OPEN MIKE: Alegria and Rao a disgrace to County Democrats
May 29, 2008
Maria Alegria and Nagaraja Rao, two of the culprits central to the February Pinole recall campaign, are running for seats on the Contra Costa County Democratic Central Committee. Fortunately for the citizens of Pinole, Alegria was resoundingly recalled by 1,104 votes. Rao, meanwhile, lied on a televised broadcast of a Pinole City Council meeting last November when he accused recall supporters of phoning death threats to his cell phone. Holy electoral dysfunction!
How is it that a disgraced former city councilwoman and mayor, and her buddy, currently the chairman of the Democratic Central Committee, can run for office with straight faces, let alone a clear conscience?
“Maria is trying to rehabilitate her badly damaged reputation,” says Jeff Rubin, a leader of the Concerned Citizens of Pinole, which sponsored the recall of three Pinole council members - Maria Alegria, David Cole, and Stephen Tilton.
Cole saw the handwriting on the wall, resigned, and joined the U.S. Army before he could be recalled. Alegria, who had served 15 years on the council and Tilton, barely more than a year into his first term, were swept out of office in a landslide referendum against corrupt government, with nearly 60 percent of the electorate voting to oust them.
“I think Maria desperately wants to remain a player in county Democratic politics, and she thinks that by getting elected to the Democratic Central Committee she can show voters - and party leaders - that she’s electable,” explained Rubin. “The problem with that thinking is that her recall in Pinole will follow her the rest of her life in this region. She’s going to have to move to another part of the state if she ever hopes to be elected again.”
Nagaraja Rao, says Rubin, “represents the very worst in politics. I’m embarrassed for the Democratic Party of Contra Costa County that its members would allow such a reprehensible person to be in a leadership position.
“To intentionally try to affect the outcome of an election - and a non-partisan election at that - by coming to a city’s council meeting and declaring to a packed room and a TV audience that his opponents had made death threats against him is morally repugnant. Any respectable organization would demand that he resign as its leader and spokesperson.”
Alegria is running from District 2, and Rao is running from District 1 (with no opposition!).
Police investigated Rao’s claims - he said he had received nine phone calls threatening his life! - and found no evidence of any death threats against him. In fact, police could verify only one call, made from a Hercules resident, and it wasn’t recall-related. What a surprise!
Now, Rao has exposed to the entire county to what Democratic insiders already know - that the Democratic Central Committee is an impotent group, not to be taken seriously, for not rising up against him when his inflammatory remarks became public knowledge last November. If they had any guts at all, George Miller, Tom Torlakson, and Mark DeSaulnier - the supposed leaders of the party in this county - would demand Rao’s resignation, because he brings shame to the Democratic party’s name.
From the outset, Rao’s actions and the actions of the Democratic Central Committee in railroading through a resolution supporting Maria Alegria and Stephen Tilton in the Pinole recall - while cutting off debate on the issue from his own central committee members - were anything BUT democratic. Then, Rao deposed opposition leader and DCC newsletter editor Rich Verrilli, because he had the courage to stand up for what is right and honorable.
“Rao and his central committee cohorts have no concept whatsoever of what democracy is about,” Rubin says. “Stifling opposition is what tyrants and dictators do, not representatives of a democracy. Alegria did that for years in Pinole, and was successful until a grass-roots effort stopped her. She and Rao are a disgrace to the political process, and they deserve to be drummed out of the party altogether. If the Democratic party in this county can’t find better leaders than them, then it’s in very serious trouble.”
If the Democratic party won’t take care of its own messy business, then voters can on June 3 by not re-electing Nagaraja Rao and not voting for Maria Alegria.
Jeff Rubin
Pinole
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