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Election 2010: Three Menlo council candidates file

Three candidates for the Menlo Park City Council made their intentions official on Aug. 6. Incumbents Rich Cline and Heyward Robinson filed papers with the city clerk's office and qualified to run; so did community activist Chuck Bernstein.

Since Councilman John Boyle will not run for re-election, the filing deadline has been extended to Aug. 11.

Two potential candidates opted to play the waiting game. Menlo Park Fire Protection District Board President Peter Ohtaki and local businessman Russell Peterson, who planned to fine-tune their candidate statements over the weekend, may file by Aug. 11.

Mr. Ohtaki plans to deliver his papers on Aug. 10, while Mr. Peterson was weighing his interest in running for office against his opposition to high speed rail, as he would likely be unable to vote on the project as a council member due to a conflict of interest.

Mike Brady, who took out candidate papers earlier in the filing period, told The Almanac he has decided not to run. "I would be prevented from any high-speed rail activity while sitting on the council," he wrote Aug. 6 in an e-mail to The Almanac.

"I went to the (High-Speed Rail Authority) board meeting yesterday in San Francisco, and they unveiled a disastrous, ugly, industrial plan for the 55-mile Peninsula; we shall never be the same again unless we are strong and fight it to the end," he wrote.

Mr. Brady was one of two attorneys representing Mr. Peterson in a lawsuit against the rail authority.

— Sandy Brundage