Taylor playing musical chairs

Editor:

I was dismayed when I read the Oct. 24 Contra Costa Times Editorial Board's endorsement of Bob Taylor for City of Brentwood mayor. However, having learned that the board failed to interview all mayoral candidates prior to awarding their endorsement to Taylor, I am outraged.

Despite my discontent with the decision of the Contra Costa Times, you should know that my family members and I voted for Bob Taylor to serve a term of four years on the Brentwood City Council. As such, many people would suspect or assume that our choice for mayor would most likely be Bob Taylor.

Perhaps that would be true, but for Bob Taylor failing to fulfill his commitment to serve his term of office as a member of the City Council. It is now evident to me that Bob Taylor operates from a developed pattern of practice with respect to his inability and/or failure to fulfill his public commitments - those commitments relative to the respective terms of public office for which he has been elected.

For example, Bob Taylor abandoned his four-year seat on the Liberty Union High School District Board to run for a seat on the Brentwood City Council. If elected to mayor, Bob Taylor will abandon his seat on the City Council, ostensibly ensuring a majority of novice council members.

Why should the voting public of the City of Brentwood trust Bob Taylor at this point in time? If elected, what higher office will Bob Taylor seek in the midst of occupying the mayor's seat? While I have no qualm with anyone who aspires to higher office, I do have great reservations with those individuals who seek to excel too soon. Oftentimes it results in their promotion to positions of incompetence.

Despite Taylor's experiences as a farmer, businessman and his representation of the Brentwood City Council before the California League of Cities, his overall credentials are greatly lacking in comparison to that of mayoral candidate Annette Beckstrand. The Contra Costa Times' findings that Brentwood is in great need of a "better job climate … ," which they infer is principally reliant upon improvements to Highway 4 and Vasco Road, is just one example of precisely why Annette Beckstrand is the better choice.

Beckstrand presently serves and has served on the various committees having the greatest impact on Brentwood's future success. In addition, Beckstrand has earned three times as much experience as a Brentwood City Council member in contrast to Taylor. Of utmost importance, Beckstrand endeavors to fulfill her commitments and she certainly does not play musical chairs at the expense of the citizens of Brentwood.

Taylor, having the broadest and longest general experience of employment (working) in the City of Brentwood, does little for the city taxpayer in comparison to Beckstrand, who possesses the broadest, longest and most specialized experience working as a councilmember for the City of Brentwood. While Beckstrand may not possess the popularity of Taylor, she is by far the most knowledgeable and experienced candidate we have to fulfill the job of Brentwood's mayor.

Richard T. Abbate