Editor,
We are two lifelong residents of San Mateo County who support Sheriff Carlos Bolanos. We each attended local public high schools and after graduation from our respective law schools, began our legal careers in the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.
One of us became the first Latino Superior Court judge and served two terms as its presiding judge. The other became the first Latina judge on the San Mateo County Superior Court and served many years in the juvenile court. We are now both retired.
We have known Sheriff Bolanos for many years. We consider the sheriff a personal friend and an essential member of our law enforcement community. He has and continues to fulfill his duties as sheriff with distinction and commitment. He collaborates with all of the institutions, agencies, nonprofits, schools, faith-based community and other groups which contribute to our quality of life in San Mateo County. He has built bridges with local political bodies and community leaders. These connections take years to forge and nurture. He is responsible for a correctional institution, local law enforcement, coordination with local police agencies, and court security.
Sheriff Bolanos is an intelligent and modest man. He promotes diversity in actions, not just words. It would be absurd to consider replacing him with anyone else. There are many reasons why this county is such a great and safe place in which to live and raise a family. Sheriff Carlos Bolanos is one of them. We all deserve his reelection.
Judge Mark Forcum (ret.)
Millbrae
Judge Marta Diaz (ret.)
Foster City
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(19) comments
Even MORE reason to vote CORPUS with THOSE two characters supporting Carlos.
Fulcrum tried ruining Clark L's career and Marta is no friend of the people.
Vote Corpus! She won't spend money on a Limo in the middle of the desert.
Oh dear, JustMike650 with personal smears. Now can these former judges claim libel? Or is this the desperation we can continue to rely on from this Corpus supporter? I think we all know the answer.
@ Terence Y - you are most likely having a beer with Chris Conway at an all white establishment in Burlingame or Brentwood.
Wow JustMike650! It’s an honor to be named in the same post as the Chris Conway you continue puppy dogging. Please tell us how elated you’d be if Mr. Conway made a guest appearance. On second thought, our readers would prefer a relevant post.
Terence Y: Don't mind JustMike650. He's just upset that his candidate hasn't received endorsements from Judges and the state's attorney general. She did, however, receive the support of a group of coasties known as Fixin' San Mateo. Super impressive compared to Sheriff Bolanos.
Edit: Forcum
Just Mike...
I'm sure your understanding of the events from 15 years ago in Las Vegas informs what you believe to be a reasonable basis for selecting a candidate in our county's upcoming election for Sheriff. That's a reasonable approach. Carrying over from yesterday's discussion following Rudy's column... can you tell us what really happened in Las Vegas?
And it appears you are unhappy with retired Judges Forcum and Diaz. What specifically about the tenures of those two judges do you find objectionable?
Yes, let us review again what Bolanos did 15 years ago because it continues to be revealing as to his character and qualifications. He was apprehended during an FBI raid at a brothel in a county in Las Vegas where prostitution is illegal, and which was trafficking minors. He claimed he thought it was a legitimate business, however if you look at the photo, it is a run down house with bars on the window and no signs to indicate it is a business. Either Carlos Bolanos knew this was not a legitimate business, in which case he does not have the ethics to be in law enforcement. Or he believed it was a legitimate business, in which case he does not have the judgment to be in law enforcement.
There goes Westy again - spreading lies about Bolanos being apprehended. Bolanos was detained and questioned but there was no violation. Since this Vegas thing is being brought up, yet again, I guess we can bring up the Corpus camp Confederate flag thing, yet again.
Pretty weak when you have to reach back 15+ years to find a reason not to vote for the incumbent. Please give examples of how the Vegas episode impacted the management of the Sheriff’s Office? Plus, at the time, Munks was the Sheriff. Oh, and it was Munks who announced he thought it was a legitimate business.
Ray - if I wrote what I know first hand about Marta and Forcum - the post would not be printed but I will wet your whistle a bit with a beer from Nob Hill Cafe.
Forcum dinged an attorney who accepted a bottle of wine for 'doing' a wedding and donated the wine to his local church. https://tinyurl.com/525uem7e
Marta Diaz is not fit to support anybody https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Judge-takes-responsibility-in-death-of-foster-2624171.php
I am not acting as an apologist for any candidate, but I will take that beer... and you're buying.
Do you have a better link re: the wine bottle donation story? I entered it and a bunch of stories... some hit pieces and others legitimate articles popped up. Secondly, the tragic story about Angelo Marinda spoke to a number of systemic failings that contributed to his death. Based on information known to county services but not fully disclosed before Angelo's death, do you believe any judge would have granted unsupervised access to Angelo if he or she would have had the same information?
Thank you for your letter. Sheriff Bolanos is by far the best choice for Sheriff after hearing him speak. Any objective weighing of his performance as our Sheriff, argues strongly for his re-election.
This letter to the editor is disturbing. Typically Judges, even retired Judges, stay out of non-judicial political races. I can't help but wonder what the motivating factors were behind this letter? It is no secret that Judge Marta Diaz caused considerable harm to children and families during her time on the bench in Juvenile Court. Anyone who works within our county's Juvenile Justice System today openly acknowledges the grave mistakes of our past. San Mateo County residents are not interested in going backward or even maintaining the status quo. We are looking for leaders who have the integrity, skills, and ability to take us into the future. It is time to move our county's largest law enforcement agency forward by electing our first female Sheriff. I will be casting my ballot for Christina Corpus. I hope you will join me.
Johanna, I guess you’re not happy with the status quo of Bolanos’ 6 years of leadership experience in keeping San Mateo County one of the safest in our region. You can choose to roll the dice with Corpus, who has less than a year of leadership experience and who we can only hope will keep us as safe. As for me, I’d prefer to keep someone who sets the standard, Sheriff Bolanos. BTW, perhaps these judges are following Ruth Ginsberg’s example when she didn’t stay out of our presidential election in 2016.
Agree--Judge Diaz has a less than stellar record in decisions regarding youth in our county. Remember the Ayres debacle where she was friends with that terrible child molester who she sent children to? Then wanted the investigation into him curtailed. Nope--she has zero credibility.
Tommy...
To be sure, the ripple effects of William Ayers' abuse of young boys continues until this day. However, are you suggesting Judge Diaz or any judge in our county knowingly assigned juveniles to a child molester for court ordered care?
Here's what the former head of the county's private defender program for juveniles said about Judge Diaz. She "is an outstanding jurist who has effected long-lasting and dramatic changes in our juvenile court... A real innovator, Judge Diaz deserves great credit for implementing most of what is good around here.”
Believe you are mistaken about retired Judges not comment on “non judicial political races.” Can you say retired judge, Quentin Koop! In regards to moving the Sheriffs office forward. Let’s see, under Bolanos he introduced body cameras. Updated the use of force policy in response to the “8 Can’t Wait” campaign. To deal with the mental health crisis, he expanded the PERT program, plus all sworn personnel receive advanced crises intervention training. Think these examples show Bolanos has moved the Sheriff’s Office … FORWARD. A little disappointed to see the gender card thrown down on the political table. But then, in this day and age, it doesn’t surprise me. I’ll take experience over “buzz words” any day.
Correction - Quentin KOPP
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.