Elections 2007: The band plays on
The Christmas tree lighting at the Riverside Plaza took place, amid a fairly good turnout for the unseasonal balmy weather that occasionally strikes Southern California this time of year. Councilman Art Gage, on whose ward the Plaza rests, was no where to be seen in the crowd, but his colleague Frank Schiavone was hanging out with the owner of the Riverside Plaza and hosting the event.
It's warm now, but the Santa Anas are scheduled to return again next week in time for the major flipping the light switch, electric at the Mission Inn Hotel downtown.
In Redlands, that city's election is decided, according to the Press Enterprise. Being from a city, Riverside, in which the election may still very much not be, that's refreshing news.
Challenger Nancy Ruth White was upset about some last-minute campaign mailers being sent out that cast her in a bad light.
(excerpt)
White's campaign credited her demise to a series of last-minute mailers depicting her and Bean as tax-raisers.
The mailers began arriving the Friday before the election, campaign manager David Raley said. They were sponsored by a San Bernardino County taxpayers group whose listed address is a Highland post office box and whose phone number yields a fax signal.
The group received at least $21,500 from individuals or businesses that also contributed to Aguilar, campaign disclosure forms indicate.
Raley said he thought the mailers cost White at the polls by moving potential Bean voters to Aguilar.
"So, it worked," Raley said. "It barely saved Pete."
White said the mailers detracted from an otherwise civil campaign.
"I must have been a threat to the outcome of the race," she said.
Aguilar said he didn't know the mailers existed until he opened his mailbox. If he had been asked, "I would have told them I didn't need the help," Aguilar said.
Aguilar noted that he had been targeted by negative phone calls.
"I didn't like those either," Aguilar said. "You don't want to win that way, (but) that's the nature of politics."
That's a sad part of it.
Alas, here in Riverside, the Riverside County Voters' Registrar is taking a series of hits for the most recent city council election where vote counting was not completed for all four ward contests until 10 days after the election. Expect recounts to be conducted in the extremely tight Ward One election as well as possibly in Ward Seven, where only 13 votes separated the two candidates, Councilman Steve Adams and former mayor, Terry Frizzel.
This is what those two rivals had to say about the process in which they seemed to be in agreement in terms of its quality or lack thereof.
(excerpt)
"Adams had called the delay "total incompetence." His opponent, Terry Frizzel, had labeled the process a "farce."
But representatives from that office actually said they were six days ahead of their own schedule. Still, some like Adams want to disavow all ties with the registrar's office and privately contract the election process out. Oh, but that would open up a can of worms.
Others including Ward One councilman-elect Mike Gardner had their opinions on the process as well.
(excerpt)
Ward 1 winner Gardner said he is satisfied with the way votes are tallied after spending more than 12 hours during the past week observing workers counting and verifying ballots.
"It's a slow process, but accuracy is more important than speed," he said.
Gardner watched as one employee read the vote aloud and another checked to make sure the correct candidate was named. Two other workers recorded the votes, which were compared for accuracy, he said.
Ward 3 resident John P. Nyhan, 78, wonders if the counting system is susceptible to failure.
"It's irritating," Nyhan said of the wait. "But you can't knock the Registrar."
Still with all the rumors of complaints flying around all over the place about this past election, don't be surprised if there are some interesting developments in the days ahead before this election is certified and put to bed. One losing candidate has already hired an attorney to look into how the process of the election was conducted.
Did you predict that the city council might again raise electric rates after Election 2007 wrapped up? If so, you're not psychic, just mindful of the obvious as what many predicted might come to pass, according to the Press Enterprise.They say the increments proposed by the Board of Utilities will be small, but as I recall, that's what they had said last time as well.
Only time will tell. June, July or August at the latest if the recommended rates are approved. But you can't blame people for being apprehensive at the news. Twice shy, and all that.
Still, the infrastructure needs to be replaced to match the tremendous growth anticipated through Riverside Renaissance but it's certainly been an interesting chain of events with the electricity situation in this city lately.
Here is an interesting rebuttal against a recent opinion piece written by Mayor Ron Loveridge about the plan to label Riverside as the "City of the Arts".
Toby Miller, who chairs the Department of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of California, Riverside cautions against being overly dependent on what he otherwise considered a good idea, for economic growth and stability.
(excerpt)
At the same time, some words of caution are needed for Riverside leaders and others who see arts as the center of a successful region. This vision is supported by consultants across the nation who seek out a "creative class" that they claim is revitalizing post-industrial towns through an elixir of cultural tolerance, technology and talent, as measured by numbers of same-sex households, broadband connections and advanced degrees.
Even if this claim about a creative class were accurate, many successful cities in the United States are hyperconservative (for example, cities such as Houston, Orlando and Phoenix). And there is no evidence of an overlap of tastes, values, living arrangements and locations between artists and other professionals.
In fact, some surveys question the claim that quality of life is central to selecting locations for business campuses as opposed to low costs, good communications technology, proximity to markets and adequate transportation systems.
An Orange County Sheriff Department deputy is in big trouble for sexually assaulting six prostitutes and there may be dozens of more victims out there, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Richard John Rodriguez, 43, who's served at least 20 years in the department is already facing felony charges of sexual assault and false imprisonment.
(excerpt)
He allegedly approached his victims while they were at or near bus stops along Harbor Boulevard in Garden Grove and Santa Ana.
The incidents allegedly occurred between Nov. 1, 2005 and March 2, 2007.
According to investigators, Rodriguez told the women that he had to check for any arrest warrants for them. On three occasions he allegedly handcuffed the victims and ordered them into his patrol car.
He would then drive behind a building and sexually touch the victims or photograph them in sexual poses, authorities said.
Rodriguez is also accused of returning when he was off-duty and paying one of the victims $50 for oral copulation, authorities said.
One of the individuals who served on the coroner's inquest jury which determined that Kathleen Savio's cause of death was an accidental drowning spoke to FOX News about the process.
Walter Lee James said that there were only three outcomes of the decision making process for them to choose from when determining the cause of death.
(excerpt)
VAN SUSTEREN: Back at the time that you were on this inquest jury in 2004, did you have any question whether or not this was an accident? Because it was determined to be an accident by your jury.
JAMES: Well, in reviewing the evidence at hand, we did decide that it was an accident due to the fact that we were laypeople and were not medical examiners or anything like that. So with the evidence that we had, we determined it wasn't natural, of course, and we — also being laypeople, we could not decide whether it was a homicide. We just felt that there was not enough evidence there that we understood for it to be a homicide, so naturally, we declared it an accident.
VAN SUSTEREN: Was "indeterminate" an option? Could you have just said, Look, we can't figure it out, we don't know?
JAMES: Well, at the time, we were given three options to either come to a decision as to whether it was natural, homicide or accidental. We did not have at the time the option of determining "undetermined" status. So I think if we did have the option at that time to come to an undetermined decision, I think the majority of us would have chose that option. But we did not have that choice at the time.
VAN SUSTEREN: Now, we have heard, and maybe you could clarify this for me, that there was a police officer on this panel who knew Drew — Sergeant Peterson. Is that true or not?
JAMES: He — there was a police officer on the panel, and he indicated at the time he knew or knew of Peterson. And he indicated to the panel that he thought that Peterson was a good policeman. He was charitable and helped his neighbors, and so on and so forth. So I think that — I think that might have influenced some of the panel members, but I don't know that for sure.
FOX News also interviewed several people before they testified before a grand jury doing a probe into Savio's 2004 death.
Neighbor Steve Carcerano was one witnessed summoned to the grand jury to be heard.
(excerpt)
VAN SUSTEREN: Well, believe me, nobody likes sitting around the grand jury or anyplace. I mean, I would not be ecstatic about that. But anyway, we'll move on. You've been talking to Sergeant Peterson, haven't you.
CARCERANO: Correct.
VAN SUSTEREN: When was the last time you talked to him?
CARCERANO: I talked to him earlier today when he was in New York. As everybody knows he was on the "Today" show this morning. Had a brief conversation with him at that point.
VAN SUSTEREN: Did he call you or did you call him?
CARCERANO: I called him.
VAN SUSTEREN: What'd he have to say about — what'd he say about his own appearance?
CARCERANO: He asked me what I thought of it. I thought he did a good job. You have to understand that he has the pressure of the world on him right now, and for him to get on a flight and show his face for the world and give his side of the story, I thought that was very commendable.
Another autopsy is expected to be conducted of Savio.
That autopsy was conducted by a medical examiner hired by her family and he concluded that her death was a homicide, according to the Associated Press due to purple bruising he noted on her body that indicated a beating shortly before her death.
More than half of the officers hired by Nassau County are laterals from the New York City Police Department, according to the New York Daily News.
When you look at the difference in pay scales between the two agencies, it's not difficult to figure out why.
(excerpt)
Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said officers bolted from the NYPD because they can make a top salary of potentially 25% more as Nassau County cops.
"There seems to be a direct correlation between our salaries falling ... behind other nearby police departments and the ever-increasing numbers of fully trained and experienced New York City police officers quitting," Lynch said.
Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne acknowledged that 56 of the 99 cops in Nassau County's Nov. 2 academy class had worked for the NYPD.
But Browne said the NYPD's problem was not attrition but recruitment efforts that have been hampered by the department's paltry starting pay, which an arbitration panel imposed.
"Attrition of experienced officers is not the problem," Browne said. "The problem is recruiting and retaining new recruits at the lowered salary of $25,100."
Nassau County pays a starting salary of $34,000, nearly $9,000 more than the NYPD. After a year, a Nassau County cop's pay jumps to $64,865.
Visitors this week included the following.
City of Riverside
Nassau Boces
Californians Aware
Broome Community College
Asia Pacific Network Information Centre
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Iran Polish Development Company
ABTS Tamilnadu (India)
Belo Enterprises
CENTRAL FLORIDA INVESTMENS
IDG International Data Group Sweden
Twentieth Century Fox
University of Illinois
University of Western Ontario
Oxford University
AAA Mid-Atlantic
It's warm now, but the Santa Anas are scheduled to return again next week in time for the major flipping the light switch, electric at the Mission Inn Hotel downtown.
In Redlands, that city's election is decided, according to the Press Enterprise. Being from a city, Riverside, in which the election may still very much not be, that's refreshing news.
Challenger Nancy Ruth White was upset about some last-minute campaign mailers being sent out that cast her in a bad light.
(excerpt)
White's campaign credited her demise to a series of last-minute mailers depicting her and Bean as tax-raisers.
The mailers began arriving the Friday before the election, campaign manager David Raley said. They were sponsored by a San Bernardino County taxpayers group whose listed address is a Highland post office box and whose phone number yields a fax signal.
The group received at least $21,500 from individuals or businesses that also contributed to Aguilar, campaign disclosure forms indicate.
Raley said he thought the mailers cost White at the polls by moving potential Bean voters to Aguilar.
"So, it worked," Raley said. "It barely saved Pete."
White said the mailers detracted from an otherwise civil campaign.
"I must have been a threat to the outcome of the race," she said.
Aguilar said he didn't know the mailers existed until he opened his mailbox. If he had been asked, "I would have told them I didn't need the help," Aguilar said.
Aguilar noted that he had been targeted by negative phone calls.
"I didn't like those either," Aguilar said. "You don't want to win that way, (but) that's the nature of politics."
That's a sad part of it.
Alas, here in Riverside, the Riverside County Voters' Registrar is taking a series of hits for the most recent city council election where vote counting was not completed for all four ward contests until 10 days after the election. Expect recounts to be conducted in the extremely tight Ward One election as well as possibly in Ward Seven, where only 13 votes separated the two candidates, Councilman Steve Adams and former mayor, Terry Frizzel.
This is what those two rivals had to say about the process in which they seemed to be in agreement in terms of its quality or lack thereof.
(excerpt)
"Adams had called the delay "total incompetence." His opponent, Terry Frizzel, had labeled the process a "farce."
But representatives from that office actually said they were six days ahead of their own schedule. Still, some like Adams want to disavow all ties with the registrar's office and privately contract the election process out. Oh, but that would open up a can of worms.
Others including Ward One councilman-elect Mike Gardner had their opinions on the process as well.
(excerpt)
Ward 1 winner Gardner said he is satisfied with the way votes are tallied after spending more than 12 hours during the past week observing workers counting and verifying ballots.
"It's a slow process, but accuracy is more important than speed," he said.
Gardner watched as one employee read the vote aloud and another checked to make sure the correct candidate was named. Two other workers recorded the votes, which were compared for accuracy, he said.
Ward 3 resident John P. Nyhan, 78, wonders if the counting system is susceptible to failure.
"It's irritating," Nyhan said of the wait. "But you can't knock the Registrar."
Still with all the rumors of complaints flying around all over the place about this past election, don't be surprised if there are some interesting developments in the days ahead before this election is certified and put to bed. One losing candidate has already hired an attorney to look into how the process of the election was conducted.
Did you predict that the city council might again raise electric rates after Election 2007 wrapped up? If so, you're not psychic, just mindful of the obvious as what many predicted might come to pass, according to the Press Enterprise.They say the increments proposed by the Board of Utilities will be small, but as I recall, that's what they had said last time as well.
Only time will tell. June, July or August at the latest if the recommended rates are approved. But you can't blame people for being apprehensive at the news. Twice shy, and all that.
Still, the infrastructure needs to be replaced to match the tremendous growth anticipated through Riverside Renaissance but it's certainly been an interesting chain of events with the electricity situation in this city lately.
Here is an interesting rebuttal against a recent opinion piece written by Mayor Ron Loveridge about the plan to label Riverside as the "City of the Arts".
Toby Miller, who chairs the Department of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of California, Riverside cautions against being overly dependent on what he otherwise considered a good idea, for economic growth and stability.
(excerpt)
At the same time, some words of caution are needed for Riverside leaders and others who see arts as the center of a successful region. This vision is supported by consultants across the nation who seek out a "creative class" that they claim is revitalizing post-industrial towns through an elixir of cultural tolerance, technology and talent, as measured by numbers of same-sex households, broadband connections and advanced degrees.
Even if this claim about a creative class were accurate, many successful cities in the United States are hyperconservative (for example, cities such as Houston, Orlando and Phoenix). And there is no evidence of an overlap of tastes, values, living arrangements and locations between artists and other professionals.
In fact, some surveys question the claim that quality of life is central to selecting locations for business campuses as opposed to low costs, good communications technology, proximity to markets and adequate transportation systems.
An Orange County Sheriff Department deputy is in big trouble for sexually assaulting six prostitutes and there may be dozens of more victims out there, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Richard John Rodriguez, 43, who's served at least 20 years in the department is already facing felony charges of sexual assault and false imprisonment.
(excerpt)
He allegedly approached his victims while they were at or near bus stops along Harbor Boulevard in Garden Grove and Santa Ana.
The incidents allegedly occurred between Nov. 1, 2005 and March 2, 2007.
According to investigators, Rodriguez told the women that he had to check for any arrest warrants for them. On three occasions he allegedly handcuffed the victims and ordered them into his patrol car.
He would then drive behind a building and sexually touch the victims or photograph them in sexual poses, authorities said.
Rodriguez is also accused of returning when he was off-duty and paying one of the victims $50 for oral copulation, authorities said.
One of the individuals who served on the coroner's inquest jury which determined that Kathleen Savio's cause of death was an accidental drowning spoke to FOX News about the process.
Walter Lee James said that there were only three outcomes of the decision making process for them to choose from when determining the cause of death.
(excerpt)
VAN SUSTEREN: Back at the time that you were on this inquest jury in 2004, did you have any question whether or not this was an accident? Because it was determined to be an accident by your jury.
JAMES: Well, in reviewing the evidence at hand, we did decide that it was an accident due to the fact that we were laypeople and were not medical examiners or anything like that. So with the evidence that we had, we determined it wasn't natural, of course, and we — also being laypeople, we could not decide whether it was a homicide. We just felt that there was not enough evidence there that we understood for it to be a homicide, so naturally, we declared it an accident.
VAN SUSTEREN: Was "indeterminate" an option? Could you have just said, Look, we can't figure it out, we don't know?
JAMES: Well, at the time, we were given three options to either come to a decision as to whether it was natural, homicide or accidental. We did not have at the time the option of determining "undetermined" status. So I think if we did have the option at that time to come to an undetermined decision, I think the majority of us would have chose that option. But we did not have that choice at the time.
VAN SUSTEREN: Now, we have heard, and maybe you could clarify this for me, that there was a police officer on this panel who knew Drew — Sergeant Peterson. Is that true or not?
JAMES: He — there was a police officer on the panel, and he indicated at the time he knew or knew of Peterson. And he indicated to the panel that he thought that Peterson was a good policeman. He was charitable and helped his neighbors, and so on and so forth. So I think that — I think that might have influenced some of the panel members, but I don't know that for sure.
FOX News also interviewed several people before they testified before a grand jury doing a probe into Savio's 2004 death.
Neighbor Steve Carcerano was one witnessed summoned to the grand jury to be heard.
(excerpt)
VAN SUSTEREN: Well, believe me, nobody likes sitting around the grand jury or anyplace. I mean, I would not be ecstatic about that. But anyway, we'll move on. You've been talking to Sergeant Peterson, haven't you.
CARCERANO: Correct.
VAN SUSTEREN: When was the last time you talked to him?
CARCERANO: I talked to him earlier today when he was in New York. As everybody knows he was on the "Today" show this morning. Had a brief conversation with him at that point.
VAN SUSTEREN: Did he call you or did you call him?
CARCERANO: I called him.
VAN SUSTEREN: What'd he have to say about — what'd he say about his own appearance?
CARCERANO: He asked me what I thought of it. I thought he did a good job. You have to understand that he has the pressure of the world on him right now, and for him to get on a flight and show his face for the world and give his side of the story, I thought that was very commendable.
Another autopsy is expected to be conducted of Savio.
That autopsy was conducted by a medical examiner hired by her family and he concluded that her death was a homicide, according to the Associated Press due to purple bruising he noted on her body that indicated a beating shortly before her death.
More than half of the officers hired by Nassau County are laterals from the New York City Police Department, according to the New York Daily News.
When you look at the difference in pay scales between the two agencies, it's not difficult to figure out why.
(excerpt)
Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said officers bolted from the NYPD because they can make a top salary of potentially 25% more as Nassau County cops.
"There seems to be a direct correlation between our salaries falling ... behind other nearby police departments and the ever-increasing numbers of fully trained and experienced New York City police officers quitting," Lynch said.
Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne acknowledged that 56 of the 99 cops in Nassau County's Nov. 2 academy class had worked for the NYPD.
But Browne said the NYPD's problem was not attrition but recruitment efforts that have been hampered by the department's paltry starting pay, which an arbitration panel imposed.
"Attrition of experienced officers is not the problem," Browne said. "The problem is recruiting and retaining new recruits at the lowered salary of $25,100."
Nassau County pays a starting salary of $34,000, nearly $9,000 more than the NYPD. After a year, a Nassau County cop's pay jumps to $64,865.
Visitors this week included the following.
City of Riverside
Nassau Boces
Californians Aware
Broome Community College
Asia Pacific Network Information Centre
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Iran Polish Development Company
ABTS Tamilnadu (India)
Belo Enterprises
CENTRAL FLORIDA INVESTMENS
IDG International Data Group Sweden
Twentieth Century Fox
University of Illinois
University of Western Ontario
Oxford University
AAA Mid-Atlantic
Labels: battering while blue, business as usual, City elections, corruption 101, recruitment
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