|
DEDICATED TO FREE THOUGHT AND FREE SPEECH IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
By Philip Murphy
Voters will have little work to do on June 6th in lake County, where all four judges, the sheriff and lone DA candidate slid right into office unopposed. If current DA Gary Luck had stuck around it's likely that several local attorneys would have tossed their hats in the ring, but since Luck decided not to run and the popular deputy DA Jon Hopkins did, apparently no one thought they could or needed to beat Hopkins. Luck's departure is still a mystery, did it have anything to do with the Grand Jury investigation into his report on the in-custody death of Keith Drum? As long as Luck isn't a judge or getting contract work from the DA's department it doesn't matter, the main thing is the heartless, horrid little man is leaving.
DISTRCT 2
Two challengers are facing off against incumbent Jeff Smith, Jo Bennett, and Brenda Clark. Jo Bennett is a veteran of the Clearlake city council, where her record was decidedly mixed. Bennett is a rather odd package, as on the face of it she seems to have a handle on what's important, but somehow it didn't translate into a good voting record on the council. Also, she doesn't have a clear set of attainable goals in her agenda, which seems to consist mostly of " I'll just keep doing what everyone else is doing‰. Bennett is probably quite sincere about being committed to doing a good job for district two residents, the problem is that there are a lot of issues that the BOS deals with that would be over her elderly head-kind of like a couple of old men on the current BOS that come to mind. "An honest and well-intentioned incompetent‰ would be a fair assessment of Jo Bennett.
Jeff Smith is also a well-known for his lack of vision and for his speeches about nothing but the bloody obvious, which leave people wondering why-oh-why did he bother to open his mouth and prove for certain that he has nothing of value to add to the discussion? To hear Jeff tell it, having tunnel-vision is what supervisors are supposed to do, how on earth could they anticipate the possibility of the county facing disasters like floods, fires and earthquakes? As Jeff explained at a recent candidate's forum, citizens have to report problems to their supervisors, who can't be expected to be aware of trivial details like the county not having some kind of cohesive county-wide disaster management plan. Here is the sum total of eight years worth of achievements Jeff brags about in his campaign material:
$800K for the addition to Anderson Marsh State Park (which would have happened regardless of who was in office, since it was mainly assemblywoman Strom-Martin's doing).
$7,500 for ‰tourist related activity‰ in 2001-(the translation here is that the situational capitalists over at the Clearlake chamber of commerce were short on cash, so they asked for some socialism from the county government in order to keep cronyism, er, I mean capitalism afloat).
$15,000 for "tourist related activity‰ in 2003-( C'mon, Jeff, don't be shy, tell them what you really bought with $15K of our tax money! Jeffy bought us a nice-big bass tournament that the Clearlake Chamber of Commerce said would bring over three million dollars and 30,000 spectators into the local economy. What really happened is that the whole thing was a disaster mostly due to the weather (bad weather in Lake County during April, really, who could have predicted THAT??!!), and maybe 500 people showed-up at best. It was so bad it almost bankrupted the Clearlake C of C, but Jeff says it's an accomplishment to brag about so it must be one.
$20,000 for kitchen equipment for the senior center-(golly Jeff, betcha' really had to twist some arms to shake that kind of scratch loose from the feds-but isn't Mike Thompson taking credit for that one already? Glory Hog Thompson!)
$10,000 for the boys and girls club and $10K more for playground equipment at Austin's park -(another tough sell, no doubt! Two useful no-brainers in eight years, with the aging rate factored in that means we might have to wait another six years for him to do something brag-worthy again-so we'd have to re-hire him twice for any reasonable chance of a pay-off. Hmmmm.
One thing you won't see listed in his roster of committee assignments is his stint as LAFCO board member, which is apparently in trouble with the Grand Jury for two years in a row now, maybe they want a closer look at those no-bid contracts Jeff and his LAFCO pals have been handing out.
Jeff has plenty of other baggage as well, like being one of the BOS pay-raise bandits who gave themselves a 40% raise while cutting deputy sheriff positions. Or the fact that he does less work than any other supervisor and apparently lives in southern Oregon for much of the summer, which explains his remarkable level of detachment from his constituency. Meth in Clearlake? First I've heard about it! Indians in district two? For thousands of years? Funny, I never see them at the judge's breakfast! A whole tribe, you say? Golly!
Last but not least is Brenda Clark, who is a nobody from nowhere, which makes her an instant front-runner in this race. God only knows why she's running or what the hell she'll do if she wins (she won't, unfortunately), but she HAS to be better than Jeff Smith and Jo Bennett. At the candidates forum in Lucerne she shook her first performance wobbles and got in a couple of good shots on Jeff, which gives one hope that she'll continue to improve her public speaking skills. Agenda? REALLY thin, and zero record of involvement in anything, so it's a real crapshoot, but she seems sincere and hardworking so that puts her one up on Jeff right there. Besides, she's not a pompous, self-congratulating dope with strings attached to the Clearlake C of C, so maybe she'd stop tossing our money down that rathole the way Jeff is so fond of doing.
DISTRICT 3
Shalean Smith is running against Gary Lewis again (She lost a school board seat to him years ago by one vote), but this time it's for a BOS position. Shalean is a bit like Brenda Clark, as she is somewhat of a unknown quantity, but there are some clues as to what kind of supervisor she might be. She has worked for many years in the field of local radio advertising, and has strong ties to the local business community. She is also a Republican and a Farm Bureau supporter, all big red flags but not necessarily disqualifiers. She is certainly much smarter and more ethical than Gary Lewis, but that's admittedly setting the bar rather low.
Shalean says we must "maintain the rural beauty of Lake County‰, but hasn't given any details about what that might entail, which leaves us to wonder what kind of environmental record she might rack up. She wants to "promote healthy business development‰, "maintain and improve roads‰ , "enhance public safety‰, but who doesn't? Specifics Shalean, we need specifics! You got your own money or will you be using ours? And who uses a campaign photo that makes them look their age? She could pass for 28 in person, and she's 35! The big worry with Shalean is that her buddies over at the chamber of commerce on both sides of the lake will have her ear, at the expense of the usual victim, the average local taxpayer.
Denise Rushing is a newcomer to Lake County but has lived in rural Northern California most of her life, and comes from a top-level management position at PG&E, where she ran their renewable energy program among other things. Denise is the real deal, there has not been a candidate so well qualified for the job of BOS member in modern times, or maybe ever! She isn't just making it up as she goes along, she's already rolled up her sleeves and done her homework, in fact she probably has a better handle on what's going with many issues than some current BOS members do! If she doesn't make it onto the BOS then something is terribly wrong with the system, and Lake County will become a lesser place-she really is that unique and valuable an asset!.
Last is Gary Lewis, in more ways than one! As a matter of fact, Gary would be last in about any race, he is that low on every scale. A rude, ignorant, hypocritical, unethical, untrustworthy, cowardly waste of air, Gary is the whole package.
Who made the swing vote for a huge pay increase for himself ? Gutless Gary.
Who voted for spending $15K of general fund money on that ugly clock for Lakeport's main street? Gary the money-waster.
Who called former ag commissioner Mark Lockhart " an insubordinate liar‰ at a public BOS meeting, even though Lockhart was neither? Macho man Lewis.
Who always takes cheap shots at citizens who publicly disagree with him only when there's no chance of rebuttal? Gary yellow-stain.
Who said "I don't give a rat's ass about what the Indians think "? Gary the bridge-builder. Who found out that a local tribe was thinking about building a casino in his backyard by reading a story in the Press Democrat? Clueless Lewis.Why? See above.
Who shoved anti-war protester John Jenkel and then claimed Jenkel attacked him? Gary the factually-challenged.
Who tried to get a better paying county job and decided not to run for re-election because he thought he had it, so he told his planning commisioner to first run and then NOT run after the job fell through? Lewis the ludicrous .
Who got busted for stealing from the taxpayers with personal use of his cellphone and county credit card? Gary the thief.
Who's funding his campaign with virtually nothing but special interest money? Lewis-screw-us
On and on it goes, hardly a week goes by without Gary Lewis doing something embarrassing, illegal or counter productive at a BOS meeting, he is a genuine blight on the democratic process and Lake County as a whole. The one thing he did right was to pick Marvin Butler for his planning commissioner, which was a no-brainer because anyone in his position would have done the same thing, since Marvin wanted the job so bad and the rest of the field was so weak. One good thing in eight years, and even that was a fluke!
SUPERINTENDENTS RACE
Current interim superintendent David Geck is running against Don Boyd from Upper Lake High, in a race that should be getting a lot more attention due to it's importance. Both men know that the current educational system is structured completely wrong, with too much emphasis on testing and too little focus on career paths that don't involve college. But from there they seem to part ways, with Geck representing the entrenched local academic bureaucracy, and Boyd standing for some major change. Geck is another dose of his predecessor, the lackluster and wildly overpaid Bill Corneilson. Boyd's top priority is to take a hard look at the enormous budget of the Lake County office of education, with an eye toward trimming some of the fat. Geck seems like a decent enough guy who did do a good job of beefing up vocational training funding, but it's doubtful that he'll make many of the needed changes and hard decisions down at the office.
This June 6th please support Brenda Clark and Denise Rushing for the BOS, and Don Boyd for county superintendent of schools.
# 01334 hits since July 19 2006