One Week Later

It's been nearly a full week since the election, and things are heating up in District 6. Already the dark versus light campaign is being played.

Joleen Garcia, the campaign manager for Delicia, is starting to solicit for money through e-mails, fundraiser, and the other usual means. What does Joleen have to say about her candidate?

Friends of the Environment, livable communities, and sustainable development, As you know, Delicia Herrera made it into the runoff for District 6. We are very close to winning this race, and we need your help.

This is a well done intro. It casts a shadow of doubt on Ray with out directly saying he is against these things. This isn't enough though, she then goes on to attack Mr. Lopez the same way that Romo and Dina did.

I want you to know that big $$ developers have targeted District 6 because of Delicia's strong stance on the grandfathering issue.

Now it is time for some clarification. Mr. Lopez is garnering more big money donations than Ms. Herrera, but he has also come out against grandfathering and is running a campaign of preventing flooding though environmental means and sustainable development. Is he as Green as Delicia? No.

The sad thing is that Ray's campaign,under the direction of Debbie Martinez, is running a negative campaign that will backfire. His new campaign message:

Delicia Herrera is 31 years old and is endorsed by the Sierra Club and the Stonewall Democrats. She has no experience in government and little or no experience in civic activities. She believes that "the current interpretation of grandfathering rules (Vested Rights) is undermining the strengths of environmental ordinances (Tree Ordinance and Water Quality Ordinance).

All I can say is WOW! First one Democrat is attacking another and then in response the campaign is attacking the Sierra Club and Stonewall leaving room for a negative enthymeme. I am no longer involved in Mr. Lopez's campaign, especially since it has choosen to go negative for no reason but to win. Rays campaign caps off their fundraising letter with a statement on maturity and this crosses the line to me.

In light of changes to the City Council, and with the Mayor's race in doubt, we need a strong, mature voice to speak out against anti-business forces. We cannot afford to sit back and let the narrow agenda activists control City Council.

We all knew this would be an area that would go negative but this is only week one of the runoff, and this promises to be a very negative month in District 6. Interestingly all of the candidates in District 6 have endorsed Delicia except Dominic Dina. I honestly think Delicia will win and a part of me would love to see this upset.