Patron Profile: William Niemi the puppeteer

Major patron for Jim Cooper and Sophia Scherman involved with Dunmore Homes, numerous lawsuits

One of the amazing things about major patrons of the Elk Grove City Council members is they are almost invisible. Even with the internet, it is hard to get good information on this cast of puppeteers who pull the strings of the Elk Grove city council.

Then there is William Niemi of Granite Bay. Niemi has contributed $2,500 to both Jim Cooper and Sophia Scherman for their current re-election bids.

The best source of information on Niemi comes from a June, 2004 profile in the Sacramento Business Journal while he was still with the now defunct Dunmore Homes.

An excerpt from the story reads;

Along with Sid Dunmore, son of the firm's founder and the company's chief executive officer, Niemi is enjoying the phenomenal growth in the Sacramento area, and predicts it will continue "because this is just such a wonderful place to live."

But, he warns, the Sacramento area and the state of California are also experiencing a housing shortage that is approaching the crisis level because "... not enough land is being designated for residential housing in most communities."

Obviously making more land available for development, in places like Elk Grove, is high on Niemi's to-do list.

Niemi also seems to relish Dunmore's role in buidling an excess of "starter homes" in South Sacramento and Elk Grove. You can almost hear the condescension in his voice;

Entry-level homes: "In its early days Dunmore was really active in the Citrus Heights and Fair Oaks area. Later, it probably built 10,000 homes in South Sacramento. We've built more homes in the Elk Grove/South Sacramento area than any other builder. We really dominated the market for entry-level housing, and we still specialize in entry-level homes, for first-time homebuyers, and also for people wanting to move up to their second home.

Subsequent to the 2004 story, Dunmore's woes are well documented including a bankruptcy and subsequent sale of company assets which has creditors of Dunmore suing for fraud. This is not to say that Niemi was responsible for Dunmore's bankruptcy or was involved in any way with the fraud allegations.

In yet another story from the Sacramento Business Journal, Niemi is suing builder Reynen & Bardis. According to the story, it is believed when Niemi left Dunmore in 2005, he received deferred compensation in the form of 1,000 acres just south of Elk Grove near Kammerer Road.

Subsequent to Niemi's departure from Dunmore, the property was acquired by Reynen & Bardis. The land in question is in the city's urban expansion area.

Could Niemi's cash donations to Cooper in Scherman be related to some future plans he has for the land should his lawsuit succeed? Would Cooper and Scherman help grease-the-wheels for urban expansion and zone this as more RD-5 or RD-7 starter homes in the future?

Whatever the case might be, it shows Niemi's cavalier attitude towards our community, his desire to push more suburban sprawl on Elk Grove and the type of people Cooper and Scherman are willing to accept support from for their own political purposes.