As part of our election coverage of the 2020 Elk Grove Mayoral and City Council elections, we have invited candidates for District 1 and 3 to submit audio recordings. The candidates can discuss their candidacy at any length they desire.

In our first of the two-part series, you will hear from District 1 candidates incumbent Darren Suen and challenger Ali Moua. The recordings are posted in the order received.

As part of our election coverage of the 2020 Elk Grove Mayoral and City Council elections, we have invited candidates for District 1 and 3 to submit audio recordings. The candidates can discuss their candidacy at any length they desire.

In our first of the two-part series, you will hear from District 1 candidates incumbent Darren Suen and challenger Ali Moua. The recordings are posted in the order received.

Elections have real-life implications, and in 2020, this is especially true even for Elk Grove contests. There are important questions to ask candidates like do they support Social Security, Medicare, and clean air and water.

As we post this edition of Elk Grove News Podcasts recorded on the evening of Thursday, October 1, we must acknowledge the news of President Trump and the first lady’s COVID-19 diagnosis.

We wish them a speedy recovery and hope this serves as a stark reminder to follow medical and scientific protocols to prevent the spread of the deadly virus that has already killed over 200,000 fellow Americans and countless others worldwide.

Science matters.

In this edition, we have a discussion with Jeff Burdick who recently started SactoPolitico.com - a website focusing on Sacramento area politics.

Jeff discusses his recent story examining the dramatic changes in voter registration in Elk Grove and how it might affect the city’s new by-district elections, in District 3 in particular.

If Jeff’s name is familiar, he ran for the Democratic nomination for California’s Seventh Congressional District in the March 2020 primary against Representative Ami Bera.

The story referenced from SactoPolitico.com regarding Elk Grove voter registration can be viewed here.

By John Hull |

Jeff and Caryn Carlson are proud Elk Grove parents. They’ve been watching over the past four years their oldest son Dylan rise from the ranks of an elite high school baseball player to that of prized rookie outfielder with the St. Louis Cardinals. Today I visit with Coach Carlson.

On Tuesday, September 29, the Elk Grove Chamber of commerce, in association with the Elk Grove Citizen held a 2020 Elk Grove mayoral forum at the Wackford Center.

The event was mired with background noise from protestors outside the venue, and according to one person inside the forum, a deficient technological set up by the sponsors.

On this edition of Elk Grove News Podcast is an audio recording from that Zoom meeting.

The forum was originally scheduled for one hour but was cut short to about 48 minutes because of the poor audio quality.

Our recording is slightly less as several long pauses where there was no audio were cut. None of the comments have been removed for the recording.

The opening comments were from Waldo Herrera of the Elk Grove Chamber of Commerce.

Below is a guide to time marks in the audio, and responses from Mayor Steve Ly, Brian Pastor, and Bobbie Singh-Allen.

1:00 Opening remarks Waldo Herrera

2:20 Moderator introduction, David Herburger

1:36 Forum format

4:41 Opening statement - Bobbie Singh-Allen

7:36 Opening statement - Brian Pastor

9:43 Opening statement - Steve Ly

12:55 First question; Elk Grove's most pressing challenge

13:06 Singh-Allen response

16:23 Pastor response

17:54 Ly response

20:06 Second question; California Northstate Univiersity's proposed project

20:41 Pastor response

22:36 Ly response

24:17 Sing-Allen response

26:21 Third questions; Law enforcement and race relations

26:50 Ly response

30:02 Singh-Allen response

31:40 Pastor response

34:08 Fourth question; Jobs to homes imbalance

34:37 Singh-Allen response

36:49 Discussion of stopping forum because of protest background noise

37:31 Fourth question repeated

38:35 Pastor response

40:25 Ly response

42:53 Herrera comments on poor audio, interference from outside

43:41 Singh-Allen's closing remarks

45:25 Pastor closing remarks

46:05 Ly closing remarks

Elk Grove’s 2020 mayoral race has been nothing, if not dramatic and we still have almost five more weeks. While the duo between Mayor Steve Ly and challenger Bobbie Singh-Allen has been the political talk of the town, there is a third candidate in the race, Brian Pastor.

Elections have real implications, and in 2020, this is especially true even for Elk Grove contests and there is an important question to ask certain candidates.

By John Hull |

It seems like it has become a daily habit…checking the daily numbers of Sacramento County people testing positive for COVID 19 virus. If we continue to see this data get smaller and smaller, then maybe, maybe life as we knew it prior to March 16, our first “Shelter-in-Place” declaration, will return.

Perhaps in the sports world, local students can go back to the classroom, our sports programs will get fired back up and maybe, just maybe, we can leave masks at home. Fans can attend games again and the cardboard cutouts in the seats can be returned to their rightful owner. (by the way, I have to admit it is funny to watch a batted ball him one of them in the photographed head)

Yesterday was a sad day for our future of liberties and the great American experiment.

Godspeed Ruth Bader Ginsburg.