My standard disclaimer, intended to keep myself and the ECA from problems, is that this Soapbox is written from my opinions and those opinions are not necessarily shared by the ECA or any of its member firms.

My Soapbox is short and not so sweet this week. Given the recent news of Mayor Foppoli’s actions over the past 16 years, I had to write about how this type of behavior could have been tolerated for those many years.

Reason #1

People that know, don’t tell. 

How does bad behavior get tolerated by people? Sometimes it is as simple as the Press simply buries the story and most of us don’t know about it. The Press Democrat knew about the allegations, and yet their Editorial Board endorsed Foppoli for Mayor in 2020. What? This is our local journalistic group that should never have endorsed a candidate when they knew there were allegations against him. They knew, we did not. And we did not because our local newspaper buried the news.

Reason #2

People that are “Leaders” receive claims of bad behavior and do nothing about it.

Mayor Deb Fudge got an email describing disturbing allegations about Foppoli in 2017. Not only did then Mayor Fudge not follow up on this allegation, but she also basically buried the email. And what about the rest of the Windsor Town Council that received the emailed claim that Foppoli was a bad guy in 2017? I won’t even get into that in this Soapbox. But I bet we hear more about it in the papers soon.

 

Reason #3

The arrogance of some electeds defy reality. Even though Foppoli knew the “you know what was about to hit the fan”, he said nothing about it.

Despite the SF Chronicle speaking to Mayor Foppoli on Monday, this guy did not let the Sonoma County Supervisors know on Tuesday when they were considering his appointment to the Golden Gate Bridge District Board, that there was a damaging article coming out against him. The Chronicle apparently spoke with him Monday and if so, Foppoli knew how bad this was going to get. Did he really think it was not important to share this bit of news with the Supes so they could consider that before rewarding him with his appointment on Tuesday?

How about speaking up and letting us know next time people!

Our compassion and sincere apologies to the women that were allegedly traumatized by Foppoli. We have to do better as men, and we will do better as “influencers” in discussing and considering all information that is available before we make endorsements for public candidates.

Here is an idea for elected officials to consider-if you are doing bad stuff before you get elected, don’t keep doing more bad stuff and use your elected “power” to rationalize your behavior. I hope Foppoli, Swalwell, and Trump all read this. Jerks.

That’s all folks!

John