Why I’m voting for the challengers this election.

Change is sorely needed in Hercules, and voters have the opportunity to exact change on Election Day next Tuesday, Nov. 2.

Change for the sake of change is not a wise approach, but that is not the dilemma confronting Hercules voters this year. The two incumbents—Kris Valstad and Joe Eddy McDonald—have only exacerbated residents’ fears that they’ve been asleep at the switch and provide discerning voters no other choice than a complete rebuke of their terms in office. Fortunately, the two challengers are competent, worthy opponents and offer a healthy alternative.

In a recent Hercules Patch candidate profile, Valstad said that the perceived lack of transparency at City Hall “depends on who you speak to.” Voters should count the Contra Costa County Grand Jury amongst those that residents should speak to.

McDonald has evoked his lengthy career as postmaster in his campaign efforts. McDonald claims to have “delivered” leadership and positive results. Positive results must be relative however, since McDonald sits on a city council that is known for unfulfilled promises, mismanagement, and utter disengagement with the community. A legacy of failure is by no means a positive, by any measure.

McDonald, to his credit, acknowledged the loss of trust in city government in his recent Hercules Patch candidate profile, although he explained that “it wasn’t something [he] was diabolically planning.”

Again, McDonald wants it both ways. He concedes there is a problem yet argues it was not his fault since he didn’t try hard enough.

On the other hand, the two challengers—John Delgado and Myrna de Vera—seem to offer a fresh break from the status quo. Although campaigning for some kind of change is necessary for challengers in any election, differences between the incumbents and challengers could not be any clearer in this race. On almost every issue facing voters, the two camps provide stark differences.

While the challengers call for greater transparency, accountability and an overall change in the way the city does business, the incumbents claim there is no basis for reform. To be fair, many residents don’t think the incumbents understand how the city actually does business, but they haven’t cared to ask the questions necessary to gain that understanding.

And while the challengers propose elevating the waterfront development as the highest priority in the city, the incumbents claim the project is already a top priority, amongst all the other top priorities, such as Hilltown, the annex, and a new City Hall complex. In fact, neither incumbent lists the waterfront project as a priority in their respective platforms.

The city has lost its focus, and the incumbents haven’t promised anything but the same destructive routine. The cycle can be broken, however. Not by short-sighted, irrational change, of course, but by way of a deliberate, reasonable and sound decision. That decision is crystal clear this year. It’s a vote for the two challengers—Delgado and de Vera—on Nov. 2.