Update: Ramirez Holmes has contacted me to say that she had not endorsed Jerry Thorne. That would mean that Jerry Thorne lied by listing her as an endorser.
Angela Ramirez Holmes, the Vice Chair for AD 16 of the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee and a member of the Executive Committee, is listed as an endorser *of incumbent Pleasanton Mayoral candidate Jerry Thorne, a Republican. Ramirez Holmes, who also serves in the Zone 7 Water District Board, owns Alliance Campaign Strategies, a campaign consultancy business, which represents developers and developer-backed candidates.
At the Democratic Party’s endorsement interviews which took place on Saturday, September 17th, Angela argued that the Democratic candidate for Mayor, Julie Testa, should not be given the Democratic endorsement because in the past she had endorsed Republican candidates for office. Angela did not disclose that she had endorsed Thorne and was therefore backing a Republican against a Democratic candidate at that very moment.
At the same meeting Angela’s allies in the Committee also attacked ACDCC member and Fremont City Council member/candidate Vinnie Bacon for supporting Mayoral candidate Lily Mei, who is registered as no party preference, against Democratic candidate Bill Harrison. Bacon is running in a “clean money” platform, rejecting contributions from developers, as is Lily Mei. Bill Harrison is also backed by housing developers.
Ramirez Holmes’ support of pro-developer candidates is not surprising, given that she is paid to lobby for developers’ interests. However, Democratic party leaders are discouraged from openly embracing Republican candidates.
* After publication of this article, Ramirez Holmes’ name was removed from the list of Thorne’s endorsements. Link goes to the cached version.