Frank Mellon Protests Matt Turner's Appointment to MAC

Frank Mellon, the incumbent who defeated Matt Turner in last November's EBMUD election, is protesting to Castro Valley's Municipal Advisory Council.

Mellon said he plans to present a memo during the Alameda County Board of Supervisors meeting today (Tuesday) in Oakland, where Turner's appointment is on the agenda.

Turner, an open space advocate and wilderness emergency medical technician, was asked to take the advisory council position by county board president Nate Miley's office, which is based in Oakland but also represents Castro Valley.

It appears that the heart of the Mellon/Turner dispute is a debate over development versus open space preservation.

"I've never seen such a sore winner," said Marc Crawford, an advisory council member, reacting to Mellon's accusations today. "It's clear that Frank Mellon is on a political vendetta."

MAC members Crawford and Dave Sadoff both supported Turner in the EBMUD election against Mellon last November, and both have since been accused by Mellon of having conflicts of interest in non-EBMUD civic affairs.

When the advisory council approved Castro Valley's General Plan on Feb. 28 this year, Mellon spoke at that meeting and said changes in the plan reduce the value of EBMUD land and put the utility in a precarious position.

"You don't take property from another government agency and that's what is being done here," Mellon said at the Feb. 28 MAC meeting.

The East Bay Municipal Utility District provides water and wastewater services to 1.4 million people in East Bay cities, extending to Crockett in the north, San Lorenzo in the south and Danville in the east.

Mellon's list of grievances about Turner, emailed to Patch on Tuesday morning shortly before the supervisors meeting, is listed below word for word.

Turner's rebuttal, prepared after he defended himself at the meeting, is available in the PDF attached to this story.

At first glance early Tuesday, there was at least one discrepancy between Mellon's account and the account that Turner gave Patch in an interview on Monday evening.

When asked what college he graduated from, Turner told Patch "none." In Mellon's memo, Mellon accuses Turner of misrepresenting his education as "from the University of Utah." However, Mellon's memo contradicts itself by going on to say Turner attended the school but didn't graduate. 

Both Mellon and Turner are Castro Valley residents.

In a similar vein, Mellon accused MAC member Marc Crawford of having a conflict of interest at the Feb. 28 meeting where the council approved the General Plan. He said Crawford was one of the leaders of Measure Q, the parks and open space bond measure on the November 2006 ballot that failed to obtain the two-thirds of the vote necessary to pass.

However, Crawford said he had no financial interest in the measure and therefore did not need to sit out the vote.

"I haven't heard a compelling argument for me to do so," Crawford said at the Feb. 28 meeting.

In a 10:20 a.m. interview today with Crawford, he said, referring to this story, "I felt it was irresponsible for Patch to publish unverified accusations."

"It's clear that Frank Mellon is on a political vendetta," Crawford said today." He's attacked me [in the past], and [MAC member Dave Sadoff] the night he was being seated on the sanitary district.

"The only thing that Dave and I have done different from anyone else is support Matt Turner in the last EBMUD election.

"I've never seen such a sore winner. And Frank Mellon's behavior is a disservice to Castro Valley," Crawford said.

Mellon's memo for Tuesday's meeting in Oakland says: "This request is made on the following grounds:

"1) Turner has failed to comply with his legal obligation to properly file campaign forms required under State Law. Specifically, as of April 4, 2011, Turner has not filed the Form 460 that was required to be filed on January 31, 2011. This is not the first time he was late filing – in October of 2011 he was five days late with one of the required filings. A formal complaint has been filed with the Fair Political Practices Commission.

"2) Misrepresentation of Credentials:

"a. College – Turner has continuously posted on his personal Facebook site that his education is from University of Utah and that he “studied biology” and his education is in “Biology and Environmental Ethics.” A FOIA request revealed that Turner attended Utah from September 1997 to December 1997 and did not graduate from Utah. (Verification of this information is enclosed.)

"b. Wilderness EMT – Turner has continuously represented that he is an EMT – more specifically “a Wilderness EMT.” (Enclosed is a copy of the announcement of Turner’s nomination to the Castro Valley MAC in the Castro Valley Forum.)

"A check of California’s EMT registry site and direct contact with California’s local Emergency Medical Service Agencies (EMSAs) has provided that there is not and has not been a listing of Matthew A Turner. Similarly, there is no listing of Turner with the National Registry of EMTs or within neighboring States to California. Additionally, California does not recognize a classification of “Wilderness EMT”.

"I have enclosed a representative response from one of the local EMSAs. The Board of Supervisors is subject to a high level of ethical expectations. To appoint Turner to the Castro Valley MAC would send the message that the Board does not expect the same level of ethics for its local agency appointees.

"Finally, it would also send the message to Castro Valley, that Castro Valley is not entitled to representation by persons of the same level of ethics that the Board of Supervisors is held to.

"Based on the foregoing, I respectfully request that the appointment of Turner to the Castro Valley MAC be denied."

You can read Turner's rebuttal in the PDF attached to this story.