Election 2007: Winding down?

“Anything important is never left to the vote of the people. We only get to vote on some man; we never get to vote on what he is to do.”

---Will Rogers



“Vote: The only commodity that is peddleable without a license”

---Mark Twain



“The Democrats think Republicans are stealing elections. The Republicans think Democrats are stealing elections. And those of us independent of the two old parties know they are both right.”

---Kevin Zeese



Only five days until the Riverside City Council elections and the initialed brigade is having a good old time expressing concern that no one can tell them apart from one another, an occupational hazard of going the anonymous route. Perhaps they should trademark their initialized monikers so that any appropriations of them could be considered a copyright violation. It's hard to sympathize because I had an email account created in my name and used to send me harassing emails by someone who clearly didn't like what I was blogging or saying. What internet provider was used to send it? One that I pay for every time I shop Riverside.

Others out there who are too busy to even come up with initialed monikers let alone hide behind them are out there stumping on the campaign trail during these last days by walking the precincts and running phone banks until the polls open and hopefully, city residents will flood them, line up all the way down the street and cast their votes.

And for those who live in even-numbered wards, your vote is still needed to decide on who will fill slots in the boards affiliated with the city's two school districts. If you live in another places and they have elections, then you need to vote too.

If you haven't registered to vote, you should do so if you're eligible. Here are some sites to get more information on how to do so.


Riverside County

San Bernardino County


Your vote is a very important voice. Use it and be proud to do so and wear those little stickers they pass out. It might be the last time for a while that you wear one that states, "I voted electronically" given that how the elections in 2008 will be conducted is still so much up in the air.




The shocking death of top marathoner Ryan Shay has no immediate answers. Shay, 28 began his last marathon lining up alongside some of the most competitive, most fit, most talented male runners in the country. His race ended the same time his life did barely five miles into the competion near the boathouse at Central Park in New York City. The race was the United States Marathon Trials. The top three finishers will hopefully be heading off to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.

(excerpt, Yahoo News)


"He was a tremendous champion who was here today to pursue his dreams," said Craig Masback, chief executive of U.S. track and field's governing body. "The Olympic trials is traditionally a day of celebration, but we are heartbroken."


Tomorrow morning, thousands of marathon runners from elite athletes to recreational runners and walkers will be running the New York City Marathon, one of the world's largest, over the same course. Hopefully, when their footsteps pass over the last ever run on earth by Shay, they will remember him, in memory.


Ryan Shay's journal entry

There's a lot being written on the situation involving Michael Carona, who's both the sheriff of Orange County and also the man who was standing before the judge in handcuffs, to answer on a federal indictment alleging corruption.

The more that's revealed, the worse those allegations have become, including some of the latest news that was brought out courtesy of the indictment.


Did Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona benefit from the settlement given involving the death of one of his deputies?

That is the question being asked by this Los Angeles Times article.


(excerpt)


Two deputies said Rosie Warner was disappointed with the $340,000 settlement that Cavallo eventually obtained. They said the widow, an immigrant from the Philippines who has since died of cancer, was "naive" about the U.S. legal system and had felt compelled to take Carona's advice.

"She asked me, 'Why is Cavallo pushing me to try to settle this thing? I think it's worth more,' " recalled one of the deputies, who requested anonymity because he feared retribution. "She was sick by then, and tired from the battle."

Now, a federal indictment suggests that Carona had a darker motivation -- money -- in offering comfort and advice to Warner's wife and two children.

The sheriff is accused of steering employees and their relatives to Cavallo. A portion of the $340,000, which some experts termed a relatively modest award, was funneled to Carona's alleged co-conspirators, the indictment said. They include Debra Hoffman, an attorney identified in court documents as his mistress. She has been indicted along with the sheriff and his wife, Deborah Carona.

The kickback allegation is one of dozens detailed in the case against Carona, but it has sounded a particularly loud note of outrage among those who wore the badge with Warner.

"There's just disgust," said a 20-year department veteran, who asked not to be named because he feared retaliation. "I can't imagine a cop making money off a dead cop. That's the lowest."



Cavallo was Joseph Cavallo, a malpractice attorney that Carona had urged the relatives of Deputy Brad Warner, who died as a result of knee surgery to fix onduty injuries, to hire in order to file a lawsuit.



But Carona cashed in on that law suit, alleged the indictment against him as he did in so many other ways.


Carona will be handing over some of his duties but has absolutely no intention of resigning, according to the Associated Press.


(excerpt)


Orange County Supervisor Bill Campbell said Carona told him Thursday that he was drawing up a plan to hand over specific tasks to others in his department.

"He asked his command staff to come up with a plan to take over day-to-day operations," Campbell said.

Campbell said Carona would submit a plan in writing to each of the supervisors before their meeting on Tuesday, when Campbell had planned to submit a resolution urging Carona to step aside. Campbell said the resolution was now unnecessary.

Still, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas urged the supervisors to pass such a measure.

"He will clearly be required to spend his full time and attention on matters involving this indictment," Rackauckas wrote in a letter to supervisors.

Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Orange, agreed with the district attorney.

"If he wants to fight the charges that's his right," Spitzer told the Los Angeles Times. "But if this were a rank-and-file employee, they would have to be on administrative leave. He should take administrative leave."



Of course, the District Attorney's office in Orange County has stepped forward and is pushing the county supervisors to pass a resolution pushing Carona to step aside while he fights his charges, according to the Los Angeles Times.

(excerpt)


Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas sent a letter to the Board of Supervisors asking them to pass a resolution asking Carona to step aside and appoint a qualified member of his command staff to take over.

"He will clearly be required to spend his full time and attention on matters involving this indictment," Rackauckas wrote.

Unyielding, Carona has remained steadfast in his desire to remain head of the state's second-largest sheriff's department while he fights the allegations.

"I am a good sheriff," he said in an interview earlier this week.

In his own letter to supervisors, Carona repeated that he had "absolutely no intention of resigning" and said that he and his top assistants were "formulating a plan to allow the command staff to handle day-to-day operations during those times that I will need to devote my time and attention to exonerating my wife and myself."



Good Sheriff? I guess that's for a jury to decide.


There's more on Carona's case here.





In Colton, former councilman, Ramon Hernandez rejected a plea bargain and will be heading to trial next year. Hernandez was actually elected to replace another councilman who resigned after admitting that he sold votes for bribes. It would be nice to say only in Colton, but you can't.




Over 30 individuals were busted in a drug sting investigation and one of them was a New York City Police Department officer, according to Newsday.









Visitors this week include the following.


City of Riverside


County of Riverside



United States Environmental Protection Agency



jungbu University (Republic of South Korea)



Mediacom Communications Corp



University of Chicago



Belo Enterprises



Pepperdine University



Time-Warner



Washington Post





Most popular ISPs:



Charter communications: 21.4%





SBC Globalnet: 7.8%



Riversideca.gov: 7.6%



Road Runner: 7.6%




The Santa Ana winds have returned. Fingers crossed that there are no fires this time.