Election 2007: Coming out of the far turn

For those who have Charter cable, internet or telephone and you could not use any of the three this afternoon, the reason was that one of the company's cable boxes that was attached to an electric pole in the downtown near the 91 freeway was fried after an accident this afternoon. Both Charter Communications and the city's public utilities division sent personnel out to handle the problems and restore the services hopefully by 6:30 p.m., they said. Nice guys to boot, indeed.

It tempered the news of Paul Newman's retirement from acting somewhat. Everyone should have a Newman story and I have got one.



The voting period for the current city council election in Riverside is mercifully winding down. The season's been like the month of March in reverse, it came in as a lamb and is going out a lion.



However, in several of the wards up for grabs, this might have just been the preliminary rounds and if that's the case, then it's likely that the top two vote-getting candidates in one or more of the wards will be heading towards the final showdown scheduled in November. And unlike the first round, the polls will be open for voters in the involved wards which will help bring a sense of ambiance and spirit back to the process that's missing during a mail in election and it also brings back the stickers commemorating your accomplishment until they fall off. More immediate results lead to more exciting post-election parties. What could be better than eating finger foods or at the more posh soirees, striding up to the buffet and noshing while awaiting early returns? And you can wear a hat indoors without breaking any etiquette rules.



Expected to produce a runoff election in the minds of many are the contests in Ward Five and Ward Seven.



It's a three-horse race in Ward Five between Chris McArthur, Donna Doty Michalka and Harry Kurani. Consequently, it appears unlikely especially since the race is for an open seat that it will produce a winner when the ballots are counted in June. So who will make it into the final round?



Michalka is probably a given. MacArthur knows that which was probably one reason why his latest flier targeted her campaign but if his latest campaign effort backfires, expect that to help Michalka and perhaps even toss some votes Kurani's way, maybe enough to get him in the runoff. If anyone wins outright which doesn't seem likely, it would probably be Team Michalka.



In Ward Seven, Councilman Steve Adams has lost most of the cushion that an incumbent would enjoy, especially when he ran for a state political office and lost. The message that he sent back to his constituents was that it's not that he didn't want to be a councilman, he just wanted to be an assemblyman more. It's unlikely that his voters have forgotten or forgiven this.



In part because of this, this is the toughest race by far to call. The primary beneficiary of the Adams backlash including that by his main supporters in 2003, the Riverside Police Officers' Association, is Roy Saldanha who picked up the RPOA endorsement this time around. There's been speculation that he could wind up in a runoff with either Adams or union organizer Art Garcia, who was endorsed by the Press Enterprise editorial board. But then you can never leave out Terry Frizzel who's served as mayor and as a councilwoman. She could grab a spot on any runoff election instead if the race came down to the top two or three candidates. If she clears the preliminary round, she'll be tough to beat in the final.



Ward Three is a contest between incumbent Art Gage and William "Rusty" Bailey who is supported by at least three BASS members and Mayor Ron Loveridge. Some say, it will be Gage in a landslide. Others say it will be a much tighter contest. The campaigns launched by both candidates have been controversial in terms of the fact that it appeared to be a battle of the professional consultants which left grass-roots candidate, Peter Olmos a bit out in the cold. And that's a shame because Olmos is a nice and interesting guy, but judging from his campaign, appears to be running mainly to get his ideas out on the issues pertaining to his ward and the city in general and there's nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong at all.


It's hard to separate out Gage and Bailey based on issues of development and redevelopment because between the two, Gage has more campaign contributions from developers both inside and outside of Riverside's city limits. However, Bailey did a stint working for Riverside County's, economic development agency where City Manager Brad Hudson hailed from before being hired by the city.





Ward One is the race that's been covered most often in the Press Enterprise which apparently thinks that a small portion of it, the downtown, rocks its world. The Betro camp appears to fear the "Pepper factor", meaning the votes that candidate and lightning rod for controversy Letitia Pepper will attract away from the Betro side, which might give an edge to Michael Gardner. This appears clear, given the latest campaign postcard that's been mailed off from Betro's campaign people.

The Betro team has tread much more cautiously on Michael Gardner because they probably think they can defeat him if the election doesn't go into a runoff and the strategic moves against the Pepper campaign appear to be geared towards that goal. More than a few political futures are riding on Betro's reelection and it's likely that most of his supporters don't want to spend their summer months worrying about what would come next. That would be a final round most likely against Gardner who by then could give Betro a run for the money(both literally and figuratively) just like Paul Fick did four years ago.

If anyone wins straight out in June, it will be Betro. But hopefully, his campaign will have helped him realize that there's a whole lot of Ward One that's outside of downtown.



It's tough to win this ward with a grass-roots campaign, tougher when Betro did it four years ago when he still was grass-roots, but in a flock of grass-roots candidates which is good to see, Gardner and Frizzel probably have the best chances in their respective wards if either can get to a runoff. But look for the Pepper camp which has been stumping for her to see their candidate draw a large number of votes for her as well.

But what it boils down to in all four council races is who receives the most votes from people voting inside their wards. Because after all, they should represent their wards first, then the city even though in recent years, the priorities appear to have reversed as various focus groups from outside the ward try to influence council races in the hopes of constructing a new majority voting bloc on the city council. That's an unfortunate development in the process no matter who is participating in it.

Whether it's one round or two, whoever wins, is the selection and the choice of at least half of the ward's voters. That's how it should be. Everyone in the odd-numbered wards should fill out and turn in their ballots and the city will wait and see who will serve on the dais for four years.





The Rocky Mountain News stated in an article that morale in the Denver Police Department was up and that was attributed to what the officers perceive to be improvements in the complaint process.


The Office of the Independent Monitor conducted the survey. Monitor Richard Rosenthal is currently conducting a similar survey of city residents, but so far hasn't received a very high response rate.



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A survey conducted for the city's Office of the Independent Monitor found that the percentage of officers who said they were either generally satisfied or neutral with the complaint process had increased from 36 percent to 70 percent, compared with a similar survey conducted in 2005.

The report states that most officers also believed that the complaint process had improved during that time.

Officer morale also improved during that same period, the report said. The percentage of officers who reported their morale level as either average or high increased to 57 percent from 40 percent.

The survey report was prepared by professors from Ohio University and Delaware University. Anonymous mailed surveys first were sent to the department in fall 2005. A follow- up survey was mailed in September 2006.

A total of 439 officers responded to the most recent survey, a response rate of 29 percent. That's a lower response than the 43 percent the original survey drew.

While officers indicated overall improved satisfaction with the process, other areas did not change substantially.

Nearly 49 percent of the respondents said they believe that Internal Affairs is biased against certain officers, compared with 52 percent in the earlier survey.

Nearly 37 percent believed that Internal Affairs is biased toward the resident filing a complaint, compared with nearly 39 percent in 2005.



It's not surprising to read that the morale of officers is increasing in Denver, given that the department entered into a voluntary reform process involving its patterns and practices after a series of shootings involving men of color several years ago. The department also scrapped its civilian review board and chose to implement a monitor instead, a model that may appear more amiable to police officers who historically have despised civilian review boards comprised of members of the communities rather than people from a law enforcement and/or prosecutory background. It remains to be seen if the community in Denver agrees.





It sounds like something out of Hollywood and it is, only it's Hollywood, Florida as that city's department was discovered to be so corrupt, the FBI launched an operation called "Operation Tarnished Badge" to round them all up.

The Miami Herald wrote several articles on this agency, the latest being the arrest of a veteran lieutenant for allegedly tipping other officers off that they faced arrests as a result of the probe.

Lt. Chuck Roberts joined the list of officers facing charges for among other things being involved in the smuggling of drugs with the local mob groups. The FBI accused Roberts of leaking information out that pretty much ruined their ability to keep on investigating, allegations that Roberts denied.

Apparently, Chief James Scarberry was appraised by the FBI then told his management staff, a move that potentially led him to be facing charges but he was granted immunity. He had also told the city manager and the mayor what was happening. Apparently, Roberts started a chain of events that led to many more officers knowing what was going on, including some that were under investigation.



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The sources said that no one besides Scarberry was to know about the FBI investigation because of the covert nature of the operation and to protect undercover agents.

McGarry told Roberts on Feb. 17, and then Roberts told patrol Officer Tammy Clyde, according to the affidavit and sources close to the case. Clyde then told one of the officers under investigation, Sgt. Jeffry Courtney.

That same day, Courtney told fellow officer and cohort, Kevin Companion.

Two days later, Courtney and Companion called in sick and filed retirement papers.

The FBI learned of the resignations and knew that their probe, dubbed Operation Tarnished Badge, had been blown and so were all hopes of snaring other corrupt officers. They arrested Companion, 41, Courtney, 52, and Stephen Harrison, 46. Another officer, Thomas Simcox, surrendered the following week.

A criminal complaint filed against the four officers detailed the illegal activities, which included extortion, bribe-taking, dealing in stolen property, protecting a crooked high-stakes card game, cargo theft and transporting a multi-kilo load of heroin from Miami Beach to Oakwood Plaza in Hollywood.

All four officers have pleaded guilty to the conspiracy count of providing protection to transport more than one kilo of heroin for what the cops believed were mob-connected drug dealers.

They also agreed, as part of a plea deal, to cooperate with federal authorities, which included giving up the name of the person who told them about the investigation.



The Miami Herald's editorial board stated that the chief should step aside while the investigation is being done because something stinks and it appears to becoming from inside his office. But then most chiefs probably need to borrow that slogan from former President Harry S. Truman, which is the buck stops here.






The fatal shooting of Fermin Arzu by an off duty New York City Police Department officer continues to generate controversy in that city, according to Newsday.

Officer Raphael Lora shot and killed after he ran to confront Arzu after a car accident and Arzu's van "lurched forward with its door open", according to a statement issued by the police department which officially at least, hasn't completed its investigations. Eyewitnesses gave statements which offered a different version of the shooting including that none of them had seen the open door strike Lora as the department had contended earlier.



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At the same time, Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson commented for the first time since the Friday night argument between Officer Raphael Lora and Fermin Arzu. In a statement, he said his office is "interviewing witnesses and examining physical evidence. ... Once that process is completed, we will assess the information ... and act in accordance with our responsibility to do justice."

Arzu's family, however, appeared to be out of patience.

"We want [Lora] arrested today, tonight," said Arzu's niece, Wendy Castillo, 32. "We don't want to wait until next year. We want it today."



As they did after the November 2006 fatal shooting of Sean Bell, members of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, an organization comprised of Black officers from the NYPD and other agencies, issued a "no-confidence" vote against Commissioner Raymond Kelly and called for an investigation of the department's shootings.





Also in New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is going to the Senate to ask them to provide over $150 million to compensate first responders who worked at the World Train Center after 9-11, according to the Los Angeles Times. He also asked that they reopen a victims' compensation fund that had been established.



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Ken George listened at the hearing with his wife and daughter.

In 2001, he was a highway repairer for the city Department of Transportation. He said he was in perfect health, lifting weights regularly.

George said he was ordered to report to ground zero the night of Sept. 11 and worked on search and rescue, often digging through rubble on his hands and knees, until late November.

He said that he had a bad feeling about the air at the site but that his main concern was to try to find victims.

George didn't complain that the filter mask he was given was good for only one hour and that no replacement filters were available.

"No, I didn't raise any objections, it was my job to go down there," he said. "There's a lot of people I knew down there."

George, 43, said he now takes 19 pills a day to treat lung and chest illnesses and post-traumatic stress disorder.

He has been hospitalized for seizures and a heart attack doctors told him was brought on by a combination of the fumes at the site and the prescription steroids he takes.

He quit his job in July because he could not continue working.