I received an email from a source that County Supervisor Candace Andersen announced her plans NOT to run for re-election in 2016. This sounded like it could be big news and I'm always on the lookout for a scoop.
I phoned Councilman Dave Hudson last night to see what he knew about it and he didn't know anything about it. But as often happens when I call Dave, we chatted on the phone for over an hour about a variety of things including opposition to the Tassajara Valley Cemetery (it's all about property values) and why Steve Glazer should run for Mark DeSaulnier's State Senate seat. Hudson said Glazer is the smartest guy he knows and would be a better Senator than the two prospective candidates, Joan Buchanan and Susan Bonilla.
I still wanted to write my blog about Supervisor Andersen, but I needed to see if the other local papers were carrying the story. I did a Google search on Supervisor Andersen just in case there was a story in the Contra Costa Times or one of the other local papers about her announcement that she isn't planning to run in 2016.
Instead the search linked to "Re-elect Supervisor Andersen 2016." I thought it was strange she would have a re-election website up if she just announced she wasn't going to run. So I phoned the number on the website this afternoon. She returned my call almost immediately and quashed that rumor. She is definitely planning to run for reelection in 2016.
I also asked her about the raise the Supervisors voted for themselves, which she voted against and has declined to accept. "How can you not accept it?" I asked. She answered, "I executed a waver with the Contra Costa Treasurer to exempt myself from the 33% raise," which was voted on by the other four County Supervisors. She did, however, accept the 4% raise offered to other County workers.
Two of the Contra Costa County employees' unions are not happy about the Supervisors' raise either. Public Employees Union Local 1 and the Contra Costa County Deputy Sheriffs Association are gathering signatures to put a referendum on the ballot to overturn the big pay hike granted by our County representatives for themselves.
Supervisor Andersen encourages residents to sign the petitions. The unions need to gather 25,000 signatures by January 2, 2015 for the pay hike to go to a vote.