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Elections - Modesto City Council

Friday, Sep. 25, 2009

Modesto council candidates make their cases

Cataline attacks Olsen votes as 'wasting' money

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A first-time Modesto City Council candidate said he didn't want to engage in "mudslinging" at the start of a Thursday night debate, but proceeded to liken his opponent to Richard Nixon as he sought to exploit an anti-government sentiment to make a case for change at City Hall.

Challenger Joe Cataline's target is Kristin Olsen, the only incumbent council member up for re-election in November. They're facing off to represent the council's District 5, which covers north-central Modesto.

"It's a question of experience and what kind of experience we want," said Cataline, 25, the owner of a video and photography production company. "I'm a history buff. Richard Nixon had the most experience, and we all know how that turned out."

Olsen, 35, didn't take the bait in the hourlong debate at a League of Women Voters-sponsored event that drew about 30 people.

The Nixon dig was the coup de grâce in a series of attempts by Cataline to hold Olsen accountable for unpopular council votes, such as one that raised council pay and another that resulted in eight police officers laid off as part of a budget-balancing measure.

"We should not be wasting taxpayer dollars; we should not be wasting law enforcement resources on protecting Dumpsters and saving shopping carts," Cataline said, referring to two ordinances the council adopted, one of which prohibited Dumpster diving and another that created a new system to pick up abandoned shopping carts.

Olsen took the jibes in stride and presented herself as someone who could make difficult decisions for a city whose budget lost $14 million in revenue over the past year.

She pointed to her record of advocating for quality of life issues, recruiting the Amgen Tour of California cycling race and trying to steer as much money as possible to law enforcement over her term. She called law enforcement a "core service" that represented her top priority.

"Tough times require tough decisions and independent leadership," she said. "Elected officials are responsible for issues large and small."

As expected, Olsen had a much better grasp of city services and decisions than Cataline, whose answers tended to be nonspecific but populist in tone.

When asked if it was appropriate to offer city employees early retirement packages that were worth as much as $30,000 this spring, Cataline answered by saying it was important to give police attractive retirement plans.

Olsen responded that the early retirements were necessary to prevent layoffs, and that they were negotiated to make sure they cut the city's overall, long-term spending.

"It really doesn't cost the city anything, but we only had to lay off 18 people instead of 80," she said. "It was a good thing because it saved a lot of jobs."

That dynamic showed itself repeatedly in the forum. The candidates were asked to describe a specific, successful program to fight gang violence. Cataline said it was important to encourage mentoring and community involvement; Olsen pointed to the injunctions the Stanislaus County district attorney's office has used to keep alleged gang members off the street this year.

Bee assistant city editor Adam Ashton can be reached at aashton@modbee.com or 578-2366.