'Monterey Peninsula Mayors Say No on O’ TV Ad & ‘Ronald Cohen: Cal Am is the risk voters can't afford’ Guest Commentary

ABSTRACT:  The “Monterey Peninsula Mayors Say No on O” TV ad (30-seconds) featuring five of the six Monterey Peninsula mayors, namely, Monterey Mayor Chuck Della Sala, Sand City Mayor David Pendergrass, Del Rey Oaks Mayor Jerry Edelen, Carmel Mayor Jason Burnett and Seaside Mayor Ralph Rubio and paid for by California American Water Company, is featured.  In the ad, Seaside Mayor Ralph Rubio claims "Measure O would create chaos and we could lose the desal plant."  “Asked about Rubio's claim that the desal plant could be lost, Della Sala said Rubio should answer questions about that allegation. Rubio did not return phone calls from The Herald.”  Carmel Mayor Jason Burnett claims Measure O is the "wrong measure at the wrong time,” as does Scott Dick, Carmel Valley, in a mailer paid for by California American Water Company; a rebuttal is the form of a link to a Guest Commentary by Ronald Cohen, “Cal Am is the risk voters can't afford” is featured.   And a link to the Related News Article entitled “Monterey Peninsula mayors at core of expensive Cal Am campaign against Measure O Initiative backers criticize assertions, Cal Am spending,” by Jim Johnson, The Monterey County Herald is provided. 

Monterey Peninsula Mayors Say No on O

Published on Apr 8, 2014

Our water crisis is real, but this solution is not. Instead of finding new water sources, Measure O would give the water district a $1 million blank check to study whether seizing the water system is feasible. It jeopardizes our water supply, threatens our economy, and further burdens taxpayers. www.riskwecannotafford.com

Finally, the mayors repeat Cal Am's slogan: "Whether or not you support public water, this is the wrong time." The truth is that Cal Am, and the politicians speaking on its behalf, will always say "now is not the time." They used the same rhetoric in 2005 against a similar measure. For Cal Am it is never the right time to end a hugely profitable private monopoly of our community's water.
Source; Ronald Cohen: CalAm is the risk voters can't afford

By Ronald Cohen Guest commentary, 04/26/2014

ADDENDUM:

PUBLIC WATER NOW

Can We Afford to Buy Cal-Am?

RELATED NEWS ARTICLE:

Monterey Peninsula mayors at core of expensive Cal Am campaign against Measure OInitiative backers criticize assertions, Cal Am spending

By Jim Johnson, 04/26/2014 04:10

Highlight Excerpts:

The ad, which has run on local TV stations and online, represents the largest single expense for the well-heeled anti-Measure O campaign thus far, which is backed by a stunning $1.5 million in shareholder-funded contributions from Cal Am, according to the company's director of communications Kevin Tilden,

And it features a very public expression of unequivocal opposition to Measure O from arguably the most politically influential group of public officials on the Peninsula, which has also unanimously backed a resolution against the public ownership initiative as the Peninsula Regional Water Authority.

But a group of Peninsula city council members who support Measure O are crying foul, challenging their mayors' allegations and even whether they should be expressing them so publicly without at least consulting the councils they represent.