12,000 homes on the 1,436-acre Cargill salt flats in Redwood City. McGovern said other candidates who oppose the controversial project should take note. … “We're going to continue to look for opportunities in November to do the same thing."”

Because I oppose Cargill building a city in the Bay and because Ed McGovern is Don Horsley’s campaign consultant, I may be one of the targets for Cargill’s attacks. The combination of union and developer money is the way San Mateo County’s power structure determines election outcomes again and again. That’s why I need your help to get our message out. We need to keep residents safe from flooding by keeping the salt ponds unpaved.
Thanks for your support.

Dear Friend,
We made the November run-off in the supervisor’s race! Although we were outspent four to one by Don Horsley and in a primary field of five candidates, our grassroots strategy of going directly to the voters paid off. Now I face the challenge of raising the money to win in November.
Our campaign budget for the November run-off is $114,000. I need your help.
My opponent, Don Horsley, has already gone negative, as in an article in the Examiner.
He will continue to deride my background as a small business owner and try to puff up his “experience. “
When you look at Don Horsley’s experience, the results are disastrous.
• When Don was Sheriff, his budget increased 100% in ten years, from #30 to $60 million.
• Don has promised county workers that no one would be let go, even with a $150 illion dollar a year deficit in the county
budget.
• He’s already proposed a new county tax and guaranteed its passage, apparently not caring that voters have turneddown four
such taxes already.
Don Horsley’s experience is precisely what we don’t need now! Don will be financially backed by special interests who lavishly funded his primary run, such as DMB, the developers of Cargill’s city in a salt pond, and others who have no interest in a sustainable future or making the hard decisions necessary to correct our county’s financial mess.
With your generous support, this is our chance to have a new voice on the Board of Supervisors.
Sincerely,
April Vargas

The Board of Supervisors, in a 4-1 vote, rejected San Mateo County joining the other 57 counties of California in having district elections. It was suggested by the charter review committee that voters decide in the upcoming November election whether San Mateo County should move from antiquated at-large elections to having district elections that would conform with the Voting Rights Act of 2001.
"It is an outrage that the Board of Supervisors would not allow the voters to decide the issue of district elections . By their action, they expose the County to a likely lawsuit from the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights. It is this kind of behavior that shows why we need a new voice on the Board of Supervisors."
Counties, cities, school districts and special districts throughout California have instituted district elections to conform with the Voting Rights Act of 2001. At the forefront of this change is the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights which has gone to court up and down the state to enforce the Voting Rights Act. The Board of Supervisors have already received notice from the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights that they intend to pursue legal action on this issue. By their vote this morning, the Board of Supervisors once again denied the right of the people to vote.