Manteca Bulletin Playing Tricks Again by Favoring Special Candidates

It's no secret that Dennis Wyatt has used the position he holds as Managing Editor of the Manteca Bulletin to push his agenda or more specifically, his favorites for city council.

Every time there is an election the Manteca Bulletin starts granting more coverage to the candidates that are either the incumbents or those belonging to the good'ole boys club, more specifically, Kiwanis.

Dennis Wyatt stated in a June 26 article that he is giving a space to candidates in order to explain their platforms.  We have yet to see Dennis follow through.

Dennis quotes: "That is what is prompting an ongoing series that starts on today’s front page of having candidates discuss specific issues.

The first subject matter was at the suggestion of Manteca mayor candidate Ben Cantu who wanted to share his ideas about what he believes needs to be done downtown.

That led to a decision to invite all candidates to share their thoughts as to what they would try to do - or wouldn’t do - with specific issues if they are elected in November."

So far, he has given Ben Cantu, Willie Weatherford and Debby Moorhead in three consequtive articles a chance to speak about 'downtown'.

Then Dennis says: "So far we’ve made contact with three of the five mayor candidates to listen to their visions and plans for downtown and have messages into the other two. They will not necessarily run altogether or consecutively. The same offer will be extended to council candidates as well."

This has not happened.  In fact, after contacting Samuel Anderson and Richard Behling, they say no contact has been made to them.  Mr. Anderson stated that once he heard about this article, he contacted the MB just to make sure they had his information updated.  However, no contact has been made yet.

This is an outright lie and it appears that Dennis Wyatt hopes this will go away.  I'm going to make sure the truth is going to be put out front because we have not heard from Anderson, Behling or Perry on this topic.  Dennis is playing favorites again and this is a shame.  The citizens of Manteca deserve better and he should not be printing material that is a lie when in fact he did not contact these candidates regarding this topic.

?tsoP nuS ehT htiW gnorW sI tahW

Translation: What is wrong with the Sun Post?

Hey, it's been a while, I've been busy and a bit tired, but I have to say that last weeks Sun Post was a very disappointing release. What in God's name have you done Mr. Perry? Are you FRICKEN stupid? I'm not going to say anything about CC, she's just stupid.

I mean, on a day we all celebrate to honor our men and women in uniform, you get the entire images and pictures back asswards. You idiots! Someone should fire the one responsible including the owners need to give up a months pay and donate it to some charity...preferably one not in Manteca belonging to any of the other groupie hand-outs club.

One good thing about it, I'm happy to see someone still writing about the money in Steve DeBrum and Jack Snyder's campaign. I'm sure we'll find out. I'll be sure to post it here. I think we're going to find a lie soon enough.

Oh, and Ben Cantu is running again for 2010. Well, good luck there ole Ben. I personally don't think you'll make it, but it's good to see some local civics in action.

Sun Post Prints Massive Article Of Council Candidate

I could not help myself when I read the entire article authored by Ben Cantu of Ben Cantu in the Sun Post on Friday. It took up an entire page. I personally think this was a waste of money because most citizens have voted already. Those that have not typically do not read papers, they are too busy and most have made up their minds already. This is not me, it's a known fact from political consultants. Short and simple cards would have worked best, not a CV (Resume). The article did not mention it was a 'paid ad from candidate'. We have to assume this came directly from the Sun Post. Did the Sun Post pay for this out of their own pockets? It appears so, space on any newspaper costs a lot of money. I consider this a donation to Ben Cantu's campaign.

After reading the article I have to clear up some of the inaccuracies of it. I'm going to compare Ben Cantu with Samuel Anderson using Ben's statements.

Let's compare:

Qualifications to be your next councilman: Ben Cantu says in his ad that he is the ONLY candidate that brings actual working experience in municipal government operations and planning, budgeting, financing, management, infrastructure systems and design, working relationships with other agencies, knowledge of the communities adopted goals and policies and so on.

I have news for the readers! This is a lie! Ben, you've been caught! I'm calling you on this.

Response: Samuel Anderson is a Police Commander and consistently deals with municipal government operations on a daily basis. Not only this, but his company, Tekbrokers VENTURES, LLC has several clients, over 100 of them, that are all municipal clients. On top of it, some are county and state including international. Samuel Anderson has the experience as both employee and executive and both levels as THE executive itself.

Public Safety: Ben Cantu believes that Manteca has only 'occasional crime'. He has determined that Manteca is safe and free from serious crime and has supported Measure M and for that fact, Manteca being the highest taxed city in San Joaquin County. He has NO experience in law enforcement. Maybe he forgot to read the police blotter recently of all the shootings and personal attacks and robberies of personal holdups on persons. The list is long including stolen cars.

Response: Samuel Anderson has served and worked in the law enforcement community for over 20 years. From the military to all levels of service his current position has him working from local/municipal to leaders in 43 different nations and he happens to be a Commander. His current group has over 900 individuals from all over the world including the United States working with him. Samuel Anderson is not only educated and experienced in public safety, he is PUBLIC SAFETY. When shit hits the fan, who would you want in front of you? Samuel Anderson will bring executive level experience to the city council of Manteca. He will also bring down taxes. Ben Cantu has NOT mentioned anything about bringing down taxes.

Community Growth: Ben Cantu will press for the returning to the original purpose of the growth management program-managed growth and take back control of Manteca's future growth policies. Ben Cantu was responsible for this to begin with. How can you just say this when for the past 30 years you were part of this? If you didn't like it, then you should have quit and ran for city council, but hey, I guess a good paying job and now retirement is better for you. I mean, we are paying your retirement salary Ben.

Response: Samuel Anderson has stated all along the importance of balancing the budget and the need for a plan with set goals. His executive experience in achieving such items is known throughout municipal, state and FORTUNE companies. He is also mentioning as he stated in 2006 that we need to have a rainy day fund and put a lock on it.

New Jobs/Retail: I'm sorry, I could not understand what he was saying in this one. All I know is he was trying to mention something about jobs and the community. What is "maintaining a fiscally balanced community"? It just appears as if he took that right out of some book and turned it around. I'm sorry, folks, but his jobs and retail does not make sense. I just can't interpret it.

Response: Samuel Anderson has the experience of his own business, FORTUNE 500 companies, Successful Start-ups, Government accounts and positions. Samuel Anderson has been responsible for budgets in the hundreds of millions of dollars. He has personally managed several companies at the same time under one roof. He has personally hired and fired employees, what is called in the business as being a hatchet man and a headhunter. This is a trained position and calls for a very experienced person to carry out such endeavors. This is why he was one of the top recruiters in the nation at one time. And, one of the highest paid I might ad. Ben Cantu does not have a feathers experience in this area which calls for executive management and constant contact on a daily basis with such persons and investors.

Housing: Ben Cantu wants workforce housing. He wants to keep Manteca the center of low-paying wages. Manteca has already completed several studies and the people have accepted the fact that we want to attract people from the outside who are looking for larger homes to raise their children. Even though they work outside the city, this is a fact and while noble a position on workforce housing, studies have shown that keeping a city within these ranks causes more crime and blight and gangs. Hey, prove me wrong, this is a fact from the DOJ and studies of cities and their growing populations. It's a fact.

Response: Samuel Anderson has told us back in 2006 when he ran for city council that we need to slow it down and stop the massive growth because it's going to hurt our community later on down the road. He was right on target. Guess what? Forget about your socialistic dream of workforce housing and work on the budget as Samuel Anderson has stated since 2006. I call this fantastic vision.

$8 Million Budget Deficit: Although Ben Cantu has his ideas on the budget and some of them make sense, he's not saying anything that all the others are and have been saying all along. He also does not have experience in budget deficits.

Response: Samuel Anderson has experience in budgets and in this case, he was hired as the hatchet man and headhunter to take HEAD-ON budgets that were going into deficit mode. He knows what to look for and where to cut back without sacrificing quality and service. This isn't inherited experience, it's trained leadership.

Council Leadership: Ben Cantu says nothing about why he should be the one on the city council in his ad. Nothing. He does say that he intends to keep office hours during the week so he can be accessible to citizens and businesses throughout the week. Uh, really? That is a task to behold. And, it would cost money to have you there daily. And, the municipal code also mentions that the city council members can NOT have interaction with the city employees as to such conduct business with them. You must do it with the City Manager and he will then instruct his department heads to carry out any orders. If I recall, Ben Cantu also has a business of his own consulting on planning projects that he happens to be a client of the City of Manteca. Is he planning on shutting down his business? It would be impossible to sit at city hall every single day of the week and run a business. Even if he uses his own mobile phone to take calls and make calls, he is still using city amenities such as the office, the grounds, etc...to carry out personal business. Pick one, Ben.

Response: Samuel Anderson is all about leadership. Over 20 years experience as a U.S. Marine involved in intelligence and communications. Law enforcement experience and is a Commander. Fortune 500 experience on all levels of executive management. Visionary and partner in several successful start-ups and venture capital firms. Owns his own personal businesses, more than one. Has been an executive leader in all these areas and is currently serving as the President of the Safe Surrender Baby Safe Haven that was integral in establishing laws in all 50 States for newborns. This is experience in dealing with all 50 States legislatures.

There you have it. I personally spent time with Samuel Anderson on his path to the Manteca City Council. He went door to door and NO OTHER candidate has done this. The Sun Post should be ashamed of themselves because they purposefully over-looked this person because they know he means business and he is a threat to the establishment including others. He's all about business and he's the people's man for the job. I think he will get the position on the council because he took it where it matters most, to the people. His map of the city is impressive and if he does not get it, well, Manteca, you will have lost a golden opportunity to have someone of this high-caliber to serve you and bring back justice to our city.

Samuel Anderson is the candidate and people's choice for Manteca City Council.

Sun Post Uses Half It's Brain On Candidates Forum

The Sun Post website has been down for quite some time and even when it was up and running, it was terrible to look at. You call this a newspaper?

Regardless, I just finished reading their article about the candidates forum and I even watched the forum yesterday on Comcast Cable Access 97.

After carefully watching the forum and trying to see if there was a match with the article, there appears to be a bias in there because it was just boring. I'll get to the point here. Things were put together in such a way that it appeared that one candidate looked better on print instead of the forum. I smell a set-up!

I've seen this before. It happens all the time. The newspaper will set themselves up first so they are protected and appear non-biased so that when it comes time for this so called traditional "endorsement" from the editors, they will go with who THEY want, not what the public wants.

In my opinion I know who the public wants, but then again, what it comes down to is on election day. When the voter decides. The trick for the candidates is: get as many votes for you prior to the election so you can stand a chance at winning.

There are several ways of doing this and those with money do what I call, 'Armchair Politics'.

This is when you can trick your voter into believing you have been endorsed by several voter guides that cleverly have your name along side everyone else in a political party and they send it out ahead of time so that you can see this marketing image AND they say, "Send it in NOW so that your vote will count and NOT get lost in the mail." This is designed so that you won't and can't change your mind later on.

By the way. Carlon Perry of the Sun Post has used this method and so had Steve DeBrum and Jack Snyder. I call this chickenshit! They can't get their fat asses out the door campaigning and wish to deceive you of your vote. This is exactly what it is. Carlon is the same as the others when it comes time for voting and I'm going to bet that he does NOT endorse Samuel Anderson. Why? Because Samuel is a true guy. He's been listening and he's been going out there and getting the vote, meaning, he's been listening to what the people want and he can come up with any idea to solve the problems we face in our city. No other candidates have done this.

Oh, they have looked pretty on the forum, but the new challengers did not have a platform. NONE! Ben Cantu only complained and he even mentioned he designed and built the current animal shelter which he is not proud of. All Ben could do is use his time to get out all this built up anger inside of him after all these years of working for our city and getting dumped on by the city council.

I have news for everyone in Manteca. Ben Cantu is still part of THE CLUB where everyone on the board except Vince belongs to. He happens to be the President of the Kiwanis, too. He also has a very nice retirement from our city right now AND he also is hired by the current board to work on various projects as a consultant. He was seen at a recent board meeting where he praised the current council for their decision on the work they hired him to do. Do we really want to vote someone on the board that is a whiner? He has potential, but he whines too much and has a grudge. We don't need that kind of behavior on our city council.

Debby Moorhead did pretty good. She did not seem too afraid this time around speaking. However, she's a good manager, but she's 'old school'. Even though she did have some good moments, she appear better in the article than the forum.

Jack Snyder and Steve DeBrum were on the defensive most of the time and tried to make it look easy, but they did struggle a bit trying to get their point across and seeming as if they did not do anything wrong. Their biggest mistake was "we're not responsible for the foreclosures in Manteca, it's a national problem." I don't think anyone bought that one. They over-built and that's a fact. They got greedy. Also, Jack Snyder has seen his last days, I don't think he has a prayer of winning, but he certainly can divide the votes. Hopefully enough to elect Samuel Anderson.

John Diaz tried as best he could, but he could not relate to anyone.

Here is my conclusion. The Sun Post will not choose the right candidates for endorsement and you've heard it here first. At least one of them should be Samuel Anderson. He worked hard for this and I have personally followed him twice going door to door. Both times I met him on the street without a previous meeting date set. This means he was out there no matter what time I chose. Second, he understands and hears what we need straight from the citizens mouths. He knows our concerns and he knows how to fix them. No other candidate has worked like this. Some have passed out flyer's using others, but Samuel has used his time and efforts to win this fairly.

Here is what I think will happen. Carlon Perry will choose Steve and Debby. Why? Because he is beholden to them. It's still a good'ole boys club. He'll tend to lean with who has been endorsed as they have stuck together on this. Might I remind you that the GOP has also endorsed Colin Powell and Arnold Schwarzenegger some time before several times. We now know who they belong to, they are the RINO's and Colin Powell has endorsed Obama. I'll talk about him sometime later on. However, it's a club and clubs stick together. They don't want outsiders involved with them. Samuel Anderson is our BEST choice for city council of Manteca.

Media And Their Endorsements - A Poisonous Cocktail

The elections are getting closer and the papers haven't been giving enough coverage to any of the challengers in most of the local races. Why not? The Stockton Record, The Sun Post, The Manteca Bulletin and some others appear to care about the current incumbents and ignore any challenger. Why is this? It's bias, plain and simple.

I wish to speak about endorsements. Why do we have endorsements? Is it because the press, the politicians and some entrepreneurs have figured out a way to take advantage of the system because they have found out there are plenty of lazy voters out there to scam? Yes!

Now, this is going to sound a bit different, but listen to what I am saying here. Can this be some sort of State Run Media? Hear me out. The media gets into the game by playing the endorsement game to keep their incumbents in and hiding under the First Amendment. The politicians don't say anything because of this, but yet they do control to some extent the media. They wish to stay in power and the newspapers wish to stay in business. Does it matter if the city is doing well or not? No, it does not. In fact, negativity sells just like sex. Good news is easily forgotten.

My question is: What qualifies a newspaper to be an endorser? What qualifications does an owner or editor have to have in order to be qualified to endorse a candidate? Is there any specific qualification or certificate of notoriety that must be obtained before endorsing anyone?

To my knowledge, no there is not!

NOTE: The Manteca Bulletin is the only newspaper that does not endorse candidates and I give them credit for that. They do tend to lean more on the incumbents and not give equal time to any challenger getting their message out there.

The Sun Post however has a staff of owner editor husband and wife Cecelia Drake and Carlon Perry. They tend to take interviews of candidates and then give their endorsements. They do not take the interviews of the current incumbents. They only do the challengers. This leads us to believe that there is media bias. I am convinced that they do this just to get ratings to show their genuine identity so they can have a type of credibility whatever that may be.

I believe there already is a chosen candidate to be endorsed and those are the two current incumbents. Again, what qualifies the newspapers to give endorsements? They are only doing it to keep who they believe would work best for their own personal interest, keeping the paper alive and making money by subscriptions and ad space. What else is there?

In my opinion, as far as Manteca is concerned, Carlon Perry and Cecelia Drake are in no position to endorse any candidate. Why is that? They are not qualified. They do not know the candidates on a personal level long enough to see just who they really are. I have news for you folks, money is what makes the world go around and newspapers rely heavily on revenue to survive. They have a difficult time surviving already. Statistics already show they are loosing ground.

I already have reservations about the Sun Post not having the coverage they say they have. I'll write about this later on.

Manteca, please make up your own mind. Do not let the media and newspapers make up your minds. They are in it for the profits. Voter Guides that sell ad space to candidates are sleazy pimps. They are in it to make money. Read what you receive very carefully in the mail. They are businesses disguised as political voter guides. The newspapers are the same way. They are using their name to get into the game of selling more papers by offering an endorsement of a candidate for whatever office they are seeking. True voter guides follow rules by showing both party candidates and they don't endorse.

Endorsements from a newspaper and voter guides are a scam! They are fraudulent socialized media attempting to use your votes to make money.

Will the Sun Post endorse Carlon Perry for the Irrigation District Board? Let's see what happens.