Home    News     About     Events     Local Business     Blog     Links     Contact

November 2008 Election:

Below we have listed election events, candidate statements, and anything else pertinent for the consideration of residents for the upcoming November 2008 election. If you would like to suggest something to post on this page or if you are a candidate with a statement, please speak on. Please see the contact page on our website for phone or email. The candidate information below was provided directly to the Cordova Towne Neighborhood Association from candidates themselves. The information from candidates is ordered from top to bottom in the order which it was received.

September 13, 2008: PANCAKES WITH KEN COOLEY (AND OTHER CANDIDATES) - a free pancake breakfast hosted in the Cordova Towne neighborhood. Ken Cooley is providing free pancakes and OJ for the community. This event is for anyone in Rancho Cordova. Ken will also be inviting other local candidates to mingle with residents so that residents can make informed decisions in the upcoming election. See http://www.cordovatowne.com/kencooleypancakes.html for details.

September 25, 2008: MEET THE CANDIDATES FOR ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 10 Thursday September 25, 2008 7:00pm at Mobil Country Club Mobil Home Park 2473 Sunrise Blvd. Rancho Cordova (cross street Zinfandel, behind the Shell gas station & In-N-Out). Candidates attending will be Democrat Alyson Huber and Republican Jack Sieglock. The moderator will be Shelley Blanchard of The Grapevine Independent Newspaper. Public parking is available across the street at the K-Mart Center and behind the Shell Gas Station. Event sponsored by GSMOL Chapter 0284 Dottie Burnett, Contact dottieburnett@msn.com

October 11th, 2008: MEET THE CANDIDATES.  The Lincoln Village Neighborhood Association (LVNA) is pleased to host a "Meet the Candidates" afternoon on Saturday, 11 October. This event will take place at the Cordova Senior Center located on Routier Road in the Lincoln Village Community Park. Doors to the meeting area will be open to the public at 12 noon. LVNA will host three back-to-back forums during the day: 1:00 to 1:30 Rancho Cordova City Council 1:40 to 2:10 SCUSD District #3 2:20 to 2:50 Cordova Recreation and Parks District During the forums Candidates will be asked to give a 60 second self-introduction and then will be asked to answer questions submitted by residents of the Lincoln Village and Countryside neighborhoods. Before the first of these three forums starts, and again immediately after the forums are over, Candidates for other local races will be given an opportunity to give 60 second self-introductions. All to candidates will be free to mingle with voters and to distribute campaign materials before and after the forums. (We are asked to be done by 4 pm.) Candidates from the other local races who are being encourage to attend are: SMUD Ward #2 10th Asembly LRCC District #7 FCUSD

Ken Cooley and his wife Sydney moved into Rancho Cordova in 1977 and have been active members of Cordova Neighborhood Church on Coloma Road since that time. Their first home was on Mills Station Road near Portsmouth Drive. Their two sons, Philip and Bryce, who grew up in Rancho Cordova and still live and work here, are Cordova High and university grads. In 2002, Ken was elected to Rancho Cordova ’s first City Council and served as our city’s third Mayor in 2005. Ken is active on the League of California Cities Governing Board and he chairs the League’s Housing, Community and Economic Development Committee. As a respected leader within the League of California Cities, Ken has been nominated to join the League’s 3 member Executive Committee as Second Vice President beginning in Fall of 2008.

Bob McGarvey first became familiar with the community of Rancho Cordova when he was stationed at Mather AFB in 1963. Bob and his wife Terri bought their first home in Rancho Cordova in 1967. All four of their children graduated from Cordova High School. Bob began and chaired the Rancho Cordova Incorporation Committee from January 1986 to November 2002 when the citizens of Rancho Cordova voted 78% to incorporate. Bob was elected to Rancho Cordova's first City Council, was elected again in 2004, served as Mayor in 2006, and this November asks for your vote for the Rancho Cordova City Council.

Making Rancho Cordova better and safer will always be my top priority. As Mayor, I created the Strong Neighborhoods Initiative - which helped clean-up bad areas, required absentee landlords to clean-up their run down property, reduced crime and increased property values which will stimulate the renewal of our community.

Even in these tough economic times, we've balanced the City budget every year without new taxes; built solid budget reserves to protect taxpayers and safeguard vital programs; and helped bring new jobs and businesses to Rancho Cordova.
With your help, I'll continue work on behalf of all of Rancho Cordova to strengthen police protection, expand parks and recreation programs and improve city management to ensure a balanced budget and safeguard taxpayers. And, we'll push new programs to protect water quality and create clean energy programs, and find positive activities for the youth of our community.

David was elected to the original Rancho Cordova City Council in 2002, and re-elected in 2004. Sander served as Mayor of Rancho Cordova in 2006-2007, and as a boardmember of the Sacramento Regional Transit Board which he chair in 2005-2006. He also has leadership roles in both the League of California Cities, and the National League of Cities.
David Sander has served Rancho Cordova citizen's for over a decade in community leadership roles, from leading the Rancho Cordova 4th of July Committee, to serving as President of the Cordova Community Council, he has also serves on the board of the Rancho Cordova Chamber of Commerce, Friends of the Library, co-chaired Rancho Cordova Kids First, and the Sheriff's Advisory Committee. He has also raised over $500k for local charities, and received numerous awards for his community service -- having being named 2004 Citizen of the Year, 2002 Volunteer of the Year, and Elected Official of the Year in 2006 for the Sacramento region. He and his wife Maggie have one son, Charles (age 3).

I am very happy and proud to announce that I am a candidate for the Cordova Recreation and Park District (CRPD) Board of Directors. There are no incumbents running this time around; however, there have been 7 individuals who have entered the race.

I would like to state in a most positive way, that I am the most qualified candidate in the field. See my attached Bio. For over 2 ½ years, I have personally attended the vast majority of the CRPD Board meetings. I have listened and learned about what is happening in the District, first hand. Many times I was the only public citizen in attendance, but that did not stop me from critiquing many of the problems facing the District. During that time I have reviewed and critiqued 3 separate fiscal budgets. I have been instrumental in protesting, what some might call, the illegal assessments via the Park Assessment District that the California Supreme Court ruled in July 2008 contained unconstitutional special benefits.

The CRPD Board has been lax when managing the People’s money. In essence, this agency has become one that supports public employees over the general public’s welfare. When major corporations in USA were facing bankruptcy, these firms ceased offering Defined Benefit Pension Plans as contrasted with the more business friendly 401K plans; however, our Board adopted in 2006 a new Defined Benefit Pension Plan that has cost the District hundreds of thousand of dollars. Recently, the final Budget, which was approved for the next fiscal year, shows a 33% increase in personnel spending and hiring. What for? In September 2007, the Rancho Cordova City Council sent an embarrassing and threatening letter to the CRPD Board Chairman stating that the management and leadership of the District was in failure mode. And to make matters worse, over the years, many of the major projects in the District were being accomplished behind schedule and the actual costs greatly exceeded budgeted costs. I can attest to the problems, because I was there and have written many articles describing, in detail, these failures.

The CRPD is a very large and complicated District. We have the new and the old communities. We have the City of Rancho Cordova competing with communities such as Rosemont, Larchmont, Riviera East, Mather and Gold River that are outside the City limits. Within the City you have the new areas ( Sunridge and Village of Zinfandel) competing with the older areas of the City that contain parks that have been allowed to deteriorate. This complex maize is a nightmare for those who lack proper management and leadership skills. There are the problems associated with recreation and park activities, with City/Park District maintaining different requirement goals, with our agreements with the various school districts, with the utilization of police to protect park interests, and finally, with the American River Parkway stakeholder overview.

Yes, the District faces a myriad of problems. Yet, we must move beyond the problems and commit to the community. This election is about who can best help turn the District around. I have the management and leadership skills, which will enable us, the people, to turn the District into a Dream. The most important first step that I have argued is to develop a master plan and strategy for the whole district. The City of Rancho Cordova must be involved in the process, for ultimately, they also have the right for City parks to resemble their ideals. Then, again, the older sections of the park district must be renovated to bring back pride to each separate community and neighborhood. All of the communities must get actively involved in this process.

To me, it is all about bringing all of the communities together to represent one goal: A first class Board leading a first class District containing first class Parks and first class Recreation programs for all.

I would really like to address your association regarding CRPD. Please let me know when you can schedule such an event.

© all rights reserved www.cordovatowne.com 2007