An outraged Sonoma Valley electorate has not only soundly defeated a deceptive Fear campaign ( Measure C ) earlier this year but has now rightfully demanded a change in their city's leadership: Allen L Roland

Sonoma Valley 10/08/06

The local City Council election in the city of Sonoma mirrors many of the same voter attitudes of the national election ~ mainly it's time for change.

To understand this phenomenon ~ take yourself back to the beginning of this year when the Sonoma Valley Hospital Board tried to ram through a $180 million dollar special bond issue which would have given the hospital the right to annex a local prominant farmer's land through Eminent Domain.

The hospital had their own agenda and objectives and hired a PR firm to strong arm the electorate into voting for it ~ using FEAR as their vehicle .

Four of the five members of the City Council bought into this fear campaign and utilized council member Larry Barnett's ' In A Perfect World ' rationalization to justify this thinly disguised land grab.

What they all conveniently forgot was that this agricultural and wine growing community was not about to let this happen and very quickly a No ON C grassroots campaign materialized and brought the highly financed Yes on C campaign to its knees ~ soundly defeating it when over 75% of the city voted NO. I was very involved in this campaign and in many ways rebonded with my community.

My point here is that the City Council, and particularly Barnett, lost touch with the emotional pulse of their constituency and the voters felt betrayed and angry ~ literally taking to the streets to regain their voice and power in this matter.

Which is precisely what our national electorate must do to regain our voice and power in Congress.

Now two of the these council members are up for reelection ( Barnett wisely chose not to rerun ) and only one of them has apologized for their error in judgment.

With that in mind and recognizing the need for change ~ I am recommending the following three candidates for the Sonoma City Council. Whether these candidates are Democrat or a Republican means very little to me ~ but how they fit into the fabric of a community that desires change means everything to me.

1. VICKIE MULAS ~ The city council has only one woman at present, Joanne Sanders, and demographically another woman makes sense on this five person council ~ particularly one with the experience, solid background and articulate skills of Vickie Mulas.

2. AUG SEBASTIANI ~ August would be the only council member under the age of 40 and would be a fine representative for the young families ( which include his wife and new baby ) who are moving to our Valley and want a voice that understands their special needs.

3. KEN BROWN ~ The only council member who publicly apologized for his Measure C vote ~ vowing he would never lose touch with the pulse of the city again. Ken loves this city and brings dedicated and valuable on the job experience to his position on the council and deserves another term.

There are other qualified and worthy candidates who I am sure would do a fine job on the council ~but these are my three top choices.

Allen L Roland http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2006/10/08.html