Former Modesto City Councilman Bruce Frohman couldn’t suppress a parting shot at Supervisor Jim DeMartini, whose own parting comments about California seemed to many observers both ungrateful and churlish. ed.
According to an article appearing in the July 26, 2019 Modesto Bee, Stanislaus County Supervisor Jim DeMartini plans to move to Reno after his term expires in 2020. The reasons given for the move were his expectation of paying no state income taxes and excessive California regulations. Ironically, the article went on to list some of the many regulations he helped create and impose on his Stanislaus County constituents, including his commitment to regulation of marijuana sales.
As DeMartini was head of the Stanislaus County Republican Party for many years, the fact that Democrats seem to have a firm lock on the California State legislature may also be a contributing factor to the decision to move. And, as he watches the strength of Republicans in Stanislaus County politics wane, his incentive to move grows.
The DeMartini Record In Stanislaus County
After successfully advocating for and passing Stanislaus County’s thirty-year one-percent sales tax for roads, DeMartini’s sudden desire to avoid taxes by moving is ironic. Add to that the fact that he has received a Stanislaus County government salary of well over $50,000 annually for a part time job in every year since 2004, and that he will receive a pension paid for by tax payers, his anti-government posture seems more ironic.
The Modesto Bee article reported that DeMartini sold his 1100 acre ranch between Ceres and Patterson to purchase property in Reno. During the Supervisor’s many years in farming, how much money in government subsidies did Mr. DeMartini’s “over- regulated” ranch receive? And did he have Williamson Act property tax breaks?
Supervisor DeMartini must be worth millions of dollars, part of the richest one percent in Stanislaus County. He has accumulated much wealth with the help of government largess and Mr. DeMartini does not want to give anything back by paying taxes? Ironic.
Supervisor DeMartini has been a staunch supporter of President Trump. Hasn’t Trump been working to eliminate health insurance for the poor, attacked people based on skin color, and worked against the well-being of over half of DeMartini’s constituents? DeMartini has also brought controversial speakers like Ann Coulter to town. What did she do to improve the quality of life or political discourse to the community?
Good Luck in Reno
Supervisor DeMartini looks forward to a better life in Reno. There is no agriculture, so he won’t be running a business that he knows.
The Reno area is presently experiencing an unprecedented boom, with the urban area spreading rapidly like a malignant mushroom. The Truckee Meadows are full up, mountain to mountain, spreading into neighboring valleys.
In 2008, the recession in Reno crashed real estate values as hard as Modesto. Another big recession is on the horizon, an inevitable part of the business cycle.
Reno does not currently have an income tax, so either higher property taxes or inadequate social services make up the difference between California and Nevada. Reno has a robust homeless population. The impoverished survive with less in Nevada.
The bad news for Supervisor DeMartini was recently disclosed to me by a Republican friend who lives in Reno. The friend complained that Democrats from California are moving to Reno in droves to accept new technology jobs being created there. He lamented that Nevada is turning into a blue state, with higher taxes and more regulation. This fact was confirmed by another friend in Las Vegas. Ironically, the Democrats from which DeMartini seeks to escape will be moving with him. Better to move to Missouri, Supervisor.
Supervisor DeMartini, are you looking for a better environment? If you like drier weather, Reno is fine if you don’t mind your face becoming wrinkled and aging quicker. Hopefully, you are not allergic to sagebrush. Last December, one visitor couldn’t stop his nose from running during a three day stay in Reno. During wet years, allergies are more pervasive.
Nevada is a mining state. Air quality has not been a concern to the Republican leaders of Nevada. Toxic chemical waste becomes airborne on many of the frequent windy days due to minimal regulation. But the supervisor doesn’t like regulation, so he shouldn’t complain like a Democrat when the cloud blows his direction.
Goodbye, Supervisor
Why not resign now, so you can help get a Republican appointed to take your place on the Board of Supervisors? Get to Reno before the Democrats run the city, if not already too late.
Know that some Republicans appreciate the service you provided to Stanislaus County since 2004. However, your departure will be evidence that you helped make the county less livable during your tenure. (You wouldn’t be leaving if the county had become a better place to live.) Be confident in knowing that when you move to Reno from Stanislaus County, qualities of life will become better for the people in at least one of those places.
Wow, Bruce Frohman. Talk about sour grapes. Seems like you are like one of those San Francisco Bay Area leftists that takes issues with someone’s party preference even though it is a nonpartisan position. And what is also apparent is you have no clue what a great supervisor DeMartini has been for the west side. Over his tenure, DeMartini has attend almost all government meetings on the West Side unless there were conflicts. I have attended City meetings in both Patterson and Newman and DeMartini is a fixture at these meetings along with other government meetings that affect the west side. He vigorously fought the awful West Park Project which was opposed on the West Side. DeMartini always campaigned door to door and came to my house when I lived in town to listen to my concerns. When I needed assistance over the years on a couple of matters DeMartini promptly called me back and helped to resolve my issues. and BTW, I don’t give a crap who he supports for president. As far as the sales tax, he supported the original but opposed the following one because he felt original was enough and that they did not keep piling on. Oh and BTW, DeMartini’s predecessor on the board ” Democrat ” Paul Caruso, never saw the guy during his term as Supervisor. You never saw him on the west side unless it was for a photo op. When running for reelection, Caruso was nowhere to be found.
Interesting comment Westsider, considering Mr. DeMartini was an enforcer of local policy that forbade any member of the Republican Party from endorsing a Democrat. Doubly interesting in view of Mr. Demartini’s wife’s attempts to silence an employee at Modesto Junior College for exercising First Amendment rights in opposition to her husband while she was an MJC board member. Double standard?
Yes Eric lets go after hs=is wife. While we are at it lets complain about ballot harvesting and activist busing, Lets go after his wife. DeMartini was a great representative for the westside ni amount of mud changes that, And Bruce Froham had to go whine in a letter to the Bee about a constituent who had written a letter thanking Denham for helping him in matter,, Seems Bruce is triggered these days
Hey Bruce! You da’ man! You were very gentle to Jim in your remarks, even failed to ask how this humble public servant burdened as he is by our taxes, and making do on $50K a year could accumulate 31 vintage automobiles. tsk tsk Jim, you won’t be missed. A bunch of my leftist pals & I passed the hat to chip in for the taxes you won’t be here to pay.
Bruce, those who care about our precious farmland and our way of life, salute you!
it might not be so easy to prosper and Reno without all your grandfathered rights to the Natural Resources
Seriously, I am, as I am certain many many others are, extremely sick and tired, literally, of reading and hearing such venom-laden biting remarks about our fellow human beings. All men are created equal, thus, if you want to point out differences in thoughts and actions, then do so, but cease and desist tearing people apart as if we are ravenous wolves, rather than brothers and sisters who are free moral agents capable of making up our own minds. We all need to open multiple dialogs about very serious subjects, not open one another’s jugular veins when we disagree. What ever happened to that “California laid back style” I used to always hear about? “IF MY PEOPLE…. WILL HUMBLE THEMSELVES, AND PRAY,…. I WIĹL HEAL THE LAND”, promises the Lord. (2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV) Read the entire Biblical verse and ask what each of us can do to bring peaceable fruit to Stanislaus County. How dare any one of us point our finger at one another, as if we alone have all the answers. We are all in this together, like it or not. “Blessed are the peacemakers…” (Matthew 5:9 KJV) “….Out of the hearts abundance the mouth will speak”. (Matther 12:34 KJV. Thank you for your earnest consideration of us your readers, who prefer news not smut. I am neither Democrat nor Republican precisely due to all the damaging devisiveness. How are we ever going to reach a meeting of the minds when we cause such defenseness to erect walls. Ouch!!!
Thank you Mr Valero. I hope you forwarded your comments to Ann Coulter.
What is the purpose of writing an article like this? To demonstrate the author’s hatred for another person? We get it, you don’t agree with DeMartini’s politics, but what purpose does such personal vitriol serve?
I don’t know much about Supervisor DeMartini, and I do not intend this comment to be in his defense, but I do know something about Mr. Frohman based on this article: He is a little man.
This is shameful content.
There’s nothing shameful about pointing out the ironies of those who profit handsomely from government policy moaning about the evils of government as they take their money and run.
Eric Caine,
what utter nonsense. DeMartini has been a great representative for the West Side. All the work he contributed to Laird Park. Unlike his Dem predecessor who was nowhere to be found. And it was DeMartini who was the biggest supporter of LAFCO’s farmland preservation policy unlike some of our local politicians some of whom were Democrats who were the best friends the BIA and local developers ever had
Why is someone who was a part time worker for several years getting a paid pension?
Well, after taking what he could get from the public trough, I’m a bit gob=smacked that DeMartini will be drawing a pension (courtesy of us taxpayers) for his years of generally provocative approaches to serving his constituents: (I was the third generation of my family born and raised on the West Side…fortunately served my stint on the Rep Central Committee representing that district before he came along!) Hope he enjoys Reno…. and hope they have better barbers than wherever he was going here in California as he’ll need to shed that dated “Beatles” look in the more conservative areas of “The Biggest Little City in the World!”
Bye, byeeee, Jimmy!
I regret if my article caused offense.
For years, I admired Mr. DeMartini’s advocacy for the protection of farm land. Now, he is joining the urban sprawl of another community. My article was inspired by his negative comments about the community he is leaving–ours.
The County Board of Supervisors is not supposed to be partisan, but both major parties operate as if it is.
Interesting how Republicans so easily take offense. They can dish out insults anonymously, but cannot take criticism.
Disclaimer: I am not a member of any political party.
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