The New Definition of Charitable Giving

The Walnut Creek Library Foundation, the Walnut Creek Open Space Foundation, the Diablo Regional Arts Association and other similar “friends” groups are all well-intentioned, publicly-minded volunteers banding together to raise money from benevolent donors who support their cause.  Right?   That may not be the whole story.

Cindy Silva’s Puppet Show

With Mayor Kristina Lawson’s announcement that she will not seek re-election this November, the first new Walnut Creek City Council hopeful has stepped forward… Rich Carlston.  His qualifications: a career at the Regalia law firm, past chairmanship of the Walnut Creek Chamber of Commerce, and past campaign manager for Cindy Silva.  In other words … someone who can be counted upon to put the interests of the business and development community ahead of the neighborhoods, and someone who will vote the way Cindy tells him to.

Damn the Torpedoes ...

Much of what lead to the recent resignation of City Attorney Bryan Wenter has been disclosed in the Contra Costa Times.  Council member Bob Simmons and Mayor Cindy Silva have admitted that they met with Attorney Wenter and told him they wanted "closure" of his investigation ... like maybe it should be ended by a specific date.  That would seem to indicate that an end was desired, whether the facts were in or not.  "Closure" or "Derail the Investigation" - I guess it's just a matter of semantics.