Elections: Who made the cut?

Another letter addressing the recent expulsion of four city residents from a city council meeting was published in the Press Enterprise today. Written by Pat Vasquez, the letter aired frustrations found in earlier letters that had been published.


Readers' Forum letters


(excerpt)


Our present City Council and mayor have had their own agenda for years and could not care less what the citizens of Riverside want.

They have always expressed disdain, disrespect and loathing for the opinions of the common people of this great city, who pay their salaries.


One day earlier, John Fisher had submitted a letter on the same issue also admonishing the city council. His letter detailed events he had seen at a more recent city council meeting.


More Readers' Forum letters


(excerpt)


City Council members work for the city and its voters, not vice versa. They should pay closer attention to what their bosses want. People of Riverside, pay attention to what goes on in your city.



With it being election season, there is ample opportunity for those living in the odd-numbered wards to do so, particularly in terms of paying attention to how their elected representatives are behaving and what decisions they have been making. There are different candidates to choose from and opportunities to get to know them and where they stand on the issues before the election.

But for those who alas, can't vote in a city council election this year, here's something else you can do instead. You can activate that old collegiate past time, the drinking game which is silly but a rite of passage for many college students. Only play it city council style!

Here are some rules. You pick a drink of choice. If you're a designated driver or a teetotaler, you can stick to soda, juice or ice tea. If you aren't, then you can pick your beverage of choice.

After you select your beverage of choice, be sure to stock up a hefty supply of it nearby, because even though most city council meetings are about an hour or two long these days, that leaves at least 120 minutes for the city council members and mayor to exhibit the following behavior.

If city council members yell "out of order", then you have to drink two small glasses of said beverage. If it's the mayor, then that's three small glasses. If it's either Councilman Dom Betro or Councilman Ed Adkison, then it's only one glass, unless of course the two of them yell it in unison, then it's four glasses.

If any council member runs to the city attorney during a break, you have to drink two small glasses. If they do it in the middle of a meeting, then that's three glasses. If the entire council heads off into the conference meeting to confer with the city attorney, then that's only two glasses.

If City Manager Brad Hudson and City Attorney Gregory Priamos have one of their chit-chats, then that's one glass per conference. If Hudson keeps flicking his ball point pen, then that's also one glass per incident. If any city council member leaves their seat in the middle of the meeting without running to the city attorney, then that's two glasses. If it's either Councilman Frank Schiavone or Councilman Steve Adams, then it's only one glass per incident.

If any council member has to excuse himself from voting on an agenda item, then it's three glasses. Unless it's Adkison and then it's about one-half of a glass per agenda item.

If a city council member asks the police to expel someone over the age of 65, then that's two drinks. If it's a member of the governmental affairs committee, then that's only one drink so one can pace one's self.

If Mayor Ron Loveridge cuts off public comments made by a man, then that's five glasses, if he cuts off a female speaker, it's only one glass.

If you follow these rules, then you should stick to tea, juice, soda or even water because all of the above behaviors are rather common.

For those who live in the wards being contested or who have a vested interest in reconfiguring the city council and you'd be surprised at how many people there are in this group, then coming up is a list of the candidates who are likely to be on the ballot this June.

The city clerk's office closed the filing period for the first, third and seventh wards, but extended the filing period for the fifth ward until Wednesday, March 14 at 5:00 pm.

Here is a list of candidates planning to run for election as of today and their filing status. If their status is "qualified", it means that these candidates are set and ready to go.


Ward 1:

Dom Betro(incumbent) --qualified

Letitia Pepper --qualified

Michael C. Gardner--qualified

Derek W. Thesier--qualified


Ward 3:

Art Gage(incumbent)--qualified

William "Rusty" Bailey, Jr. --qualified

Peter Olmos--qualified


Ward 5:

Robert Rodriquez--qualified

Harry Kurani--qualified

Donna Doty Michalka--issued nomination papers

Christopher MacArthur--qualified

Samuel Cardelucci--issued nomination papers

Jeffrey Pardee: Has not issued nomination papers


Ward 7:

Steve Adams(incumbent)--qualified

Terry Frizzel--returned nomination papers, qualification pending

Art Garcia--returned nomination papers, qualification pending

Daniel Gressmann--qualified

Roy Saldanha--qualified



If all of these candidates wind up on the ballots of their respective wards, then there should be some pretty exciting contests in several of the wards, especially in wards 5 and 7 which aren't expected to be settled at the June elections.

Many people expect the fifth ward to be the most wide open race since there may be as many as six candidates vying for an open seat. However, the ward that is more likely to pull off a surprise is ward 7, given that Adams has made himself vulnerable by tying himself very closely to developers including several who had hoped to have completed several high-density housing projects in the La Sierra by now, but were thwarted by an organization of community members and two voter-passed growth control laws that were passed and recently upheld by a judge.

In addition, Adams showed his constituents how committed he was to their needs when he tossed his hat in the ring to run for the Republican nomination for state assembly. That effort failed and he returned back to being a lowly city council member. However, what that has shown is that the residents of his ward will probably be more cautious when casting votes this time, lest he decide mid-term that what he really wanted all this time was to be a United States Congressman.

The shortest contests should be for wards 1 and 3, but they are expected to be fiercely fought. The only thing that is not certain is whether incumbents Betro and Gage will face off against their ward competitors or each other, given that both are eying the mayoral race next year. Given that there's a shortage of insider candidates in both races, it's a given where the development firms are going to drop their campaign contributions.

It's likely that the city's labor unions may follow suit. Even though Betro once claimed to be a supporter of civilian review, he is facing off against a former Community Police Review Commission member and he's been silent on the issue lately for obvious reasons.

Gage had said he was undecided on the issue of civilian review during his initial campaign, but ultimately decided how he really felt once elected and acted accordingly. On the other hand, his rival, Rusty Bailey once signed onto a written argument in support of the ballot measure that placed the CPRC into the city's charter, which was published in the voting guide. He had served on the Charter Review Committee.





Bridgeport, Connecticut has been the scene of a lot of controversy recently as the NAACP chapter has lobbied allegations that the city's board of commissioners favors police officers who commit misconduct, according to the Connecticut Post.


NAACP: Board condones police misconduct


Craig Kelly, the local NAACP chair, said that the board had repeatedly exonerated officers that committed misconduct even officers that the police chief of the Bridgeport Police Department had recommended for termination.

(excerpt)

"We want the Board of Police Commissioners to do the right thing or get off the pot," Kelly said.


One recent case involved Officer Douglas Bepko and three other officers who allegedly had assaulted a store clerk in 2004. The panel heard the evidence and exonerated Bepko, even though the department's internal affairs division had sided with the clerk against the officers whose statements were labeled, "false".

Bepko only had a short time to celebrate his exoneration before being arrested on domestic violence charges and facing more allegations of onduty misconduct which has brought him back to the board of commissioners.

He'll be joined by Officer Brian Parker and Officer Hugo Stern who were allegedly seen by a journalist for the local newspaper drinking at a bar while onduty.

Chief Bryon T. Norwood wants them fired, but he can only recommend as it is the Board of Commissioners who make the final call. Kelly agreed with Norwood and said that if the board doesn't issue discipline to these two officers, then its members should be removed.

Parker is no stranger to the board, having been the subject of at least 25 separate personnel complaints in just five years.




Bryan Hyde of 590 KSUB, a radio station in southern Utah wrote an interesting column for the The Spectrum about the issue of civilian review in St.George, Utah. A group of residents there is trying to establish a civilian review board in that city. Interestingly enough, one of its supporters, is David Doddridge, who is a retired police officer from the Los Angeles Police Department.



(excerpt)


Some officers no longer see the public as a community to be served, but rather as an adversarial mass of potential criminals who need to be managed for the safety of the state. The mentality for some is shifting from that of a peace officer to that of a code enforcer and creates a corresponding hostility toward those who are mere members of the public. It also fosters an attitude in which lack of accountability can lead to a sense of being able to operate above the law.

This flies in the face of one of the nine principles of policing as espoused by Britain's Sir Robert Peel, who was considered to be the father of modern policing.

His instruction was, "Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence."

Citizen review boards may serve to help to strengthen the relationship between local law enforcement and the community, so long as both sides remember that trust is a two-way street.

It would be interesting to see what transpires in St. George.