Minor stuff:

Trisha Tahmasbi didn’t just come to Fremont. She’s been here for a few years.

Alberto Torrico isn’t the Democrat’s Majority Whip in the Assembly. He’s the Majority Leader, which is the number two position.

Suzanne Chan is not 60. She’s a little bit younger than that.

I agree with Walter that it isn’t fair to call Bartlett and Reeder racists. I deleted a comment last night that made such a claim.

UPDATE: I think I paraphrased Trisha incorrectly. I don’t think she really meant that any developer contribution would bias her, only that she didn’t want to open herself up to charges of bias when it come to development projects.

Trisha Tahmasbi
Someone wrote that she’s not going to take money from developers. I asked Trisha about that and she said that she has made a pledge not to accept money from residential developers. She hasn’t decided whether she will accept money from commercial developers.

She said there’s tension with how Fremont is being developed and she wants to be unbiased.

Tahmasbi said she would invite other candidates to take the same pledge, aware that for Sue Chan it would mean casting aside one of her top supporters, former Assemblyman John Dutra. I told Trisha that if I were Sue, I would counter by inviting all the candidates to take a pledge not to accept money from a sitting Assemblyman or his top contributors.

Several people have posted comments about candidates that didn’t seem correct. When that happens, I’m going to contact the candidates and straighten things out.
So here goes:

Sue Chan
Allegation #1 - She’s only been active in Fremont for three years —UNTRUE
She has been active in the South Bay Chinese Club since 1985, the Washington Hospital Foundation Board from 1998-2007 and Citizens for Better Community’s Spring Celebration since 2003. She was also vice chair of Celebrate Fremont — the most over-publicized 50th anniversary in history.

Allegation #2 — John Dutra is funding her entire campaign — Untrue
Sue’s response is “No,” since campaign contributions cannot exceed $500 per individaul or business entity.
My response is I would expect Chan to get a good number of contributions that have nothing to do with John Dutra and his clan. But, of course, Dutra is a prolific fundraiser so I would also expect that some of the non-Dutra names on her list of contributors will have ties to Dutra. I would expect a similar scenario between Tahmasbi and Torrico, but time will tell.

Allegation #3 Chan is accepting money from developers with projects before the council and planning commission.
Chan’s reply: She will reply abide by the state’s guidlines. http://www.fppc.ca.gov/index.html?id=103
My reply: Most developers with projects heading to the council contribute to money to council campaigns and just about all candidates who are offered those contributions accept them. Look at Ray Tong, who’s trying to build an alternative supermarket development on Auto Mall. He’s given money to Wasserman, Cho and Wieckowski, all of whom backed his plan over city staff members’ objections earlier this year, and all of whom still most vote on the final project.