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Three candidates are vying to represent the 7th Assembly District, which covers all of Napa County and portions of east Sonoma County and Solano County. Click on their names to see how they answered the WSC questionnaire on local issues. Candidates are listed in alphabetical order.
What do you think of their positions? What questions would you like to see them answer? Which one is best suited to represent the 7th Assembly District? Post your questions and comments below.
Declined to participate:
MICHAEL ALLEN
Meet the candidates:
DORIS GENTRY
Age: 56
Occupation: President/CEO Lift Mates, Inc.
Political party affiliation: Republican
KATHRYN N. MOORE
Age: 20
Occupation: student
Political party affiliation: Libertarian
– October campaign finance reports
– See who the PD Editorial Board endorsed
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi4-zq-BlzE
Note added by WSC Moderator: this link takes you to a YouTube video of Doris Gentry published by iCaucus – The Independence Caucus
So the city attorney said he could vote, did she? He knew he was taking money for his influence on the Planning Commission, but did she? I hope she didn’t know because she says she always draws the line at whether or not the person is getting money. He was. End of story. You can’t vote on something for which someone is paying you.
The Press Democrat would not recommend Michael Allen in the primaries because of his conflict of interest. He got caught with his fingers in the cookie jar. People are idiots if they’re planning to vote for him. What else will he do if given a State Assembly job with 15 or more staff people? If he wins it will be the fault of people who knew better but went ahead and voted for a known bad actor anyway.
How does Doris Gentry get endorsements? She spams Mitt Romney’s comment section on controversial issues:
http://twurl.nl/4d7i8k
I’m so tired of the witch hunt into Michael Allen. There’s a statement by the city attorney (not placed on the “heroic” Rosa Koire website) saying he cleared Allen to vote on both projects cited. Also, the votes were largely symbolic, as the measures passed by more than a one vote margin.
Learn the facts, then vote on the issues.
Doris Gentry is as far right as you can be in this county. She’s anti-abortion, pro-gun, anti-gay. She doesn’t represent any of the ideals of Sonoma County or California as a whole.
She’s against humane treatment of terrorist SUSPECTS. Her tax plan is to cut funding to SCHOOLS. She believes you can save money on public safety by having everyone carry a gun.
Why would we want this woman to represent us?
Michael Allen was the subject of two investigations for his one year appointment on the Santa Rosa Planning Commission. He hasn’t ever held an elected office. The Grand Jury report said he should not have voted on the Lowe’s project and the FPPC is currently investigating him on another conflict of interest charge. The Accountable Development Coalition, formerly headed by Allen has also been publicly criticized for their activities.
If people want to elect a known bad actor, then they should have their heads examined. Allen is too chicken to answer the WSC questions and he squirmed out of the recent debate that was planned. He’s counting on voter ignorance to win the election.
Rosa Koire is a hero for revealing all the evidence against Michael Allen. That is truly public service, to go against a ‘union boss’ and take a lot of abuse from the Allen ranks. Of course his supporters will continually trash her for telling the truth and trying to protect the public from an abuser of the public’s trust.
Voters have a choice, to vote for a politician who got himself into a lot of trouble or to vote for someone who didn’t. Corruption in politics is the biggest problem the American public has. Why put a known bad actor into office? Vote for Doris Gentry.
Michael Allen has declined to answer the WSC questionnaire. He said he would prefer to dialog with voters on his campaign website.
The good news: 83 of the 129 candidates running in local elections have answered the WSC questionnaire on local issues, and more are posted to the site every day. It offers voters an unprecedented look at where the candidates stand on local issues.
Ted Appel
WSC moderator
The only people answering the WSC polls are tea partiers. They must be thrilled about all the coverage and airtime this website gives them because every other legitimate news organization won’t run their wacky conspiracy theories and attacks (Im looking at you Rose Koire) These folks from Jim Judd down to Doris Gentry are consumed with hate and their attacks and libels of good public servants like Lynn Woosey and Michael Allen are a shame and a sham. If I were a serious contender running for office I wouldn’t post my campaign questionaire on this forum for crazies either.
With all the comments already posted about Michael Allen, I’m hoping to hear his responses to the WatchSonoma survey. Why haven’t his responses been put up on the webpage yet with Doris Gentry’s comments?
Michael Allen was being paid by the Sonoma County Water Agency right up until September 2009. He was appointed by Wysocky to the Planning Commission in January 2009 and was under contract with the SCWA and paid to influence the city from that date until the General Plan vote in August 2009. Last payment was in Sept 2009. The contract with SCWA clearly spells out that he is to influence the city regarding a SCWA property, and he reports on it monthly to them in his invoices. All of this is on our site and is downloadable.
I found out about it because I was researching the Michael Allen/ADC/Lowe’s issue and was concerned about the improprieties of Allen’s own group arguing against the Lowe’s at the Planning Commission and then Allen voting that way.
I found some interesting documents regarding Allen that led me to the SCWA. I requested documents from them in December 2009 and it took a while.
I got all of the documents together at the end of February 2010 and reported him on March 9, 2010. Two weeks later the FPPC, which only investigates cases with merit, assigned the case to an investigating attorney.
I do not know Michael Allen. I am a registered Democrat and have been for over 30 years. Every citizen should demand clean government from all officials regardless of their party affiliation.
Click on my name above for a link to the investigation of Michael Allen’s conduct.
Rosa Koire
Brad:
Details matter. Allen was hired as a consultant before he was appointed to the Planning Commission. His time on the planning commission was at the tail end of his contract, after the work had been done. No matter how many times you quote a partisan site, the facts are still relevant.
And yes, I have multiple degrees in Political Science, for the record.
@ PolitSci
Ok, here it is. The big deal is not the vote. The big deal is that Michael Allen was hired to influence the City of Santa Rosa WHILE HE WAS ON THE PLANNING COMMISSION. That is a huge deal. An ethical violation. A conflict of interest. He accepted money to influence the city while he was on the city’s planning commission.
The law is on the website http://www.santarosaneighborhooodcoalition.com along with all of his contracts and invoices. Signed by him and by the heads of Sonoma County Water Agency.
Those are the facts.
The vote is just on top of it all.
Now if you really were a political scientist, if you had actually gone to school and studied, if you had taken an ethics course, you would see that IT’S A CONFLICT OF INTEREST.
There is no way that I would vote for Michael Allen now. I am voting for Doris Gentry. I want an honest representative and at this point I don’t care that she’s a republican.
Brad:
It’s very hard to find an objective truth when you only look at one side of an argument. This “proof” you say, is proof that Michael Allen was paid for the job you referenced-which I’ve never heard anyone dispute. There is nothing unethical about working for SCWA in an official capacity. What Kay would have you believe is that Michael Allen was paid for a vote- a unanimous vote that was upheld by the city council, by the way- on this issue.
The FPPC investigation will conclude whether that specific property was NAMED in the vote and if the Santa Rosa city staff had briefed the commissioners on the location of the change.
And therein lies my qualms with Kay. The casual observer, you, me, Kay and the rest of the voters, have no idea what conversations and briefings took place. We’ve obviously seen the paper coverage of it, and know that Kay and Rosa are out to get Allen.
The FPPC will interview people and review the issue and give a ruling. Until that time, I think it would be absolutely tragic to deprive a good public servant an opportunity to serve because some vindictive group chose to muddy his name in an election year.
Do we really believe the timing of this is coincidence?
Guess what? I’m also voting for a Republican for the first time in this race.
These people have PROOF on their website. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see actual contracts and bills paying Michael Allen to meet with and influence the city of Santa Rosa to get SCWA’s property rezoned. It’s right there in his bills and in the contract.
Even though I’m still a registered Democrat I would have to be unconscious to vote for someone when I see the proof for the allegations.
I will vote for Doris Gentry also, and I think she’s better for the job. An honest person with less experience is better than a slick talker with a history.
In this country people are innocent until proven guilty, and I am yet to see any proof or opinion from an appellate body that says there was an ethical violation.
All I see is the group who sponsored the allegations claiming guilt on public forums over and over again in an attempt to take down a good candidate- who they admit they don’t like professionally and personally.
After the election you’ll have to tell me how your bitter grapes taste. So far they seem to have added a particular zest to your whine!
I decided to vote for Doris Gentry after I attended the forum that was held last week. I knew I wouldn’t be voting for Michael Allen already though. Apparently you don’t consider ethical violations to be important but would vote for anyone with a D after their name. I will be voting for a Republican (gasp) for the first time in my life because the democrat’s behavior has been abominable. We need clean, responsible government, and there are other candidates besides Michael Allen that are not being investigated by the FPPC.
Kay:
It is very obvious to everyone that Doris has your vote. She had your vote as soon as Michael Allen’s name was on the ballot. And yes, it is perfectly reasonable for you to assume that everyone who uses “hate” in their post is Lisa Maldonado- never mind that this does, in fact, categorize your mail piece.
I support good Democrats. I’ve read all about the FPPC allegations and they, along with your group, are crap. Smearing a good candidate before the findings come out is your only chance at winning.
To me, you and your friends are a group so desperate for attention you’ll do anything you can to stir up controversy. There also was not a peep by the Gentry campaign about your forum- on facebook, twitter, anything. Which means it either didn’t take place, or she was embarrassed by it.
@Political Scientist
You obviously defend Michael Allen who is being investigated by the FPPC for ethics violations. Your use of the word hate leads me to believe that you are Lisa Maldonado. Doris Gentry is smart and not a person who will need to be investigated by the FPPC if elected. She did a great job explaining her positions at the candidates forum hosted by the Santa Rosa Neighborhood Coalition. Michael Allen brought his troubles on himself when he violated ethics rules on more than one occasion. Read the Sonoma County Grand Jury report to see what they had to say about his vote on the Lowe’s project when he was a member of the Santa Rosa Planning Commission. And this is in addition to the investigation by the FPPC regarding an alledged conflict of interest for receiving payments for his influence also while he served on the Santa Rosa Planning Commission. Doris Gentry has my vote.
Dear Doris:
You probably shouldn’t list that you don’t have a degree and then try to claim MENSA as a civic group you participate in- especially when you’re not listed on their website as a member.
And Jay Leno’s chin is more prominent than the Santa Rosa Neighborhood Coalition. If you’re quoting their hate mail, your campaign must be in trouble.