The Mayor of Turlock seat and two Turlock City Council seats are up for grabs on Nov. 4 when Turlock voters will vote at least one new member into the City government.
Gary Soiseth and Mike Brem are going head-to-head for the seat left vacant by Mayor John Lazar, who announced he would not seek reelection.
For Turlock City Council, incumbents Bill DeHart and Forrest White are taking on Matthew Jacob, Sergio Alvarado, and Donald Babadalir for two seats that are up for grabs.
The candidates for both the Mayoral and City Council races took the time to answer a questionnaire sent by TurlockCityNews.com in order to help inform the public on who they are and what they stand for.
As one of TurlockCityNews.com’s top priorities — to improve communication here in Turlock — we really appreciate the extra effort to fill out these extensive questionnaires.
TurlockCityNews.com has approximately 300,000 unique visitors per month, while also being the most interactive on multiple social media platforms — reaching up to 500,000 people a week.
With such an importance put on interaction, TurlockCityNews.com asked the candidates about the key issues that our readers have been asking about since candidates began announcing their intent to run for office, including public safety and roads.
The questionnaire also asked the basic information of each candidate, including how long they’ve lived in Turlock, and their qualifications.
In appreciation of the candidates’ effort to communicate, TurlockCityNews.com will be putting stipulations on the commenting system we currently have in place. All comments left on the individual profiles will be directed to this main page. We encourage constructive comments because we will be using discretion on approval based on if we feel the comments serve a purpose to inform, support, or promote Turlock (more TurlockCityNews.com priorities). Concerns, questions, debatable points, alternative views… Put them down. Comments attacking the candidates personally will not be approved, so make the comments legitimate. As always feel free to leave comments of support. Signing your name is optional but encouraged.
Please read and take into consideration the information when you fill out your vote-by-mail ballot or when you go to the voting poll to vote for the Mayor of Turlock and Turlock City Council on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
Turlock Mayoral Candidate Profiles:
Turlock City Council Candidate Profiles:
None of these links work. You don’t have to approve this comment, just thought it would be the quickest way to let you know.
During the mayor debate Soiseth said he only recently moved to Turlock and registered to vote this year in Turlock. Can you find out which of his statements is true? I’m confused.
So let me get this straight: a closeted young gay man is running for mayor of our fair city, Turlock, being mentored by another in the closet gay eye doctor, and the two have been going up to the doctor’s cabin together, alone for years. This site is backed by a closeted gay man with his closeted gay friends, and benefactors. Hypocrisy at its best!
I am 40 and shocked a 30-year-old kid thinks he knows how to run our city, without any experience in California or the San Joaquin Valley. Soiseth is the perfect example of this new “trophy kid” generation. After having your parents tell you “how great thou art, how great thou art”, you believe them. Gary, you were not deployed to Afghanistan, members of the military and National Guard are, you have never lived in the city of Turlock to vote until July of this year and you are NOT a farmer. You are a spoiled rotten kid who has received a trophy for everything you’ve done, it’s time to go back to the kid’s table, you’re not ready for the adult table!
Why are Brem supporters so angry and mean? I don’t think this is the kind of Turlock I want where people are attacking or persecuting others only because they disagree. I think this election will be a blow out where Gary wins with 60% of the vote but these signs of bullying come from Lazar and are being carried on by Brem. Our community needs to weed these dirty politician types out of office. I’m so glad and Turlock is blessed to have Curt Andre and Matt Swanson helping Gary. Even Jeff Denham who will also win with 60% of the votes is supporting Gary for his ethics and leadership abilities. Vote Soiseth!
This feels like election day with all the candidates on Facebook and the political stories on Turlock city news!! This is all very exciting and I appreciate all the articles with info about the candidates and propositions! Vote if you want to make a difference!
No one cares and probably won’t vote you’re all dumb get a life
We have a lot of union members who are walking and supporting Mike Brem for Mayor. Mike believes government pensions and retirement plans are important to all government staff. He didn’t get police and fire’s support because they are rare conservative unions unlike are democrat ones as most are. Join Mike Brem for Mayor to support our government employees and if you’re in support of the road tax because our government does need more money to fix the decaying roads and the budget has no money to do it. Vote for Mike Brem for Mayor if you want out government to create more jobs. We will have a better government with Mike Brem as Mayor.
I’m proud to say that my candidate Gary Soiseth has run a clean campaign focussed on the issues. I do believe he has shown what kind of positivity he can bring to our community’s leadership circle and how he can rise above the attacking politics without sinking to that level.
Reward the good man, the honest man, the working man, and the man with all the volunteers who he has inspired. Vote Sosieth for Mayor!
This nonsense about one candidate or the other being a “better person” is idiotic. How about voting for the candidate who understands the issues and has the experience and knowledge to get the job done. Anyone go to the debates? Pretty clear that Brem, White and DeHart are the best choices. Don’t need a bunch of kids who still live at home learning on the job. Get real.
Curt Andre and Brad Bates were both young Turlock Mayors ash maybe even younger than Gary Soiseth.
Soiseth is a young man but he’s done more than I have at 56. I trust ambitious young leaders. Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg were both 20 years old when they started Microsoft and Facebook.
Vote Soiseth for Turlock Mayor!
Barney Gordon is a man of integrity. Please join him in boycotting the businesses who advertise on this website. He is not going to Carr’s Cleaners, add to the list, Monte Vista Small Animal Hospital, Wood’s Furniture (it pains me to type this, the Woods brothers are great) Enough is enough. I hope the Pitman High teachers sue TCN for slander, they have a case, we need to find an attorney.
Do some real reporting, Soieseth moved to Turlock in July, I guess curt andre doesn’t care, he’s never voted in a Turlock election, ridiculous
Boycott the Internet! All advertisers should go to Modbee where they endorse Brem and then Soiseth supporters can boycott them. Except they wouldn’t because they’re not dirty campaigners like Brem supporters who mail out hit pieces and leave nasty comments on Turlock City News and Facebook.
Recess is over children.
Barney the clown wrote about himself in the third person. Lmfao
Stop Denham and boycott him too! I’m sick of seeing his face all over this site!
Joe
This site is Fox News of Turlock! Everyone sees how Fox40 always does their stories plugging Turlock City News. Dj must be laying a lot to Fox but how much is the Republican Party paying Dj? Good story for the Bee
Let’s look at the misleading, flip-flopping campaign of Soiseth shall we?
1. He was NOT deployed to Afghanistan, he was a civilian employee of the USDA (I know, I know I’m using big words) it is disrespectful to my Father who was a member of the military in Germany during WWII.
2.He was not a college professor, he was an instructor at CSUS.
3. His 100 day plan has already been accomplished, has Gary attended a Turlock council meeting in the last 12 months, you would know better.
4. He is in the TID board’s pocket, Turlock has a good water source which was started back in the Andre days and followed through on the council’s since then. Maybe gary should have run for TID?
5. He has taken large sums of money from few people, Matt Swanson nearly 25K and $4,500 from Mark Hall, who paid a small fine for his role in the 2008 Bublak robocall disaster.
Wait a minute, let’s go back to 2008! It’s the same team again, this time instead of pushing Vanderweide/Bublak, it’s all about Soiseth. Josh Weimer, Gary’s twin, worked for Fogliani, the “brains?” behind the robocall and is paying a 20K+ fine for the illegal calls. Read Soiseth’s money reports and you’ll find another name connected with the robo-call, Mark Hall, who gave Soiseth $4,500. Former Mayor Curt Andre was the poster child for Amy Bublak, who swears she didn’t do it, but really, how many people believe it. I am so disappointed and disgusted with Andre, what is wrong with him? Is he going through a mid-life crisis? I am saddened these people are at it again. They played dirty in 2008, why is Matt Swanson hanging out with these kind of folks, he’s a good man, he brought Sarah Palin, my idol to town.
Rob Santos wants DJ to be Mayor, vote for DJ he’ll wear his google goggles and (*edited by tcn) at city hall
I don’t think boycotting the best businesses in town or boycotting Denham will work. These businesses that advertise on this website are all successful and know how many people our viewing TCN including YOU who say to boycott. I laugh at your hypocrisy. You, like EVERYONE else is addicted to Turlock City News. You think Soiseth is wasting his money on TCN….haha…I think not!
Denham will win big, hands down! Keep making the businesses and this site all look like winners with your dumb comments. Successful boycott started with a comment that drives even more traffic to the site, good protest.
I Love this website. Because of that last comment, I will make every effort to frequent those businesses. Sorry Wood, I don’t need any furniture right now 🙂 But I’m sure I will in a few years.
Matt Swanson is a good man, he brought Sarah Palin, ChristianMingle.com: The movie, and his priceless guitar collection to Turlock. Turlock is on the map because of him. So lets give him credit everyone.
I would like to know which candidates for mayor will take a stance on the homeless population that has taken over our city? The homeless population and the high number of intoxicated/ drug abusers walking our streets is unacceptable. Citizens safety, and or home values are under threat.
As a citizen of Turlock I have had the pleasure of meeting many community members in my 20 years of living in Turlock and I consider mysellf a very good judge of character deciphering through the good and bad. I have read several negative comments regarding Curt Andre and Matt Swanson who I consider pillars of this community and honest and ethical men who strive for the very best for Turlock. It saddens me when those who criticize these men with mean spirited attacks offer no viable solutions to our city’s problems nor do they share constructive viewpoints. I understand Turlock City News is a great venue to read about current events and a wonderful source to voice our opinions without reprocussions and over the years I have found kindness speaks loudly over anger and hateful words. Additionally, I recently had the opportunity to meet Gary Soiseth and speak with him about the direction he wishes to lead Turlock and his philosophy on government. I found Gary to be an articulate young man who strives for the very best for Turlock and brings with him with a leadership style of honesty and integrity. I look forward to Gary becoming our next City Mayor who lead with the desires to do what is best for our community and supporting the hopes and dreams of all people in every district of Turlock.
Of course you do Kim, because they are self-proclaimed “Christians”. Once again, several of these “candidates” or “politicians” are breaking my cardinal rule, if you tell me you are a “whatever”, it’s a red flag. One should be able to know you possess integrity by your actions, not hollow words.
Am I the only voter wondering why verses from the Bible are on political signs? First we had the advent of spending too much $$$ on political signs, with large signs ( 4 x 8 ) everywhere, next it’s photos on the signs, now Bible verses. Was this country not founded on the separation of church and state or did these candidates fail history 101?
First Swanson buys the right to put his last name on Centennial Park, the Park recognizing all of Turlock, not just one family. Next, he wants to buy enough politicians so he can move the Califia sign. I guess if you, your wife, parent’s, in-laws and employees give enough $3,000 donations to Soiesth, the young man might feel OBLIGATED to do something for Swanson in return, right Gary.
While fransen sends his “hacks” out chasing ridiculous stories, he completely misses the questions my family and friends are asking, what does Swanson want in return for his 20,000 donation? Do you have 3,000 to give to any Turlock Mayor candidate? I’ll bet my house Swanson wants something in return.
Save your 8.50, wait until Christian Mingle comes to video, it was a bit weak, maybe a 4 on a scale of 1-10. But it was great fun to see Turlock shots on the big screen.
Now, what in the world would Matthew Swanson want for his 25K investment in Gary Soieseth? Is it the same investment Mark Hall, the Monte Vista Crossing developer wants in his $4,500 investment for Soiseth? Soiseth must not be making the promises like Amy “perjury” Bublak, who got 25K and didn’t she fail to list her donors, no she hid the donations in her June reports. Gotcha!
I can’t vote for Mike Brem because he gave realtors and developers a backroom deal to rezone the land across CSU Stanislaus for a bowling alley. That was just to make way to build a car wash. If you want another sneaky real estate era in Turlock like Mayor Lazar has been doing then vote Brem.
If you want respectable business support with a Mayor who doesn’t hinder business and lets private business do its job without tax payer special interest incentives then vote Soiseth for Turlock Mayor.
Measure B is backed by realtors that Brem hooked up with the land zoning to build the car wash uh I mean bowling alley. Jim Theis is one of the partners. He is also the one who filed the Measure B committee campaign donations late to hide money and his donation to Brem was also hid for about a month by Brem. All this goes back to Lazar and real estate deals. This is why he pushed the tax on people to fix roads so his big money clients real estate goes up. Stanislaus County already did a survey showing voters wouldn’t be pay more taxes because of the economy and distrust of government. Brem has been a leader this election so far but it hasn’t been good and positive. Lets learn and not have 4 more years of backroom deals and illegal government.
Don’t forget Jerry Powell who promised a bowling alley to fool the people so he and Brem could build a car wash. Now Jerry Powell is supporting a tax like his Democrat buddy Mayor Lazar which got him a lease deal on his new bar downtown that Lazar is a realtor at for his clients. All this ties to Brem who approved the bowling alley and is now pushing the road tax and all for Lazar because he’s upset Curt Andre was supporting Soiseth for positive change. Follow the money.
Brem did promise a bowling alley and gave realtors a good deal on the land. Where is the bowling alley now? Turlock politics as usual.
Soiseth has more business support like the man who brought Turlock In-N-Out, Tilly’s, Olive Garden, Home Depot, Target, Kohl’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods and now it looks like Buffalo Wild Wings! I want more tax revenue and more shopping. Soiseth has those kind of supporters not the Brem supporters who can’t come through on their promise of a bowling alley. Those are facts and that’s how I’m voting.
Thank you for posting this information on Facebook. We were waiting to fill out our ballot until we knew more about the candidates. Besides the hiding contribution money there hasn’t been many issues in the news. This has been a quiet election season.
Northeast Turlock is GARY SOISETH COUNTRY! His yard signs are EVERWHERE! Hey Gary please explain to Lil Mikey Brem that going door to door like a J/W doesn’t get you the votes, this isn’t the 1960’s HOMIE! I seen Lil Mikey doing his D/D crap several wks ago, poor guy was wiping his brow, and seemed to be hot and tired! Billionaire Mark Zuckerberg himself once told a class at startup-funding firm Y Combinator that hiring only young people with technical expertise was the best way to form a successful company. “Young people are just smarter,” Fluid intelligence, which allows people to think logically and solve problems, does deteriorate with age, behavioral scientists say. Dear Lil Mikey, Even a train comes to a STOP!! Vote for GARY, He’s the COOL DUDE!
Dear Truthbetold….what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I’ve ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent post was there anything that could even be considered a rational thought. Everyone on this blog is now dumber for having read it. I award you no points and may God have mercy on your soul.
Dear Billy Boy Madison: ” Everyone on this blog is now dumber for having read it” This my dear boy INCLUDES YOU! Thx’s for becoming dumber than you already were……if thats even possible!
Jerry Powell always blames Obama for taxing people to death and spending without giving us something back. Now he wants taxes for his realtor friend Mayor John Lazar. All so he got his new bar space leased at a good deal. Funny how people sell their souls for a little deal. We already pay road taxes. Where did it all go for 20 years John Lazar?
Dear TRUTHBESOLD, the fallacy of your argument is plain to see. I must be smarter than you…….something about being younger and….”fluid intelligence”. Do you still really believe what you are spouting? Gary Soieseth’s campaign must be so happy to have you as a spokesperson. Oh,….and I still hope God may have mercy on your soul. You’re really going to need it….
Brem is the candidate who hasn’t take big dollars from developers like Mark Hall, ($4500) where is the former “reporter” who outed all of the money soieseth took from Matthew Swanson, his family and employees? Why hasn’t the current donations been reported on this self-titled “news-source”?
Are the survey results back? I think it is taking a long time because dj didn’t get the results he wanted from the survey. The truth hurts.
Didn’t DJ run for council and mayor about ten years ago? Didn’t DJ come and speak at council meetings about how we need to fix the roads? Does he not understand how much public safety costs? It is sad how much misinformation is put on this website.
My husband and I mailed in our absentee ballot after watching Tuesday debate at CSUS. It is clear Mike Brem supports sound development, and cares about Turlock values. He has the experience needed to lead Turlock into a bright future.
Exit polling of mail ballots at Covenant Village shows Gary Soiseth at 68% and Mike Brem at 32%. Bill DeHart has 30% for city council with everyone else sharing the rest almost evenly. Forrest White is in last place right behind Alvarado. The Measure B road tax is 58% supported so it’s 10% short of passing.
We are curious and waiting for the Turlock News polling results.
Wow exit polling on mail-in ballots at an old folks home. Pretty pathetic.
I’m glad to see the Donald Babadalir ads that show he is a conservative but independent. We need someone who doesn’t want to tax us to death and someone who wants to work for the people. No more rich people who keep raising taxes and rates.
Another wannabe politician. First he was for Measure B, and now he’s against it. Just like Gary Soiseth who was first against Measure B, and now supports it. Turlock needs leaders who know what they are doing and can be trusted to keep their word. These two are a joke.
@a joke: You should be thankful you have citizens like him. I bet you didn’t know that while he offered conditional and caveated support of the measure until his questions were answered, that he sent a letter requesting clarification and clarity on the measure. It was during that time that the scandal came out. At least he and Gary like to read the fine print before signing. Good luck getting the others to do that.
There is a big sign saying no B. Who put that up and is it legal height?