FCN MAKES DOUBLE ENDORSEMENT FOR CITY COUNCIL: VINNIE BACON and KATHY MCDONALD

FREMONT, CA, June 15, 2010 - - The community awareness group, Fremont Citizens Network (FCN), best known for helping defeat the City Council's 2009 Oakland A's Stadium effort, announced a double endorsement of two Fremont City Council candidates, Kathy Rhyu McDonald and Vinnie Bacon.

FCN President, Jim Hunt explained, "Vinnie and Kathy have strong and complimentary abilities and interests, fresh ideas, and the proven judgment and values Fremont needs." He expanded, "These endorsements are the logical choice, after considering the City Council's history, the current slate of candidates, and the important decisions the people of Fremont have before them."

"Many busy Fremont-ers have come to accept that our City Council too often makes decisions that favor special interests, and don't reflect the values and needs of the people of Fremont - a diverse population that shares common reasons for living here. But that quiet acceptance is changing. Citizens are losing patience with how the City government has been operating. And their grumblings about the actions coming from City Hall are becoming a loud cry for change."

Mr. Hunt continued, "Kathy and Vinnie's decisions not to take campaign contributions from developers is in stark contrast to the long-standing political practices of our current leaders. We welcome more discussion about this and other important topics."

When asked about Vinnie Bacon's candidacy, Mr. Hunt spoke of Mr. Bacon's strong background and courage in "standing up for what's best for Fremont," referring to Mr. Bacon's fight against the "misguided Patterson Ranch development proposal that threatens the Coyote Hills parklands and nearby over-crowded schools."

Mr. Hunt further explained, "In a world where nature is threatened by such accidents as the recent BP oil disaster, it’s more important than ever to protect our extremely scarce natural resources. In an increasingly over-paved world, honoring our environment is not a tree-hugging luxury; it's a no-brainer. Mr. Bacon has demonstrated his commitment to preserving Fremont's natural spaces with his valiant fight to stop the unpopular and environmentally destructive Patterson Ranch development project - A fight that continues to this day!"

"Our City's leadership has proven it's out of step with both our fiscal crisis and our future development, spending precious dollars to promote projects that are clearly disliked by the people of Fremont, and are bad for our city. The City's own recent NUMMI land-use survey (http://www.fremont.gov/DocumentView.aspx?DID=3820) clearly shows, for example, a massive opposition to a stadium; a message that FCN, Kathy McDonald and Vinnie Bacon have been voicing for over a year.”

In response to FCN's endorsements, Mr. Bacon said, "I welcome the endorsement of FCN, and applaud their ability to spotlight our most critical issues, and help people have more voice about decisions that greatly affect our communities. I'm optimistic I can bring the true voice of our people back to City Hall with the help of groups like this. If both Kathy McDonald and I are elected, the positive impact will multiply."

Mr. Hunt described FCN's equally enthusiastic endorsement of Kathy McDonald.

Many credit her for the success of FCN's grass roots movement to educate the public about the true costs of hosting sports stadiums, and their drain on City resources. “Kathy was a tremendous force in galvanizing citizens' support for FCN, and in helping to defeat the City Council's 2009 stadium push. She’s also well-known for her experience and vision within the Fremont school district. Her active involvement in improving our schools through community building and fundraising is a good example of her ability to get things done,” Mr. Hunt noted. "We saw Kathy's impressive leadership as one of our founding members, and first President. She's a sharp thinker and quick problem solver. This City and our children need her now.”

"I'm delighted to be in the company of Vinnie Bacon in receiving FCN’s endorsement,” said Mrs. McDonald. Vinnie and I share values and goals, and we know we can be even more effective together. So we strongly support each other's campaigns in this crucial year." Mrs. McDonald said she and Mr. Bacon were both alarmed by the quiet manner in which some far reaching, highly controversial decisions have been made by current City leaders.

"The more people understand that this is the City's standard procedure, the better chance more people will tune in and speak up," she said. "FCN has been pivotal in promoting the core values of democracy, education and participation. They've helped educate and inspire our diverse population. Fremont is united in its desire for more transparency, equal treatment, fiscal responsibility, viable job growth, smarter development and better coordination between our schools and our City government."

To underscore the timing of these endorsements, Mr. Hunt pointed to recent trends. "While our country’s leadership has offered Fremont green incentives, encouragement, and national visibility, and our state’s leadership has helped usher in high quality green-tech jobs such as the Tesla/Toyota deal, our own City’s leadership squanders our time and our money - twice - trying to push a controversial stadium."

FCN member, Charlotte Allen noted wryly that, "While Mayor Wasserman and the Fremont City Council were saying that the A's Stadium was the best deal Fremont could get, FCN and its two endorsed candidates, McDonald and Bacon, were strongly advocating for green manufacturing at the NUMMI site. Now it looks as if their vision will become a reality." Ms. Allen noted that the cost of the City Council's recent marketing attempt to re-woo the spurned Oakland A's is over $158,000, in addition to the cost of City staff time.

"All that money could have paid for another desperately needed full-time Police officer, and those City staff hours could have gone towards solving reduced services problems or creating year-round jobs," said the incredulous Mr. Hunt.

"The time has come for Fremont to have a City Council that is courageous, insightful, visionary, and unbiased, instead of picking from the same old guard over and over again."

Mr. Hunt reiterated that "FCN wholeheartedly endorses candidates Vinnie Bacon and Kathy McDonald. Together they will lighten our footsteps, and brighten the future for Fremont."

It seems politics are about to get more interesting in this city.

To learn more about these candidates’ ideas, values, and recommendations, see their websites at:

Vinnie Bacon: http://www.Bacon2010.com; and

Kathy McDonald: http://www.mcdonald2010.com.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Contact:

Janet FitzGerald

Office: 510.252.1995

Cell: 203.253.1635

janet@fitzcominc.com

Tags: Bacon, FCN Press Release, Kathy, McDonald, News, Vinnie, city, council, election, endorsement

Attachments:

6-15-EndorsePress ReleaseFinal.pdf, 139 KB

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Permalink Reply by Kathy McDonald on November 3, 2010 at 11:56am

Dear Friends,

I cannot express enough how grateful I am to the hundreds of volunteers who have given so much of their time, energy and money into Vinnie’s and my campaign. We hit the streets with a mission to engage and educate the voters of Fremont, and we can be very proud of the effort we have invested in this goal. Together, we have handed out (by our own hands) a total of 75,000 brochures & 12,500 door hangers. We walked ~50% of all precincts in the City. We mailed 15,000 postcards, ran thousands of TV Commercials over three months, and three 1/2 page ads in our local newspaper. We were out nearly every day of every week from April to November, rain or shine trying to make a difference for the citizens of Fremont. None of this could have been possible without the overwhelming support and dedication of our volunteers and donors.

I would especially like to thank my whole extended family, and those who have become like my family, for their unfailing faith and support through this grueling year. This has been an incredibly educational experience for me, personally. In answering the volumes of questionnaires, attending every forum and debate, meeting with every organization making a request, and replying every e-mail and call, I have come to learn a lot about myself. I thank you all for your amazing stories, your generosity of time and spirit. Finally, I thank Vinnie for making me aware and engaged enough to embark on this adventure. I couldn’t have endured these last ten months without his encouragement, knowledge and sense of humor. I have learned much about the rich texture of Fremont, our hopes and goals.

We are a city with “great bones”. We must harness this potential, and capitalize on the business and social opportunities the citizens want and need in the coming years. I wish our newly re-elected council members all the best in their new terms. May they serve with the constituents at heart.

Thank you all for a great campaign.
Kathy

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Permalink Reply by Michael on November 17, 2010 at 2:33pm

I doubt that Kathy or Vinnie will even acknowledge that the citizens of Fremont did not vote for either them because of the irrational and deceitful information disseminated by her and the FCN on this website. As someone said months ago on this subject, "people remember". And now both these anti-ballpark candidates were soundly defeated because we did remember how they took the opportunity away from the city. Not that we needed the ballpark or didn't need it, but we should at least have had the opportunity. Especially in light of the continuing economic problems here, I hope there was a lesson learned by all in this instance. Fremont is about ALL of the people who live here. Not just about fringe personalities railing against things they don't like or don't understand because of personal biases. It's not about a small group of unelected NIMBY artists inflicting their will on the rest of us.

Alex Singh said:

fremont citizen network endorses mcdonald. she owns FCN. what a great day!

FCN Admin said:
From Tri-City Beat: Fremont Citizens Network endorses “Dynamic Duo”