The Abridged Autobiography

We recently received an unusual political mailing from someone named Mark Lee. It included a two-page letter, a large, colorful promotional flyer and a self-addressed response card. The entire thrust of the mailing was to convince the recipient to vote Yes on Measure Y in June. The letter portrays Mr. Lee as simply a concerned family man who champions environmental causes and wants to build a bridge to benefit local taxpayers. Curiously, a map on the enclosed flyer revealed an area called Veronica Meadows Homes near the proposed bridge. We decided to Google “Mark Lee – Veronica Meadows” and were surprised by the results.

It turns out that Mr. Lee is not just the local do-gooder he portrays in his mailing. He is actually the developer of Veronica Meadows Homes, a controversial project he has been pushing since 1999. It seems if he can convince enough people to vote Yes on Measure Y, he will be able to build a large, 22-home development and make a great deal of money. If his bridge proposal is rejected, he will likely only be able to build three homes at the site.

The bottom line is that the deceptive mailing made our choice for us. None of the materials we received disclosed that Mr. Lee would be the primary beneficiary of a bridge linking his proposed project with Las Positas Road. This disingenuous approach made us wonder if he can be trusted regarding other facts in the matter. We’ll be voting No on Measure Y on June 5.