The Sabatino Report

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The Morning Mayor

Local News Talk for the Central Valley

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(209) 527 8484

August 20, 2000

The Sabatino Report

Welcome to the Sabatino Report White Paper

A white paper is a report or guide that often addresses problems and how to solve them. White papers are used to educate readers and help people make decisions..A white paper is an authoritative report.

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The Mayor�s calendar, time cards, and the newspaper cover-up

If you�ve been following the controversy involving Modesto Mayor Ridenour and his job activities, you might be somewhat confused. It�s a little complicated to explain verbally.

If you�ve relied on our local newspaper for explanation, you must be REALLY confused. Despite sitting on this story for several weeks, the Bee�s only contribution was short August 12 piece combining equal parts inaccuracy and spin.

First, some background:

� The Mayor is a part-time employee of the Sheriff�s Department, and fills out a daily time card.

� Earlier this year, the Mayor submitted an �Activities Calendar� to the committee that was formed to recommend new salaries for the Mayor and members of the City Council. This report listed the Mayor�s activities � appointments, meetings, etc. � by date and time. The report covered the first four months of 2008.

Got it so far? Good, because here�s where it gets interesting. When you match up the Mayor�s time card from his Sheriff�s Department with his Activities Calendar you discover the following:

On no fewer than seventeen (17) separate dates, the Mayor�s time card placed him at work on his Sheriff�s Department job, while the activities report had him attending one or more meetings related to his position as Mayor.

This suggests that our mayor has the ability to be in two places at the same time, which is a pretty nifty trick.

Not to worry, though � the powers that be have circled the wagons and have floated an explanation, as follows:

The Sheriff�s Department time cards are accurate. So said Sheriff Adam Christianson, calling it �a whole lot of to-do about nothing.�

The mayor�s Appointment Calendar is also accurate. Well, sort of. City officials offered two explanations for the seeming conflicts:

1. The mayor participated in �agenda review� meetings by phone, while on county time.

2. The mayor didn�t attend or participate in any of the other �conflict� meetings or events listed on his calendar.

Why were they left on the calendar? Oh, not to impress the salary commission � no, not at all. Rather, the mayor said he kept them there �as a reminder of community events� (to quote the newspaper). If you can figure out what THAT means, please let us know.

Now, just for the record, and to give you a visual clue as to how many items we�re talking about, here�s a list of calendar entries that conflicted directly with the mayor�s time cards (the descriptions are taken for the calendar itself):

1/3 6:30 a.m. Group meeting (LaLoma)

1/4 Noon Review of Agenda (Mayor�s Office)

1/16 7:30 a.m. George Radanovich (Dewz)

1/17 6:30 a.m. Group meeting (LaLoma)

1/17 8:20 a.m. Updated: Conference

1/17 8:30 a.m. Review of Agenda

1/31 8:30 a.m. JPA Commission

1/31 11:00 a.m. Review Council

2/7 9:15 a.m. Review of Agenda (Mayor�s Office)

2/7 11:30 a.m. Meet w/ Bob Sasser

2/7 4:00 p.m. Stanislaus Leadership

2/7 5:00 p.m. KFIV (Oakdale Rd)

2/21 8:30 a.m. Modesto Redevelopment

2/21 8:30 a.m. Review of Agenda (Mayor�s Office)

2/28 6:30 a.m. Group Meeting (LaLoma)

2/28 8:30 a.m. Review of Agenda

2/28 2:20 p.m. Appt. w/ Dr. Sulak

2/29 11:00 a.m. Lunch Pastoral (La Morita)

3/5 6:15 a.m. Men�s prayer

3/6 8:30 a.m. Review of Agenda

3/6 2:00 p.m. Meet w/ STANCOG

3/7 11:30 a.m. Literary network

3/20 10:00 a.m. Update: WTE

3/27 6:30 a.m. Group meeting (LaLoma)

3/27 8:30 a.m. Updated: Agenda

4/10 6:30 a.m. Group meeting (LaLoma)

4/10 Noon Carmax grand opening

4/25 8:25 a.m. Speak to Sylvan Elementary

Even if you remove the agenda review items (there are 7 of these, all supposedly �attended� by the mayor via phone), what remains is an incredibly long list of meetings ostensibly skipped or cancelled. You have to wonder: why were all of these scheduled in the first place? Why were they entered on the Activities Calendar?

More to the point, why were they left on the calendar when it was typed up for submission to the salary committee? The mayor�s reminder-of-community-activities explanation doesn�t pass an elementary sniff test.

Neither does his disingenuous statement that he wasn�t trying to influence the salary committee by giving them such a wildly inaccurate and misleading document. His statement is disingenuous because he has publicly complained about all the hours he has to put in the performance of his mayoral duties. The salary committee had requested the Appointments Calendar as verification of the mayor�s claims.

What they got was a work of fiction.

And who�s to vouch for the accuracy of the rest of the calendar? The conflicts listed above only came to light because they conflicted with the mayor�s time cards. What about the other entries?

Several things are certain: You won�t read any more about this in the local newspaper. They�re part of the establishment that�s protecting their own; they�ve printed their spin, and will ride out any backlash in silence.

The other certainty is this: the mayor�s image and credibility have been very badly damaged.

The Sabatino Report

mayor@thesabatinoreport.com

www.thesabatinoreport.com

$15 million

The Morning Mayor
Local News Talk for the Central Valley
KMPH 840 AM The Patriot
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Daily
(209) 527 8484

August 22, 2008

The Sabatino Report

If the City of Modesto had matched the $15 million dollar gift to the Gallo Performing Arts by Stanislaus County and Ray Simon, they would not be facing financial problems.

How do you feel?

The Sabatino Report
mayor@thesabatinoreport.com
www.thesabatinoreport.com

Could gross sales in downtown Modesto be down by $19 million?

The Morning Mayor
Local News Talk for the Central Valley
KMPH 840 AM The Patriot
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Daily
(209) 527 8484

August 21, 2008

The Sabatino Report

Could gross sales in downtown Modesto be down by $19 million?

Downtown businesses are part of the Downtown Improvement District and as such are required to pay an extra mill tax to support the districr. The tax is one-one thousand of the busenesses gross sales. The DID reports a decline in revenue for 2007/2008 of $19,000. Has the newspaper told you that gross revenue in the downtown might be down by $19 million dollars.

We have a full program this morning at 10.

The Sabatino Report
mayor@thesabatinoreport.com
www.thesabatinoreport.com

Judy Sly has too much to apologize for‏

The Morning Mayor

Local News Talk for the Central Valley

KMPH 840 AM The Patriot

10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Daily

(209) 527 8484

August 20, 2008

The Sabatino Report

Judy Sly has too much to apologize for

Her resignation would be beneficial for the community and McClatchy

The author of the letter below does not know any better but opinion editor Judy Sly is not �civil� by her own words.

Print This Article

Posted on Sun, Aug. 17, 2008

A letter to Carmen Sabatino

last updated: August 16, 2008 08:29:36 PM

Dear Citizen Sabatino:

Your latest unwarranted, unjustified and brainless attack on Mayor Jim Ridenour once again shows to the citizens of Modesto what you are made of ("City, county: Mayor's time cards are right," Aug. 12, Page B-2). You are obviously a very bitter man who just won't go away.

In the past, I have submitted letters to The Bee, some printed, about topics that irritate me, such as people who don't clean up after their pets in city parks. You have now become the proverbial pile of dog poop. Why not do us all a favor and dry up and blow away?

WILLIAM WELCH

Modesto

The Sabatino Report

mayor@thesabatinoreport.com

www.thesabatinoreport.com

What's going on

The Morning Mayor

Local News Talk for the Central Valley

KMPH 840 AM The Patriot

10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Daily

(209) 527 8484

August 19, 2008

The Sabatino Report

What�s going on?

This morning, the cast of characters who support the transportation sales tax.

What happened to the �phantom� transportation tax?

Who will control the money? We will talk about the proposal the supporters want you to vote on.

Do you approve the spending of $160,0000 of your tax dollars to convince you to vote to tax yourself?

The Sabatino Report

mayor@thesabatinoreport.com

www.thesabatinoreport.com

Memo to Judy Sly

The Morning Mayor
Local News Talk for the Central Valley
KMPH 840 AM The Patriot
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Daily
(209) 527 8484

August 18, 2008

The Sabatino Report

Memo to Judy Sly

Judy,

Your selection of letters to the editor reflects a great amount of bitterness you cannot seem to deal with. You do have to get over the fact that you were not able to have the Mayor of Modesto jailed despite having your newspaper as part of the prosecution

If I can be of help, please feel free to call the Morning Mayor at 527-8484 and we can try an adult conversation.

Also, have you eliminated the �Setting it Straight� column or in these tough economic times will it take up to much space in your paper.

The Sabatino Report
mayor@thesabatinoreport.com
www.thesabatinoreport.com

Tuesday's Morning Mayor

Tuesday Aug 5th 2008

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In Too Deep

The District Map Compliments of Former Mayor Carmen Sabatino