January 10 Pinole recall debate will be held despite Councilman Tilton's defection

PINOLE, January 5, 2008 - Despite Council Stephen Tilton's announcement that he is pulling out of participating in the January 10 recall debate and candidates' night at the Pinole Senior Center, the event will he held as scheduled.

Former mayor and current councilwoman Maria Alegria, at the 11th hour on Friday, accepted the challenge of a debate against Concerned Citizens of Pinole (CCOP) advocate Cindy Trego. Alegria and Tilton are the targets of a recall by the CCOP, which collected 2,700 signatures on petitions last summer to place the recall on the February 5 ballot.

As recently as Thursday, Alegria had said she was not participating. She sent an e-mail to open-government watchdog group and debate sponsor Common Cause that said, "I have many reservations about your organization providing a forum for a political action committee that has conducted a vile, slanderous, and disingenuous campaign over the last seven months."

However, moderator Lisa Vorderbrueggen, political editor of the Contra Costa Times, which is co-sponsoring the event with Common Cause and the League of Women Voters, responded by saying the event would go on, with or without Alegria or Tilton.

"As a moderator, I will attempt to bring up all the relevant issues, but we will not be held hostage by elected officials who decline to participate in a public forum for the voters."

Alegria will debate Trego at 6 p.m. If Tilton decides to change his mind again and participate, Jeff Rubin, spokesman for the CCOP, will join the mix as the second recall proponent.

"You never know what Tilton will do, because he changes his mind every few minutes," Rubin said. "I am prepared right now, so even if he shows up at one minute to six, I'll be ready."

A candidates' debate, featuring Alegria, Tilton, and recall replacement candidates Virginia Fujita, Roy Swearingen, and Steve Denlis, will follow at 7 p.m. Debbie Long and Ivette Ricco, who are running in a special election for the vacant seat created when David Cole resigned from the council last August, will also participate in the candidates' debate.

In backing out, Tilton sent Common Cause an e-mail that said he "cannot be a part of the 'spectacle' they (Trego and Rubin) are attempting to have you help them create."

Tilton said in late November that he would not attend the January 10 forum, explaining that to do so would set a bad precedent, a point Alegria also alluded to in her e-mail last week.

In a November e-mail, Tilton wrote that Trego and Rubin "have shown they can do nothing more than intimidate, harass and lie to Pinole citizens. I would not be serving the citizens of Pinole by giving them a sanctioned forum to spread more lies, half-truths and innuendoes."

But in an apparent turnaround in an e-mail last month to Rubin that was forwarded to Vorderbrueggen, Tilton wrote: "(I) look forward to answering any and all questions Lisa brings forward and I would never miss the event."

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JEFF RUBIN
Spokesperson
Concerned Citizens of Pinole for the Recall of
Maria Alegria and Stephen Tilton
(510) 724-9507, office and home (try this first)
(510) 303-2700, cell
jeff@thenewsletterguy.com
www.PinoleRecall.com