“This is about a profound contrast in moral vision for what America should be.” Josh Harder America is names, names and stories. The names—Madueno and Kolasinski, Nou and Tanaka, Harder and Hughes and Hernandez, Lakestani and Dashputre, Ricci and Costello and Talbott, Pallios and Nelson and Scribner—all have stories, and some of those stories were told at Saturday’s March for Families in downtown Modesto. Julissa Ruiz Ramirez told the story of […]
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The Chase Is On—High Speed Pursuits in Stanislaus County
Read more of Steve Ringhoff’s reporting here. The two largest law enforcement agencies in Stanislaus County allow their officers to chase just about anyone for just about anything. So, they do. Sometimes they chase real bad guys. Other times it’s for trivial vehicle code violation—fix-it ticket kinds of things—at speeds of 100 mph in both instances. We have obtained four and a half years of reports by the Stanislaus Sheriff’s […]
Denham and Friends: Is Dirty Money the New Norm?
“Rep. Denham may have found a new low in despicable campaign tactics.” Headlines about the latest Trump scandal—this time about a phony charitable foundation used to launder money—have become ho-hum moments. It’s pretty hard to top payoffs to porn stars and Russian bagmen. But dirty money in politics isn’t anything new; in fact, it’s now a political norm. Maybe because it happened three years ago, recent news that former Oakdale […]
CA-10 Democrats Dodge Howze-it-zer
With all but a few votes now counted, it appears the turnout for Democratic candidates in California Congressional District 10 (CA-10) was up over fifty percent from 2014, the last off-year election. In the 2014 primary, Democrats Michael Eggman and Mike Barkley totaled 30,809, with Eggman logging 19,804 votes. This year, with six Democratic candidates’ names on the ballot, total Democratic votes were 49,611—but even with the dramatic increase in […]
Last Minute Guide to Stanislaus Elections
The only flaw in Thomas Friedman’s recent column in the New York Times is he didn’t include advice all down the ballot. The message is clear enough: If you want to save the traditions and institutions that constitute American values, vote for a Democrat. Still, there are cases where multiple Democrats are running and other cases where we must choose between two Republicans. So for those who are still mulling […]
In the Race for CA-10, Harder’s the One
Turlock native son Josh Harder has suddenly become a target for supporters of other candidates, especially those who favor Sue Zwahlen and Michael Eggman. It’s a sure sign Harder has broken away from the pack in California Congressional District 10 (CA-10), where the crowded field also includes Virginia Madueno, Mike Barkley, and Republicans Jeff Denham and Ted Howze. Probably the most consistent theme in the attack letters appearing in local […]
Damrell Easy Choice for Supervisor
There’s probably no better contrast in the race for supervisor in Stanislaus County’s District 4 than that between Frank Damrell and his opponents Tom Berryhill and Janice Keating. Everything about Frank Damrell represents Modesto’s and the county’s better days, while too much about Berryhill and Keating reminds us of the calumny and corruption in the era of Trump. Steve Ringhoff’s excellent report about Tom Berryhill’s violations of rules required by […]
Homeless and Mentally Ill: the Families
Sadie Koch was stunned when she learned a few weeks ago that her sister, Mary Baca, is homeless. Though she hadn’t seen her in well over three years, Sadie, who lives in Escalon, thought Mary was still living in Modesto with her friend and partner Linda.* The sisters had never been particularly close, but reunited when Mary returned to the Valley from Los Angeles, where she worked for a supermarket […]
Chief FPPC enforcer called Berryhill scheme, “Cheating…plain and simple.”
A current candidate for Stanislaus County Supervisor in District 4, Tom Berryhill was fined $40,000 in 2014 by the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC). Was this a technical violation of complex campaign law? Did Mr. Berryhill admit the violation? Was he repentant? The answer to all three questions appears to be, “No.” Why look at this “historical” event, stemming from activity in 2008? Well, while the fine was widely reported, […]
Local Politics: The Republican Double Standard
Valley Democrats need to follow the Republican example and put party over person Especially since Donald Trump prevailed in the 2016 presidential election, Democrats have been urged to develop better understanding and sympathy for Trump supporters. The idea is that Trump supporters have good reasons to support Trump and Democrats need to understand and address those reasons so that they can develop a winning platform next election. We call BS. […]