Letter: Candidate Kosel's 'Tenuous Connection with the Truth'

To the Editor:

The Patch has done a great service to Kensington residents with the thorough and balanced reporting on the controversy over Kensington's crimes "solved" brouhaha (Kensington Election Clash over Crimes 'Solved'  Nov. 3). Ms. Kosel has a long history of tenuous connection with the truth.

• In 1990, Kosel was serving as Mayor of El Cerrito, a position that presumably requires residency in that city. Yet at the same time, it appears that she was telling the Kensington Hilltop School, where her child was enrolled, that she resided on Oberlin Avenue in Kensington, since that is the address listed for her in the school directory for that year (copy attached, see page 2).

• Kosel claims she has "never" advocated contracting out Kensington's police services, and assertion that is contradicted by her own written words in a 1996 letter that I submitted to the Patch on October 15, where she specifically advocated that Kensington should consider outsourcing as well as outright annexation to El Cerrito.

•  Kosel denies that she voted to approve the current contract between the District and the Kensington Police Officers Association. Yet there are official board minutes, as well as a video recording, that conclusively prove that she did vote to approve it, and even said that she thought it was a good deal (presumably for Kensington).

Cathie Kosel has a clear record; it is just not one that she wants to run on.  Her record is to dredge up one baseless, sensational accusation after another to create a public perception of turmoil when, in fact, she is the cause of turmoil.  This is not the example of civic leadership that we would want to hold up for our children.

Kensington will be much better off after November 6, when Catherine Kosel begins to enjoy the retirement from the KPPCSD Board that the District's voters will soon grant her.

– Vida Dorroh
   Kensington