Some people wish DeMartini would put a sock in it

last updated: November 21, 2007 02:04:31 AM

Imagine Stanislaus County Supervisor Jim DeMartini with a sock duct-taped in his mouth. Can you picture it?

Charles Trainor can. Trainor is a lawyer for Gerry Kamilos, whose PCCP West Park LLC has been granted exclusive negotiating rights with the county for the development of the former Crows Landing Naval Air Station. DeMartini, in whose West Side district this development will occur, has been a loud and unrelenting critic of the project (along with an impressive number of individuals and groups from the affected area).

On Sept. 28, Trainor sent a letter to County Counsel Mick Krausnick. Though he didn't mention DeMartini by name (saying only "one of the county officials"), there's no doubt about his target.

Very freely translated from lawyerese, Trainor asked Krausnick: Can you get this guy to shut up? We're trying to do business with you folks, and he's getting in the way.

Who else can picture a gagged DeMartini?

Doug Sweetland can. Sweetland is the economic development director for the Stanislaus Economic Development and Workforce Alliance, a public-private group known simply as the Workforce Alliance.

The Alliance is perhaps best known for renaming Stanislaus County for a fictional topographical feature, the Stanislaus River Valley. A check of the Alliance's Web site, http://stanalliance.com, confirms this -- it's "Stanislaus River Valley" everywhere you look, and the dread words "Stanislaus County" appear seldom; only when absolutely necessary.

Sweetland recently accused DeMartini of abusing his position by continuing to question the Kamilos project after the Board of Supervisors had anointed Kamilos as its guy.

DeMartini's fellow supervisor, Dick Monteith, piled on, opining (I paraphrase for clarity) that DeMartini had the right to say what he thought, but shouldn't. In January, Monteith was the recipient of $3,000 in campaign contributions by associates of Kamilos. A few weeks later, he cast the decisive vote in awarding Kamilos the exclusive bargaining rights on the development of the Crows Landing site.

We don't do subtlety much here in the Stanislaus River Valley.

Jim DeMartini was elected by the voters of his district to represent them on the Board of Supervisors. If he does this vigorously, is it a bad thing?

Obviously, some people don't appreciate his questioning and general boat-rocking and are looking for a way to pressure him into shutting up. So far, they've struck out -- DeMartini has a pugnacious streak, and isn't a likely candidate for intimidation.

Stay tuned, though. It's an ongoing process, and other tactics may well be employed. We're talking about large sums of money here.

A few months ago, I wrote that Jim DeMartini now had a large bull's-eye painted on his back. He still does.

Flint is a Modesto resident. E-mail him at columns@modbee.com.

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