A week before the March 7 filing deadline, Antioch School Board Trustee Gary Agopian pulled papers today to run against incumbent Contra Costa County Supervisor Federal Glover.

Agopian is a vocal critic of the county’s aborted look at building a state prison, or re-entry facility, on one of five sites including a parcel in Antioch. He just told Times reporter Ryan Huff that he literally decided Thursday to run.

But Agopian’s entrance into the race does raise the question: What happened to Antioch Councilman Jim Davis? He was poised to announce his candidacy in the supervisor’s race a week ago but never did it. He even came into the newspaper office for a new mugshot. (That’s Davis on the right but that’s not his newspaper photo.)

Also running against Glover is Oakley Planning Commissioner Erik Nunn, who ran for the seat in 2004. Another man, Donald Parscal, pulled papers but he has no political experience, so we’ll see if he ends up on the ballot.

As for speculation about the other two Contra Costa County supervisor seats, there was no sign as of Friday afternoon of Democrat Steve Filson. (Pictured on below on the immediate right.) He’s contemplating a run against incumbent Supervisor Mary Nejedly Piepho and her challenger, Assemblyman Guy Houston. (He terms out this year.)

There’s also talk around town that Martinez Councilman Mike Menesini will jump into the race and against incumbent Supervisor GayleUilkema.

Oh man, she would really hate that.

FYI, Here’s Agopian’s press release:

Antioch school board member Gary Agopian took out papers today to run for County Supervisor in the 5^th Supervisor District currently held by Federal Glover.

Agopian said, “The straw that broke the camel’s back in deciding to run is the Antioch prison issue and what happened at the last Board of Supervisors meeting.  Our supervisor voted for the Antioch location and supported it until the public pressure got so great he couldn’t ignore it.  The other candidate in the race was notably absent.  On an issue as important as this, we deserve better.”

Other issues Agopian will be focusing on are:

• Reducing Neighborhood Crime
• Protecting Home Property Values
• Supporting School & Education
• Expediting Traffic & Transportation Improvements

Antioch Unified School District Board of Trustees - 2004 to Present

Antioch Economic Development Commission - 2002 to 2005

Mello-Roos Board - 2007 to Present

Corporate Membership Antioch Chamber of Commerce

Antioch Unified School District Budget Advisory Committee - 2003 to 2005

PTA Member - Antioch High School & Deer Valley High School

In legislation modeled after California’s popular transportation half-cent sales tax programs, state Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, has introduced a bill that would let school districts into the action.

SB 1430 would permit two or more contiguous local school districts (K-12) within a county to form an education finance district and ask voters to tax themselves for a specific set of projects and programs. Potential taxes include sales, telephone or other utilities, parcel taxes or vehicle license fees.

The idea is similar to the half-cent transportation sales tax that voters have repeatedly embraced in Contra Costa and Alameda counties and elsewhere. The major difference is that transportation plans require two-thirds voter approval; this one calls for a simple majority.

Today, individual school districts can ask voters for parcel tax money but it requires two-thirds voter approval and bonds require 55 percent. (Statement corrected at 9:02 p.m. on 2/28/08.)

While voters generally dislike tax increases, they have been persuaded over the years to pass local measures earmarked for local projects and programs. Nearly half of California’s public investment in transportation now comes from local sales taxes and tolls.

“School districts could join together in a program that provides local accountability,” Torlakson said in an interview in his Sacramento office on Wednesday.

On the other hand, transportation interests may resist opening the door to education — always a high priority with voters — in what has been a relatively successful if hard-fought source of cash for road expansions, pothole money and public transit service.

What are the chances this bill will ever be signed into law?

It’s hard to say. The Legislature will be preoccupied for months as it copes with a gaping budget deficit.

But Torlakson chairs the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee and after eight years in the Senate and four in the Assembly, he has many friends. Known for his persistence, he could also keep trying if he is successful in his planned 2010 election for state superintendent of schools.

California is the epi-center of the high-tech universe, right?

Not so in the Capitol, where the press has almost no access to the Internet. Instead, reporters must rely on sketchy cell connections from inside the thick-walled chambers.

But a colleague of mine, Steve Geissinger, who works for MediaNews and this newspaper in its Sacramento Bureau, said today that a state lawmaker wants to help solve a complaint by reporters about a lack of Internet access in the state Capitol.

The legislator, who asked not to be identified before an agreement is reached, believes that the deficit-plagued state should not bear the cost, or at least the whole expense, of providing adequate Internet access for news gathering.

Geissinger, also the president of the Capitol Correspondents Association of California, said that perhaps the state and the CCAC, through fundraising, could forge a 50-50 deal with California, which lags behind many other states in the vital area.

The following is a letter CCAC sent Capitol officials yesterday:

From: Steve Geissinger, president, Capitol Correspondents Association of CA

To: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mr. Speaker of the Assembly, Mr. President pro Tem of the Senate

Re: Response to reporters’ complaints about lack of Internet access in the Legislature

CCAC Board Member Jim Miller prepared this comprehensive briefing for the Board of Directors of the Legislature-mandated CCAC, which voted to request that the Governor’s Office, the Senate and the Assembly attempt to solve the problem. Any consideration you can give the matter, even in these lean fiscal times, would greatly serve the public interest.

The briefing:

“California is behind many other states in providing wireless access at the state Capitol, according to a review by the Capitol Correspondents Association of California.

At a time when wireless networks are available anywhere from libraries to Laundromats, the Capitol in the home state of Silicon Valley lacks any Wi-Fi hot spots open to the public.

Reporters who want to file from the Capitol have limited options.

They can tap out stories on BlackBerries.

Another approach is paying to use an aircard with a laptop computer. Reporters can check e-mail, file stories, read the wire - anything they would normally do at their desks. An aircard relies on a cell-phone signal. Unfortunately, the Capitol’s thick walls hamper cell-phone signals and users sometimes get kicked off, particularly in committee rooms.

In the Senate, some reporters use the computers on the press desks to write and file a story through Internet e-mail accounts such as gmail or yahoo. There is no way, though, for a reporter to connect to their editorial system.

The same goes for computers in the Assembly press bay, where firewalls also limit Internet use.

Not all California government buildings are Wi-Fi wastelands.

The Cal-EPA building offers free wireless. As part of Gov. Schwarzenegger’s Broadband Initiative, the Department of General Services has create pilot Wi-Fi sites at the Zig, the Office of State Printing, the Secretary of State’s Office, the State Museum, and the Library and Courts Building.

There has been talk over the years about also bringing Wi-Fi to the Capitol, but nothing is imminent, said department spokesman Eric Lamoureux.

Cost is a hurdle at a time when the state confronts an estimated $14.5 billion shortfall.

Creating a wireless network in the Capitol would require extensive wiring, signal amplifiers, and access points, said Sohrab Mansourian, the Assembly’s IT expert. “It’s a project,” he said.

Another concern is online security. Officials worry that an open Wi-Fi network in the Capitol would be vulnerable to hacking and other problems.

Many statehouses elsewhere offer at least some level of Internet access to members of the media and other visitors. Here is a sampling of those, based on information provided by members of the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors:

Connecticut: Wireless access is free in the Capitol.

Florida - The press has wireless access in both houses.

Georgia - The state provides wireless in the press areas of the both legislative chambers, and across the street at the press offices.

Hawaii - Wireless access is free in the Capitol’s public areas and in committee rooms.

Kansas - Wi-Fi was added as part of a recent Capitol renovation process. Users must get a user name and a password from the state’s legislative services division.

Louisiana - There is no Wi-Fi. There are several Internet hookups for the press. There also are three computes available for use by the public or press who don’t have assigned offices.

Maine - There has been a Wi-Fi system in the state capitol for six years.

Michigan - There is free Wi-Fi service for the press and the public in both the House and Senate, including in committee rooms across the street from the capitol.

Missouri: The Senate provides free wireless that works well in the chamber and adequately on most of the Senate side of the building. The House charges $150 per year for wireless access on its side of the building, which works well throughout the House side.

Nebraska - The state installed a wireless network in the Capitol last year. The press has access with a password in the (one-house) legislative chamber and all hearing rooms. One area is available for the public.

Oregon - There has been free wireless access since fall 2006.

Pennsylvania - Wi-Fi is available to the public in several hearing and briefing rooms.

South Carolina - The statehouse has free wireless access for everyone.

Texas - The Senate chamber has Wi-Fi, as do the budget committee meeting rooms in both houses. The House lacks wireless, but there are half a dozen ethernet connections for reporters to use.

Virginia - There is Wi-Fi service for both the press and the public.

Washington - The state has provided wireless Internet for free to anyone in or around the Capitol for about two years.

West Virginia - The state charges about $200 a year for Wi-Fi access in the Capitol.”

It’s the precinct, stupid.

So says Michael Dukakis, son of Greek immigrants, former governor of Massachusetts and the 1988 Democratic Party presidential nominee, who lectured at Saint Mary’s College in Moraga on Tuesday. (He for about half-hour prior to taking questions from a student panel and the audience.)

Dukakis urged his party’s nominee, whether it is Sen. Barack Obama or Sen. Hillary Clinton, to immediately form a precinct-based campaign organization — and name a precinct captain for every one of the nation’s 200,000 voting precincts — and abandon the heavy reliance on expensive advertising and unpredictable media coverage.

“Obama just started to do this in the last month but if he had done it earlier, he would have won the nomination by now,” Dukakis said.

The successful nominee should immediately recruit precinct captains who bring on volunteers who personally talk to every single voter in the nation, including independents and Republicans, Dukakis added.

“We need to stop buying into this red state-blue state nonsense,” he said. “If (the Democratic Party) concedes half the population to the other side, they will lose, folks.”

Lest this all sound as though Dukakis considers himself the savior of the Democratic Party, don’t get the wrong impression. The audience of several hundred people — a mix of students and members of the community — pressed him for his opinions on the presidential race.

He freely admitted in his opening comments that had he been an expert on presidential politics, he would be “standing here in a different capacity.”

Dukakis, whose wife, Kitty, accompanied him to the college, reflected on the 1988 campaign where he was the subject of a famous attack ad about a criminal who got out on furlough in Massachusetts while Dukakis was governor.

“It was a serious mistake on my part, and it was my decision, not to respond to the attack,” Dukakis said.

Dukakis has not endorsed either candidate. But Kitty — who experienced her share of mean-spirited campaign commentary during her husband’s campaign — is a major Obama fan and she took the microphone briefly to campaign for her candidate.

She indirectly slammed Clinton’s campaign in the incident this week that involved one of her staffer’s release of a photo of Obama in ceremonial Somali garb.

“Barack Obama would never have had someone working for his campaign that would have done something like,” Kitty said. She called the photo and other negative emails floating around the Internet “scurrilous and unpatriotic … Americans deserve better.”

Here are some of Michael Dukakis’ other views expressed during the lecture:

– Mitt Romney, also a Massachusetts governor who recently dropped out of the Republican presidential race, “is a fraud and he was a lousy governor.”

– Eliminate the Electoral College, a system by which states appoint individuals to officially select the President of the United States regardless of the winner of the popular vote. “It’’s a system that is profoundly undemocratic.”

– Establish a rotating, regional primary system for presidential candidates. It would eliminate the hyper-costly Super Tuesday phenomenon (24 primaries or caucuses were held on Feb. 5) and force the candidates to visit all parts of the country during the election.

– A vote for Ralph Nader, who entered the presidential race this week as an independent, is a “vote for (presumed GOP nominee) Sen. John McCain.”

– California must fund high-speed rail and help the nation expand its railroad operations in a manner similar to what European and Asian residents have had for years.

Nagaraja Rao, chairman of the Democratic Party of Contra Costa County, has fired the party’s newsletter editor, Rich Verrilli, in another sign of unrest in the Central Committee.

Verrilli has been an outspoken opponent of some of the Central Committee’s positions, particularly its vote of opposition against the Feb. 5 recall of Pinole Councilwoman Maria Alegria. He and others have called for new leadership, calling Rao ineffectual and absent. Rao recently spent several months in India, where he is working to bring his wife to the United States.

“The first order of business when Nagaraja Rao came back was to fire me as editor and publisher of the Democratic Dispatch,”Verrilli told Contra Costa Times reporter Tom Lochner. “The reason given was that while he was away in India, I was putting the Central Committee in a bad light. He felt I was being disloyal.”

Central Committee elections will be held in June and it appears there will be a power struggle for control of the panel.

Here’s what Rao wrote in an email press release:

As the chairman of the Democratic Party of Contra Costa County , I have removed Mr. Rich Verelli , editor of our newsletter per our by-laws and per Robert’s rules of order. Mr. Veralli is not now nor has ever been a spokes person for Contra Costa Democratic Party. He serves as a member only. As a member he has the right to his personal positions , but he has no authority to impose his personal agenda in the news letter.

Melanie Mintz has volunteered to act as the interim news letter editor. January 2008 minutes and February 28, 2008 agenda will be e mailed out. Paper copies of both will be available at the 02/ 28/08 meeting.

Nagaraja R. Rao , Chairman, Contra Costa County Democratic Party

Party registration in San Ramon has tipped for the first time in favor of Democrats, going the way of Lamorinda where all three of its cities have flipped in the past several years from red to blue.

The San Ramon Valley Democratic Club reports that based on the latest registration figures it obtained from Contra Costa County, as of Jan. 25, Democrats now outnumber Republicans by 131 voters. Last March, Republicans held a 3 percentage point lead over Democrats in San Ramon.

Interestingly, the largest Assembly district in the San Ramon Valley, District 15, has also shifted leftward. In January 2006, Republicans held a 3 percentage-point registration advantage. By January 2008, Democrats actually held a tiny lead — one-tenth of one percent — over the GOP.

What’s happening?

Unquestionably, the hotly contested Democratic presidential contest is attracting new voters. Democrats see the opportunity to win the White House in November, and they are showing up to the polls all over the United States in far greater numbers than Republicans.

Local Democrats have also been busy registering voters, said San Ramon Valley Democratic Club President Ray Link. They have a booth at the Danville farmer’s market every Saturday and politically minded folks must be doing something more than stocking up on fruits and vegetables.

Anyone have other ideas about why Lamorinda and San Ramon are trending blue? (FYI, Alamo, Danville and Diablo have remained consistently Republican at 51, 47 and 63 percent respectively.)

Here’s are the registration numbers the club provided for San Ramon:

– In March 2007, San Ramon had 10,430 Democrats, or 36 percent of the registered voters. By Jan. 25, it rose to 11,138 voters or 37 percent.

– Republicans had 11,286 voters or 39 percent in March 2007, but dropped by Jan. 25 to to 11,007 voters or 36 percent.

– Decline to state voters rose from 22 percent of registered voters to 23 percent in the same time period.

Union workers at the East Bay Municipal Water District have threatened to withdraw from the Contra Costa Central Labor Council if it continues to take positions counter to those of local voters, according to a letter from American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Local 444 President Ruben Rodriguez.

In a very strongly worded letter (posted below), Rodriguez refers to the council’s opposition to the recall of Pinole Councilwoman Maria Alegria, support of urban casinos and former Richmond Mayor Irma Anderson.

Alegria was recalled on Feb. 5. Anderson lost her re-election bid in 2006. And Rodriguez says polls show that Contra Costa residents do not want Indian casinos in their communities.

The council, which is an umbrella group for labor in the county, is hurting labor’s reputation in the community, Rodriguez wrote.”Should the council continue to pursue such anti-union, anti-citizen and anti-democratic positions, we will be forced to withdraw from the council and will actively encourage other Locals (unions) to do so as well,” Rodriguez wrote. “We do not support the philosophy of ‘She may be a crook but she’s our crook.’ Why should citizens honor labor if labor doesn’t honor them?”

Here’s the full text of the letter sent to Contra Costa Labor Council:

February 21, 2008

Contra Costa Central Labor Council

Pam Aguilar, Acting Executive Secretary-Treasurer

1333 East Pine St., #E

Martinez, CA 94553

Dear Pam Aguilar,

AFSCME Local 444 is very concerned about recent political positions taken by the Contra Costa Central Labor Council (CCCLC). We are concerned about the Council’s support of Maria Alegria in the recent recall election, the Council’s support of Irma Anderson in the 2006 Richmond mayoral election and, lastly, the Council’s support for urban casinos.

In the case of Mayor Alegria, the citizens of Pinole formed a grass roots organization to unseat a politician who took advantage of her official position to act in a manner that was detrimental to the best interests of her constituents. Although her voting record may have been pro-labor, ultimately her actions hurt the community she served. Organized labor had no business involving itself in a campaign that will give unions a black eye in Pinole as well as other East Bay communities. Thanks to the actions taken by the CCCLC it will be a long time before organized labor will be respected in Pinole.

Endorsing Irma Anderson for Mayor of Richmond is yet another example of behavior on the part of CCCLC which our Local feels compelled to condemn. Irma Anderson was an ineffectual politician who, when caught in a financial dilemma in part of her own making, laid off over 200 SEIU workers. This action alone should cost her the support of all organized labor, yet the CCCLC endorsed her.

Finally, the CCCLC position on urban casinos is the most backward and anti-labor position a labor organization could take. The citizens of Contra Costa, when polled by State Assemblyperson Hancock, overwhelming stated they did not want casinos in their communities. The citizens of Richmond were never given the opportunity to vote on bringing casinos into the City. The opposition to urban casinos is based on overwhelming information, provided by public and private institutions, clearly indicating the harm casinos reap upon communities. It should also be noted that the individuals harmed most by gambling are the poor and blue collar workers, the very people CCCLC claims to speak for. The CCCLC’c position on casinos is both cynical and opportunistic.The proof that Local 444’s views on these issues are consistent with local public opinion can be found in the defeat by the voters of both Irma Anderson and Maria Alegria. In addition, there is a strong possibility that the Richmond casino deals will fall through.

The members of Local 444 are putting the CCCLC on notice that should the Council continue to pursue such anti-union, anti-citizen and anti-democratic positions we will be forced to withdraw from the Council and will actively encourage other Locals to do so as well. We do not support the philosophy of “she may be a crook but she’s is our crook.” Why should citizens honor Labor if Labor doesn’t honor them?

In Solidarity,

Rubin Rodriguez, President AFSCME Local 444 8400 Enterprise Way, Suite 101 Oakland, CA 94621

cc: George Popyack, Director AFSCME Council 57 Mark Foley, President AFSCME Local 2019Mark Gagliardi, Ex. board CCCLC Millie Cleveland, BA SEIU 1021 Tarnel Abbot, Shop Steward SEIU 1021, Richmond Chapter

Nagaraja Rao, Committee Chairman CCDCC (Contra Costa Democraic Central Committee)
Richard L. Verrilli, CCDCC (Contra Costa Democraic Central Committee)

Jeff Rubin, Concerned Citizens of Pinole

Is this the first nasty salvo in the Senate campaign between former Assemblyman Joe Canciamilla and incumbent Assemblyman Mark DeSaulnier?

Check out www.joeforjoe.com, an anonymously posted web site that slams Canciamilla (pictured on the left) for taking tobacco company contributions while he was in the state Assembly.

Canciamilla has said he willingly took the money because Assembly leaders asked him to do it. He was in a safe seat, so he handed over the money to party leaders and other Democratic candidates who could then claim no connection to the dollars.

The “Joe” in the web site title refers to Joe Camel, the cartoon character used in cigarette advertising.

This again illustrates the double-edged sword of campaign contributions: Candidates need money to run but nearly every one of those dollars come with baggage.

As for the origins of this web site, we may never know. Unless the person or group that created the site raised or spent more than $1,000 — the expenditure threshold — it will never be disclosed.

But here’s what a search of www.godaddy.com, a domain registry search, found:

Registrant:
c/o JOEFORJOE.COM
P.O. Box 821650
Vancouver, WA 98682

Registrar: NAMESDIRECT
Domain Name: JOEFORJOE.COM
Created on: 06-FEB-08
Expires on: 07-FEB-09
Last Updated on: 11-FEB-08

Administrative Contact:
aXct69@privacypost.com
c/o JOEFORJOE.COM
P.O. Box 821650
Vancouver, WA 98682
1.360-449-5933

Predictions of widespread delays in the results of the Feb. 5 presidential primary due to a shift to paper ballots in nearly two dozen counties failed to materialize, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen told a crowd of several hundred people at the Lamorinda Democratic Club this week.

“In 57 of 58 counties, the election results came in roughly at the same time as they had in previous elections,” Bowen said.

In front of a visibly supportive crowd at the Jewish Community Center in Walnut Creek Thursday night, the secretary delivered a lively and humorous speech on a broad range of election topics including the presidential primary, unprecedented turnout, voting machine security and ways to attract pollworkers.

California operates an almost incomprehensibly large voting system with 23,000 polling places and more than 100,000 pollworkers engaged on Election Day.

Californians cast a record number of ballots in the presidential election, some 8.3 million and counting. It also saw an unusually high number of mail-in ballots dropped off at the polls as voters held onto their ballots to see what would happen in the closely contested presidential contests.

Voters also cast a huge number of “provisional ballots,” or ballots cast on Election Day by people who are probably not registered to vote but showed up at the polls in the heat of the campaign. Every one of the estimated 600,000 mail-in and provisional ballots must be investigated to determine if the voter is eligible and has not already voted by mail.

Bowen also outlined fixes to problems of the past election such as lack of a notification system in the event of a court order that extends poll hours.

The issue surfaced in Alameda County on Election Day after more than a dozen polls ran out of ballots and proponents sought a judge’s order to keep the polls open. A judge later determined that an order was unnecessary because the county, under existing law, could hold the polls open without an order for anyone waiting in line to vote.

If a judge orders hold polls held open anywhere in California, under state law, the state cannot release election results until all polls close.

But there is no system under which the Secretary of State is told when such an order has been issued, Bowen said.

“That won’t happen again,” Bowen said.

Much of Bowen’s talk centered around her decision last year to decertify electronic voting machines in 21 counties after conducting a “top to bottom” review of California’s voting systems.

County registrars criticized the move, saying a rapid switch could delay the outcome of Super Tuesday results for days or longer and form an embarrassing cloud over the state’s voting systems.

But this crowd got on its feet and loudly applauded Bowen for tackling what has become a national preoccupation over the integrity of its voting equipment.

“I was prepared to defend my decision … But I figured that if we were late, people would gripe for a few days,” Bowen said. “But if we were wrong, people would never forgive us.”

Bowen also made several references, although not by name, to Contra Costa Registrar of Voters Steve Weir.

As president of the state’s registrars’ association Weir has been one of Bowen’s most vocal critics although he sat quietly in the audience during her speech.

Weir has said the secretary failed to adequately involve the registrars in the equipment reviews and said the security study was conducted outside the registrars’ customary precautions and protocols.

But Bowen said vendors’ proprietary rights precluded the registrars’ presence during the meat of the analysis.

And voting machine hackers could come from inside election offices where workers could disable or work around security measures, she said.

In other comments, Bowen:

– Supported the use of open source, or non-proprietary, software on voting machines, which would permit election officials to change hardware without buying new software.

– Announced plans to conduct an analysis of the Feb. 5 election results in order to evaluate what went wrong.

– Opposed any move to make the Secretary of State a nonpartisan post. It is incumbent upon her to administer her duties in a nonpartisan fashion, she said, but voters deserve to know the political philosophy of the secretary of state.

– Discussed a pending analysis of the numbers of voters who do not have a photo identification. Some groups want to mandate a photo identification as a tool to thwart voter fraud but Bowen said she doesn’t want to disenfranchise citizens who don’t drive a car or possess photo identification.

– Doesn’t believe California will move to an all-mail voter system anytime soon, largely because election offices have a small, 15-day window between the registration deadline and Election Day in order to mail the ballots. And the state should give voters options, she said.

– Doesn’t view weekend voting as practical because of protracted security concerns for the tens of thousands of ballots in the thousands of polling places around the state.

– Called for corporations to routinely provide pollworkers on Election Day.

Ouch.

Contra Costa Community College Trustee John T. Nejedly is endorsing Guy Houston, the guy running against the college leader’s sister and Contra Costa County Supervisor Mary Nejedly Piepho.

The siblings have been estranged for some time, the outcome of painful family conflicts over JT’s struggles with drug abuse and his troubled relationship with their late father, the former state Sen. John Nejedly. Family tensions escalated last year after John T. Nejedly filed suit against his sister and brother, Contra Costa Water District Trustee Jim Nejedly, alleging that his siblings conspired to rob him of his father’s affections and a share of his estate. However, those close to the late senator say he made the decision on his own to cut his eldest son out of the will and left a videotaped explanation of his actions.

Here’s what Houston’s press release, in part, said:

“Guy has always been a champion for education in Sacramento and he will bring a wealth of real experience and expertise to Martinez,” said Nejedly. “As an elected official representing the San Ramon Valley and the Delta communities, I know Guy will be an outstanding Supervisor.”“I appreciate that my work in improving education for our young people is recognized by local education leaders,” said Houston. “I look forward to continuing that relationship with community leaders like John Nejedly far into the future.”

John T. Nejedly represents Alamo, Blackhawk, Byron, Clayton, Danville, Discovery Bay, San Ramon and Walnut Creek on the Contra Costa Community College District. He is president of the Nejedly Corporation, a general engineering contractor and construction management firm. He also serves as a Director of the Mt. Diablo/Silverado Boy Scouts Council.