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Category: Money

  • Twelve Davis teachers in support of Measure V

    [Doug Buzbee emailed the following to the Davisite for posting]

    Dear Neighbor,

    We are Davis teachers, and we are lucky to teach in this wonderful community. But our schools are in trouble. Every year, we have fewer and fewer new students. It’s gotten to the point that unless something changes, we will struggle to sustain the quality schools that Davis expects and deserves.

    Because of declining enrollment, the Davis Joint Unified School District announced potential plans to close two elementary schools and possibly a junior high school.

    Make no mistake – the ripple effects of school closures would be felt across our town, and not just by families with students. Deep-rooted school communities would be dissolved, surrounding neighborhoods would become less desirable, biking to school would become harder, car traffic would increase, teachers would be let go, and the list goes on.

    Those of us who teach at these threatened schools face a simple question from our students: why is this happening? The answer is clear – Davis has not done enough in recent years to make it possible for young families to move here.

    This is why we are supporting Measure V on the June ballot.

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  • Is Eric Jones really a progressive? His donation to a Bush family Republican says otherwise

    Artificial Intelligence is “in”, quality healthcare is “out”

    By Roberta Millstein

    Is Eric Jones, running to unseat Mike Thompson in Congressional District 4, really a progressive?  His supporters often describe him that way, with Our Revolution, for example, stating that he has a “bold, progressive vision.” 

    Would a liberal or a progressive or any sort of committed Democrat donate to a Republican candidate from a well-known establishment Republican family?  One who seeks to dismantle health care support for his constituents?  Because this is what Jones has done.

    On October 28, 2025 — after Jones had already declared his House campaign as a Democrat — he donated the maximum amount allowed by the state of Maine ($2075) for a candidate running in the Republican primary for governor. The candidate is Jonathan Bush, cousin of George W. Bush and nephew of George H. W. Bush. Here is a screenshot showing Eric Jones’s donation to Jonathan Bush’s campaign:

    The full list of donors to Jonathan Bush’s campaign can be found at https://mainecampaignfinance.com/index.html#/exploreDetails/554869/10/0/51/2026 ; click where it says “2026 January Semiannual Report“. I have blacked out Jones’s address for a little bit more privacy, although anyone who really wants to confirm it is the same Eric Jones can click through to find it, as it is public information.

    Indeed, a number of Bush family members join Eric Jones in supporting Jonathan Bush’s Republican run for governor in Maine.  These include Former President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush. Here are screenshots showing their donations:

    The full list of donors to Jonathan Bush’s campaign can be found at https://mainecampaignfinance.com/index.html#/exploreDetails/554869/10/0/51/2026 ; click where it says “2026 January Semiannual Report“.

    In case that is not enough to convince you that Eric Jones is supporting a “real” Republican, consider the words of the Maine Democrats, who state that Jonathan Bush is “push[ing] his dangerous plan to cut health care for Mainers”:

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  • Who Pays the Price in Davis Schools?

    By Jasmine Pettis

    At a time when Davis Joint Unified School District (DJUSD) is asking families to consider closing neighborhood schools, one question remains unanswered: Have District leaders fully examined their own spending before asking the community to absorb the consequences?

    The answer appears to be “no”. Recent salary data shows that DJUSD’s superintendent received more than $427,000 in total compensation in 2024, with several central office administrators earning well over $200,000 annually. At the same time, the District is discussing the drastic step of school closures as a necessary response to budget pressures.

    DJUSD families have been told in Board Subcommittee meetings that there is “no fat left to trim.” That claim doesn’t hold up.

    The two realities of rising administrative compensation and proposed school closures demand scrutiny. Allow me:

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  • The billionaire venture-capitalist backed Super PAC supporting Eric Jones cites faulty time travelers

    Mailer funded by the Super PAC “New Leadership Now.”

    Or maybe they just lie?

    The latest mailer funded by the “New Leadership Now” Super PAC boldly declares: “In 2019, House Democrats voted on impeachment. Mike Thompson voted No.” One big problem: Thompson in fact voted YES in 2019 — check, e.g., Wikipedia.

    So, what’s their evidence? Next to the above blatantly false claim — I want to say “blatant lie” — there is a footnote citation. Take a look at the footnote in tiny print and you will see two citations from… wait for it… 2017!! So, apparently, those news sources were time travelers who knew that Mike Thompson would vote “no” in 2019, except they were apparently very bad time travelers (or maybe they were very bad crystal ball readers??) because he voted “yes”.

    You will probably need to click to read these, but the first date 12/6/17 and the second is also 12/6/17

    Sorry to be sarcastic here, but this is really bad. Bad bad bad. And if Jones doesn’t denounce this blatantly false claim (i.e., lie) in his name, that’s on him.

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  • Proposals for city budget fall far short of what is needed to address severe funding gap

    [The following email from Dan Carson was shared with the Davisite for posting]

    Dear City Council and Fiscal Commissioners:

    Attached please find a city staff report authored by the City Manager and the Finance Department — dated May 19, 2026 and titled “Fiscal Year 2026/27 Mid-Cycle Budget Update” — that was recently provided to you for public hearings this week. Given the brief timeline available for public consideration of this report by the Council and the Commission, I am sharing these comments with you in the interests of ensuring that you obtain critical information needed to assess the proposed actions and their potential effect on our city’s fiscal stability and integrity.  

    Click to access 06-FY26-27-Mid-Cycle-Budget-Update.pdf

    As you know, I served as a fiscal advisor to the California Legislature for 17 years, concluding my state career as Deputy Legislative Analyst of the nonpartisan and independent Legislative Analyst’s Office before serving for nine years on the City of Davis Finance and Budget Commission and then the City Council.  

    In summary, my analyses indicates that the first steps to address the city’s budget shortfalls being proposed by city management are reasonable but will fall far short of what is needed to address a severe funding gap caused primarily by dramatic and excessive increases in employee pay and benefits approved by the Council in a series of recent multi-year labor contracts. The budget package also does not provide the level of funding needed to fix our roads and bike paths and other infrastructure and discloses that it “defers” more capital improvement projects it does not identify. I recommend the Commission and the Council take a series of actions described below to address these issues.

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  • Pro and con arguments concerning Village Farms in the Wary One

    By Roberta Millstein

    This isn’t an article so much as it is a pointer to two other articles in The Wary One. As most Davisites know, Bob Dunning left the Davis Enterprise (and his Wary Eye column) for Substack and his reborn newsletter The Wary Eye in 2024 — Bob tells the story here.

    As a special feature, Bob solicited two new essays on Village Farms, free and open to everyone, no subscription needed. I was the person he asked to write a “no” essay, even though (as I made clear in my essay) I am not working on the “no” campaign. I focused on the question of affordable housing and whether the project is well-designed for our climate crisis. The “yes” essay was written by Sandy Whitcombe, one of the developers of Village Farms.

    I very much appreciate the opportunity to guest write for The Wary One and also appreciate his willingness to try to engage the community in discussion. (In honor of Bob, the previous sentence does not end with an exclamation point).

    You can find the two essays here: https://www.thewaryone.com/p/today-we-present-two-essays-on-measure/comment/258381824

  • Two issues about Willowgrove Project need to be addressed

    [The following email by Dan Carson and Elaine Roberts Musser was sent to the Davis City Council today and is posted to the Davisite at the request of the authors]

    Dear City Councilmembers,

    As you move toward final action on Tuesday on the Willowgrove project, which could provide new housing our community needs, we urge you to address two significant issues (both referenced in your new city staff report) that we strongly believe will undermine its chances of winning voter approval this November.  

    Fourth City Fire Station

    Last month, at a Planning Commission hearing on the Willowgrove project, a city planning staff member suggested the city has decided to build a fourth city fire station. For weeks city staff has since declined to answer specific questions posed to them about the city’s intentions. We believe this is an important matter for you to consider, given the findings of a city consultant in a 2018 study, that our community does not need an expensive fourth fire station the city cannot afford. 

    Additionally your new city staff report contains a strong hint city staff are still pursuing a four-fire station plan. Notably, it cites a fiscal analysis by BAE Urban Economics that analyzes the projected net operating costs to the city from just such a new fourth city fire station. Staff selectively cites a version of the BAE fiscal analysis that assumes the 15 year fiscal impact of such a  project “would be slightly negative at $190,422”. This is based on the assumption that other city residents gained from future new development projects would shoulder most of the costs of the operation of a fourth new fire station. 

    Why is this matter relevant to your consideration of Willowgrove?

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  • Super PAC has now poured over 1.1 million dollars into ads supporting Eric Jones

    The latest venture-capital funded mailer is downright Orwellian

    By Roberta Millstein

    Mailer received 27 April 2026. Annotated by the author.

    Eric Jones’s campaign to unseat Mike Thompson in Congressional District 4 has repeatedly promised not to take money from special interests and PACs.  As I have already documented in detail (see earlier articles here and here), that promise is essentially meaningless.  A former partner of the Dragoneer Investment Group, Jones has received large individual donations and repeated campaign advertising funded by massive donations to the New Leadership Now Super PAC from his fellow venture capitalists, including a huge donation from the family of Dragoneer’s founder, Marc Stad.

    Expenditures for ads in support of Eric Jones’s campaign (mailers, TV, internet, etc.) from New Leadership Now currently exceed 1.1 million dollars, as this screenshot from the FEC website shows [UPDATE: over $1.33 million as of May 9, 2026]:

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  • Eric Jones’s close ties to a Super PAC

    Jones criticizes Mike Thompson for taking PAC money, but is he being hypocritical?

    By Roberta Millstein

    Flyer in support of Eric Jones’s run for Congress, paid for by the New Leadership Now Super PAC

    Among the small deluge of flyers Davisites have received promoting Eric Jones’s candidacy for Congressional District 4, some may have noticed that one was different from the others: It indicated that it was paid for by a group called “New Leadership Now.”  Who is New Leadership Now, and what sort of connection does it have to Eric Jones, if any?  This article aims to shed a bit of light on these questions.  It is a follow-up to my earlier article discussing the direct campaign contributions from Jones’s former venture capitalist co-workers and other individuals from the high tech industry.

    New Leadership Now is registered with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) as a Super PAC.  What is a Super PAC?  Wikipedia has a helpful definition:

    Independent expenditure-only political action committees, commonly known as super PACs, are a type of political action committees (PACs) in the United States. Unlike traditional PACs, super PACs are legally allowed to fundraise unlimited amounts of money from individuals or organizations for the purpose of campaign advertising; however, they are not permitted to either coordinate with or contribute directly to candidate campaigns or political parties. However, in practice, restrictions on such coordination are considered flimsy and poorly enforced.[1]

    The unlimited expenditures coupled with not really knowing if the committees are actually coordinating with candidates make Super PACs controversial.  Eric Jones has touted his campaign as “Powered by People, Not Special Interests: Not a Dime from Corporate PACs”[2]  What I will describe below casts some serious doubt on that slogan, however.

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  • What does “No on Measure V” really stand for?

    By Matt Williams

    For Davisite readers, the following is a response to an Alan Pryor post that made the following accusation, “Grass Roots” is not an accurate description of the opposition to Village Farms. How do you spell “NIMBY”? It is not spelled “Grass-roots”! (see https://nextdoor.com/p/9nSwSrmBTckW/c/1585068648?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=1776984857876&share_action_id=a32ff6cd-07c2-4764-a989-a686060c125a)
     
    Alan, is there a reason you are deploying the “If you can’t address the message, attack the messenger” tactic?  There are very few NIMBYs in No on Measure V.   That is very clear in the unifying principles of No on Measure V, which were just yesterday presented to DTA, the DJUSD teachers union, and are anything but NIMBY, specifically:

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