After_Deadline's blog

We’re preparing a database and some stories to help you track how the federal government is spending its nearly $800 billion economic stimulus package in the Northern San Joaquin Valley.

We’ve identified at least $181 million in grants delivered to cities, counties, nonprofits and school districts by Oct. 1 between Escalon in the north and Merced in the south. That’s a welcome injection of cash for local governments who say they’d be scrapping road projects and laying off police officers without the federal money.

We obtained our data from Recovery.gov, which is a pretty remarkable site in terms of government transparency. It’s all there.

I’ve got rogue fever this morning. It’s such a fun word, filled with images of Hunter Thompson, Axl Rose and now Sarah Palin.

Walk with me here.

The Modesto City Council wants to bring out the rogue in Auditor Frank DeMattos.

You might think that Modesto Parks Director Julie Hannon went rogue when you read the headline on page B-1 today: “Official urges golfers to get teed off.” Sources assure us she’s fine, though.

Al Nava ran the independent rogue route while campaigning for a Modesto City Council seat, but it didn’t work so well.

Cindy Marks and Nancy Cline, however, went rogue on Modesto City Schools Superintendent Arturo Flores and that helped get them re-elected to the district’s board of education.

The treasurer of the Placer County Republican Central Committee last week resigned because of controversy over contributions the group accepted from a Southern California assemblyman, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

The Placer committee was one of three in the valley that accepted big donations from Assemblyman Joel Anderson only to return them to a committee he controls for a possible run at a State Senate seat. The state Fair Political Practices Commission is investigating those transactions.

Stanislaus County's Republican Central Committee also took money from Anderson only to give it back to him a day later. No one from the Stanislaus committee is willing to explain that exchange to The Bee so far.

-AA

A couple announcements this week are shaking up next year's elections in unexpected ways.

First, Sen. Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto, announced that he wouldn't seek re-election next year. That opens opportunities for Assemblymen Tom Berryhill of Modesto and Mike Villines of Fresno to run for a safe Republican seat in the Senate.

A Berryhill campaign could open the door to an Assembly race for any number of conservative politicians serving in local government today. Modesto City Councilwoman Janice Keating? How about Modesto Mayor Jim Ridenour?

Also, Stanislaus County Supervisor Jeff Grover this week announced that he does not plan to seek re-election in June. All signs point toward former state Ag Secretary Bill Lyons running, but, as Vito Chiesa showed last year in his race for a supervisor's seat against former Sheriff Les Weidman, the guy with the big name doesn't always win the race.

- AA

My favorite image in today’s paper is Bart Ah You’s shot of Modesto City Schools candidate Ruben Villalobos awaiting returns with former City Councilman Balvino Irizarry and business owner Jeremiah Williams.

I’ve been struck in recent weeks by the support Villalobos has picked up from places like the Modesto Police Officers Association. It begs the question, why would MPOA get involved in a school board race? The rumor mill last summer held that Villalobos was going to run for a City Council seat but didn’t quite live in the boundaries for the chair he was eyeing. I never asked him about it so I wouldn’t know. Tongues were wagging in his favor. It seems to me that a lot of people have high hopes that he’ll emerge as a somewhat left-leaning leader for years to come, whether that’s on the school board or a different body.

A City Council candidate is having some trouble taking questions about his past.

This time it's District 2 candidate Al Nava. We researched Nava's public records, as we do for all candidates, and saw a criminal charge from 1998. Reporter Leslie Albrecht called to check on it with him today.

He graciously confirmed the conviction in a post on his public politician page on Facebook. You do not have to "friend" Nava to read this statement on the site.

"ooohhh, scandal: my criminal record on the record

"Today at 12:35pm

"Back in 1998, I was charged with "receipt of stolen property" & finally went to court in 1999 to defend myself of these false accusations. This case was finally dismissed because those idiotic DA's & Police Department admitted they lacked the evidence. They had me on recorded video & had no evidence? Even when they were wrong, they still refused to apologize for their mistake.