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November 2, 2009· scvtalk.com · WordPress (SCVTalk 3.0) · Wayback capture

How I’m Voting in Tomorrow’s Election

MckinleyTeddy1900 1

Ahh, early November. Campaign signs blowing in the crisp autumn air.  Phone calls made by robots and hit mailers sent by hit men. Nervous candidates, excited journalists and elderly poll workers. All of this free entertainment done for you: the always-elusive, sometimes surprising, and never-to-be underestimated Santa Clarita Valley voter.

Truly, at SCVTalk.com, these are a few of our favorite things!

Around this time every year I get more than a few questions from readers and friends. Jeff, who is SCVTalk going to endorse? Jeff, what are the issues and how do you see them from your seat in the SCVTalk.com HQ, orbiting high above the SCV?

So to answer those questions and more, here’s how I’m voting tomorrow:

Newhall County Water District (3 seats open)

A well-run water district with some neat eco-friendly initiatives (like rebates on efficient toilets!) and more to come. Three seats open and I’m voting for:

- Maria Gutzeit, an incumbent who knows her stuff and oh yeah, shhhh, she’s a cycling advocate!

- B.J. Atkins, incumbent, a Republican, yes, but gotta respect a guy whose house runs almost entirely on solar power

- Mike Cruz, the challenger, Cruz has burned lots of shoe leather while walking Newhall, talking to voters about water issues, and learning about us. He deserves a shot

Newhall School District (3 seats open)

A well-run school district that’s facing momentous budget challenges. Local school boards are often used as stepping stones to higher office, so with that in mind:

- Christy Smith, as a brainy former US DOE education policy official, Smith will offer some real expertise (and perhaps competitive advantage) to the SCV’s best elementary school district

Santa Clarita Community College District

Ah, the best run institution in the Santa Clarita Valley. Or so conventional wisdom says. But I agree with the conventional wisdom. Mostly.

See, the COC Board offers an excellent place for a would-be politician. The college on a hill owes its success to the leadership and vision of Dianne Van Hook, the Supreme Chancellor of the two campus college. Thanks to Van Hook, we have a Performing Arts Center, new classrooms, a University Center and a new Canyon Country campus. To a wanna-be board member, it’s a perfect place to be: just get out of Chancellor Van Hook’s way, and reap the benefits of having a “COC Trustee” as your title the next time you run.

Nevertheless, there is reason to vote for hope ‘n change at my beloved community college. The college was dinged last year in a WASC Audit for having too small of a library and not enough library services. For a campus with north of 20,000 students, the auditors are right; the library was built when COC had only about 8,000 students, and it’s almost completely inadequate. The Admissions and Records building is a relic of the 70s and also needs to be built up. Therefore, I’m voting for these two individuals tomorrow:

Seat 1

Michael Berger, a competent insider who worked on some of those COC Bond campaigns, Berger recognizes how important a community college is during a recession.

Seat 3

Randy Moberg, momentum has been building behind this candidate from the business sector with ties to COC. I like Moberg because Dr. Adelini (a counselor who helped me as a youth) likes Moberg and it’d be nice to see two new faces on the COC Board, which we never calls or writes

William S. Hart Union High School District (3 seats open)

Hart is like the polar opposite of COC. Everywhere you look, there are problems or potential problems or unresolved questions. To some extent, that’s unavoidable for a school district with 20,000+ kids spread over a giant valley in a bad budget climate, but in other instances, Hart -and its elected board of five- own the mistakes, blunders, and delays of the last 10 years.

So with this election I’m trying something a little different. I’m voting for one candidate and one candidate only, and that person is:

Joe Messina. Yes, he’s a conservative Republican, yes I’ve had a lot of fun poking him for the annual Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast, but you know what? He always answers my questions and he’s open and honest about his positions on education (which, to my eyes, are entirely reasonable, especially his emphasis on vocational studies) and he’s good with numbers. But most of all, the kid’s got spunk. Joe has been beaten up in the last two elections, and he comes back for more each time. And despite his conservative bona fides, for some reason, he doesn’t seem to enjoy support from the SCV Republican Machine (meets Wednesdays at IHOP). And that means Joe and I have something in common.

So tomorrow, vote for Joe and only Joe for Hart School Board. He deserves a shot.

(PS, don’t make me regret this Joe!)

West Side Plebiscite

Okay I don’t technically live over there, but still, there is only one sensible vote on Tuesday regarding West Side & Castaic governance: join the City of Santa Clarita. Yes, the City’s got problems, but they are our problems, not the County’s. You west siders should vote to join us because you’ll make life more interesting in the City of Santa Clarita and you’ll make life better for yourselves. That’s the bottom line.

Also, you will really help me when I get all angsty about where to spend my money. Think SCV tells me it’s okay to buy goods and services anywhere within the confines of the Valley (including Acton and such) but I still have guilt pangs and naturally trend toward businesses between the 5 and 14. It’s not that I don’t want to support west side businesses, it’s just that I know much of that sales tax money will end up in County coffers and may not find its way back to our valley.

This vote has no real effect, it’s basically a poll, but however you vote, be sure to vote yes on one of the options and no on the remaining two. I don’t want to see 3,000 total ballots but 9,000 yes votes; that would basically make the entire exercise pointless.

 

Comments (42)

  1. leslieNovember 2, 2009 at 9:27 am
    Instead of Messina for Hart School Board, vote for Jensen, Solomon, and Strickland.Answering someone’s questions does not mean they have the correct answer or would be the best person for the job. Since declaring his candidacy, Joe has rarely attended Hart school board meetings. There are alot of other issues that the school board addresses besides Castaic and other building projects. The other candidates are more experienced with what issues the district is facing because they have been coming to meetings regularly. In these difficult times, the board needs candidates who can hit the ground running and Messina is just not one of them.
  2. JkNovember 2, 2009 at 9:59 am
    “basically make the entire exercise pointless” I agree. They’ve done studies on this for Presidential elections. Voting for multiple options *can* lead to a more accurate result, but only if you can stack the deck for the vote you most agree with. For example, if you could be given three votes in this case, you could put all three votes under option A, to show a “strong support” for option A. Alternatively, you could put a single vote under all three options, to show you found all three acceptable. Under the current system, you get only one vote if you believe strongly in your choice, but you get three votes if you are wishy-washy about the whole affair (voting for A, B & C). The result is going to be a disproportionately large number of votes going toward the minority opinion.
  3. SeanNovember 2, 2009 at 10:11 am
    Jeff – just curious. What are your thoughts on Susan Solomon?
  4. AnonymousNovember 2, 2009 at 10:30 am
    I assure you, Joe Messina’s greatest skill is making you believe in him. But like Chinese food, shortly after you feel strangely empty. I and many others have been taken in on multiple occasions by his great one-on-one conversation skills, and ability to convince you that his goals directly mimic yours. Yet when it comes down to acting on those claims and walking the walk, nothing materializes. Please don’t be the latest to buy his spiel and talk others into buying into it as well. I have kids, and the last thing I need is their education being directed by people full of empty promises. Not to mention I’m concerned about where his personal religious views will conflict with their science education, but it’s hard to find many politicians who place science over religious lip service, so he’s not unique there. As for his lack of support from the Republican machine, I suspect this has more to do with his business practices than his disagreeing with Republican principles. Most of the Republican machine in this area has done business with him and slowly learned exactly what that means. While people keep ties with him due to his endless connections, they tend to shift away from him when it comes to relying on his various business endeavors. While I rarely agree with the principle of voting against a candidate, this is one of those rare circumstances where I will need to. My votes will go anywhere but, and I feel extremely strongly about this. And since when does constantly losing the election count in favor of the candidate? He’s not Susan Lucci, and this isn’t a popularity contest. We vote based on the candidate’s ability to do the job, not the fact that they’re spunky. Sarah Palin’s also spunky. I shudder at the idea of continuing that line of thought.
  5. navigatorNovember 2, 2009 at 10:35 am
    Wow Jeff, we almost agree totally.
  6. mikeNovember 2, 2009 at 11:23 am
    That’s a nice looking ballot. In Saugus, we have fewer questions to ponder
  7. Timothy MyersNovember 2, 2009 at 12:12 pm
    Anonymous: Those are some serious and borderline slanderous accusations you are making about Joe without the guts to put your name on them.
  8. PetzNovember 2, 2009 at 12:27 pm
    Petz agree with Timothy Myers about the post by Anonymous. To libel and slander someone in this matter is to commit murder against their name. Please consider this recent letter of acknowledgement taken from The Signal for the services provided by Joe Messina and his company to the Homeless Shelter in Santa Clarita. I call upon Jeff to remove the unsubstantiated comment by Anonymous from this site. http://joe4hart.com/news-detail/34
  9. mikeNovember 2, 2009 at 12:39 pm
    TMSr., don’t you mean libelous? Anon, if you keep visiting the same sites, you’ll keep getting spyware. Don’t blame Joe.
  10. Timothy MyersNovember 2, 2009 at 12:54 pm
    mike: Yes it is libel because it is written. Of course, since Joe is a public figure it is probably neither in an American courtroom, But I can say definitively NOT putting your name behind a negative accusation makes one a PUSSY.
  11. navigatorNovember 2, 2009 at 1:14 pm
    It has nothing to do with Joe’s candidacy but his company fixed my computer and when I had a second problem it was taken care of immediately without additional cost.
  12. mikeNovember 2, 2009 at 1:23 pm
    glad they fixed your second problem. Here’s how to fix your first problem: http://www.apple.com/mac/
  13. MoneyNovember 2, 2009 at 2:07 pm
    Little foul-mouthed Timmy and Putz, just because anon makes some comments you don’t agree with, it doesn’t make the comments “slanderous accusations.” Relax.
  14. Timothy MyersNovember 2, 2009 at 2:16 pm
    Money: Putting one’s name out there makes one have to own the comments, when people hiding behind anonymity can throw the comments away (hint, hint).
  15. v-town OGNovember 2, 2009 at 2:20 pm
    you think so?
  16. CCNovember 2, 2009 at 3:38 pm
    The last thing I need is Petz showing up at my door because I don’t like his candidate. I don’t blame Anonymous for keeping his/her name quiet. This is just a blog after all and not held to the same criteria as a News report. Speak freely. It is democracy after all. I have several reservations about Joe and I felt Annon gave a pretty good synopsis as one who has had contact, but does not endorse him. Interesting.
  17. Kevin D. KorenthalNovember 2, 2009 at 4:12 pm
    Anons suck.
  18. spoofNovember 2, 2009 at 4:21 pm
    Meyers: I agree that making hard-hitting remarks is easy when you don’t put your name on them but this is no worse than making accusations or statements in columns or blog posts that go undefended when challenged. Perhaps you can stand and pound your chest on the first issue but you fall very flat on your face on the second. More than once you’ve crapped on people’s reputations both here and in print. And more than once you vanished wihtout a trace when answered with hard facts. If anyone knows a PUSSY, it’s you. You’re the Master Pussy!
  19. PubliusNovember 2, 2009 at 4:49 pm
    Jeff, just a word of caution regarding your support of Randy Moberg, particularly because Al Adelini is doing so. Bruce Fortine, a board trustee, recruited Moberg to run against Joan MacGregor. This is due to a personal, long standing animosity between the two. Top that off with Adelini’s belief that he should have been appointed to the Board vacancy when Rob Gillis resigned instead of Wilk, and you’ve got some backroom politics going on that have nothing to do with who would be doing the best for COC. Fortine is mad at the other board members because they had forbidden him to travel anymore on the college’s (and the public’s) dime unless he produced receipts. Therefore, he wasn’t able to travel for awhile. Shame the Signal didn’t pick up on it. So, you’ve got one PO’d trustee trying to get his own rubber stamp trustee in. Don’t be swayed. Moberg wasn’t around for any of the big decisions helping the college. MacGregor was.
  20. NickelDimeNovember 2, 2009 at 4:50 pm
    spoof, can you provide a couple of examples? I seldom agree with Tim but enjoy reading his perspective. I don’t recall a time when he hasn’t responded to a challenge (save for my statement that he “looks wise beyond his years” !)
  21. vee towneNovember 2, 2009 at 4:54 pm
    “Adelini’s belief that he should have been appointed to the Board vacancy when Rob Gillis resigned instead of Wilk.” is the man wrong?
  22. cashNovember 2, 2009 at 5:39 pm
    Timothy Myers says: November 2, 2009 at 12:54 pmmike: Yes it is libel because it is written. Timmy you are getting worked up over nothing. The comments are way to vague for you to believe they meet the definition of libel much like you calling someone a pussy.
  23. BrianNovember 2, 2009 at 6:01 pm
    5 6 13 That beats eenie, miney, mo! I, like most am clueless about school and judicial elections.
  24. Jim FarleyNovember 2, 2009 at 7:18 pm
    I agree with Myers and Korenthal above. They are the only ones who identify who they are so far on this post. Those who post anonymously, and attack others, are essentially cowards. That is the nice way to say it. That being said they are also chicken s— pussies.
  25. Timothy MyersNovember 2, 2009 at 7:29 pm
    Jim: In my mind its OK to disagree or even make fun of someone’s political beliefs anonymously but when one starts assaulting someone’s livelihood they better be ready to back it up with their REAL name. (By the way, is there anyone who does not know who Petz really is? I thought everyone did.)
  26. Jim FarleyNovember 2, 2009 at 7:45 pm
    I’m probably the most naive one on this site. One aspect of my nature is I can go through life looking at things and miss the most obvious things that are right in front of my face. That’s where Mrs. Farley usually comes in to bail me out before I walk over a cliff. The fact is I have no clue who Petz is.
  27. mikeNovember 2, 2009 at 7:55 pm
    Petz? He’s a good man, and thorough.
  28. Jim FarleyNovember 2, 2009 at 8:22 pm
    O-K, let me throw out some educated guesses as to who Petz really is: - The alter-ego of Bruce McFarland when he is not posing as an unbiased photographer for the Signal???? - Cheri Flemming????? - John Quigly the tree sitter???? Am I getting close?????
  29. mikeNovember 2, 2009 at 8:47 pm
    Give him a call. He’s a good man, and thorough.
  30. mikecNovember 2, 2009 at 9:07 pm
    I like Petz…he has always been kind, unlike alot of others folks, when he stepped over the line, he has been quick to apologize, which says alot about a person’s character. I’ve met him a couple of times in person and always found him to be polite and classy..
  31. MoneyNovember 2, 2009 at 10:20 pm
    So who is this guy hiding behind the name pets? If he doesn’t use his real name I guess he is just a pussy. Right, Timmy?
  32. mikeNovember 2, 2009 at 10:21 pm
    We all know Petz, and that’s his name too. He’s a good man, and thorough.
  33. GangFangNovember 3, 2009 at 12:58 am
    Joe Messina is full of it. He does, as mentioned here, talk a great game.No follow through. All of my neighbors feel the same. Done deal for me. Anyone but Messina!
  34. GangFangNovember 3, 2009 at 1:07 am
    Petz is a local realtor I believe. Here he is, on the right: http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb105/Petz2/IMG_0793.jpg
  35. PetzNovember 3, 2009 at 2:30 am
    My reputation preceeds me ! Here is an intro to Petz 101 http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/steve.petzold?ref=profile Petz
  36. Fred ButlerNovember 3, 2009 at 6:23 am
    And Petz heads up the local Prager discussion group, too. which I think meets in a couple of weeks. I’m sure he can provide you the details.
  37. PetzNovember 3, 2009 at 6:34 am
    Hey, if you see a blue Pontiac Aztek with a “Save Our Stars” bumper sticker, honk and wave hello to Petz….My children hate it when people do that.
  38. PetzNovember 3, 2009 at 6:41 am
    [IMG]http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb105/Petz2/1025090722a-1.jpg[/IMG]
  39. Jim FarleyNovember 3, 2009 at 7:21 am
    I’ve been googling and can’t find info on the local Prager group meetings. Anybody know the specifics on the next meeting?
  40. Jim FarleyNovember 3, 2009 at 7:27 am
    O-K so now even I, the most naive person in the SCV, know who Petz is. We even have more in common than I realized being an astronomy enthusiast myself.
  41. mikeNovember 3, 2009 at 7:28 am
    It’s a sad day when a well-played Lebowski reference falls on deaf ears. The Prager group meet from time to time, whenever Prager is relevant. I think their next meeting is in December of 2002.
  42. PetzNovember 3, 2009 at 8:48 am
    Prager Group November 19, 2009 Belcaro Area of Valencia Specifics Petz2@aol.com

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