I have received requests and demands for corrections, retractions and apologies from several people regarding this morning’s E-Forum “SECRET MOVES TOWARD GAMBLING AT POINT MOLATE,” and the follow-up “CASINOS AND LEGISLATION CLARIFIED – OR MAYBE NOT.”

In order to eliminate any further confusion, I am attaching the Sacramento Associates letter in its entirety as a PDF file. Reach your own conclusions.

More specifically, I want to be clear that, to the best of my knowledge and based on the subject letter, neither Mayor Anderson nor Jay Corey participated in discussions with Sacramento Advocates about a casino at Point Molate. According to the letter, Steve Duran was the only City of Richmond employee who did.

Further, Assemblywoman Loni Hancock and her staff were involved in no casino-related legislation, only legislation required for Richmond to issue a Tax and Revenue Anticipation Note (TRAN) to address a cash flow problem. The City Council, including me, as well as the public, was made aware of this strategy as a part of the budget deficit Action Plan.

To anyone who was deceived, fooled, offended or disappointed, particularly Loni Hancock (and her staff) and Mayor Anderson, I offer my apologies for any misunderstanding. Before sending the E-Forum piece this morning, I did try to contact both Steve Duran and Mayor Anderson for verification, but neither was available. I really work hard to be accurate, but sometimes my enthusiasm for exposing governmental errors and secret activities while something can still be done about correcting them simply overtakes caution.

sacramento_associates_letter.pdf