Credit for McNerney's quick start; questions for Parises and his puzzling failure to disclose

We did not endorse Jerry McNerney, who pulled off a massive upset last November by dislodging Republican incumbent Richard Pombo.

We endorsed Dan Parises the last time he ran for the Delta College Board of Trustees.

Today, though, we are feeling much better about McNerney than Parises.

It boils down to respect for voters. McNerney has shown it in recent weeks, Parises has not.

McNerney is the alternative energy engineer and political novice who appeared on the campaign trail at the right time, just as Pombo was being muddied by environmental interests.

With no political baggage of his own, and Pombo fairly nose-deep in muck, McNerney pulled off the upset.

We liked McNerney personally but felt he was too raw and perhaps too low-key to be an effective Congressman.

So far, he's proven us wrong.

He seems to be in Lodi practically every week, chatting and sipping coffee with local citizens. He recently held a open-door meeting in Lodi on No Child Left Behind.

As Ken Davis, the Lodi Unified trustee, put it: "Sometimes the policy needs to be fixed. I'm just glad he's here to listen."

McNerney has also formed local advisory groups on education, health, business and agriculture.

The man seems intent on listening and responding. Clearly, the proof will be in the pudding. Will he deliver leadership and federal dollars to help with our region's varied needs, including health care, transportation and land use challenges?

Time will tell.

So far, though, our congressman has lived up to his promise of being ethical. He has far exceeded our expectations as an honest and assertive communicator.

Not so Mr. Parises, the farmer and longtime Delta trustee.

Parises received $2.5 million for a piece of land on Harney Lane.

Somehow, Parises failed to disclose the money as is legally required.

"I guess I screwed up," Parises said when told of the oversight.

But it gets more complicated — and more malodorous.

Parises got the wheelbarrow of cash by selling 9.9 acres to Dale Gillespie and his San Joaquin Land Co. The Parises parcel will be part of the Reynolds Ranch development, an ambitious, massive and controversial venture.

Gillespie, through another company, DGP Real Estate, is brokering the sale to Delta of land on Victor Road. That land is being earmarked for a Lodi satellite campus. And that deal, which is now in escrow, carries opposition and controversy.

The Victor Road deal will no doubt result in substantial commissions for Gillespie and DGP real estate.

Parises voted in favor of the deal after selling his own land to Gillespie and partners.

And San Joaquin Land Co. owns land near the proposed campus, primed to benefit from escalating land prices near a college setting.

Is Parises now caught in a web of ethical — perhaps even legal — complications?

Unclear.

It is clear that, in regards to the $2.5 million land deal, Dan Parises served his own interests while failing to meet those of public disclosure.

— The Lodi News-Sentinel