Starkly contrasting styles, experience define Rocklin City Council race. Here’s our choice
The two candidates vying to fill the Rocklin City Council seat vacated by aspiring assemblyman Joe Patterson offer a stark contrast.
Dave Bass is a mild-mannered military veteran and lawyer who has advocated for abused elders and wildfire victims. Then there’s Matthew Oliver, the controversial Placer County preacher and restaurant owner who defied public health measures during the pandemic.
When The Sacramento Bee’s Editorial Board met with both candidates recently, Oliver made his general disdain for politicians clear — a curious position given that he is running for elected office. He also interrupted Bass’ closing statement by posting live commentary using the virtual meeting software’s “chat” function, repeatedly writing “lol” to indicate laughter.
Such antics don’t suggest Oliver is ready to hold a position of public trust or engage in the civil discourse and debate it requires.. The fact that he is endorsed by Patterson and aspiring congressman Kevin Kiley is a testament to the low standards of Placer County’s Trump-emulating Republicans.
Fortunately, Bass is well qualified to serve Rocklin. As a planning commissioner, he has valuable expertise on the needs of the community as it expands. And expand it will: Placer County is expected to undergo unprecedented growth in the next five years.
Asked about Rocklin’s affordable housing needs, Bass spoke to the city’s state housing allocation, projects currently underway that meet the needs of lower-income residents and his plans for responsibly managing growth.
“We need to understand what affordable housing is — it’s housing for our newest teachers,” Bass said. “We have to change the dialogue and narrative around affordable housing. We need to increase our rental inventory to meet some of those ultra-low-income numbers we’re going to see, but we need to make sure we’re doing that responsibly (and that) we are equitably pushing that into different parts of the city because we don’t want to concentrate it in one spot.”
In response, Oliver slammed Bass for his “political mumbo-jumbo talk that puts people to sleep.”
“I’m glad there’s someone to know what’s required to meet the state guidelines,” he said dismissively.
Oliver sounded as if he has never tuned into a local City Council meeting and isn’t cut out to take part in one. Bass is. He’s knowledgeable on the technical aspects of the role, and his concern for the community is evident.
Bass has served on the boards of the Rocklin Chamber of Commerce and Rocklin Police Activities League, and he’s a member of the South Placer Rotary Club. He’s also a former deputy district attorney and deputy attorney general with experience prosecuting felonies.
Bass says he is running for City Council to improve and expand opportunities for Rocklin’s youth in sports, education and recreation. Oliver, however, seems to be running for City Council to expand opportunities for himself. It’s worth remembering that at the height of the COVID pandemic, he put the health of the community at risk to pocket a few more dollars.
During his interview with the Editorial Board, Oliver accused the Rocklin City Council of “corruption” and alleged that its members have “skeletons in their closet.” When pressed to go into more detail, Oliver condemned council members for maintaining the city’s relationship with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. instead of breaking ties with the utility, claiming the city had the opportunity to do so in 2019. Bass responded that “it’s an absolute lie that in 2019 we could have walked away from PG&E.”
“It’s really irresponsible to pass this misinformation on,” Bass said. “It … scares me to think we’re going to have someone on the City Council that will misrepresent facts that are so easy to check.”
Rocklin deserves trustworthy leadership. Bass would be responsible and capable addition to the Rocklin City Council.
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This story was originally published September 21, 2022 at 5:00 AM.