So Lynn Plambeck said it, The Signal reported it, and I ran with it. I am speaking of the now debunked claim that 10,004 "citizens" signed a petition to oppose the City of Santa Clarita takeover of County libraries. This number got many folks excited because even in the low turnout local elections 10,000 people might actually move the electoral needle away from the magic of incumbency. It turns out that maybe 1,500 to 2,000 signatures are legitimate, and this is not enough to move the electoral needle in 2012.
No one was more shocked then I when Lynn Plambeck stated the number during public participation at last week's council meeting. The numbers that I heard up until that point from anti-Library takeover folks mooted a potential count of 2,000 signatures. Impressive, but for a variety of reasons, not enough to harness an anti-incumbent juggernaut, primarily because most of the people signing the petition were probably not voting for incumbents anyway. Where did the increased count come from?
Everyone agrees the increased count came from an online "petition" sponsored by the SEIU on a website called privatizationbeast.org. These "signatures" could have come from anywhere and even the same person "signing" the petition multiple times. I will state right now there is a 99% probablitliy NONE of these "signatures" came from registered voters in the City of Santa Clarita.
It is a shame really. There are many folks that have legitimate concerns about the takeover, including me, and they now find their cause hijacked by the usual anti-City crowd, who considers everything the incumbent council does wrong; even a resolution promoting kitties and puppy dogs. This crowd, led by Lynn Plambeck and Cam Noltemeyer, have now added to their ranks David Gauny and will say anything or twist any "fact" to embarass elected officials they don't like.
Anti-Library Folks Conflate Numbers-Actual Results Will Not Move Electoral Needle
No one was more shocked then I when Lynn Plambeck stated the number during public participation at last week's council meeting. The numbers that I heard up until that point from anti-Library takeover folks mooted a potential count of 2,000 signatures. Impressive, but for a variety of reasons, not enough to harness an anti-incumbent juggernaut, primarily because most of the people signing the petition were probably not voting for incumbents anyway. Where did the increased count come from?
Everyone agrees the increased count came from an online "petition" sponsored by the SEIU on a website called privatizationbeast.org. These "signatures" could have come from anywhere and even the same person "signing" the petition multiple times. I will state right now there is a 99% probablitliy NONE of these "signatures" came from registered voters in the City of Santa Clarita.
It is a shame really. There are many folks that have legitimate concerns about the takeover, including me, and they now find their cause hijacked by the usual anti-City crowd, who considers everything the incumbent council does wrong; even a resolution promoting kitties and puppy dogs. This crowd, led by Lynn Plambeck and Cam Noltemeyer, have now added to their ranks David Gauny and will say anything or twist any "fact" to embarass elected officials they don't like.