Tracy Press

A letter writer calls out the Republican congressional candidate.

EDITOR,

After reading about the San Joaquin County Civil Grand Jury report on the Delta College trustees playing fast and loose with the Brown Act and also wasting money on a going-nowhere site at Mountain House, I have decided congressional candidate Dean Andal needs a new name.

He should be called Dean the Magician. After all, he is attempting to make things disappear — not with phrases like “abracadabra” or “hocus pocus,” but with his new super phrase, “I don’t recall.”

Here’s how it works:

Andal had a telephone conversation with Trustee Ted Simas, then-president of the Delta school board, in which Simas took detailed notes about the conversation. It appears Andal knew all about the contents of a closed session the Delta board had just the day before. He should not have had this info.

It was about Andal’s client, Mountain House developer Gerry Kamilos, and his financial and contractual problems with the Delta board. It seems logical that Andal got his information from Kamilos, who received it from two Delta board members who leaked the closed-door information.

This telephone conversation contains damning information about Andal’s activities and questions his Eagle Scout honesty.

So Andal’s got to make this telephone conversation disappear. Here is where his new magic phrase comes in. He just says, “I don’t recall,” and his problem disappears.

Well, someone has to let him know that his phrase isn’t working, at least not with the public, and his days as a magician are numbered. He could get a job at the circus as an elephant keeper, instead.

— Marvin Rothschild, Tracy

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written by Navy Dad , June 28, 2008

If Dean was a Democrat, " I don't recall", would be a standard answer not questioned by anyone in that party.

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written by Dave Hardesty , June 28, 2008

So allegedly he heard of it from someone that heard it from two other friends who happened to be trustees? I will agree Dean should not have had information but he didn't leak it did he? No, the trustees did.

Sorry, but that's a lot of hearsay and isn't a violation of the Brown Act on his part. To my knowledge Dean is not a trustee, was not at the meeting and therefore is not bound by the tenets of the Brown Act in this case.

And considering the number of telephone calls Dean probably gets in a day, "I don't recall" is most likely an honest response. Do you remember exactly everything that people tell you?

No, this seems to be nothing more than political haymaking.

I don't know who I will support in the upcoming election but I have not disqualified Dean for something as unsubstanciated like this.

Dave Hardesty

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written by Jim Lamb , July 01, 2008

Lets for the moment give Mr. Andal the benefit of the doubt that he's done nothing illegal. There still remains the fact that he's a paid lobbyists for at least one developer who has business with the county. That tells me he's a pro at playing the lobbying game. I for one have strong concerns about letting him anywhere near public office given those ties and that background.

For right or wrong, I'm a supporter of having the Delta come to Mountain House. The Delta board on the other hand has the responsibility to do what's best for Delta. If they allowed Mr. Andal undue influence with some sort of back room deal then they have violated the trust given them by the voters.

Mr. Andal engaging in those sort of deals makes him a poor choice for elected office. Let him stay in the private sector where clearly he has a role....for good or bad.