Why I’m not voting for Bill Kelly
Occasional Report No. 39
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Yesterday, I wrote an article on the October 11 Candidates’ Question and Answer session, discussing how each candidate had performed. My comments about Bill Kelly were, for the most part, complimentary to him; still, he managed to misinterpret much of what I said, and then put his misinterpretation into emails, and then sent those emails to all of you. His emails (there were three before he finished) are pasted below, as are the positive comments from me which sent him into his muddle.
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I was trying to be nice to Bill, largely because, at the event on Thursday, he made it very clear that he is, or wishes that it be seen that he is, firmly on the side of transparency in government. This is something which is very important to me, so I tried to be nice to Bill. I also tried to be nice because I am weary of the ugliness of this campaign. But, Bill’s trio of emails, in addition to obliging me to respond, also obliged me to accept and discuss the fact that he is an addled Humpty Dumpty (see his picture: http://www.electbillkelly.com/) of bluster, pomposity, confusion, and mishandled legalistic intimidation.
Bill is very much one of those “I’m a Lawyer!” types who are responsible for the wonderful image that so many people have of lawyers in America. I received this bit of joy from him on September 20:
“Glenn,
“You are one of four people to relay this information to me within the last 90 minutes. I am not sure who the person(s) attributing this letter or its distribution to me may be, but I do have reason to suspect certain individuals. You being an attorney realize full well that publishing falsehoods is Defamation and that the republishing of defamatory information is equally tortuous [sic]. My status as a public figure may provide a defense to the publisher if there is no actual malice.”
His second paragraph ends with:
“Such a harmful intent is unquestionably malicious thereby eliminating any valid defense under New York Times v. Sullivan.”
This is as good a time as any to illustrate how “I’m a lawyer!” Kelly bungles the use of the law in his attempts to intimidate by slinging misused and misspelled legal phrases. The tort he is referring to is libel, not “Defamation”; the adjective is “tortious”, not “tortuous”; the citation of this particular Supreme Court case is ridiculous and inapposite; and, NONE of that had anything to do with me. But I digress. First, the emails of William J. Kelly, Esq., LAW OFFICE OF WILLIAM J. KELLY (as stamped at the foot of those emails).
The sum total of my comments relating to Bill, Esq. is the following two paragraphs:
“Getting back to transparency: on this issue, the other Bill, the Kelly one, did surprisingly well. I realize that he didn’t suddenly discover honesty and transparency and open government last night, that he has been consistent in pushing this issue. Last night, his advocacy of these issues was clear and cogent and strong. He looked good, better than I had expected. He was even able to handle the hardball question which some clever spectator submitted: does he support honesty? He does.”
“Returning to Bill Kelly: he was great last night, and I applaud his advocacy of the issues which are most important to me: transparent government, honesty, democratic government, consultation with the community before taking decisions and paying heed to the will of the community. Bill says all of the right things, and he said them well last night...but I really don't know him very well, and I am really afraid that he is too close to Dan Romero. My idea of a nightmare is a council which has both Dan Romero and Bill Kelly. If we could be confident that Dan will lose, I'd consider voting for Bill; we can't be confident of that, so I will be voting for McCoy, Rubio and Simmons. I wish Bill (Kelly) well, but I'm voting for Phil.”
As I said, my comments were (except for saying “…I am really afraid that he is too close to Dan Romero” and “I wish Bill [Kelly] well, but I’m voting for Phil) favorable to Mr. Bill, Esq. So, he came back with this:
“Mr. Abraham,
“You simply must check you [sic] facts before going to press. Could it be that you [sic] source of information that I am "too close to Dan Romero" is Mr. or Mrs. deVera or both? People whom you reported as being on record as "opposing" my election.”
Well, first, No, it didn’t come from either of the evil de Veras. And I have no recollection of ever having reported the de Veras as “being on record as ‘opposing’ [Bill’s] election.” I sure did hear it from other people, though, including myself. Bill lost any possibility of getting my support when he, several months ago, launched an assault on Dan Romero for First Amendment violations in suppressing Phil Simmons’ comments at a council session. I thought it was great that somebody was finally doing something about Dan’s attempts to control criticism. But then Dan contacted Bill, and Bill abandoned the whole thing. I asked him why, and he gave me a lame excuse, an empty politician’s sidestepping of the issue. At a subsequent council session, Bill, Esq. gave a thunderous oration (a lot of thunder comes from Bill Kelly) in which he said “This ends here!” He was not, as he so often is not, overly clear in his address; but, the “This” to which he was referring was apparently this: the focus of attention on Dan Romero’s suppression of speech. “This”, which ends here, was, of course, begun by Bill Kelly…and abandoned some time after Dan contacted him.
Mr. Esq. continues:
“ Fact - I am the guy who blew the whistle on Mayor Romero for violating Mr. Simmons' First Amendment Rights, [sic]
“What facts can you sight [sic! sic! sic!] to support your claim?
“bk”
True. He’s the guy who blew the whistle, but he's also the guy who THREW the whistle, threw it away, after being contacted by Dan.
More Bill:
“Mr. Abraham,
“A further review of your commonest [sic] suggest [sic] that maybe you were trying to say that I too am[sic], "... is an awful autocrat...’ and ‘... revealed his true, bullying, obstinate, public-opinion-disdaining self; ...’
“bk.“
This misunderstanding is worth pointing out. I do strive for clarity in what I write, and in order to come to his conclusions, Bill, Esq. had to be either not concentrating, or not able to understand, understand something which should have been clear to any careful reader. This guy couldn’t understand my little article; would you trust him to understand complex legal documents?
Bill’s third and final email:
“Mr. Abraham,
“A further review of your comments suggests that maybe you were trying to say that I too am [sic], '... is an awful autocrat...' and '... revealed his true, bullying, obstinate, public-opinion-disdaining self; ...' Can you support that conclusory statement with FACTS?
“bk.”
“Conclusory statement”: fans of Perry Mason reruns will be familiar with the phrase. Those conclusory statements were made specifically in reference to Dan Romero, and with absolutely no reference to William J. Kelly, Esq. I did not support my conclusory statement with FACTS about Bill Kelly because my conclusory statements had NOTHING TO DO with Bill Kelly.
Earlier, I alluded to the email in which Bill trotted out Defamation and tortuous behavior, followed by an inappropriate citation to New York Times v. Sullivan. I think that the points have been made, and that there is no need for me to further explore the September 20 incident with the distribution list subscribers (though I can, if Bill insists). The point is that I am not voting for Bill Kelly because I consider him unfit for office, and because I’m not confident that he’s capable of standing up to Dan Romero.
It was never my desire to have to criticize Bill Kelly. I can deal with criticism of Dan and Bill Wilkins: they’re not nice people, and they are awful for Hercules. I don’t know Bill Kelly very well, but everything I do know about him indicates a nice (though blustery), and possibly well-meaning, person.
This is the sort of thing which is making me sick of Hercules politics. I have met too many of the wrong kind of people in Hercules politics. I have also met many GREAT people: Myrna and Manny de Vera, Phil Simmons, Sherry McCoy, Hector Rubio, Toni Leance, Sue Keeffe, Joe Catindig, Virgil de la Vega, many others. But the Romeros and Wilkins and Kellys, the Balicos and Olivas and Boulangers, the von Asperns and ol times and Carols, are grinding me down.
I wish Bill Kelly well…but I’m sure not going to vote for him.
The emails:
Re: About that candidate Q&A
Glenn Abraham (glennabraham@hotmail.com)
Cc:
myrna 4/12 (mdevera@ci.hercules.ca.us); steve duran,cityMgr 12/11 (sduran@ci.hercules.ca.us); dan,city 7/11 (danromero@ci.hercules.ca.us); bill wilkins 4/12 (wwilkins@ci.hercules.ca.us); gérard 4/12 (gboulanger@ci.hercules.ca.us); john delgado 6/11 (jdelgado@ci.hercules.ca.us); TOM LOCHNER jan11 (tlochner@bayareanewsgroup.com); Lisa Vorderbrueggen CCTimes (lvorderbrueggen@bayareanewsgroup.com); danielBorenstein CCTimes 6/12 (dborenstein@bayareanewsgroup.com)
Mr. Abraham,
You simply must check you facts before going to press. Could it be that you source of information that I am "too close to Dan Romero" is Mr. or Mrs. deVera or both? People whom you reported as being on record as "opposing" my election.
Fact - Dan Romero took proactive steps to undermine me as a member of the Legal Ad Hoc Committee. My sources for that information are Ms. Toni Leance and Mr. Phil Simmons.
Fact - Dan Romero told me in a one-on-one conversation after my June 14, 2011 letter regarding Sycamore North and the plan for 100% affordable housing that " Bill, people think they can change the plan ... but they can't." It was of course changed in major part because I went out-of-pocket to distribute leaflets that led to about 150 people showing up at the July 26th Town Hall Meeting.
Fact - I am the guy who blew the whistle on Mayor Romero for violating Mr. Simmons' First Amendment Rights,
What facts can you sight to support your claim?
bk
William J. Kelly, Esq.
LAW OFFICE OF WILLIAM J. KELLY
1511 M Sycamore Avenue, PMB 188
Hercules, CA 94547-1767
Telephone No.(510) 741-8334
Facsimile No. (510) 964-7032
e-mail: billk@wjklaw.net
website: www.wjklaw.net
Re: About that candidate Q&A
From:
Bill Kelly (billk@wjklaw.net)
Sent:
Fri 10/12/12 11:09 PM
To:
Glenn Abraham (glennabraham@hotmail.com)
Cc:
myrna 4/12 (mdevera@ci.hercules.ca.us); cityMgr 12/11steve duran (sduran@ci.hercules.ca.us); city 7/11dan (danromero@ci.hercules.ca.us); bill wilkins 4/12 (wwilkins@ci.hercules.ca.us); gérard 4/12 (gboulanger@ci.hercules.ca.us); john delgado 6/11 (jdelgado@ci.hercules.ca.us); TOM LOCHNER jan11 (tlochner@bayareanewsgroup.com); Lisa Vorderbrueggen CCTimes (lvorderbrueggen@bayareanewsgroup.com); danielBorenstein CCTimes 6/12 (dborenstein@bayareanewsgroup.com)
Mr. Abraham,
A further review of your commonest suggest that maybe you were trying to say that I too am, "... is an awful autocrat..." and "... revealed his true, bullying, obstinate, public-opinion-disdaining self; ..."
bk.
William J. Kelly, Esq.
LAW OFFICE OF WILLIAM J. KELLY
1511 M Sycamore Avenue, PMB 188
Hercules, CA 94547-1767
Telephone No.(510) 741-8334
Facsimile No. (510) 964-7032
e-mail: billk@wjklaw.net
website: www.wjklaw.net
Re: this just in: link to the Q&A
To:
Glenn Abraham (glennabraham@hotmail.com)
Cc:
myrna 4/12 (mdevera@ci.hercules.ca.us); cityMgr 12/11steve duran (sduran@ci.hercules.ca.us); city 7/11dan (danromero@ci.hercules.ca.us); bill wilkins 4/12 (wwilkins@ci.hercules.ca.us); gérard 4/12 (gboulanger@ci.hercules.ca.us); john delgado 6/11 (jdelgado@ci.hercules.ca.us); TOM LOCHNER jan11 (tlochner@bayareanewsgroup.com); Lisa Vorderbrueggen CCTimes (lvorderbrueggen@bayareanewsgroup.com); danielBorenstein CCTimes 6/12 (dborenstein@bayareanewsgroup.com)
Mr. Abraham,
A further review of your comments suggests that maybe you were trying to say that I too am, "... is an awful autocrat..." and "... revealed his true, bullying, obstinate, public-opinion-disdaining self; ..." Can you support that conclusory statement with FACTS?
bk.
William J. Kelly, Esq.
LAW OFFICE OF WILLIAM J. KELLY
1511 M Sycamore Avenue, PMB 188
Hercules, CA 94547-1767
Telephone No.(510) 741-8334
Facsimile No. (510) 964-7032
e-mail: billk@wjklaw.net
website: www.wjklaw.net