Brentwood pastor calls out allegedly fake endorsement

BRENTWOOD, Calif. - In a suburb, a political postcard pits a priest against a politician. 

Brentwood City Councilwoman Jovita Mendoza sent out postcards for her bid to be re-elected but in a newly redistricted territory in which she lives.  

On the card, there is a picture with Father Robert Rien, pastor at Antioch's St. Ignatius Church, who is also the new Chaplain for ConFire, the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District. 

The pictures were taken at an official ceremony where a fire truck received a blessing as it was put into service. 

"These are all pictures of me doing my public service and one of the pictures was with Father Bob, Father Rien. Father Bob was my priest when I was at St. Leander's when I was very, very young," said Mendoza.

After firefighters notified him, Rien said the picture used was without his knowledge or permission. Mendoza said that the postcard gave no names or said they endorsed her candidacy. 

"We were both doing our public service on public property. There was nothing that I thought was wrong with that picture. 

When asked point-blank later if it was ever her intention to take advantage of him, her answer, "No. Never, never at all."

"She's not supportive of many of the initiatives to add additional police or to add additional fire protection services, adding additional fire stations into Brentwood. She's been opposed to these things as far as we can tell. And now, she’s trying to take credit for the merger of East Contra Costa with ConFire," said David Cruise.

Cruise resides in Brentwood and is with Brentwood Residents for Public Safety, a volunteer group that advocates for Brentwood citizens ever since the city took up fire protection from ConFire. 

"It's disingenuous to try to tell the public, show the public that 'I'm aligned with this person. This person is supportive of me, they said you can be on my flyers'," said Cruise.       

Rein was not available for an interview but he did write a one-page letter to the city council. In it, he demanded an apology from the councilwoman and said he is not permitted to make any kind of endorsement for candidates and that she should be censured for what she did.