Fallout from Monday's GOP debate - Amador asks for investigation

There has been a lot of buzz since Monday's GOP debate about candidate Robert Beadles' assertions that the January 4 raid on his home and business (RBI, a construction safety company) was politically motivated. Beadles also alluded during the debate that one of the other candidates has hired illegal aliens and cheated on taxes, though that wasn't reported in the papers.

Today's Stockton Record has an article "Probe of raid urged" which reports that another candidate, former US Marshal Tony Amador, sent a letter to California Attorney General Jerry Brown asking him to investigate the allegation by Beadles that the raid was politically motivated in an attempt to intimidate Beadles and discourage or dissuade him from running for office. I'd post a link here to the Record article, but they've gone to a "pay wall" format this week so you wouldn't be able to read it unless you have a subscription.

On Beadles' official campaign website, he has a copy of what basically is a press release sent out the morning of the raid from his competitor's office (Farwest Safety) notifying Brad Goehring, Jerry McNerny, the Contractors State License Board and every newspaper in the area of the raid. Also on Beadles' website is a signed statement by one of his employees recounting a phone call he received from an employee of Farwest Safety while the raid was in progress. The timing of the phone call and the press release are suspicious, as if Farwest Safety knew in advance that Beadles' business was going to be searched.

A few weeks ago, Contra Costa Times political editor Lisa Vorderbrueggen uncovered information that a campaign consultant for Brad Goehring had been anonymously bashing three of the other candidates, including Beadles and Amador, on a conservative political blog. When he was confronted, the consultant David Creager admitted it and said he didn't realize it was a conflict of interest. You can read the entire article here.

In a statement to The Record, another consultant for Goehring, Carl Fogliani, said that the Goehring campaign had nothing to do with the search of RBI and called the accusation "delusional." Sheriff Steve Moore, whose office headed up the investigation of the complaint against Beadles, has endorsed Goehring as a candidate but claimed he had no idea that Beadles was also a candidate until a briefing on the raid on January 4.

Keep an eye on this story, it might have "legs." There is nothing new about political opponents trashing each other's reputations.... we all witnessed the vicious campaign against Lathrop Mayor Kristy Sayles in 2008. This campaign seems even more vicious if the accusations by Beadles against Goehring turn out to be true and even more disturbing if it involves the sheriff's department.

Madonna - Don't cry for me Lathrop/Manteca
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We rented Evita this week. It was fantastic! I'd never seen it before. This is how I remember these events, but my memory could be a little off.

Lathropart

Last night after the council meeting Mayor Sayles beamed with pride as she gave some of the press a "special tour" of the creativity of Lathrop citizens.

At right is a sneak preview of the mayor's prize winning art! I wasn't sure what she called it at first. Chaotic Sun? Psychotic Sun? Oh, the actual name is Complex Sun. I think I may have called it "Metal Cat Hacked This Up" but that's just me.

An additional image:
Mayor Sayles points out special features in some of the painting/photographs. I think. Hey, wait a sec... where's my monocle?

Lathrop politics out of control (again)

Last Friday during a meeting of the Mayor's Art Show Committee, a verbal and physical altercation broke out between Planning Commissioner Dan MacNeilage (a frequent commenter on this website), the mayor's husband Thomas Sayles (a member of the committee) and Ron Rhodes, husband of former mayor Gloryanna Rhodes. The Manteca Bulletin did an article about the fracas yesterday after talking to MacNeilage and Rhodes but, as usual, was "unable" to reach the Sayles for any comment.

What could prompt a planning commissioner and a former mayor's husband to show up at a committee meeting (a committee on which neither sits) for the sole purpose of starting a fight with the current mayor's husband? I don't have the answer to that, but there's some small hint that there's a lot of resentment and anger over the annual Mayor's Art Show in the video from the last Lathrop city council meeting where J. "Chaka" Santos accuses the mayor of disrespecting Bennie Gatto (former mayor) and tells her it's not her committee.

Santos and MacNeilage are bullies and I guess we can add Ron Rhodes to that list now too. Santos smacks his fists during his "citizen's forum" rants at Mayor Kristy Sayles, like he wants to punch her. MacNeilage makes frequent threatening statements on this website, saying things like someone's going to "get hurt real bad" if we don't stop what we're doing. I would suggest to MacNeilage and others who have made threats to us over publishing their pictures and statements here, that if you don't want to be talked about, then stop showing up at public meetings and stop speaking at those meetings.

Commissioner MacNeilage seems to have appointed himself spokesman and enforcer for Lathrop politics and he says that he went to the Arts Committee meeting to "talk to Sayles" because he reportedly had "upset" some of the committee members and "made Joyce Gatto cry." (Joyce Gatto declined to comment to the Bulletin.) He admitted telling Sayles "you're not wanted here, you're not needed here" even though Sayles is a member of the committee and MacNeilage is not. Apparently, the bullies in Lathrop think they can get their way through brute force, and the ugly threats that have been flying around the past year have now escalated to physical violence.

Four years ago Kristy Sayles was the darling of Lathrop politics, backed by then mayor Gloryanna Rhodes and other prominent Lathropians. I think they thought that Sayles, being young and a newcomer to politics, would continue the "good old boys club" way of doing things that has been standard in the town for many years. When Sayles showed that she had a mind of her own and bucked the old establishment in Lathrop politics, the fangs and daggers came out. First came the vicious website that tried to destroy her and her family through ugly rumors and lies, false complaints to government agencies and the grand jury. Now we can add assault and battery to the frightening list of disgraceful actions taken in the name of politics.

Lathrop participants complain

Here some citizens rightly complain about Manteca Live's juvenile commentary. Dan is right, we aren't in junior high. Our previous satire was beneath us and we apologize for any implication or insult.

Here is the actual video of the Lathrop meeting so you can see there was no evidence of wild chimpanzees.

The hits keep coming

Today's Manteca Bulletin has an article about whether Lathrop should have an elected mayor or go back to the old days where members of the city council rotated the duties of the mayor. In an interview with one person, planning commissioner Dan MacNeilage, the Bulletin gives publicity to the League of Extraodinary Gadflies and their neverending quest to destroy Mayor Kristy Sayles. Nevermind that the voters overwhelmingly decided they wanted an elected mayor back in 1994 and nevermind that the voters also overwhelmingly elected Sayles to be their mayor in the last two elections. Since the mayor's term of office is only 2 years, they must be afraid the citizens of Lathrop might elect her to a third term. The League of Extraordinary Village Idiots thinks they know what's best for Lathrop, not the voters.

This latest attack comes after an attempt to keep Mayor Sayles from going on a lobbying trip to Washington DC this month as part of the regional One Voice group that includes representatives from Manteca and neighboring cities.

One question for the Bulletin and reporter Rose Albano-Risso: Why are you giving these detractors so much time and column space in your newspaper? Could it be that Albano-Risso is friends with developers Tom and Cathy Luckey who allegedly bankrolled the vicious website that attacked Mayor Sayles and her family last year? The Luckeys have deep ties to MacNeilage and one of the other League members, "Chaka" Santos, another bully critic of the mayor. Santos also ran for mayor last election but lost by a landslide. The article decries the name-calling and mudslinging that went on during the election, but blames it on Mayor Sayles! Anyone who follows this blog knows where the name-calling and mud-slinging came from and it wasn't from the mayor.

Shame on the Bulletin and Albano-Risso for spreading such nonsense and for being an accomplice in this continued bullying smear campaign against Lathrop and its mayor.

The League of Ignorant Villagers are bullies. Maybe in person Commissioner MacNeilage is a nice friendly guy but behind the keyboard he becomes a vicious bully who threatens to knock some teeth out when he doesn't like something. MacNeilage was one of the biggest posters on the website against Mayor Sayles last year and claimed it was all in good fun but seems he can't take it when some fun is poked in his direction.

Misplaced anger and self-righteousness

In the last few weeks, much ado has been made over what amounts to minor expenditures by local governments. First we had the scathing opinion piece in the Manteca Bulletin about Lathrop politicians and city employees "stuffing their faces" on shrimp and cake paid for by taxpayers. Next, we had the "petition" to stop Lathrop's mayor from making a lobbying trip to Washington which received way more media coverage than it deserved. Now we have the Bulletin raking the city of Manteca over the coals for holding their annual employee recognition awards banquet last weekend.

Let's review a little bit. As Manteca Live pointed out, the shrimp-laden receptions Lathrop is fond of holding are open to the public. Anyone (even me who doesn't live in Lathrop) can go to one of those receptions and have some shrimp and cake and schmooze with local politicians. I wish Manteca would hold more receptions that are open to the public.

Then, there's the infamous petition circulated by the League of Extraordinary Gadflies that garnered all of 60 signatures demanding that the Lathrop mayor not take a planned trip to Washington DC, the purpose of which is to lobby for some of the federal tax dollars being tossed around due to the "stimulus" and "bailouts." Even though we've received threats over our stand on this, we still say $5,000 to send the mayor and the interim city manager on this trip is a small price to pay to try to get some of the money that's available from Washington right now. While the critics claim this is not the right time to be spending money on this trip, we argue that it's EXACTLY the right time. There are billions of dollars being given away and any local government that doesn't try to grab some of it is missing out on a chance to help their community.

Critics say Lathrop has spent $45,000 on the Washington trips over the past 8 years and only brought back $1.6 million. That's an excellent return on their investment. But let's not focus on the realities, it's more fun to pretend we're outraged. Though they deny it vigorously, it's obvious to anyone who follows local politics that the attempt to keep the mayor home is personal on the part of the League of Extraordinary Also-Rans. At least two of the League members have close ties to the developers rumored to have bank-rolled the vicious campaign last year to oust the mayor and this is just a continuation of the attacks.

The latest hit piece from the Bulletin criticizes Manteca city employees for partying on the taxpayer dime while people are losing their jobs and homes. This is another attempt to rile up the masses over something that "sounds like you should be outraged about" but is really another drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of the budget. The city employees are still "employees" whether we're paying them or someone else is and they deserve recognition just like anyone else who is doing a good job. And in another back-handed slap at Lathrop, at the end of the article about the Manteca party, Wyatt AGAIN brings up the damned shrimp cocktails saying $300 could pay the cost of a household's sewer and water for a year. I'm picturing Mayor Sayles dressed up like Marie Antoinette saying "let them eat cake (and shrimp)!"

All this complaining about minor expenditures is just pandering to people feeling the crunch of a recession and manufacturing false outrage and envy. Instead of focusing on the small things, why isn't the Bulletin or the League of Extraordinary Gadflies pointing out the big problems with government, like the bloated union-negotiated salaries and benefits packages that are bankrupting us. Or the Redevelopment Agency that puts us into debt and sucks tax money away from the general fund and schools and gives it to big retailers. Those are the real golden calves that no one wants to criticize. So instead we point out the little things and try to incite outrage while the elephant in the room is ignored.

Correction: rumor Lathrop mayor attacked by wild chimpanzee false.

Correction: The previous article ( Mayor Sayles attacked by pack of wild chimpanzees at council meeting, Manteca Live Mar 17, 2009) was found to be in error and has been removed. We regret the error.

After wildlife biologists examined still frames from the council meeting video, it was determined that the attackers were not a pack of wild chimpanzees but were former mayoral office seekers known as The League of Extraordinary Candidates whose super powers, when combined, can mimic political attack.

And instead of reading "the mayors body was dismembered and pieces shipped to Oakdale, Stockton, 'Alpine County' and Washington D.C." the sentence should read "The mayor was unharmed in the attack and will be travelling to represent the city's interests in Washington D.C."

We regret any inconvenience the error may have caused.

Sayles, Salcedo, and some guy sworn in

Mayor Kristy Sayles was sworn into a second term as the leader of Lathrop, California. The mood was festive. Unlike the cheapskates at Manteca who held their swearing in ceremony at what appeared to be a museum quality replica of Hitler's underground bunker, there was a nice spread of sandwiches and cocktail shrimp, punch, cake and coffee at the Lathrop soirée.

Shown at right, Mayor Kristy Sayles flanked by her minister(L) and husband Thomas (R) after taking the oath of office. (Councilman Sonny Daliwahl is shown in the background.)

In addition, Martha Salcedo, previously appointed to the council by Mayor Sayles, was overwhelmingly approved by the voters in her first election. Salcedo takes her place on the council for another four years.

The other guy is believed to be Christopher Mateo, a dark horse candidate who somehow appeared on the ballot and received 0.51 percent more votes than the incumbent. He replaces Councilman Steve Dresser on the council. Good luck!

Lathrop voters reject vicious campaign

The election is over and Lathrop's Mayor Kristy Sayles won handily in a 4-way race but the sour grapes and animosity continue. According to the Manteca Bulletin, Sayles' bitter foes are calling the paper and demanding that they look into the mayor's "sins." They can't fathom how someone as "immoral" as they claim Sayles is, could have won a second term. They apparently also can't fathom how their venom and vicious attacks helped her get re-elected.

How many of us can say that we've led exemplary lives, free of mistakes and embarrassments, that would withstand the scrutiny that Sayles and her family endured for many months? She lied about her age when she was 16 or 17, she wrote a check that bounced when she was 20. She's been married 4 times. Does any of that disqualify her for public office? No. She accepted thousands of dollars in campaign donations 2 years ago from developers but didn't roll over and do what they demanded. Should she return the donations as some have suggested? Wouldn't that indicate that the developers only donated to her in expectation of favors in return? Is that what Lathrop wants?

Obviously not. Her detractors say that she didn't win a "majority" so the vote was really "against" Sayles, not for her. In America, votes "against" a candidate don't count, only votes "for" and more Lathrop citizens voted for Sayles than her closest competition. Robert Oliver and John Rock, both of whom were running against Sayles, denounced the website that tried to take her down, but only in the last week or so before the election. Why didn't they denounce it earlier? Both had been enthusiastic posters on the site in the beginning, joining in and encouraging others to "burn the witch" for her sins. Did they think people wouldn't remember? I find it particularly distasteful (and hypocritical) that Oliver is crying that Sayles ran a "negative" campaign and called him "waterboy." Boo hoo.

The second highest vote-getter in the race for mayor was J. "Chaka" Santos. Though Santos didn't participate in the smear website, he was very vocal in his criticism of the mayor on issues but came across to the public as being a very angry person. People might respond well to anger if there's been some grave injustice and the angry candidate is rallying to right it, but I don't think people thought Sayles had done such a bad job in the past. Santos' anger and theatrics at city council meetings didn't sit well with most voters.

In the end, it was Kristy Sayles who prevailed. Maybe it wasn't a landslide, but she certainly beat her closest rivals by a resounding margin. The citizens of Lathrop rejected the brutal and anonymous campaign against her. They also rejected the quieter campaign against Martha Salcedo, city council member who was called Sayles' stooge and accomplice. Salcedo won re-election hands down. In contrast, incumbent Steve Dresser was beaten by newcomer Chris Mateo but only by a few votes so we'll have to wait for the final results on that one.

I can't help but think that the vicious campaign against Sayles has made her a stronger person and probably a better mayor. She kept calm and held her head high when so-called friends and colleagues shunned her because of embarrassing gossip posted on an anonymous website.

My mother (bless her soul) used to tell me that whatever doesn't kill us makes us stronger and that adversity builds character and my mother was always right.

Negative campaign?

Am I reading this nonsense right? Is Rose Albano-Risso trying to tell us that Mayor Sayles is responsible for the terrible "negative campaign" in Lathrop? Are my eyes deceiving me? Did she actually write that? And the paper printed it?

Doesn't Risso realize that just the fact that kristysales.com was created by someone other than "Kristy Sayles" indicates that it's not the Mayor doing the "sleazy" campaign? Ms. Risso here's a clue for you: If a website uses someone's name as the URL, and it's really made by someone else that alone is dishonest. Did you ever explain this to the readers?

Is the sleazy campaign the mayor's fault? For a trivial comment? Is it reasonable to draw some moral equivalence between the things said to Sayles and what she said? That's a joke and a double standard.

Maybe you're confused. Take out a paper and write down the things that the people campaigning for Oliver have called the Mayor, then write down the things Mayor Sayles has said.

Under the "Oliver campaign" you can list the following:

• Criminal!
• Liar!
• falsified documents
• bigamist!
• child abuser!
• husband beater!
• Irresponsible!
• called "whore" or "slut" (translated from Spanish)
• Adulterous!
• she's divorced!
• Improper illegal business practices!
• no business license!
• Destroys people's lives, dictator, reign of terror!

All of which is either false or malicious/vindictive/reckless interpretation. And I mean all. Someone I'm sure will point to the "criminal conviction." Sure thing, a $370 fine 'cause her bank closed her account before somene got paid. Admitted mistake and paid same fine as rolling through a right turn at a red light. If that's the definition of "criminal" then you're a criminal and I'm a criminal. Anyone who ever got a traffic ticket has a "criminal conviction" so if that's you, you're "a criminal."

Under the Sayles campaign you can list:

• Said someone was a "waterboy for the developers" (who are funding the smear website and despicable campaign of lies)
• Called developers "greedy" and said they want to use the City of Lathrop like their personal ATM machine

Oh my stars how terrible! I don't know how anyone could stoop so low as to say someone is a "waterboy." I sure hope Mr. Oliver, I'm sorry Reverend Oliver, no I'm sorry Professor Oliver will somehow survive the onslaught of negativity! And now calling developers greedy constitutes a negative campaign too? Are they running for office?

How well has that or any of these articles served to inform the voting public about the issues? Zero!

Mr. Wyatt, editor of the Manteca Bulletin, you have a newspaper to straighten out.

Lathrop and Mayor Sayles press on

Today, both the Manteca Bulletin and the Stockton Record ran prominent stories about Lathrop politics. Bulletin editor Dennis Wyatt defended Mayor Kristy Sayles against some of the 'brutal' attacks being made on her including from his own newspaper. In the article he links the mailer recently sent out by Lathrop's Dan MacNeilage to TCN Properties (Tom and Cathie Luckey) by their postal permit number. Isn't that curious?

The Bulletin's assassin, Rose Albano-Risso, wrote a story about Lathrop's city manager, Yvonne Quiring, who is supposed to be getting a sum of $335,000 to leave her position today. At the core of the termination supposedly is a letter from the city employees union, SEIU, complaining about Quiring. Between the unions and the developers, who's really running things at city hall? Both groups seem to wield undue power and have enough money and influence to mobilize and destroy people they don't like.

The Record story is about the 'vicious' campaign against Sayles and her request to have the grand jury investigate the website behind most of it, kristysayles.com. Two of Sayles' opponents, Robert Oliver and John Rock, were quoted in the article as decrying the nastiness of the website, but say Sayles brought some of it on herself. Oliver basically says that it's what Sayles deserves because "she attacked local developers." Rock thinks it's only a handful of people posting under different names and that the website has its positives because information about Sayles is getting out and "people are getting involved." (getting involved in libel maybe)

Two weeks ago the Record weakly endorsed Robert Oliver, saying it was more a vote of no confidence against Sayles.

Manteca Bulletin's assassin

What an election season this has been. In less than a week, it will all be over and our country will have a new president. Whether it's Obama or McCain, it will be an historic event for the United States. We will either have the nation's first Black president or the nation's first woman vice president. God bless America...we're gonna need it.

Political campaigns have always been nasty and ugly, even when we pretend to be civil. One of the nastiest campaigns I've ever seen is playing out in the city of Lathrop. With the mayor's and two council seats up for grabs (potentially three council seats if the councilman running for mayor wins), there's a tremendous amount of power, prestige and money at stake. Someone with lots of money to spend and even more to gain from ousting the current administration is bankrolling the vile campaign to unseat mayor Kristy Sayles.

In the last 10 days or so, Rose Albano-Risso, city editor of the Manteca Bulletin, has written two hit pieces on Lathrop's mayor Kristy Sayles and taken pot shots at her in a couple others. The Bulletin rarely "disses" local politicians like this. For the most part, they treat incumbents and candidates with respect and they usually don't do endorsements. This is the opposite of an endorsement and is even lower than the Bulletin's usual ethical standards.

In the first piece, Albano-Risso chastises the mayor like a child for being mean and ungrateful to developers Tom and Cathie Luckey, beneficent landed gentry of Lathrop who bestow goodness and mercy upon all the citizens there. The Luckeys contributed to the mayor's last campaign but they are aggrieved that she hasn't given them special treatment or something and they have been very vocal about their displeasure with Sayles.

In the most recent hit piece published prominently on page 1, Albano-Risso interviews political opponents and known enemies of the mayor and repeats opinions, accusations and outrage posted on a smear website from unnamed "citizens." She got around the standard journalistic ethic of allowing someone being smeared in print to respond by calling the mayor's home late at night when the mayor was sleeping. The article was published a few hours after that phone call was made. From the tone of Albano-Risso's article, one would almost think this was done on purpose.

It looks like the Manteca Bulletin, or at least its city editor, has joined the ignorant villagers.

Flyer flap

Outrageous fabrications attributed to Dan MacNeilage!(?)

I have a few questions:

1. Was this really sent by Dan?

2. Was it "paid for by Dan MacNeilage" as it says? Including postage?

3. Who's permit number 819?

4. Didn't someone calling himself Dan MacNeilage complain bitterly when I pointed out that the Sayles smear website was "full of fabrications?" What are those pictures of checks? I got some questions from people in Lathrop and they believed those checks were supposed to be photographs of actual checks! Of course they are not.

5. How do you vote against someone? Why does that language sound familiar?

6. Did the mayor really "write a check" for 37 million dollars? Does the mayor keep the city checkbook in her purse? Doesn't it take four other members of the city council? Why do you show only "Kristy Sayles" on the check fabricated for this mailer? Is that to make it look like Kristy Sayles alone does things? Is she like a dictator now?

7. Why is the mayor being blamed for the school's sewer? The schools are not built by the city! The schools are built by the Manteca Unified School District (MUSD).

I happened to be at that MUSD meeting when "some guy" from some builder/sub-contractor, I don't even remember, sauntered before the school board and "announced" that he wasn't going to finish the sewer pipe -- he didn't feel like it because he felt someone (the main contractor or the school board or someone) "owed him money."

This was during public comments, it wasn't even on the agenda. The trustees had to ask him, "eh... the school opens in two weeks...when we flush the toilet, what happens?" And "this guy" said there was some tank out there and they could truck out the waste. And then he left. This was a complete surprise -- two weeks before the school opened. No one at the school board or the mayor or any member of the public knew there was some problem before this guy "dropped" it on us.

The problem is not related to sewer capacity. There is plenty of sewer capacity. That's what the city was responsible for. If the guy didn't build the pipe correctly, that's not Mayor Sayles' fault. If anything, it was the fault of the contractor and it's somehow related to some "cash flow" problems from one of the big land-developers.

Both MacNeilage and Councilman Oliver have raised this spurious issue. What's bad is they both know better. They both know the mayor cannot fix disputes at the school district.

8. Aren't those payments related to "pay as you go" development agreements? And guess what -- who approved of "pay as you go" (crazy method of development)? The mailer blames Sayles for these payments. The exact opposite is true: Mayor Sayles voted against the things she's being blamed for! It was Oliver, Rhodes and Dresser who voted in favor of the "pay as you go!"

This is right from the public record (page 8 of the pdf), the minutes from the 18 Jul 06 meeting of the Lathrop City Council.

After hearing about the "pay as you go" scheme from Richland and Richland's consultant and after public discussion, Sayles (then mayor pro tempore) moved to approve the agreement without the pay as you go provision. Mayor Rhodes, Councilmen Oliver and Dresser voted against this and the motion failed. Immediately after that, Mayor Rhodes moved to approve the pay as you go development. Rhodes, Oliver, and Dresser voted "yes" and Sayles and Dhaliwal voted "no!"

Here's a page from the documents (people seem to like documents). You can click on the image to enlarge it or look at the original pdf file (pg 8 and 9).

No wonder so many are throwing so much money at getting Sayles out of the way. Sayles is the only thing standing between the developers and big money taken from the Lathrop taxpayers!

I almost forgot... I liked the part in the mailer about how Sayles "has been accused of ..." The translation: One person accused her. This citizen apparently didn't know it was legal for people to donate money to a candidate. Or the complaint was "someone I don't like donated to the candidate, so that must be illegal." Or something like that. The grand jury found everything was proper. But it's an "accusation." If that's the standard now, then I'm going to start "accusing" people of things.

Record endorses mediocre candidate

On Monday, The Record (Stockton) came out with its endorsements for Lathrop candidates. Citing a "shallow talent pool," they begrudgingly endorse Robert Oliver for mayor but go on to say that it's more a "vote of no confidence" for Mayor Kristy Sayles than an endorsement of Oliver.

The Record doesn't say why the vote of no confidence but they usually don't endorse Republican candidates. While the mayor's office is non-partisan, Sayles is prominent in the South San Joaquin Republicans and is a former city captain for the group.

I think The Record was remiss in not pointing out that if Oliver, current councilmember whose term is not up, wins the election that there will be an empty council seat. Technically, that seat can be filled by appointment which it probably would be. The alternative is an expensive special election. Lathrop could have a drastically different council if Oliver is elected and one (or both) of the current council incumbents defeated. Different doesn't mean better or smarter.

Something to think about Lathrop!

"Friend" of Sayles

Recently, someone with the moniker "friends to the Sayles" posted on the "smear website" devoted to destroying Lathrop Mayor Kristy Sayles and her family. This "friend" claims to have been in attendance at an open house event for the mayor last week when council candidate Rosalinda Valencia crashed the party and apparently was not welcomed with open arms. "I only write now because I feel sort of bad about how Mrs. Valencia was treated by people I call friends." The "friend" claims to have spoken with the mayor and her husband about why Valencia wasn't welcome but apparently didn't like their answer. The "friend" goes on to praise Mrs. Valencia for not rushing to "post" about her shabby treatment at the Sayles event.

Perhaps the Sayles "friend" is completely clueless as to some of the things Valencia has done that might make her unwelcome, such as publicly calling for the mayor to step down from office and participating in a "smear website" (not to mention the grand jury investigation based on a complaint by Valencia).

*Sigh* Does anyone really believe that a friend would post such garbage on a website totally devoted to destroying the friend? And of course, the "friend" wants to remain anonymous because "I am known by many in Lathrop and do not want to have people look at me the way they do the Sayles" and "I really am a good person otherwise I would not have even wrote what I did because they are my freinds" and "I remain friends with the Sayles and will for as long as I feel they are doing the best they can."

With friends like that, who needs enemies?

Lathrop prospers under Sayles leadership

At the last meeting in Lathrop, we heard how "bad" Mayor Sayles is and how she sent development to Manteca. Well, oddly enough, the mayor of Manteca doesn't agree. In this video from 15 Sep 2008, Mayor Weatherford points out all the mistakes Manteca has made and how all the new development is going to Lathrop!

So Mayor Sayles of Lathrop must be doing something right. At least that's what the leaders in Manteca say.

Ignorant villagers show off nitpicking skills

When Lathrop Mayor Kristy Sayles' statement in response to some of the personal accusations on the "smear website" appeared on Manteca Live! it gave her detractors fodder for a few days, nitpicking everything from the exact mileage between Lathrop and Oakdale to what she supposedly did when she was 16 years old. (How many of us would like to be judged today on what we did as a teenager?) But what can you expect from ignorant villagers? Now they're again trying to blacken her husband's reputation because apparently they've gone through their repertoire of alleged offenses the mayor committed 15-20 years ago.

The Sun Post on Friday reported that mayoral candidate Robert Oliver was "ordered to remove" some derogatory statements about Lathrop city manager Yvonne Quiring from his campaign website by Quiring's attorney. Oliver's website has changed significantly over the past couple of weeks going from a single long diatribe against Mayor Sayles and the city manager to a more condensed version of why he's against the mayor in 6 talking points. Oliver supporters over on the "smear website" urge a vote for him because "Oliver is a man of God, Kristy is the devil."

We previously named current Lathrop candidates who have posted on the "smear website" and questioned their character and integrity for even allowing their names to be associated with it, let alone joining in spreading the malicious gossip. Those candidates are: John Rock (for mayor), Oliver, Steve Dresser's wife (Dresser is a current councilman running for re-election) and Rosalinda Valencia (for city council). This week we add a new name to those posting there: Lathrop city council candidate Chris Mateo. The city of Lathrop has a real brain trust running for public office this year.

As to the actual issues in Lathrop, it's a little unclear where everyone stands because they don't talk much about that. It's much more entertaining to gossip and talk about scandals and who doesn't like whom. Reading between the lines (and some since-deleted web content) it seems a lot of the discontent with the mayor hinges on her vote to hire the current city manager. Since personnel issues are cloaked in secrecy, we may never know what happened with the shake-up of city staff. Most likely, the new city manager had high expectations for staff and that ruffled some feathers. Expecting people to actually earn their bloated salaries and golden benefit packages? Off with her head!

Another thing we keep hearing is that Sayles "took developer money" for her campaign and she's in the pocket of the developers. But then we hear that the reason for the problems in Lathrop is that the mayor didn't do what the developers wanted and so they took their business to Manteca. Manteca city council is definitely in the pockets of developers, but Mayor Willie Weatherford recently said Lathrop was getting all the plum businesses because of Lathrop's developer-friendly policies.

Exclusive to Manteca Live! Mayor Sayles responds to accusations

On September 24, Mayor Kristy Sayles of Lathrop issued a statement to Manteca Live! in answer to some of the accusations being spread on the "opposition website" devoted to destroying her and her candidacy.

Manteca Live: Mayor Sayles opens her statement by addressing the use of the name Edwards.

Mayor Sayles: I first would like to start with the issue of the use of Kristy Edwards as my name. This name was given to me by my mother upon entering kindergarten. My biological father left when I was 3 years old and my mom remarried Ron Edwards. She wanted to be certain that I felt as though I belonged to Ron, and gave me his name. This is the father who raised me, the one that I still call dad to this day. Although he never adopted me, my divorce attorney informed me that if I went by Edwards before I was married, I could return to Edwards (as my maiden name) after the divorce, and that is what I chose to do. My birth certificate says Rees, but I do not have a familial relationship with Gary Rees.

Manteca Live: There are accusations that Mayor Sayles lied when she said she was born in Lathrop, pointing to her birth certificate that states otherwise. Mayor Sayles responds:

Mayor Sayles: I was born in Oakdale, as that is where my mother's doctor was. There are no hospitals in Lathrop. My mother's address prior to my birth and the address that I was brought home to was 410 W. Louise Avenue, Lathrop. The words "born and raised" to me means "where I lived since birth and was raised." I was in no way trying to mislead anyone.

(Editor's note: Oakdale is 25 miles east of Lathrop.)

Manteca Live: In response to accusations that she lied when she was campaigning for mayor in 2006 and claimed to be a life-long resident of Lathrop and claimed to have the endorsement of her uncle, Steve McKee, a former mayor of Lathrop, Mayor Sayles says:

Mayor Sayles: I have never said that I was a lifelong resident. I speak openly of not being able to afford a house in Lathrop in my younger days, purchasing my first home (with my husband) in Stockton. I have also never said that my Uncle Steve endorsed my campaign. I have all of my prior campaign pieces if you are interested in seeing them.

Manteca Live: There are accusations on the "opposition website" that claim the mayor bounced 40 checks in 1993 and was subsequently arrested in Alpine County. This what the mayor says:

Mayor Sayles: I have no knowledge of 40 bounced checks. I would love to see the so called proof on that one! In 1993, at 20 years old, I bounced one check in Alpine County. I was divorcing and moved without forwarding my mail...I didn't learn about mail forwarding until I was 23! I was told about the check when I ran a stop sign in Lathrop in 1995 (I did not learn how to drive well until about 24) and took care of it immediately. I have always been embarrassed and ashamed of the misdemeanor on my record.

(Editor's note: In documents dated 1993 there is a bank statement showing some returned checks but on the same statement it shows that sufficient funds were deposited to cover those checks. Bank of America failed to honor the last check and instead closed the account.)

Manteca Live: It was brought up on the "opposition website" that Mayor Sayles runs a day care business but didn't file for a fictitious business name statement until recently. Here is the mayor's response to those wondering why she waited so long:

Mayor Sayles: As a sole proprietor, I am not required to file a Fictitious Business Name Statement if I do business under my name. I chose to go by a business name this year (Early Start Child Development Center) and filed the Fictitious Business Name Statement. I have called my child care center by that name for quite some time, but never needed to make it official until I changed it on my bank accounts and other legal documents. I am trying to insure that I actually have a business when this is all said and done. Those who are operating the website are also calling the State Licensing Board making all sorts of accusations to try to shut me down. I found this out when State Licensing came to visit yesterday!

Manteca Live: Critic and former city employee Laura Thimler, posted a statement on Manteca Live!: "(what about) Taking a trip to Washington on the city's dime only to report back that 'There's an awful lot of alcohol in Washington!'" Mayor Sayles responds:

Mayor Sayles: I did go to Washington, but cannot recall a conversation in which I said anything about alcohol, especially considering that I rarely drink due to the fact that I am a workaholic, and do not need to be impaired while I am working. Oh yes, and that other little thing of being a mother of 6 children and trying desperately to set the right example.

Manteca Live: One of the more dastardly things the "opposition website" has done is to target the mayor's husband Tom and his brother and Sayles Construction in an attempt to destroy the business. To those who are asking questions, Mayor Sayles responds:

Mayor Sayles: I cannot and will not speak to the facts of Sayles Construction. My husband and his brother were working together long before I came into the picture. I have been assured by their attorney that what they do is legal. That is all that I need.

Manteca Live: Our thanks to Mayor Kristy Sayles for allowing us to publish her statements. We'll be doing a second follow-up interview with the mayor to get her statements on some of the actual issues in the city of Lathrop, including the Lathrop High School sewer issue. Stay tuned!

Lathrop Mayoral Candidate John Rock says Dan MacNeilage should be mayor

In an odd turn of events, today John T. Rock, candidate for mayor of Lathrop, stated that Dan MacNeilage would make a better mayor for Lathrop than he would. Rock went on to say if he is elected to office, should any council member have to leave due to age or illness, that he would appoint MacNeilage to the open seat.

Another poster using the pseudonym "Justice League" agreed with Rock but suggested that everyone get behind Robert Oliver and elect him mayor so that he could appoint MacNeilage and/or Rock to a government position.

MacNeilage ran for city council in the last election and lost. He is not running for any elected office at this time. He currently holds a seat on the Lathrop Planning Commission.

For the record, these "endorsements" came after MacNeilage posted a long, rambling, almost incoherent message about Mayor Sayles and her husband Tom on the opposition website.