Controller Battle: Joe v. Juan

Six months ago I bet very few people could name the SM County controller, but the race to replace old what's-his-name is heating up.  The endorsements are splitting down the middle, the DJ has gone for Galligan and the rhetoric is racheting up.  This piece in the Mercury Times gets some great on-the-scene quotes on the record including

"Didn't you have a property and you went to San Bruno and said 'We shouldn't have to pay property taxes'"? Raigoza asked. "Maybe I should do more research on you, Joe."

I don't mean to take that out of context--and the context is extensive-- so you should click through and read the whole thing.  It's just a great quote.  I had another kismet moment today when I picked up the DJ on B'way.  I opened the newspaper box to get my copy and someone had carefully ripped off the Joe Galligan banner at the top of the edition and left it in the box when they took their copy.  That's a gut reaction.  Here is the banner on my copy--still intact.

I did notice some Juan Raigoza signs popping up in places here in B'game today.  But if Juan plans on "doing more research" on Joe he better get on it because it looks like he is behind on that score--he has three weeks not counting the absentees/mail voters.

Comments

[Frances Jones]

Hey Joe, who are you going to sue now that you've lost another election?

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Palin-swings-through-state-and-at-Obama-3266635.php#photo-2416235

[Editor]

Frances-
Thank you for your participation on the Burlingame Voice. There are some new rules being applied today which you should become aware of by looking at tonight's original post. This is the last post that will be allowed under the old rules.

[Barbara Stanley]

That was a tough loss for Joe in a hard fought race. I'd like to see Joe run again; maybe for San Mateo County Supervisor in District 1 where he is well known.

Joe should try a different campaign strategy next time. I think that challenging Juan Raigoza's qualifications just drew attention to the fact that he was already the San Mateo County Assistant Controller. Moreover, since Juan Raigoza started out with the enormous advantage of being listed on the ballot as San Mateo County Assistant Controller, Joe might have tried attacking the performance of the Controller's office. Of course that would have been difficult since even Joe said that it was well run when he announced his candidacy:

If elected, Galligan said he expects to run the controller's office in the same fashion as Adler and his predecessor, Tom Huening, noting that both did "a great job."

http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_25165563/former-burlingame-mayor-says-hell-run-county-controller

And what was Joe thinking when he accused Juan Raigoza of illegally having his property taxes reduced? Here's what Jeramy Gordon of the Daily Post said yesterday (6/4/14) in his article about the Controller's race:

"Perhaps Galligan's fatal move was an accusation that Raigoza illegally obtained a property tax reduction on his Redwood City home, which ended up backfiring on Galligan. As it turns out, the reduction was not only legal, but required under state law."

Ouch! This made Joe look incompetent and even worse, ignorant, which is clearly not the case. It also gave Juan Raigoza the opening to bring up Joe's lawsuit against San Bruno to have the parking tax removed from Joe's Skypark business:

http://www.sanbrunobart.com/news/2003/08/20/skypark-seeks-city-favor

"Didn't you have a property and you went to San Bruno and said 'We shouldn't have to pay property taxes'"? Raigoza asked. "Maybe I should do more research on you, Joe."

You have to admit that was a great counter punch from Mr. Raigoza.

http://www.mercurynews.com/News/ci_25735090/Sparks-continue-to-fly-in-race

Maybe Joe knew he was losing and he had to try something?

Also, how much did Joe spend advertising in the San Mateo Daily Journal? All those inserts must have cost a pretty penny and clearly they weren't very effective since Joe lost by more than 28%.

Well, better luck next time. Like I said at the beginning, maybe Joe can run for District 1 Supervisor once Dave Pine is termed out.

Barbara Stanley

[holyroller@hotwire.com]

Even though Mr. Gall-Again had Zero Chance of winning this position, he had some reason to do so.
I wonder if he will ever let us know.
I feel sorry for him and his family.
District 1 Supervisor.
Seriously?
Thank you Joe for a very entertaining and quite frankly, sharing of your Public/Private life.
For your business/family it is time to just fade away.
Or you can demand a RECOUNT!
How about an old fashioned pistol duel at Cannon Park.
That would be going out with style!
I am sure we have not heard the last of you, and Goddammit if you feel you have something to give, Fight the Good Fight.
However, I will not be betting on you.

[$1B]

I'm very, very, very glad that Juan won!

I supported Juan during his campaign, and now that I've gotten to know both Joe and Juan better...Joe is not a nice guy, Juan is a good guy. Sorry Joe, stop acting like you're a king.

And, Tom Huening (one of the recent, former controllers is also a very good guy).

OK, now what really matters to the County - the County needs to stop acting like it's a king as well.

What does this mean? Well, king's boss people around, abuse individual rights and spend everyone else's money.

What happens when the king/gov't racks up $1B in unfunded pension liabilities?

NEW TAXES, my friends.

I'm 100% independent, I swear. But, seriously, don't you feel Taxed Enough Already, too?