OH DANNY BOY … alas, the worst-kept secret in the history of Davis city politics is out there for all the world to see … we now know, officially, that fully 40 percent of the current Davis City Council is seeking a seat in the California Assembly … now if we can just convince Rochelle Swanson to toss her hat in the ring, they’ll have a working majority …

While Mayor Joe Krovoza came out of the chute swinging several weeks ago, catching the Dan Wolk camp by surprise with his sudden announcement, Mayor Pro Tem Wolk has been playing it close to the vest as he lines up one powerful endorsement after another … finally, Dan has decided, it’s time to pull the trigger before Krovoza dries up the well of campaign contributions in what is shaping up as an extremely expensive race …

In a formal announcement of The Announcement, Dan has announced that he will announce his candidacy in an announcement on June 15 in Sycamore Park, very near where Dan grew up and attended elementary school … here’s betting there will be at least one California state senator in attendance … in a personal email Dan sent to me and me alone, I’m certain, he said it all in his subject line with the words “Join Me for a Campaign Announcement!” … and never mind that chills go up and down my spine every time I see an exclamation point … as I’ve said many times, if your words don’t exclaim what you want them to all by themselves, no amount of punctuation is likely to help you …

But Dan is apparently pulling out all the stops, including exclamation points, in the face of Krovoza’s formidable challenge … only time will tell, but the early odds out of Reno say there will shortly be two vacancies on the Davis City Council, one because Joe Krovoza’s term of office will be up and he’s running for Assembly instead of re-election, and two because Dan Wolk will likely win the Assembly seat before his council term is up, and it’s extremely unlikely he’ll try to serve on both bodies at the same time …

SNOWY YOLO COUNTY … good for the three Yolo County supervisors wise enough to endorse federal legislation designating the Berryessa Snow Mountain region as a National Conservation Area … as one who has visited the area many times, I can say without reservation that it’s a local treasure … the federal bill is well crafted to protect the rights of private property owners in the area … hopefully, it will sail through the Congress without some sort of partisan fight …

POWER TO THE PEOPLE … last week I pointed out that PG&E, in its effort to cajole us all into signing up for its SmartRate Summer Pricing Plan, sent out a brochure and cover letter that talked about the “summer season” running from May 1 through Oct. 31 … PG&E, basically, was offering us a deal … stop using power at certain times on certain days during the summer season and you’ll get a break on the cost of your power during other times in the summer season …

You had to read the brochure six or seven times, though, to learn that the “season” runs from May 1 to Oct. 31 when we’re talking about us not using power, but runs from only June 1 to Sept. 30 when we’re talking about the days we’ll receive the lower rate … I left it to you, the wise and kind readers, to decide if this date deception was a deal killer …

Well, the reaction from my favorite power company was swift and certain … Karen Zelmar, PG&E’s director of “pricing products,” wrote a letter to the editor stating that “We at PG&E regret that Bob Dunning was frustrated by the details of our voluntary SmartRate program.” … Karen, sit down and take a deep breath … I was not “frustrated” by the details … truth be known, I was infuriated that PG&E would use such tactics in an attempt to lure me into the program … I’m still infuriated …

It’s interesting to note that Karen chose to ignore the gross calendar discrepancy that led me to write this column in the first place … the plain fact of the matter is that PG&E’s position is indefensible … pick a date, publish it clearly and directly, and make it match for both PG&E and the customer … then none of us will be “frustrated” any more … except, of course, when we get our monthly bill …

— Reach Bob Dunning at [email protected]

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