Why is it that the county supervisors and their cronies feel
they have to fix or steal the upcoming election? I usually don’t
name people in my columns, but when people mess around with my
rights as an American to a fair vote, I GET MAD!
If you don’t know who these people are I’ll tell you in a
minute, but first let me tell you what their responses might be
– I didn’t do anything wrong, what I did was perfectly legal, I
was just trying to save you from out-of-town developers, and my
favorite – we were just reporting the news.
Why is it that the county supervisors and their cronies feel they have to fix or steal the upcoming election? I usually don’t name people in my columns, but when people mess around with my rights as an American to a fair vote, I GET MAD!
If you don’t know who these people are I’ll tell you in a minute, but first let me tell you what their responses might be – I didn’t do anything wrong, what I did was perfectly legal, I was just trying to save you from out-of-town developers, and my favorite – we were just reporting the news.
Perhaps these dictators didn’t read my Oct. 31 column, which gave an overview of voting rights in America and the long fight to obtain those rights for all Americans. If this is the case, they should go to www.freelancenews.com, scroll down the left side to opinions, choose guest columns and finally select, “The long road to American suffrage.”
If you don’t care about your voting rights, remember the famous poem that says it all: “First they came for the Communists and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.”
Now why is Supervisor Bob Cruz, Measure G proponent Rebecca McGovern and the owner of The Pinnacle, Tracie Cone, trying to keep you confused about this upcoming election? The answer is power and greed. If their chosen candidates lose, they lose. No more sweetheart deals for them, no more forcing others to do what they want and most importantly no more control over us.
What did they do? Supervisor Bob Cruz had a big fat No. 1 put next to his name on the ballot. That’s about the equivalent of having your name highlighted with a note saying vote for me. The supervisor was quoted by ace Free Lance reporter Erin Musgrave as saying, “I took advantage of my right by law” and then to defend himself the supervisor said, “I didn’t do the printing – I did what I had to do and that’s the way it came out”.
I guess he thought we were too stupid to know the difference between Bob Cruz and his opponent Jaime De La Cruz. Now, Jaime De La Cruz could have had done the same thing, but Jaime De La Cruz felt the voters were smart enough to know the difference between the names of the two candidates.
Rebecca McGovern was more straightforward with her attempts to deny you the right to vote. McGovern did it the old-fashioned way; she brought in outside environmentalists and lawyers to try and stuff Measure G down our throats without our input. The first judge to hear the case to deny your right to vote was clear about Measure G – let the people vote and decide. The decision by the judge didn’t sit well with McGovern because, like Supervisor Cruz, she believes we’re too stupid to make such decisions. McGovern and her out-of-town friends quickly took the case to a higher court, but again the judge said, “denied.” Again that was not good enough for McGovern. She so badly wanted to deny us the right to vote on Measure G, she and her out-of-town friends took it to the California Supreme Court. The response by the highest court in California? “Denied.”
My favorite trick comes from my friends at The Pinnacle. I have to give Cone credit for this one. What Tracie did was get every candidate to sign an agreement to refrain from mudslinging while campaigning, which every candidate did, believing it was the right way to campaign. So what’s the problem? The candidates didn’t read the fine print that allows The Pinnacle to throw all the mud they want. While the candidates have to keep silent about the terrible (if not corrupt) job the supervisors are doing, The Pinnacle is presenting the supervisors as the saviors of the county. This, of course, is designed to confuse the voters and have the current Board of Supervisors re-elected.
Voters, I can’t control how you vote, nor do I want to, but I recommend you seriously question why proponents (the supervisors) of Measure G fought so hard to keep you from having the right to vote on the issue. As far as how to vote on the three supervisor races, that’s easy! If the name has a big fat No. 1 next to it or if it says incumbent it really means incompetent, which should be a good indication to look for another candidate.
Ignacio Velazquez can be reached at ig**************@ho*****.com.
