Modesto’s mayor now facing four opponents in November 2020 election
Modesto Mayor Ted Brandvold faces at least four challengers as he runs for a second term in the November 2020 election, after two more candidates entered the race.
Councilman Doug Ridenour and Bert Lippert, the city’s building safety program coordinator, recently filed paperwork with the city stating their intent to run. They join Senior Pastor Rick Countryman of Big Valley Grace Community Church and former Mayor Carmen Sabatino in challenging Brandvold.
Ridenour is a retired Modesto police sergeant, the brother of former Mayor Jim Ridenour, and was elected to the City Council in November 2015. (City voters approved in November 2018 a one-time extension of the current council terms from four to five years in order to move elections from odd to even years.)
Modesto faces many of the challenges that other California cities face, including rising pension costs for its employees, a lack of affordable housing, rising rents, homelessness, and keeping and attracting jobs that pay living wages.
Brandvold, who was elected in a February 2016 runoff election, has presided over a divided and at times dysfunctional City Council. Some meetings include bickering among council members and lengthy and confusing discussions.
Ridenour and other council members have said Brandvold has not included the full council in his decisions, though Brandvold’s council supporters say their colleagues have not given him a chance. Brandvold’s critics also say he is not a good communicator, which he says is not true.
Ridenour, 68, said Modesto’s strengths include its many residents who work to make it a better place. He said he will build off that by being a leader who listens and creates relationships.
“The key thing is being able to listen to your community and develop that shared vision,” he said. “That means you’ve got to get out and talk to people.”
He acknowledged that while the council has had its problems, that does not mean Modesto has not gotten some great things done in the last four years, including a project to sell highly treated wastewater to West Side farmers and city and community efforts to improve parks.
Lippert, 67, has worked for the city for nearly 35 years and as building safety program coordinator he oversees the city’s efforts to deal with blighted, abandoned, nuisance and unsafe property.
He said he is not the status quo candidate and does not expect to get the backing of the Chamber of Commerce, developers and others who frequently give money, endorsements and other support to office seekers.
“It’s time for a change,” Lippert said when asked why he is running. “There needs to be a new way of conducting the daily business of the city, a different approach ... It’s not efficient. We tend to repeat history. We tend to come up with the same ideas every 10 or 15 years.”
Lippert, who said he would retire if elected, said city government needs to ensure that more of the city is represented in its policies and efforts, and that includes west Modesto, the mostly poor, heavily Latino section of the city.
Sabatino, 82, served as mayor from 1999 to 2003. He has been a candidate for a variety of offices since then and a frequent critic of the city and other local governments. He filed his paperwork for mayor in March.
“It’s an opportunity to discuss the issues in real time because the election is over a year away,” Sabatino said when asked why he was running. “It won’t be, ‘send out a flyer and vote for me.’ There will be issues every week, every month as we approach the election.”
He said those issues include the need for Modesto to cut its ties with City Attorney Adam Lindgren.
Sabatino claims Lindgren is too expensive and has too much power. He said Modesto needs to provide a better explanation about the breakdown of its purchasing practices that resulted in more than $16 million in unauthorized spending and the debacle in its employee health insurance that could cost the city millions of dollars.
Countryman, 58, announced his run for office in July. He declined then to talk about his top issues and what he hoped to accomplish, saying he would address that during his campaign.
“I love this town. I love the people of this town,” he said in July. “... (If elected), I will use my energy, my passion and leadership to make Modesto a better place.”
This story was originally published October 15, 2019 at 4:57 PM.
