Notes, quotes and dust motes

COME FLY WITH ME: At a recent event for Belmont Councilmember Charles Stone, running for the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, Assemblymember Kevin Mullin, running for U.S. Congress, made note of the need for elected officials “ready to throw elbows to protect San Mateo County.”

Yes. Ours is a “flyover” county, in the middle of two self-important and larger cities still mired in the antiquated thinking that this is just some sleepy, suburban place to be shunted aside in the interests of the dynamic, urban big cities at either end of the Peninsula.

It often is lamented that San Mateo County lacks a “mayor” who can speak for our 21 disparate political entities on a par with the mayors in San Francisco and San Jose. This makes it all the more urgent that the elected officials in the county speak with one voice — especially beyond our borders.

And, I am watching closely some of the more progressive candidates and officeholders who want San Mateo County’s politics to be more like San Francisco and who try to curry favor with elected officials to the north. It is worth noting, furthermore, the recent San Francisco Chronicle polling that shows the residents of San Francisco think their elected officials are doing a poor job of managing the city.

Keeping San Francisco out of our politics and policies is a long-standing tradition that dates back to the late U.S. Rep. Leo Ryan, who frequently told the city’s most prominent politicians to keep their hands off our county. It is a standard that has to survive this year’s political free-for-all.

YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP: More than 70 local races on one ballot is bound to scare up some interesting candidates.

San Carlos City Council candidate Alexander Kent is one good example. He had an interesting reaction when I asked to interview him for a council roundup story I was writing for Redwood City’s Climate Magazine. The night before the interview, he bowed out, saying he was uneasy about a Zoom interview that could be recorded and misrepresented. Then, he declined entirely. Finally, he offered to be interviewed after the election, anonymously. And, oh, by the way, Kent apparently loves the idea of public service — he ran for the Burlingame City Council in 2013 and also applied for the Belmont Planning Commission in 2016.

Life appears to be fluid here on the Peninsula.

Then there is Cameron Rolfe, fresh off his sweeping third-place finish in the three-candidate primary for the District 2 supervisor’s seat, who now is running for county Harbor Commission. Among his positions, according to his candidate’s statement, is seawater desalinization, protecting whales from “runaway nets” and something called “high heat smokeless trash incineration.” As far as I can tell, none of these issues are within the jurisdiction of the Harbor Commission, although maybe, like North Korea, the county claims territorial waters well beyond the recognized international limits.

Meanwhile, our old friend Greg Conlon is running for the Atherton Town Council. This is the third time he has run in Atherton (losing the first two times). But if you think he finds that discouraging, think again. Conlon has run for California treasurer four times, the U.S. Senate twice, and U.S. Congress and the state Assembly once, each.

And then there is Michael Craig who is running for Belmont City Council, except that he wrote “city counsel” on a candidate form. Yes, it is a small mistake, and who am I to talk (see below)? But I just think candidates ought to spell correctly the name of the office they are seeking.

DANCE ENVY: Local Democratic activist Alex Melendrez noted many an office seeker would love to have the saturation campaign budget of the Chinese dance company Shen Yuen, which he described as a “perpetual candidate.” The blanketing of Bay Area with Shen Yuen flyers nears the ubiquity of Kars for Kids, although the flyers do not make me want to puncture my eardrums.

FOLLOWING UP: Since last week’s masterpiece, the aforementioned Stone has signed on to the efforts by Fixin’ San Mateo County to push for a civilian oversight commission of the Sheriff’s Office. That makes it nearly unanimous. … Also, last week, I misreferenced a prior Assembly race by Millbrae Councilmember Gina Papan. She lost to Gene Mullin in 2002.

Mark Simon is a veteran journalist, whose career included 15 years as an executive at SamTrans and Caltrain. He can be reached at marksimon@smdailyjournal.com.