Dear friends and fellow community members,
Hello my name is Motecuzoma Sanchez. I am a resident of Stockton, community advocate, public servant, and active citizen. I am involved in many aspects of volunteerism and tireless advocacy for the purpose of improving our community of Stockton. As such, it has to come to my attention, with great concern, that current Stockton councilwoman Susan Eggman is running for State Assembly with the hope of representing our community at the state level. I am asking for your reconsideration of any endorsement or support for Ms. Eggman.
While she touts her self as a champion and advocate for the community, her actions speak to quite the opposite. One only need look at her voting record on the Council, and her failures to advocate for issues critical to community welfare, to see the true colors of her character and gauge what we could expect from her representation in the Assembly.
For someone who got her start as a grassroots candidate, opposing big developers who have reeked havoc on our city and have controlled the status-quo for generations now, I find that her current support for and financial assistance from these same developers is but one of the many signs indicating her true lack of integrity.
As a veteran I have watching in disbelief as she has been part of a Council playing political games to delay the new VA facility at the struggling County Hospital where I was also born and would like to see survive. Veterans are depending on that facility for care.
Despite the blind endorsements and support from Latino organizations, as a Mexican American I have watched on many occasions as she has failed to deliver, advocate, or support our community, although she has no problem showing up for Cinco de Mayo parades as well as any other ethnic events so long as (and only as long as) the cameras are present.
I have not forgotten that in February of 2009 when there was a vacancy on the council and 5 of the 11 qualified individuals who applied were Mexican descent, not one received a single vote from Susan Eggman despite their credentials. “I'm really angry that Susan Eggman didn't step forward,” Hadley said. “She is the only Latino voice on the council and as far as I'm concerned, there is no Latino voice” ( Latino Times, February 2009). She says she believes in working with people from different segments of the community to “make tough decisions”, yet she justified her unwillingness to cast a single vote for the community she says she represents because of “differing views” on certain issues.
She said her choice was best suited for the job over the other applicants because he was retired and could devote his attention to the matters of the council. We must ask ourselves if this is her ideal criteria for a councilman, then why does she feel she can best serve us while splitting her time as a professor, councilwoman, and now candidate for State Assembly? Apparently the standards she has for others do not apply to herself.
And I have not forgotten her lack of concern for our community when the council was requested to stand in solidarity with civil rights justice and pass a resolution against racist law SB 1070 in Arizona. San Francisco and Sacramento (much larger cities) found the time to stand with their residents. Susan Eggman’s response was, “ What will it actually do? It won’t do anything” ( Record, May19th, 2010).
As a Democrat I have not forgotten her endorsement of Clem Lee for Mayor in 2008, a clear decision to defy the party choice and labor unions and stand with big development. Perhaps it was a show of solidarity with a supporter of subsidizing of failed Paragary’s, which tax payers are still footing the bill on. Indeed Susan Eggman voted in favor of paying the contractor well beyond the amount specified in the contract to retro fit the Stockton Hotel for Paragary’s after the contractor made such requests a year after completion of the project.
We must also question Susan’s judgement in her endorsement for and support of, against better logic and the best interest of the district and its children, of dysfunctional and disgraced SUSD superintendent Tom Amato. Once again working against labor and the needs of the community.
As a social worker and professor of such at CSU, Sacramento, she is well aware of the Social Worker Code of Ethics which states:
4.06 Misrepresentation
Social workers should make clear distinctions between statements made and actions engaged in as a private individual and as a representative of the social work profession, a professional social work organization, or the social worker’s employing agency. (this would be Sac State where I am also a student)
(b) Social workers who speak on behalf of professional social work organizations should accurately represent the official and authorized positions of the organizations.
(c) Social workers should ensure that their representations to clients, agencies, and the public of professional qualifications, credentials, education, competence, affiliations, services provided, or results to be achieved are accurate. Social workers should claim only those relevant professional credentials they actually possess and take steps to correct any inaccuracies or misrepresentations of their credentials by others.
Yet Susan had no problem issuing this response regarding official city business involving a contract with the Podesto Teen Impact Center:
“ I would suggest we not respond to this. As a mental health professional I would suggest we have no further contact with Mr Sanchez” (Eggman, Apr22nd, 2011).
This response came in an email sent out to the entire City Council as well as many staff, despite the City Attorney recommending against honoring the contract which was negotiated by the former Executive Officer gone rogue, without the approval of our Board of Directors for which I am Chair. This unwarranted and unprofessional attempt to discredit me, implying that I had mental problems in her professional opinion, not only violated much of her profession’s Code of Ethics, but also the City’s adopted Civility Principles, which she voted to approve a month prior to making such statements: “The City Councilmembers are the elected leaders closest to the people. The Council is in a unique position to have a positive impact on behavior-individual and collective and to lead by example. The civility must begin here.
1.In order to restore civility in our communities and through them to our nation, we pledge to the following principles for civility: Respect the right of American’s to hold different opinions, Avoid rhetoric intended to humiliate, de-legitimize...Strive to understand differing perspectives, Choose words carefully, Speak truthfully without accusation, and avoid distortion...
2. We further pledge to exhibit and encourage the kinds of personal qualities that are emblematic of a civil society: gratitude, humility, openness, passion for service to others, propriety, kindness, caring, faith, sense of duty, and a commitment to doing what is right.”
I was doing what was right as a volunteer Chair of a non profit as well as a citizen of my City. In case her statement may have been taken out of context she reconfirmed her sentiments in May, “If I were a plumber on the council, and if I could see the sewer backing up, I would still feel obligated to offer a professional opinion.” Once again the expectations Susan Eggman has for others do not apply to herself and her pledge is meaningless. Are we to expect different from her once in the Assembly?
In light of such an endeavor, I am asking for your reconsideration of any endorsement and or support of Susan Eggman for State Assembly and your consideration of her record as a city council representative for Stockton. It has been on her watch that Stockton has been ranked 1st twice and 2nd twice, as the most miserable city in America. It has been on her watch that Stockton has become the 2nd most dangerous city in California and one of the top ten in the nation. It has been on her watch that Stockton has seen an 18.4% unemployment rate. Rather than focus on helping our city it appears Susan is more concerned with furthering her political career which is why she is running for another office half way into her term on the council. When she asked for our vote in 2010 was it with the expectation that she would not complete her term? Aren’t Assembly races every two years meaning she could still run for Assembly in 2014 after her term on the council is up? If she is not elected to the Assembly will her position on the council be her fall back/second choice?
Indeed our community and city deserve better. One must ask if Susan Eggman is more concerned with progressing our city or her political career. It is no mistake that she only chose to run for Assembly once the district was reshaped, thinking she would have full support from a community that has blindly supported her, as her decisions and actions have shown to be contrary to the needs and desires of that community. I ask you all to stand for integrity and demand higher standards and accountability. In fact in speaking with many of you, the best reason many have offered for supporting Susan has been , “what if the next person is worse?” Such reasoning is not only telling, but also disappointing and enabling to someone who should not be trusted in such a position. Our community deserves better. Our city deserves better. Our state deserves better. Our future deserves better.
Progress is made, not found, Motecuzoma Sanchez
