There was a spirited discussion for the endorsement of Keith. As part of that discussion, the Chair remarked on 2010's Measure L. With several ex officio members not in attendance, Keith came up short when the vote were counted. There were no nominations for any other council members.

The real excitement of the evening was the discussion on Measure M. A majority of committee member were so baffled by the measure, they refused to take any position.

The only shocker of the evening was when Tom Mattusch managed to take the Harbor District endorsement from incumbent Will Holsinger.

Hard to blame Measure L for Keith losing the endorsement. Her support for Measure L was all over her literature in 2010 and she was still endorsed by the Democratic Party in that election. If opposition to Measure L was a litmus test, Fergusson would have been endorsed as she led the opposition to Measure L.

Measure L was not a factor, it was simply the only reason provided.

Historian: Keith's loss of this endorsement probably due to 2 factors:

1. The involvment of her husband, John Woodell, in the Sign Stealing incident and the following lawsuits.

2. That she ran for Supervisor after less than 2 years on council, showing to the world, that MP is only a stepping stone for her ambitions. Her whole campaign seems based on getting endorsements.

Cline should not be re-elected. He has had his 2 terms, which is more than enough. He is the responsible party for the Specific Plan; $1.8 million thrown down a hole and resulting in a plan which has gotten the voters so aroused that an initiative (Measure M)is on the November ballot.

This council is hopeless..

Look at how easy it is for these trolls to pound on the local political leaders. Suck your thumb and hide in the dark corners, trolls. You are cowards. Put your name out there and run for an office. Or don't. Just hide in the corners and be the trolls you are and insult all of the folks who are actually putting themselves out there.

[portion removed.]

Only one person spoke against Keith, it was the Chair. He spoke about Keith's support for Measure L, and voted against her. Other individuals spoke in favor of Keith, but then abstained from voting for her as they had been instructed to do.

Gee. wonder why they were "instructed to abstain?"

That the democratic party chose not to endorse Kirstin is THEIR lose. She has served her constituents (Menlo Park Residents) well.

Here support of Measure L (which passed overwhelmingly with 75+ of the vote) shows she listens to the voice of the people.

Likewise, that she and the entire city council are against Measure M is a sign that it is a Mistake. That 13 former Mayors and Vice Mayors; along with most of the planning commission and 10 former members, all think that M is a Mistake is telling.

Their support of Rich Cline is well deserved.

The San Mateo Democratic Party has made mistakes before (they did endorse Kelly Fergusson, and Heyward Robinson who both lost for their opposition to Measure L)

Rich Cline, Peter Ohtaki and Kirstin Keith all deserve to be re-elected and continue to serve the residents of Menlo Park.

M is a Mistake
Vote NO on Measure M

Roy Thiele-Sardina
Co-Chairman - Yes on Measure L (Pension Reform)

[Post removed; stick to the facts and avoid hearsay.]

Why do most of the comments on this thread relate to Keith not gaining the endorsement as opposed to Fergusson and Duriseti?

J.T., that's because Duriseti and Fergusson don't have much of a chance of winning, while Keith is an incumbent, a life-long Democrat and her husband is the founder of the Menlo Democrats.

Here's the way it stacks up. Measure M will fail, only getting about 40% of the vote. The "unintended consequences" argument always works against measures and propositions. It was also telling that the supporters of M couldn't get the signatures on their own and had to resort to paid-signature gatherers.

I think the candidates know that M is going down like the Titanic, so that's why you don't hear Combes or Duriseti making an issue of it. They don't want to go down with the ship. Neither of them mentions Measure M on their websites.

The fact that Save Menlo couldn't get three candidates to push their cause says volumes.

Krazy Kelly will come in last. People haven't forgotten the scandal in which she tried to rig the vote for her to become mayor. And while she's in favor of Measure M, she voted for the specific plan. It will be hard for her to reconcile her support for the plan then and her opposition to it now. But Krazy Kelly's mouth will get her into trouble this campaign season, and she'll be finished.

The idea that the Republicans might endorse Cline and Keith (according to what Hank Lawrence said in yesterday's Daily Post) is really funny. Like Save Menlo, the local GOP can't find three candidates to run. Maybe it's time for Keith to announce that she's switching parties?

But Roy, if Keith was such a loyal supporter of Measure L,[Portion removed; stick to facts, not speculation.] She definitely listens to voices, many voices, depending on which voice will get her elected. Telling that Keith did not get the Sierra Club endorsement either.

Congratulations to Cline. He's a nice guy but tires, passive and not interested in the job of council member. Thanks him and let him go.

Menlo Park is a sorry city. It needs new blood and way more participation from its residents than what it's getting.

[Post removed; stick to facts, not speculation.]

Kirsten Keith was a supporter of Measure L (Pension Reform). In fact, at the October 2010 San Mateo County Democratic Central Committee Meeting in Burlingame Gail Slocum made an impassioned plea to have the Democratic Central Committee rescind its endorsement of Kirsten Keith for Menlo Park City COuncil because she was a supporter of Measure L. This is an irrefutable fact!

Kirsten Keith was willing to put this critical endorsement at risk because she thought that she had to do the right thing regardless of the political consequences she could have indeed suffered. We need more people like Kirsten Keith who are willing to make the sacrifice in service of the public.

JV Team wrote, "her husband is the founder of the Menlo Democrats". Sadly, this is just something the Daily Post likes to reprint over and over, but it isn't true. That group was founded in 2007 Web Link by M-C Reid. Her husband did recently join the County Central Committee, but there are never enough people interested for their to be an election. The County Central Committee is currently a vestigial organ of the Lealand Yee political machine. The Chair for the past several years is David Burruto, who was Lelean Yee's district director until Yee got in trouble with the Feds. That group recently ran two candidates for judge, and as you can guess, they were both endorsed by Yee, and even put that in their candidate statement. Both lost. Before that, Shelly Masur was their choice for Supervisor, again launching her campaign with an endorsement from Yee.

Burruto's current boss, Dave Pine, has zero influence with the guy. Pine even wrote a letter to Post to apologize for the incident. Web Link