Borges’ Supervisor Campaign Loses Credibility
By Emerson Drake 
Taking a page out of George ‘the developer’s land use attorney‘ Petrulakis that says if you don’t have an issue manufacture or invent one, Ms. Borges is using the 132 bypass issue with mixed results. It didn’t matter to her that the issue has been settled for years or that the County has held multiple workshops over years (that Ms. Borges failed to attend) or that the State has much more influence in the final outcome than the County. She’s been waving it like a flag with limited results. But on this topic what we question is highlighted by her map of alleged cancer clusters.
At the Bee forum during her introductory two minutes, instead of introducing herself she took the opportunity to throw down her display cards in dramatic fashion. Between that and the Bee’s video issues it was somewhat hard to pick out. But later in a conversation with a friend it was pointed out to me her map was either incomplete or was skewed for effect. Well there is another option and that is no one gets cancer on the other side of Highway 99. Upon further review her map looked like someone had taken a glass, turned it upside down and drawn a circle around it with a pencil creating the area in question, recorded the cancer cases, and then stopped marking the cancer cases on the rest of the map.
Maybe they thought it to be unimportant. Maybe they thought no one would notice. But her campaign would be wrong on both counts. Changing the route at this late date would be impossible and hauling the contaminated soil away has been discussed and scientifically researched and set aside mostly because of the research and partially because of the exorbitant cost.
As for the alleged clusters, if you take a map of part of Modesto, including the rural western area that Modesto’s developers have their eyes on, draw a circle around the area (in a moderately populated area) in question then compare it to the lightly populated rest of Wood Colony you can’t help but get certain areas to stand out. If her campaign would have bothered to include more of Modesto then maybe the area in question would not have stood out. But anything to win an election I guess.
During her performance in front of the Bee’s Editorial Board Ms. Borges repeatedly says she isn’t a politician and to check her 460’s. When people run for office they are required to list the donations they’ve taken in and the expenditures they have made. Candidate Borges was very aware it would be several days before she would file her 460’s let alone for them to be made available to the public.
But since she so enthusiastically invited us lets take a minute to consider what we discovered with a trip online. From 1/1/18 to 4/21/18 her campaign has raised $22,589 in cash. But apparently Stanislaus County voters haven’t been readily opening their wallets. Of the $22,589 only $3,589 came from Stanislaus County. The remaining $19,000 came from two benefactors living in Texas. $9,500 came from a man in Houston and $9,500 came from a woman in Bellaire. For a Board of Supervisors race it’s strange to see so much out of state money.
Creating issues out of thin air, at best a dubious map, and out of state money, her future as a serious political candidate is being called into question.
Eye On Modesto 