PINOLE, CA — On September 19, BART Director Zakhary Mallett announced his re-election receiving the endorsement of State Senator Steve Glazer.

Glazer, who has been an outspoken critic of the financial decisions made by BART management and its Board of Directors, said that Mallett was the only sitting BART Director that he is endorsing for re-election.  In a statement Sunday, Glazer said “Zakhary is the only BART Director who has had the courage to be a voice for the public and not special interest groups by taking tough, but necessary positions on how BART spends the public’s money.  He is the only incumbent who I have confidence in to get BART out of its current financial crisis and back on track to long-term sustainability.”

Among other examples, Glazer points out that Mallett was the only Director to vote against the 2013 BART labor contract.  “After BART workers went on multiple strikes in 2013 when the Board initially resisted giving in to unreasonable demands, Zakhary was the single Director with the foresight to not reward such conduct by voting against the financially unsustainable contract.”

In a report earlier this year, BART financial planners forecast an operating deficit of nearly a half billion dollars over the next few years.  Both Glazer and Mallett point to union and executive management contracts and poor Board leadership as contributing to these cost overruns.  Mallett says he voted against the 2013 contract, as well as the 2016 extension to that contract, because "benefits at BART are inflated, the work rules are woefully deficient, and the Board failed to hone in on these costly provisions that it had originally promised the public it would address when we began negotiations in 2013 and 2016."  Mallett referred to his website for specific examples.

Director Mallett's re-election platform focuses on independent-based leadership and better prioritizing of BART's resources so that the essential needs of the District are given first priority.

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