Change Agents in Santa Rosa 12/09/2011
According to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Michael Allen recently assaulted an opponent, Marc Levine. They're both running for 10th District Assembly. Michael Allen is the incumbent in the 7th District but redistricting removed him from his district, so he shopped around for one he thought he might win and picked the 10th. Marc Levine is a San Rafael Councilperson. He made a comment at a Democratic meeting (they're both Democrats) that he has lived in his district for a long time. Michael Allen, according to the PD, 'stormed out' of the meeting. But he came back. Later he grabbed Levine by the elbow, hard, and told Levine that if he ever said anything like that again, Allen would 'kick his ass.' Ok, what a story, right? The headline could read "Michael Allen Shows True Colors." On Watch Sonoma County, the PD's online comment site, I commented about this. And Michael Allen's attack dog came out after me. And referred readers to a nasty piece of yellow journalism that the PD did on me when i reported Michael Allen to the FPPC last year for a conflict of interest. I looked back at the link, just for nostalgia's sake, and read the comments that attacked me and my partner, Kay. As I read the viciousness I marvelled that so many people were willing to be lapdogs and operatives. So many obedient toadies were willing to attack me---why? Did they get appointed to the Community Advisory Board or another commission? Did they get a few bucks via a small contract? Did they just get flattered about how important they are to the 'community?' They've gone to their trainings. It's so easy to be a good german. How far will they go? Do they know themselves? Maybe they'll threaten to kick someone's ass. Maybe they'll do it. We won't make it easy for them. Have they forgotten? This is America. Add Comment A few good men... 02/18/2011
From the Watch Sonoma County website comments on Michael Allen: Villager with Pitchfork February 17, 2011 at 6:04 pm The bottom line is that the entire thing was a farce from beginning to end. Sonoma County Water Agency ‘hired’ Allen to do a job that: 1) Did not need to be done since the City was planning to rezone that site anyway 2) Allen had absolutely NO experience in doing 3) Was a totally ridiculous exercise in sky-gazing since the building is not adaptable for residential uses. It’s an office building. WHY? Why did SCWA pay Michael Allen $95,000 and try to get another contract through the Supes for ANOTHER $75,000? That FPPC filing and investigation was not only on Michael Allen. Both Randy Poole and Mike Thompson of SCWA were named as well. What happened to the investigation on Poole and Thompson? Were they funneling money to Michael Allen for his campaigns? He was running for city council and for Assembly during the term of the contracts. Why did they want Michael Allen in office? Was it because the SCWA wanted to be the lead agency in the solar water heater legislation proposed by Sen. Wiggins while she was ill with dementia and Michael Allen and Sean McNeil were playing in her office? SCWA was going to make a lot of money on SB 730. Proposed by alzheimer-ridden Pat but probably written by Mike and Sean, it named SCWA as the lead agency. It was going to make it MANDATORY for every home in Sonoma County to have a solar water heater. How much money would SCWA have made on that? Would Poole and Thompson have benefited financially? Professionally? Senate Bill 730 was pulled on the day that Michael Allen was reported to the FPPC. Don’t believe it? it’s all true. Go to http://www.SantaRosaNeighborhoodCoalition.com for details. MICHAEL ALLEN FOUND GUILTY BY FPPC 02/02/2011
The Fair Political Practices Commission has found Michael Allen guilty of conflict of interest charges and is in the process of fining him. He is guilty of lobbying the City of Santa Rosa for land use changes to a parcel owned by SCWA. His campaign slogan of 'Our Values Our Voice' is a farce, as is his appointment to the Assembly Ethics Committee. Those who thought we had some sort of vendetta against Michael Allen should ask themselves now why they would defend someone who is guilty of vote selling and secret lobbying. The FPPC doesn't investigate, find guilty, and fine innocent politicians. KEEP YOUR EYE ON MICHAEL ALLEN. Michael Allen is running for 7th District Assembly with the slogan: Our Values, Our Voice. Really? What are our values? Let's put it together here. What has Michael Allen been investigated for, and why is he under investigation now? We have documented proof, his own contracts and invoices, showing that he was paid to influence the City of Santa Rosa while he sat on the City Planning Commission. This is a violation of the law of ethics and a serious conflict of interest as written in the State of California's codes. Take a look: Generally, a public official must not contact staff of his or her agency for the purpose of influencing a decision in which he or she has a financial interest, including contacts on behalf of a business entity, client or customer. (Regulation 18702.3(a); Rumansoff Advice Letter, No. I-94-045; Holbert Advice Letter, No. I-90-080.) Unfortunately it takes the FPPC about two years to complete their investigations. By the time they have completed their investigation Michael Allen may be your assembly person. Will you elect Michael Allen to represent you in a position of trust? But there is more. While he was working for the SCWA and paid to influence the city of Santa Rosa, he was also employed by the State of California as Sen. Pat Wiggins' District Director, a job that pays about $60,000 a year. His own invoices for the time he was under contract to SCWA show that he was working for SCWA during the week, during working hours, and presumably, during the same time that he was charging time to you and me, the taxpayers, while he was employed by Pat Wiggins. Your values? But there is more. The Sonoma County Grand Jury has investigated Michael Allen (and Nick Caston's) behavior on the city of Santa Rosa Planning Commission. At the time that the Lowe's project came to the Planning Commission for approvals Allen and Caston were chair and vice-chair of the Accountable Development Coalition, a group Allen started to use as a pressure group for developers who wanted to get their projects approved or block other projects from being approved. Allen and Caston said that they had no bias against the Lowe's project but they were lobbied by their own group at the Planning Commission meeting and voted against Lowe's, as their group had demanded. (Note: The Santa Rosa Neighborhood Coalition has no interest whatsoever in the Lowe's project.) What did the Grand Jury say? That there were serious ethical problems on the Planning Commission, and Allen and Caston should have recused themselves from voting on the Lowe's proposal. YOUR VALUES? YOUR VOICE? Someone commented recently that we seem to be abnormally interested in Michael Allen. That we appear to have a vendetta out against him. We don't. We don't know him, and have never met him. If he didn't want the attention he shouldn't have done the deed. What is more important than being able to trust your politicians? If you KNOW that they are corrupt why would you vote for them? We've also heard from people who were actually angry with us for not letting them know about Michael Allen sooner. We have done everything we can to let the public know about this investigation by the FPPC, and the Grand Jury investigation information was sent out as an insert in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. The reports were in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, the Napa Valley Register and other papers. Michael Allen has been very quiet about it. Will you be? YOUR VALUES? YOUR VOICE? This November 2 some of us will be voting for a Republican for the first time since we registered to vote (Democrat) at age 18. Doris Gentry for Assembly. We held a forum last night for Santa Rosa voters to meet the 'other' candidates for 7th District Assembly since Michael Allen, the Democratic candidate, has been reported to the FPPC for alleged conflict of interest violations. Doris Gentry, Republican, and Kathryn Moore, Libertarian, answered questions from the moderator, Rosa Koire, SRNC, and the audience. All came away favorably impressed by the knowledge and commitment of the candidates. We have had over 25,000 visits to this website in the eight months it's been up, and appreciate your comments and requests for information. The SRNC is committed to grassroots activism and providing assistance to you in having your voice heard on issues important to you. Thank you. Michael Allen's C Team 09/12/2010
A friend sent us this copy of Lisa Maldonado's twitter account bio:
Michael Allen really has the C-team here. This sounds like communist rhetoric, and sadly, I'm not name-calling. I don't have to. She did it herself. Revolution and Great Leap Forward---these are alarming statements, and her bulldog aggressive attacks on us are stunning from someone in the public domain. What the heck is this? I'd say it's high school play-acting but Maldonado is in a position of trust in the unions. Is she in some fantasy land or does she know something we don't? One guarantee: She goes with Michael Allen to Sacramento. Is this what you want? Civil Unions? 08/06/2010
I was a union member for nearly 30 years: 7 with Communication Workers of America (CWA), and 22 with SEIU. I encouraged others to become members of the union, and asked them where they'd be without it---minorities, women---would they even be employed? When the issue came up regarding whether union dues should be used to support candidates I was in favor of it. Now, however, I realize that as a rank and file member I had no idea what was going on with my money or how the unions had morphed from the Cesar Chavez model of fair representation for the voiceless to the gorilla in the room playing back door politics. The creation of ever-fragmenting groups here in Sonoma County is an example of this. We've been accused of picking on poor Michael Allen but he is the nexus around which much of this swirls. Look under the rock and he is invariably there with one of his hats on and with his hand out.
Who paid to kill Lowes in SR? 08/06/2010
Great job by the person who revealed that Lisa Maldonado (North Bay Labor Council) helps train people to use community coalitions to do the bidding for the unions. Now she is saying people should be more transparent. She is hand in glove with the ADC and Michael Allen. The local green movement has been hijacked by the ADC which claims to represent the entire community. No one owns green. It’s just conservation and efficiency. They are making it into a social agenda that’s designed for them to be able to control which developers get approvals and which companies get the jobs. They also engage in political campaigns, like Michael Allen’s. The ADC should be the last group that anyone listens to. They have more conflicts of interest than any local group I’ve ever heard of. Let’s face it, they get money to lobby on the behalf of select private interests and have no place in the decision making process. The audacity of the ADC is shocking. Santa Rosa, I now refer to it as Little Chicago, is an embarrassment to all those who still believe that our opinions and votes matter. This is an important debate about community coalitions that seek to have more influence or even exclusive influence over elected officials’ actions. Do they own these officials? If they do, it is a very sad day. Do we need to have a ballot initiative to ban the use of Community Benefits Agreements that give exclusive rights to a small select group of people? Who are they anyway, and how many of them are there? Does anyone know who paid them to kill the Lowe’s project in Santa Rosa? It's as easy as ADC....in Little Chicago 08/05/2010
The Press Democrat has recently published two Close to Home articles, one from the Accountable Development Coalition touting their impact on area land use planning, and the other from Keith Woods of the North Bay Builders Association telling it like it is. Lisa Maldonado, wearing so many hats that you can barely see her, is the executive director of North Bay Labor Council (hired by Michael Allen and his biggest supporter) and plenty more. She's spending her time posting on the Watch Sonoma County website supporting the ADC (founded by Michael Allen) and trashing anyone who opposes Michael Allen. Now someone on WSC has posted this revealing information: TroublemakersAugust 4, 2010 at 11:37 amAccording to a website devoted to Bay Area labor “troublemakers” Lisa Maldonado and Martin Bennett are among the instructors. http://labornotes.org/bayarea Bay Area Troublemakers School Turning Crisis Into Opportunity May 30 Laney College, Oakland Workshops including: Nuts & Bolts Organizing Skills; Youth in the Labor Movement; Aggressive Grievance Handling; The Fight for Single-Payer Health Care; Community-Labor Alliances. Scroll down for a complete list! REGISTRATION Register at the door! Regular registration: $20 Building Solidarity County by County: Central Labor Councils and Organizing [Panel & Discussion]: How Central Labor Councils use community coalitions and advocacy to assist unions in moving and coordinating organizing campaigns. Panelists will address the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act and organizing efforts at the Port of Oakland, among others. T.C. Wilson, Alameda CLC, Martin Bennett, North Bay CLC, Lisa Maldonado, North Bay CLC *** Using community coalitions and neighborhood groups, and then fragmenting themselves into as many subgroups as possible, these people manufacture consent and make themselves the spokespeople for our community. This is completely unacceptable to us and we will fight it. | Eyes on Santa RosaCalling it as we see it ArchivesMay 2012 CategoriesAll |
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