Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

Sue Horne, who is running for county assessor, has reponded to the voluntary candidate’s question posted here over the weekend, joining Rolf Kleinhans and Keith Royal. Thanks Sue.

Question:
Why is one of your biggest campaign contributors a Grass Valley Mobile Home park?

“Forest Springs Mobile Home Park is owned by the Tucker family. The Tuckers have lived in Nevada County for 40 years. The Hornes and the Tuckers have been friends and connected since the late 1980′s when our children became classmates. Our oldest son and our daughter continue to be close friends with the Tucker boys and daughter. Several of the Tucker family members live in the South County.

“The Tuckers have been financial supporters of mine for several of my races. They have supported me because we have shared values, and they have expressed to me that they appreciate my ethical and effective leadership and my conduct as a public servant. They believe that I have the executive management skills necessary to best lead the Office of the Assessor.

“I would like to address the conflict of interest issue as it relates to financial contributions. Without contributions from supporters, only candidates who would be able to afford to self-finance would run. It takes money to get your message out effectively as a county-wide candidate. Contributions are an expression of free speech and indicate the level of support in a community for a candidate.

“This contribution information is disclosed through the reportable financial reports so the public has knowledge of who the candidate is receiving support from. My Assessor campaign has received over 100 contributions from a broad and varied spectrum of primarily local businesses and individuals, not from out of county interests.

“I am acutely aware of the potential appearance of a conflict of interest in regard to valuing any individual property (particularly campaign supporters) and that is why as Assessor, I would take the advice of our interim Assessor, and I would not pen my signature to any individual field report. I will closely monitor the field work and review disputed reports, however, I believe as a public servant, your service is to be above reproach.”

Filed under: Uncategorized | 10 Comments »

Some locals are asking if the Sierra Club has lost its way, promoting a jetliner trip to Hawaii as a prize for making individual “green” choices for Earth Day.

The Sierra Club has run into this kind of criticism before from environmentalists. Around here we have people such as poet Gary Snyder and others who definitely practice what they preach.

“Rewarding small individual ‘green’ choices with a chance for a round-trip plane fare for two to Hawaii?” asks Nevada City resident Tom Grundy. “That’s insulting and hilarious and illustrative of the very definition of the term ‘greenwashing’ all at the same time.”

Tom said he’s cancelling his membership in the Sierra Club.

Some background on the previous criticism of the Sierra Club’s policies is here.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

The Easter break crowds are firmly planted at Disneyland. (I met with a mom on Wednesday who told me that Guadalajara also is on Spring Break, so her family is here. One of my Facebook friends in Silicon Valley said her family was headed here too.).

So we took a break and went to Downtown Disney to watch a movie, “How to train your dragon.” I’ve never been a big movie-goer (except for the classics) because real life is scary enough sometimes.

But this movie was wonderful. It’s about the viking strategy for slaying dragons. Sometimes, you learn, you’ve just got to embrace change. The movie has a lesson for our community too, as it struggles with change.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

With all the work he supposedly has on his plate, The Union’s publisher keeps going around town, meeting with people and asking about Gloria Zane. The latest example, from George Rebane, is here.

UPDATE: Now Russ Steele has weighed in again, all in the same day. (For some context, bloggers Russ and George are listed as “business and community leaders” on assessor candidate’s Sue Horne’s list of endorsements. Is this leadership?)

As for the publisher’s mission, I find this highly hypocritical since theunion.com’s commenters are people named “redneck farmer,” “dirtmover” and the like, going around flaming people routinely. Unlike the bar at Cheer’s “nobody knows your name.” It’s a joke.

I also was most disturbed when the other “Jeff,” commenting on this blog, alleged that I was Gloria Zane. No, I sign my name on any blog or website. Always have, always will. From where I come from, divering attention from your own problems is called a “red herring.”

Though theunion.com’s policy doesn’t lead to much rationale debate, it drives traffic to the union.com, as it competes with yubanet.com and knco.com in “paid” media. BTW, yubanet.com has been gaining ground lately.

Now theunion.com is going a step further to “monetize” its reader comments: placing ads that resemble the form of the anonymous comments on theunion.com (with similar icons, no less) hoping that you’ll click on it. One reads: “How to stop joint pain.” Heck, at least the ad identifies itself.

One of the downsides of signing your real name, as people here including supervisor Nate Beason, Sierra Business Council President Steve Frisch, Julie Jordan of the Grass Valley Downtown Association, The Union reporter Liz Keller and almost 3,200 others have in the past year, is that you expose yourself to a “coffee klatch” with the publisher.

I know he’s met with other commenters here. Though I’ve heard some reports, I’d still like to be the “fly on the wall” and hear what he wants to say. Is he supporting this blog? Is he throwing it under the bus? Is he throwing former managers under the bus? Does Swift condone this?

This sounds almost “Richard Nixon-like” to me but whatever. Meanwhile, I’d like to invite “dirtmover” and “redneck farmer” to coffee anytime. If they show up, I’ll publish the dialogue here.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 15 Comments »