City election 2007: Campaign wars
"How big is it Harry?"
Harry: "I'll give it a four"
----L.A. Story
"Yes, sure was. Quite a shock. Nevertheless, there's no scientific evidence...
that a earthquake can loosen dental fillings. No. Right. Thank you."
----Earthquake
From the U.S. Geological Survey Web site.
2 miles SE of Devore, CA
(ID 10249569) MAY 23 2007 23:15:15 PDT 3.9
2 miles SSE of Devore, CA
(ID 10249565) MAY 23 2007 23:11:40 PDT 3.8
If you're new to the golden state, here's some tips on what to do in slightly bigger earthquakes. Before, during and after the quake or quakes hits. The American Red Cross also offers disaster preparedness training.
Dan Bernstein's latest column in the Press Enterprise relates about how Councilman Steve Adams apparently threw a bit of a fit over a peace sign that was on display in the second floor of a building that the city council was about to declare a historical landmark.
Another addition to the growing collection, titled if you think silence is golden then you've never met Adams. The building actually belonged to Councilman Andrew Melendrez so for once, it wasn't only Councilman Ed Adkison who had to disqualify himself from voting on an agenda item due to conflict of interest.
Adams said that if the building was to be deemed historically significant, then it should have some artifacts from its past or some sort of past displayed in its windows.
Greg Adamson, who designed the peace sign in question was puzzled because although it was depicted in a photograph included in the city council's report, it had actually been removed a while ago.
And in a sense, the peace sign did have some history, albeit it had made its debut recently.
(excerpt)
Why did Adamson make the peace sign in the first place? It was a decoration for last year's Mayor's Ball for the Arts -- a fundraiser for arts groups.
It was a "Sixties" theme, and Adamson and other artists spent months crafting hundreds of renderings of rock stars (Dylan, Joplin, Hendrix, Jerry Garcia, etc.), a yellow submarine, even a "Summer of Love" banner that flew over the entrance to White Park.
And when the party was over, "We had to haul this stuff away." Adamson didn't know what to do with his peace sign so he stuck it in the window of The People's Gallery, an art gallery on the second floor of the Jackson Building.
"I thought it would get some attention, but I didn't know it would get attention seven months after it was gone."
Yes, Councilman Adams, ex-cop and candidate for re-election, had become all a-twitter about a mayoral party decoration that is now safely out of public view.
Artist Adamson, who's also a VP of Union Bank: "The Haradas fought for their own human civil rights, and now a councilman says we don't have a right to put a peace sign in a window. How far have we come?"
Don't ask.
Got you, Dan.
Yesterday, the members of Save-Riverside held another rally at the corner of Jurupa and Magnolia, with about a dozen people appearing with signs including one gorilla in a bikini and golden hula skirt wrapped with a feather boa that appears to have been dropping feathers all over the city. But at least the poor simian with attitude can travel elsewhere in Ward One if not the downtown and not have to worry about business owners calling the police to pick him or her up.
More cars honked in support and more pamphlets were handed out to motorists and pedestrians. In addition, there were "save Kawa Market" balloons and some former shoppers at the store which is owned by an Asian-American couple expressed their disappointment at the city's success at putting the Guans out of business.
Councilman Dom Betro's supporters apparently were telling people at a recent coffee gathering that the Kawa Market was crime-ridden which is apparently why the city targeted it and may allow a "similar commercial use" to be considered for future development including a rumored convenience store like 7-11. But if the city were interested in closing down businesses that attracted crime, one would think there would be several liquor stores which historically have created many problems higher on its list than Kawa Market.
The customers said they went to the market because there was no closer place to shop for food where they lived. They said that they would have to probably walk to 7-11 instead which is about three blocks away from the market or Ralphs supermarket.
As stated, there is still some last rounds of campaign events taking place as the voting period for the first round closes in less than two weeks.
A war of words is taking place in the Ward Five election over campaign fliers circulated by candidate Chris MacArthur according to the Press Enterprise.
In his literature, MacArthur criticizes Donna Doty-Michalka by claiming that she supports the policy used by her bank of allowing undocumented immigrants to use identification cards issued in Mexico to open bank accounts at Altura Credit where she is employed. Michalka denied she supported the policy and then wondered what it had to do with Ward Five issues.
MacArthur went further by claiming that Michalka would force the police department to accept identification cards issued by the Mexican consulate. What exactly MacArthur bases his claims on is not clear because he doesn't include that information but if you can't discuss the issues in the ward that you're running in, xenophobia is the next tool in his arsenal because that is clearly his intent here. It smacks a bit of desperation.
Michalka's supporters, including the Riverside Police Officers' Association which endorsed took issue with MacArthur's assertion made about Michalka as did the Riverside Police Department.
(excerpt)
The Riverside Police Officers Association, whose political action committee has endorsed Michalka, is angry about MacArthur's fliers, said Don Miskulin, a police helicopter pilot and the action committee's chairman.
Illegal immigration is a matter for the national government to handle, not city government, Miskulin said.
"It really has nothing to do with the issues" in Ward 5, he said.
The union's political action committee has put out a flier warning voters: "Don't be fooled by vicious lies!" and highlighting its support of Michalka.
Well, you could gather from MacArthur's comments on his own campaign brochure that if he were elected to Ward Five, he would make it an issue to force undocumented immigrants further into the position in this city that if they were crime victims that they should not bother to report it to the police department. And unfortunately, there's enough people in this city trying to do that already.
And there's concerns to raise about Michalka's employment ties to a business used by the city but this definitely isn't one of them. It's just very disappointing behavior by MacArthur right up there with some of his campaign supporters telling prospective Ward Five voters that candidate Harry Kurani was born in Iran as if that were true and as if it were a bad thing and reason not to vote for him. So MacArthur's reliance on racism and xenophobia may be an ongoing pattern in his campaign.
Then there are what the Press Enterprise labeled the "carpetbagger allegations" against Kurani in that he moved into Ward Five before the election, specifically to run for that seat. That's a legitimate issue to raise about a candidate is how long he or she has lived in the ward.
(excerpt)
Kurani doesn't deny moving to run for the seat, but he said he has had a business in Arlington for 16 years, is very active in the business community and has served on the city Planning Commission since 2003.
"How can you slam that?" Kurani asked.
MacArthur said he believes Kurani's move into Ward 5 is a valid issue.
And he's right, though it's mitigated somewhat by Kurani's years spent working at his business there. But it's also apparently true that the backers of Kurani apparently encouraged him to make the move in hopes that he would get a council seat.
Similar concerns were raised about Adams when he moved into Ward Seven to run successfully for that seat four years ago. Initially, he had filed campaign papers to run in Ward Three but legend is that he couldn't gather enough signatures so he moved on to the La Sierra area. It's interesting to see some of those who criticized his tactics supporting Kurani's decision to move into Ward Five to run. But it all depends on who the politician is when it comes to tactics that they use to try and get elected. This is one lesson among others that should come out of Election 2007.
Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton defended his comments on the May Day incident in an article published in the Los Angeles Times. Bratton's harsh words of criticism ruffled some feathers in the police department leading to criticism by President Bob Baker of the Protective Police League which is the department's major labor union.
(excerpt)
As you should know by now, my style is to be straightforward and speak candidly as I tell your story," Bratton said, according to a transcript obtained by The Times. "Give me a good story to tell, and I will tell it. Give me something else, and, unfortunately, I will have to tell it like it is."
He said he wanted to be "very clear" that the taped images of officers using force against the crowd were "very disturbing" and "there is no doubt that this incident has set our department back."
"It will serve no purpose to not recognize and acknowledge that there were some problems with some prior planning, leadership, command and control, tactics and force used that day," Bratton said.
After the incident, Bratton demoted one top police official in charge that day and reassigned another. He also ordered officers from the elite Metropolitan Division involved in the crowd control at MacArthur Park to temporarily "stand down" from field duties. All but three have returned to full duties.
In Tuesday's taped message, Bratton acknowledged that videos don't always tell the whole story and said he would not make a final assessment about the officers' conduct until the investigations were finished.
"My commitment to you is that there will not be a rush to judgment," he said. "We will not condone the use of unreasonable force under any circumstances, but I will defend all of you who use force when it is reasonable. Policing is not easy, and it is not always pretty."
Baker wasn't moved.
(excerpt)
"I don't think it's going to satisfy the officers," he said.
The inevitable conflict is heating up between Bratton and the leadership of the police union, even as Bratton already faces the process of being reappointed to a second five-year term as the LAPD's police chief.
Bratton also announced that all but three of the officers who were assigned to work the Metro Division's B Platoon that day have been returned to their field duty assignments. Over 60 officers were temporarily removed from the field after the May Day incident became public. In addition, Deputy Chief Cayler "Lee" Carter who held the highest rank at the scene of the incident was demoted and has opted for an early retirement. His immediate subordinate was reassigned.
Numerous investigations continue into the incident which involved LAPD officers charging away from a clash with a group of demonstrators and into MacArthur Park where thousands of people were peacefully assembled at a rally. While in the park, officers struck dozens of people including media representatives with their batons and fired 168 less lethal bullets at them.
Last week, the federal monitor overseeing the department's reforms under its ongoing and recently extended consent decree released a report stating that he was concerned that the incident showed continuing problems with the supervision and training of the LAPD's officers.
In the San Francisco Chronicle, there's an article about a police officer employed by that city's department who has accumulated a list of excessive force complaints. At least four incidents involving people of all races in nine months are attributed to San Francisco Police Department Officer Jesse Serna, a member of both the department's early warning list nine times running and that created by the publication. His rate of force used against members of the public is 50% higher than that used by any other officer in the department.
His incidents of late are as followed and it's clear that these incidents that were reported also detail other cases where Serna also allegedly used excessive force. Apparently, it's news to Chief Heather Fong what Serna's been up to lately, but she said the department's looking into it.
(excerpt)
In one incident, a young man who told Officer Jesse Serna he would be making a complaint against him said that moments later he was thrown to the ground by officers in North Beach and was zapped 12 times with a stun gun as he lay handcuffed on the street.
taser burns
In another North Beach incident, a man said Serna hit him twice with his baton after he told police they were using force on someone who had been the victim of an assault.
In a third case, on the Embarcadero, witnesses said Serna and a partner wrestled to the ground a man who had called out that he would be a witness for another man whom Serna had hit while he was arresting him. Serna said in his police report that he went on to pepper-spray the would-be witness' wife and another woman.
In these cases, citizens said Serna had exhibited racial prejudice.
In a fourth case, a woman alleged that Serna used a sexual slur against her after she had joked with him and other officers about fearing what they would do to her if she tried to cross the street.
Two of these cases have resulted in lawsuits, and a third has raised the possibility of one. Since he joined the department, Serna has been involved in three lawsuits alleging excessive force that cost taxpayers a total of $195,000.
In many departments, officers are divided into two categories, the so-called tough guys and the wusses and the sorting out process begins in the police academy and continues as newer officers begin their training in the departments which employ them.
In San Francisco, two things are clear. Serna is a member of the first group and despite a series of articles down by the San Francisco Chronicle on the issue of use of force especially when it's excessive, Chief Heather Fong like many chiefs appears to if not happy with that, then content to bury her head in the sand, because if an officer can appear on a "warning" list nine times and still be out on the street accumulating numerous excessive complaints then something is seriously wrong with what's going on under her watch.
Sometimes, like any other list, an early warning system is just a piece of paper or a computer screen with writing on it.
Harry: "I'll give it a four"
----L.A. Story
"Yes, sure was. Quite a shock. Nevertheless, there's no scientific evidence...
that a earthquake can loosen dental fillings. No. Right. Thank you."
----Earthquake
From the U.S. Geological Survey Web site.
2 miles SE of Devore, CA
(ID 10249569) MAY 23 2007 23:15:15 PDT 3.9
2 miles SSE of Devore, CA
(ID 10249565) MAY 23 2007 23:11:40 PDT 3.8
If you're new to the golden state, here's some tips on what to do in slightly bigger earthquakes. Before, during and after the quake or quakes hits. The American Red Cross also offers disaster preparedness training.
Dan Bernstein's latest column in the Press Enterprise relates about how Councilman Steve Adams apparently threw a bit of a fit over a peace sign that was on display in the second floor of a building that the city council was about to declare a historical landmark.
Another addition to the growing collection, titled if you think silence is golden then you've never met Adams. The building actually belonged to Councilman Andrew Melendrez so for once, it wasn't only Councilman Ed Adkison who had to disqualify himself from voting on an agenda item due to conflict of interest.
Adams said that if the building was to be deemed historically significant, then it should have some artifacts from its past or some sort of past displayed in its windows.
Greg Adamson, who designed the peace sign in question was puzzled because although it was depicted in a photograph included in the city council's report, it had actually been removed a while ago.
And in a sense, the peace sign did have some history, albeit it had made its debut recently.
(excerpt)
Why did Adamson make the peace sign in the first place? It was a decoration for last year's Mayor's Ball for the Arts -- a fundraiser for arts groups.
It was a "Sixties" theme, and Adamson and other artists spent months crafting hundreds of renderings of rock stars (Dylan, Joplin, Hendrix, Jerry Garcia, etc.), a yellow submarine, even a "Summer of Love" banner that flew over the entrance to White Park.
And when the party was over, "We had to haul this stuff away." Adamson didn't know what to do with his peace sign so he stuck it in the window of The People's Gallery, an art gallery on the second floor of the Jackson Building.
"I thought it would get some attention, but I didn't know it would get attention seven months after it was gone."
Yes, Councilman Adams, ex-cop and candidate for re-election, had become all a-twitter about a mayoral party decoration that is now safely out of public view.
Artist Adamson, who's also a VP of Union Bank: "The Haradas fought for their own human civil rights, and now a councilman says we don't have a right to put a peace sign in a window. How far have we come?"
Don't ask.
Got you, Dan.
Yesterday, the members of Save-Riverside held another rally at the corner of Jurupa and Magnolia, with about a dozen people appearing with signs including one gorilla in a bikini and golden hula skirt wrapped with a feather boa that appears to have been dropping feathers all over the city. But at least the poor simian with attitude can travel elsewhere in Ward One if not the downtown and not have to worry about business owners calling the police to pick him or her up.
More cars honked in support and more pamphlets were handed out to motorists and pedestrians. In addition, there were "save Kawa Market" balloons and some former shoppers at the store which is owned by an Asian-American couple expressed their disappointment at the city's success at putting the Guans out of business.
Councilman Dom Betro's supporters apparently were telling people at a recent coffee gathering that the Kawa Market was crime-ridden which is apparently why the city targeted it and may allow a "similar commercial use" to be considered for future development including a rumored convenience store like 7-11. But if the city were interested in closing down businesses that attracted crime, one would think there would be several liquor stores which historically have created many problems higher on its list than Kawa Market.
The customers said they went to the market because there was no closer place to shop for food where they lived. They said that they would have to probably walk to 7-11 instead which is about three blocks away from the market or Ralphs supermarket.
As stated, there is still some last rounds of campaign events taking place as the voting period for the first round closes in less than two weeks.
A war of words is taking place in the Ward Five election over campaign fliers circulated by candidate Chris MacArthur according to the Press Enterprise.
In his literature, MacArthur criticizes Donna Doty-Michalka by claiming that she supports the policy used by her bank of allowing undocumented immigrants to use identification cards issued in Mexico to open bank accounts at Altura Credit where she is employed. Michalka denied she supported the policy and then wondered what it had to do with Ward Five issues.
MacArthur went further by claiming that Michalka would force the police department to accept identification cards issued by the Mexican consulate. What exactly MacArthur bases his claims on is not clear because he doesn't include that information but if you can't discuss the issues in the ward that you're running in, xenophobia is the next tool in his arsenal because that is clearly his intent here. It smacks a bit of desperation.
Michalka's supporters, including the Riverside Police Officers' Association which endorsed took issue with MacArthur's assertion made about Michalka as did the Riverside Police Department.
(excerpt)
The Riverside Police Officers Association, whose political action committee has endorsed Michalka, is angry about MacArthur's fliers, said Don Miskulin, a police helicopter pilot and the action committee's chairman.
Illegal immigration is a matter for the national government to handle, not city government, Miskulin said.
"It really has nothing to do with the issues" in Ward 5, he said.
The union's political action committee has put out a flier warning voters: "Don't be fooled by vicious lies!" and highlighting its support of Michalka.
Well, you could gather from MacArthur's comments on his own campaign brochure that if he were elected to Ward Five, he would make it an issue to force undocumented immigrants further into the position in this city that if they were crime victims that they should not bother to report it to the police department. And unfortunately, there's enough people in this city trying to do that already.
And there's concerns to raise about Michalka's employment ties to a business used by the city but this definitely isn't one of them. It's just very disappointing behavior by MacArthur right up there with some of his campaign supporters telling prospective Ward Five voters that candidate Harry Kurani was born in Iran as if that were true and as if it were a bad thing and reason not to vote for him. So MacArthur's reliance on racism and xenophobia may be an ongoing pattern in his campaign.
Then there are what the Press Enterprise labeled the "carpetbagger allegations" against Kurani in that he moved into Ward Five before the election, specifically to run for that seat. That's a legitimate issue to raise about a candidate is how long he or she has lived in the ward.
(excerpt)
Kurani doesn't deny moving to run for the seat, but he said he has had a business in Arlington for 16 years, is very active in the business community and has served on the city Planning Commission since 2003.
"How can you slam that?" Kurani asked.
MacArthur said he believes Kurani's move into Ward 5 is a valid issue.
And he's right, though it's mitigated somewhat by Kurani's years spent working at his business there. But it's also apparently true that the backers of Kurani apparently encouraged him to make the move in hopes that he would get a council seat.
Similar concerns were raised about Adams when he moved into Ward Seven to run successfully for that seat four years ago. Initially, he had filed campaign papers to run in Ward Three but legend is that he couldn't gather enough signatures so he moved on to the La Sierra area. It's interesting to see some of those who criticized his tactics supporting Kurani's decision to move into Ward Five to run. But it all depends on who the politician is when it comes to tactics that they use to try and get elected. This is one lesson among others that should come out of Election 2007.
Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton defended his comments on the May Day incident in an article published in the Los Angeles Times. Bratton's harsh words of criticism ruffled some feathers in the police department leading to criticism by President Bob Baker of the Protective Police League which is the department's major labor union.
(excerpt)
As you should know by now, my style is to be straightforward and speak candidly as I tell your story," Bratton said, according to a transcript obtained by The Times. "Give me a good story to tell, and I will tell it. Give me something else, and, unfortunately, I will have to tell it like it is."
He said he wanted to be "very clear" that the taped images of officers using force against the crowd were "very disturbing" and "there is no doubt that this incident has set our department back."
"It will serve no purpose to not recognize and acknowledge that there were some problems with some prior planning, leadership, command and control, tactics and force used that day," Bratton said.
After the incident, Bratton demoted one top police official in charge that day and reassigned another. He also ordered officers from the elite Metropolitan Division involved in the crowd control at MacArthur Park to temporarily "stand down" from field duties. All but three have returned to full duties.
In Tuesday's taped message, Bratton acknowledged that videos don't always tell the whole story and said he would not make a final assessment about the officers' conduct until the investigations were finished.
"My commitment to you is that there will not be a rush to judgment," he said. "We will not condone the use of unreasonable force under any circumstances, but I will defend all of you who use force when it is reasonable. Policing is not easy, and it is not always pretty."
Baker wasn't moved.
(excerpt)
"I don't think it's going to satisfy the officers," he said.
The inevitable conflict is heating up between Bratton and the leadership of the police union, even as Bratton already faces the process of being reappointed to a second five-year term as the LAPD's police chief.
Bratton also announced that all but three of the officers who were assigned to work the Metro Division's B Platoon that day have been returned to their field duty assignments. Over 60 officers were temporarily removed from the field after the May Day incident became public. In addition, Deputy Chief Cayler "Lee" Carter who held the highest rank at the scene of the incident was demoted and has opted for an early retirement. His immediate subordinate was reassigned.
Numerous investigations continue into the incident which involved LAPD officers charging away from a clash with a group of demonstrators and into MacArthur Park where thousands of people were peacefully assembled at a rally. While in the park, officers struck dozens of people including media representatives with their batons and fired 168 less lethal bullets at them.
Last week, the federal monitor overseeing the department's reforms under its ongoing and recently extended consent decree released a report stating that he was concerned that the incident showed continuing problems with the supervision and training of the LAPD's officers.
In the San Francisco Chronicle, there's an article about a police officer employed by that city's department who has accumulated a list of excessive force complaints. At least four incidents involving people of all races in nine months are attributed to San Francisco Police Department Officer Jesse Serna, a member of both the department's early warning list nine times running and that created by the publication. His rate of force used against members of the public is 50% higher than that used by any other officer in the department.
His incidents of late are as followed and it's clear that these incidents that were reported also detail other cases where Serna also allegedly used excessive force. Apparently, it's news to Chief Heather Fong what Serna's been up to lately, but she said the department's looking into it.
(excerpt)
In one incident, a young man who told Officer Jesse Serna he would be making a complaint against him said that moments later he was thrown to the ground by officers in North Beach and was zapped 12 times with a stun gun as he lay handcuffed on the street.
taser burns
In another North Beach incident, a man said Serna hit him twice with his baton after he told police they were using force on someone who had been the victim of an assault.
In a third case, on the Embarcadero, witnesses said Serna and a partner wrestled to the ground a man who had called out that he would be a witness for another man whom Serna had hit while he was arresting him. Serna said in his police report that he went on to pepper-spray the would-be witness' wife and another woman.
In these cases, citizens said Serna had exhibited racial prejudice.
In a fourth case, a woman alleged that Serna used a sexual slur against her after she had joked with him and other officers about fearing what they would do to her if she tried to cross the street.
Two of these cases have resulted in lawsuits, and a third has raised the possibility of one. Since he joined the department, Serna has been involved in three lawsuits alleging excessive force that cost taxpayers a total of $195,000.
In many departments, officers are divided into two categories, the so-called tough guys and the wusses and the sorting out process begins in the police academy and continues as newer officers begin their training in the departments which employ them.
In San Francisco, two things are clear. Serna is a member of the first group and despite a series of articles down by the San Francisco Chronicle on the issue of use of force especially when it's excessive, Chief Heather Fong like many chiefs appears to if not happy with that, then content to bury her head in the sand, because if an officer can appear on a "warning" list nine times and still be out on the street accumulating numerous excessive complaints then something is seriously wrong with what's going on under her watch.
Sometimes, like any other list, an early warning system is just a piece of paper or a computer screen with writing on it.
Labels: business as usual, City elections, What is past is prologue
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