Assembly Debate Offers Glimpse of Candidates

The three candidates running to succeed terming out Assemblyman Gene Mullin participated in another of a series of forums to speak about their candidacies and answer questions posed by members of the community.

This most recent of candidate forums was sponsored by the Beresford-Hillsdale Neighborhood Association in San Mateo.

Several local newspapers covered the forum including the Daily News and the Daily Journal, providing some of the highlights.

The candidates largely articulates similar views during the forum but San Mateo County Supervisor Jerry Hill was on the defensive as both of his candidates pointed out some of Hill’s foibles.

San Mateo County Community College District Trustee Richard Holober backhanded Hill by stating that he (Holober) was not the candidate who had taken thousands of dollars from real estate developers, specifically Cargill Saltworks in Redwood City which is attempting to develop its property in Redwood City as it moves its processing operations to Mexico.

The comment, while damaging to Hill, also belies the fact that Holober’s wife Nadia Holober, a former Millbrae City Councilmember, is in fact a land use attorney who represents developers. According to her Web site, Nadia Holober “…practices land use and government law throughout San Mateo County, Santa Clara County and the San Francisco Bay Area. Her areas of expertise include entitlement and permit processing, environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA") and local code compliance. A City Councilmember, former Mayor, and former San Mateo County Planning Commissioner and Chair herself, Ms. Holober possesses particular insight and skill in working with City and County governments in resolving issues and securing successful results for her clients' projects.” Although the family connection to the real estate development business was not made at the debate it is likely that Holober may pay a price for his rap on Hill. The pot can only call the kettle black for so long.

In turn, Millbrae Mayor Gina Papan slapped Hill over his role in the BART to SFO boondoggle, saying that the ailing project “set us back years” with money flowing out of the county, scarce revenue that could have been used for housing and other needs.

Hill snapped back at Papan In his closing remarks by suggesting that Papan “get her facts right.” Hill stated that he did not back the extension but instead signed the deal divorcing SamTrans from the BART district.

Hill should be careful of trying to rewrite history, however, as Hill served on the SamTrans board when the final deal with BART was consummated and when SamTrans agreed to give a $72 million interest-free loan to BART for the construction of the SFO extension in 1999. Following that vote, Hill was quoted as saying "This is the best deal in town. Where can you get $1.5 billion in benefits for $400 million [of SamTrans expense]?"

Three weeks later, SamTrans cut 15 percent of its bus service and struggled with service reductions ever since. In addition, the $72 million “loan” to BART ended up being a gift as part of the divorce Hill touted, in addition to the millions the BART to SFO extension cost to SamTrans otherwise. The extension, while slwly gaining ridership, has been an unqualified disaster.

But just as in the ongoing Democratic Presidential Primary Election, voters can expect some mudslinging.