Does Speier Endorsement of Hill Spell Trouble for the County Sheriff?

According to the Pacifica Riptide blog, Congresswoman Jackie Speier has endorsed San Mateo County Supervisor Jerry Hill in his bid for the 19th Assembly District seat. Hill is running against Millbrae Mayor Gina Papan and San Mateo County Community College Trustee Richard Holober.

The extremely late endorsement is a new twist in an already heated election and comes on the heels of Speier’s involvement in generating some bad press for Hill.

In mid-April, newly minted Congresswoman Jackie Speier blasted the San Mateo County board of Supervisors for the board members’ inaction in response to Sheriff Greg Munks’ detention at a Las Vegas bordello in April of 2007.

In a Daily News investigative article Speier stated: "This cries out for a comprehensive external investigation, because the highest law enforcement officer in the county should not be under any suspicion of illegal activity at any time, ever.”

The renewed interest in the scandal sparked largely by Speier had a disproportionately negative impact on the Assembly candidacy of San Mateo County Supervisor Jerry Hill. Hill had the misfortune of having accepted nearly $12,000 in direct campaign contributions from Sheriff Munks and his extended family, including Munks’ father-in-law Bill Lane, owner of Sunset Magazine.

In fact, Lane donated $3,000 to Hill’s campaign just over a month after the news of the brothel bust hit the local papers.

Sheriff Munks himself hosted a campaign fundraiser for Hill on November 11, 2007, just a few months later.

News of the Munks’ largesse towards Hill was problematic as members of the public and Hill’s opponents in the Democratic Primary roundly criticized Hill for accepting such large donations from Munks and family as Hill and his colleagues failed to request that Munks explain his detention at a bordello by Las Vegas and federal law enforcement agents.

Following Speier’s call for an investigation, the new pressure forced Hill to return a portion of the funds he received from Munks – although Hill did not return the funds from the Lane family.

Speier’s announcement of an endorsement of Hill over the weekend is a peculiar twist in a volatile Assembly race. Political wags have speculated that Speier’s endorsement may be tied to a political change of heart by Hill in his continued support of Munks- meaning Hill may now turn on his old friend.

It is rumored that Hill may now call for an investigation of Munks. In turn, Speier would support her pick for Sheriff in that of San Mateo Police Chief Susan Mannheimer. It has already been whispered both publicly and privately that some would like to see Mannheimer replace Munks sooner rather than later. In fact Half Moon Bay Review editor Clay Lambert floated such an idea in the wake of the Sheriff’s scandal in 2007.

So the question is, did Hill trade Munks for Speier’s endorsement?

Holober Supporters Attack Papan

Supporters of Assembly candidate and community college trustee Richard Holober have launched a smear campaign against Democratic rival Millbrae Mayor Gina Papan.

The first in what is likely a series of mail pieces intended to engender negative impressions of Papan in favor of Holober was sent via what are termed “Independent Expenditure Committees.” Such committees are comprised of moneyed interest groups acting on behalf of a particular candidate or cause.

In Holober’s case, it is the so-called Consumer Attorneys acting on his behalf. Those same attorneys who work to create opportunities for lawsuits against any available deep pocket. The consumer attorneys are greatly responsible for increasing the costs of just about every consumer service and commodity as the deep pockets usually just pass along the legal costs to consumers.

But what is the greatest irony of the attack by the independent expenditure committee is that the consumer attorneys are blasting Papan for getting support from….independent expenditure committees.

For the confused, this concept will be repeated.

Papan, according to a recent article in the Daily News, has garnered significant support by interests disconnected from her campaign and, according to Papan, without her knowledge. Her opponents have criticized such support in the local press. Holober went so far as to say "That's not the kind of money I would ever accept.”

But then, Holober supporters, disconnected from his campaign and, perhaps without his knowledge, have launched an attack against Papan for receiving the same kind of support.

The popularity of campaigning through Independent Expenditure Committees exploded since the passage of Proposition 34 in 2000 which strictly capped the amount candidates for state office can receive directly from donors.

But this circumstance is just too bizarre. One independent expenditure committee attacking a candidate on behalf of another candidate over support from other independent expenditure committees.

What the hell kind of world is this?

Veteran School Board Member Announces Retirement

Veteran Jefferson Union High School District School Board Member Jean Brink announced that she would not seek a sixth term this November at the board’s May 6, 2008 meeting.

The JUHSD is comprised of the communities of Daly City, Pacifica, Brisbane, Colma and the unincorporated community of Broadmoor. Brink has served on the board since 1988 and is one of three members of the five-member board who hail from the City of Pacifica. This is despite the fact that Daly City is the largest community within the district. Brink’s retirement from the board may offer a would-be Daly City candidate an opportunity to seek a rare vacancy on the board.

County Loses Out on State Funding for New Jail

San Mateo County has lost out on approximately $100 million in state funding to expand the county’s Maguire Correctional facility and women’s jail facility in Redwood City, according to an article in the San Mateo Daily Journal.

The funds, authorized under Assembly Bill 900 in 2007 via a state bond, were made available to local jurisdictions under a competitive proposal process. But San Mateo County’s unwillingness house State prisoners in so-called re-entry wards may have torpedoed the county’s chances, a decision made by the Board of Supervisors.

The total estimated cost for the reconstruction of the jail is approximately $140 million. Without the state dollars, the county must now seek alternative sources or pay the entire cost itself.

But San Mateo County Times columnist John Horgan recently offered another theory, namely that the recent media coverage of the Sheriff’s detainment at a Las Vegas brothel last year may have played a role.

Horgan offers the possibility that State officials may have little confidence in a sheriff who, according to the sheriff’s own statements, accidentally ended up a seedy residential brothel by mistake just in time for a raid by federal and local law enforcement agencies.

Horgan states: “If they are telling the truth in this matter, they come across as two fellows completely out of their element, a pair of country bumpkins loose in the big city and unable, apparently, to tell the difference between a room full of hookers and a Tupperware party.”

Although it is unlikely that such a nexus between the Sheriff’s Las Vegas trouble and the jail funding could ever be established, gun shy political leaders in Sacramento are known to avoid potential political land mines. The Sheriff’s scandal may have qualified in this instance.

Sheriff Scandal Plagues Assembly Candidate

As three local Democrats toil away in the hopes of succeeding termed out Assemblyman Gene Mullin in the 19th Assembly District, the scandal surrounding San Mateo County Sheriff Greg Munks is beginning to play a pivotal role in the race.

In yet another article in the Daily News regarding the Sheriff and his connection to San Mateo County Supervisor and Assembly aspirant Jerry Hill, Republican candidate Catherine Brinkman blasted Hill for his “too late and too little” response to the Sheriff’s scandal.

San Mateo County residents may recall the revelations last April that San Mateo County Sheriff Greg Munks, and his Undersheriff Carlos Bolanos, were caught up in a brothel bust when the two top cops in San Mateo County were in Las Vegas for a relay race for law enforcement.

Both lawmen were “detained” and released along with numerous other patrons of the Las Vegas neighborhood brothel but many women were taken into custody as well as cash and approximately 3,500 tabs of the drug Ecstasy.

San Mateo County officialdom was largely silent on the event. In fact, some even defended Munks in lieu of condemning the visit of the two top cops to a house of ill repute. San Mateo County Supervisor and State Assembly aspirant Jerry Hill was particularly vociferous in his defense of Munks.

As pressure has mounted however, particularly from Congresswomen Jackie Speier and Anna Eshoo – both of whom publicly called for an investigation in April of this year – Hill and company backtracked and promised to develop proposals to allow the board to address the issue. Hill, according to an Examiner Newspaper article, proposed a possible county charter amendment to allow the Supervisors to discipline Munks. But two weeks later at the board’s regularly scheduled meeting on May 6, no such proposal was forthcoming. In fact, there was no discussion of the Munks issue at all.

In a Daily News article following the meeting, Hill did indicate that he is still working on the issue.

But the lack of action apparently did not sit well with another Assembly candidate. Republican Assembly candidate Catherine Brinkman issued a blistering statement in response to Hill’s lack of action, criticizing Hill for trying to again “…sweep the malfeasance of the Sheriff and Hill’s own support of the Sheriff back under the rug,” according to a full copy of the statement available on the Pacifica Riptide Web site.

In a Daily News article, Hill’s campaign manager, Ed McGovern shot back calling Brinkman “stupid” and stating that she has only brought up the issue again for political reasons.

Whatever the cause, the Daily News article took Hill to task for his ever shifting positions on the Munks scandal. In an editorial published last month by the San Mateo County Times, the newspaper predicted that the Munks scandal and Hill’s subsequent fumble would have an impact on the Assembly race in favor of Hill’s competitors Richard Holober, a San Mateo County Community College Trustee and Gina Papan, the Mayor of Millbrae.

It appears that the Times prediction is coming true as Hill struggles to find a way out of the political quagmire he has made for himself.

Times Reporter Solicits Public Reaction to Sheriff’s Scandal

In an unusual request to members of the public, San Mateo County Times reporter Michael Manekin posted the following letter on the San Mateo Daily News site requesting responses from members of the public regarding the ongoing turmoil over San Mateo County Sheriff Greg Munks.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Hello, My name is Michael Manekin.

I'm a reporter at the San Mateo Times, and I'm working on a story about the public's reaction to the Vegas scandal.

I want to know if county residents care about the incident--and if they do, what they think should be done. Recall the sheriff? An independent investigation? An ethics commission? A change to the county charter? Nothing at all?

If you're a resident of San Mateo County and have an opinion on this matter, I'd like to arrange an interview.

Please e-mail me at mmanekin@bayareanewsgroup.com.

Thank you,

Michael

It has been a year since Munks and Undersheriff Carlos Bolanos were detained by law enforcement officials in a sweep of brothels in Las Vegas, Nevada under a two year investigation named “Operation Dollhouse”.

Both lawmen were in Las Vegas for a relay race for law enforcement agencies throughout the Western United States. At the time, Munks and company were the subject of a fierce media storm and weathered editorial calls for their resignations issued by, among many, the Daily Journal and the Half Moon Bay Review. But weather the storm they did, with the help of compliant political allies on the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors who did nothing in response. And that has been the modis operandi for a year.

That had been the case until Friday, April 18, 2008 when the San Mateo Daily News published a stunning expose and reexamination of the Sheriff’s visit to a house of ill-repute and subsequent silence on the issue on the part of the county’s leadership. Of greatest significance in the expose is the new call for an investigation of Munks and Bolanos by the county’s two top political leaders, Congresswomen Jackie Speier and Anna Eshoo.

Since then there have been numerous articles, op-eds, letters to the editor and even accusations between candidates now running to replace Assemblyman Gene Mullin in the June Democratic Primary.

San Mateo County Supervisor Jerry Hill has been at the center of the media firestorm as he is now one of the candidates running for Assembly and had taken thousands of dollars in donations from Munks and members of Munks’ family who also hosted a fundraiser for Hill in November of 2007, just months after the brothel bust.

In response Hill has returned some of the funds he collected from Munks and, in concert with Supervisor Adrienne Tissier, is poised to suggest options for the county to respond to the Munks event, and perhaps future events by independently elected county officials.

Hill and company’s response, a full year after the brothel bust, is likely in a reaction to the intense media scrutiny and the looming election.

In preparation for that event, Times reporter Manekin is soliciting perspectives from county residents and voters to gauge voter interest in seeing that county officials take action to discipline Munks and, perhaps more importantly, publicly react to questionable behavior on the part of elected officials rather than simply turning a blind eye – or have them host a fundraiser.