Ken Barnes, running for Trustee Area 6 position on the Los Rios Community College District (LRCCD) Board of Trustees, notes that former California State Senator Deborah Ortiz has friends in high places, and is not afraid to use them. Failing to meet the filing deadline for LRCCD Area 6 Trustee election in November, she had Sacramento County extend the filing deadline, just for her.

Ken posts this on his Facebook Page:

Former State Senator Deborah Ortiz Seeks Special Consideration, Flaunts Election Law
Share
Yesterday at 6:30pm
Former State Senator Deborah Ortiz Seeks Special Consideration,
Flaunts Election Law
Forces Sacramento County Counsel to Extend Her Personal Filing Deadline from Friday August 6 at 5p to Monday August 9 at Noon

Dear Friends,

While my plans were to make individual, personal calls to announce my first campaign for elective office, emergency circumstances have forced me to communicate en masse. This past Friday August 6th I filed nomination papers to run for the vacant Trustee Area 6 position on the Los Rios Community College District (LRCCD) Board of Trustees. My former representative on the board, Bruce Pomer, resigned his position for job related reasons this past spring. Former State Senator, and current Vice President of Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, Deborah Ortiz pulled nomination papers for LRCCD, but failed to file them by Friday’s 5p deadline. Ortiz then contacted the Sacramento County Elections Office and the County Counsel, demanding that she be given special consideration and an extended filing period. On the afternoon of Saturday August 7th I was contacted by Campaign Services Manager Brad Buyse, who informed me that the Sacramento County Counsel had instructed him to extend the filing period for Ortiz until Monday August 9th at 12 Noon. According to Buyse, Ortiz claims she called the county elections office earlier in the day to clarify the filing deadline, and was told by a staffer it was Wednesday August 11th at 5p.

Background
In April 2010 Bruce Pomer, the 20 year incumbent, resigned from his seat on the LRCCD. During the May 26, 2010 LRCCD Board of Trustees meeting it was decided that no temporary appointment would be made, and that the seat would be filled in the November general election (as the seat was already up for re-election in November). Under California election law if an incumbent fails to file for re-election, then the filing period is extended by 5 days (83 days from the election). However, because Pomer resigned his seat there is no incumbent, and the deadline to file is not extended. Ortiz, a well trained attorney and long time elected official, claims she was confused by the notes in the Candidate’s Guide (listed below), although I and a 22 year old Los Rios student (Andrey Rytikoff) were able to understand the clear instructions.

Requested Action
Contact Sacramento County Counsel Robert Ryan, Jr. RRyan@saccounty.net and Sacramento County Campaign Services Manager Brad Buyse BuyseB@saccounty.net, and demand that 14th amendment protections for equality under the law be respected. While I was standing inside the elections office I noticed an employee stationed at the entrance. At exactly 5:00p the door was locked, and at 5:01p a young woman came running to the door to file election papers. She was told “sorry, the deadline is exactly 5p.” If a regular citizen cannot be granted an extra 72 seconds, why should the powerful Ortiz be given an extra 72 hours?

Filing a legal injunction against Ortiz will cost $5,000 to $10,000, therefore it is my hope that elected officials of good conscious will immediately step forward and speak out against this abuse of power. The question here is not one concerning the simpleminded arguments of left versus right, or republican versus democrat, but rather a vertical question with societal implications: will we continue to allow the well connected and powerful to trample on the rights of regular citizens?

References and Notes
Los Rios Community College District Board Meeting Agenda May 26, 2010
Action Item 4-A. Trustee Area 6 Vacancy

Los Rios Community College District Press Releases – May 27, 2010
Los Rios Trustee Vacancy to Be Filled in November Election
“Sacramento—Last night at its regularly scheduled meeting the Los Rios Community College District Board of Trustees approved the filling of the Area 6 Trustee vacancy by election on November 2, 2010. The Area 6 Trustee seat was held by Bruce Pomer who resigned from the Board for job related reasons …. The deadline for candidates to file to run in the November 2 General Election is August 6, 2010.”

Los Rios Community College District Board of Trustees
Trustee Name Area 6 = Vacant

Sacramento County Candidate’s Guide for November 2010 Election
• Cover Sheet from Brad R. Buyse, Campaign Services Manager
“This guide has been compiled to assist candidates in preparing for the November 2, 2010 General Election. It is intended to provide general information about the nomination and election of candidates and does not have the force of law, regulation or rule. It is distributed with the understanding that we are not rendering legal advice and, therefore, the guide is not to be a substitute for legal counsel for any individual, organization or candidate. In case of conflict, the law, regulation or rule will apply.”
• Page 1: Nomination Period July 12 through August 6 – For school and special districts, nomination papers are issued and filed with the Registrar of Voters during these dates.
• Page 13: Activity Schedule – August 6, 5:00pm. Filing of Nomination Papers – Nomination papers must be filed with the Registrar of Voters, 7000 65th Street, Suite A, Sacramento, not later than 5:00 p.m. on August 6, 2010.

Sacramento County General Election Nominations Calendar
• Page 1: E-88 (88 days until Election Day). AUG 6. All nomination documents and any candidate statements must be filed by 5:00 p.m. (EC 10407; 10510; 13307)

California Elections Code 10407(a)(b)
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, whenever
other elections are consolidated with a regularly scheduled election,
the period for the filing of nomination documents by candidates in
elections consolidated with the regularly scheduled election shall
commence on the 113th day prior to the election. The nomination
documents shall be filed not later than 5 p.m. on the 88th day prior
to the regularly scheduled election in the office of the appropriate
officer, during regular office hours.
(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), if nomination documents for
an incumbent officer of a political subdivision are not filed by 5
p.m. on the 88th day before the election, any person other than the
person who was the incumbent on the 88th day shall have until 5 p.m.
on the 83rd day before the election to file nomination documents for
the elective office. This section is not applicable where there is no
incumbent eligible to be elected.

California Elections Code 10510(a)(b)(c)
10510. (a) Forms for declarations of candidacy for all district
offices shall be obtained from the office of the county elections
official. The county elections official may, for convenience or
necessity, authorize the district secretary to issue declarations of
candidacy. The forms shall first be available on the 113th day prior
to the general district election and shall be filed not later than 5
p.m. on the 88th day prior to the general district election in the
office of the county elections official during regular office hours
or may be filed by certified mail so that the forms reach the office
of the county election official no later than the deadline for filing
in that office. The county elections official shall record the date
of filing upon the first page of each declaration of candidacy filed
pursuant to this section. No candidate shall withdraw his or her
declaration of candidacy after 5 p.m. on the 88th day prior to the
general district election.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a person shall not
file nomination papers for more than one district office or term of
office for the same district at the same election.
(c) On request of the district secretary, the county elections
official shall provide the secretary with a copy of each declaration
of candidacy filed pursuant to this section.

UPDATE 08/09/10 @10:25AM

Ken posts on his Facebook page this charming tidbit from the California Secretary of State’s office:

I’m just now leaving the California Secretary of State Elections Division. They told me there is no help available to me because this is not a statewide or legislative election … I thought the purpose of the Sect’y of State was to ensure fair elections across California at all levels.

California. What a mess. How did we get here? Like this:

Do nothing feel-goodism. A full time legislator must feel the need to show that they are worth their full time Salary of $95,291 a year. It’s more important to feel good than to actually do what the constitution requires them to do. Pass a budget.

Is there a reason we need to enact HUNDREDS of pieces of legislation EVERY year? Don’t you think over the course of 150 years, previous legislators might have addressed most of these issues already? It is specious, at best, to assume that we have that many issues to address in a year.

A simple search of the California Legislature website using the “Bill Finder Tool” for the 2009 – 2010 session with just the search term “California” yields 5286 bills as a result. YOU are paying for this folly.

Why not this:
A part time legislature, with the appropriate reduction in salary.
Reduce Legislator per diem to cover meals only. Address the reduction in per diem by providing:
Dormitory housing near the capitol while they are in session.
A private bus line between the Dorms and the Capitol Building.
Two Year Budgeting
Banning all termed out Legislators from being appointed to any paid position on a State Board or Commission for two years after leaving office.
Eliminate all paid State Board or Commission members, save for one paid Board Chairperson – all other Board or Commission members are unpaid volunteers, with a full per diem.
Until a budget is passed, no other bill may be proposed, debated, or allowed into committee, unless a finding of emergency is agreed upon by two thirds of both the Assembly and the Senate.

We have real problems, requiring the urgent attention of our legislature. We don’t only have a budget deficit, but a legislature with Attention Deficit. The Annual Budget is a constitutional requirement of the office.
If you were the employer of these people, and found them behaving like this instead of doing their jobs, wouldn’t you fire them?

News Flash: You ARE their employer.

Governor Schwarzenegger campaigned during the recall election on “blowing up boxes”. Six years later, it’s probably time to get to work on it.

Here’s Kaitie on Good Day Sacramento, as they report on the girls’ school, Green Valley Elementary. They were celebrating “Reading Counts” Day, a festival reward for the kids collectively reading 177 MILLION words this year. Megan did her part by knocking out 1,244,000 word since the end of October.

Kaitie is in the last part, wearing her white “Green Valley Gators” T-Shirt as they have the reporter go head to head with the kids in the spray bottle boat race.

She, of course, declines to compete.

I was wondering how you’re feeling
I thought I saw you kneeling
And holding your gut last night
It looked like you were praying
But I heard someone saying
You had been in an awful fight
You get the worst of it everytime
Lashing out with no reason or rhyme
To lose all this rage, at so tender an age
Little baby growing up in a rat cage

Are you ready for the fallout?
Who you gonna call out?
When does it finally come to blows?
I think that you’re forgetting
The blood that you’ll be letting
Has a price on it, no one knows
You may be suffering in your sleep
You may be getting in way too deep
And you may not care for advice that I share
If you want it then I’ll be there

Soon you will learn how to swallow a tear
So when you are old you can cry in your beer
Do you spit at the face staring back in the mirror?
Do you have any self respect?

Soon you will learn how to swallow a tear
So when you are old you can cry in your beer
Do you spit at the face staring back in the mirror?
Do you have any self respect?

Well what the hell did you expect?

Are you ready for the fallout?
Who you gonna call out?
When does it finally come to blows?
I think that you’re forgetting
The blood that you’ll be letting
Has a price on it, no one knows
You may be suffering in your sleep
You may be getting in way too deep
And you may not care for advice that I share
If you want it then I’ll be there

Are you ready for the fallout?
Who you gonna call out?

So the House passed the Senate Health Care Reform bill tonight.

Swell.

You know, George Lucas, masterful dialogue composer that he is (*cough* sarcasm *cough*) once penned:

SO this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause.

One concept occupies my mind.

O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!
Thou art the ruins of the noblest man
That ever lived in the tide of times.
Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!
Over thy wounds now do I prophesy,–
Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips,
To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue–
A curse shall light upon the limbs of men;
Domestic fury and fierce civil strife
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy;
Blood and destruction shall be so in use
And dreadful objects so familiar
That mothers shall but smile when they behold
Their infants quarter’d with the hands of war;
All pity choked with custom of fell deeds:
And Caesar’s spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice
Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war;
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.

Was listening to the This Day Back In The Day quiz on The Rise Guys Show on KHTK Sports 1140 this morning when Quizmaster Maximus Whitey Gleason dropped the best trivia factoid evah.

The Question: What year did (some science) Magazine publish the article “Why Stalin will live to be 100″?

The answer – 1953.

On the VERY DAY HE DIED!

I want that superpower! Kind of like that cat in the nursing home that “knows” who will be the next patient to die.

If I had that power, I’d begin penning articles about Osama Bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and many more. Yes, many, many more.

Time to make a list.

Solid 80s Rock / Pop. Hook laden and full of some lovely guitar histrionics, lovingly crafted to fit into that Rock / Pop mold. A perfect time capsule of 1987.

I saw this performed live and the guitars were much more prominent.

Note at about the 3:04 mark the graffiti that reads “Jack and Mollie” That would be bassist Jack Blades and his wife Mollie, still married 23 years later.

I can’t believe
That I survived til Friday
I grab my coat
And make a run for where I
Hide and dream and lie all afternoon

I call you up
Although you work on Sunday
I’m not accustomed to a lonely afternoon
Inside my room
Is it the same with you

It’s just the color of your smile
Oh, it’s the color of your smile
You know you knock my senses out
With the color of your smile

I love to see you
When you’re tired and worn out
It doesn’t matter if you paint by numbers
All your colors move like a lonely moon

And I’m aware
Of all the friends you’ve gone through
A situation that convinces me
I’m cool on price
But short on my nights with you

It’s just the color of your smile
Oh, it’s the color of your smile
You know you knock my senses out
With the color of your smile
The color of your smile
Oh, it’s the color of your smile
You know you knock my senses out
With the color of your smile

Not even talkin’ ’bout a new sensation
Not even sayin’ how I’ve been mistaken
Well, I’ll be here when you return from your holiday

Never had a tougher situation
Lot of trouble with your reputation
I think I’ll go and take a well deserved holiday
Oh yeah

I can’t believe that we survived til Friday
I’ll grab our coats
And make a run for where we
Hide and dream
And lie and scream
And hide and dream
All day

Oh, it’s the color of your smile
You know you knock my senses out
With the color of your smile

Two versions. The first, a live performance in 1987. Maria McKee’s voice is always amazing, but the bass is so prominent in the live version – of course it could be that I’m listening to it through some sub-par computer speakers, but like most live performances the bass is really the glue anyway.

The other version, the official music video for Shelter, also released in 1987. Since I embedded this from a Vevo post, there might be an advertisement, so please indulge. By all means, if you have an opportunity to hear more Lone Justice songs, or just some work from Maria McKee, give it a listen. That gal can belt them out.

Live in early 1983.

There is an old truism in Rock and Roll: Never name your band after a song. Or a song after your band.

However, this song is a great jam tune. Always great live, although it only made it through the Dawn Patrol and Midnight Madness Tours.

I used to practice this song in my bedroom as a kid. With my small amp turned facedown on my waterbed, and covered with pillows.

And it still rattled the windows in our old brick house.

Night Ranger with…. Night Ranger from Dawn Patrol

In the cool city
In the heat of the night
Looking for adventure
On the face of the light
A Colorado school boy
Put his days on the line
Nights out of paperback
“Catcher In The Rye”

Night ranger
Where you gonna run to now
Night ranger (ranger)

He met her at a rock show
Skin tight jeans
Heavy metal leather
Hanging from her seams
He took her to a late night
She put her heart on the line
Left her standing in the doorway
Singing “Thanks for the good time”

Night ranger
Where you gonna run to now
Night ranger (ranger)
Night ranger
Where you gonna run to now
Night ranger (ranger)
I can hear you calling calling
I can hear you calling
Night ranger
I can see you falling falling
I can see you falling
Night ranger
Where you gonna run to now
Night ranger

In the hot city
On a cool summer night
Four letter words
Make it alright
A Colorado school boy
Put it all on the line
Under the street lights
Having a good time…
Night ranger…
Night ranger…
Night ranger…
Night ranger…

I can hear you calling calling
I can hear you calling
Night ranger
I can see you falling falling
I can see you falling
Night ranger
Where you gonna run to now
Night ranger

No official Video, or concert video available.

And other than the uber-queer graphic in this video (what the hell is that anyways?) always a nice listen.

Here I am
My heart in a sling
Holding on to memories
Wondering what might have been
There you are
Lost in a dream
Full of life yet loneliness
Has caused you to bleed
I know
Where there’s room enough for two
Take a trip to where we’ve been
The water’s hushed underneath thge bridge… again
As always I remain

So where are we now
Life is just a daisy chain
Your innocence my lost refrain
Where are we now
Never said you’d stay the same
As always I remain

Sudden call
It’s the end of the line
Or is it just the start of something
Maybe… we’ll see
Where will you go
And who will you be
Me I’ll just be singing songs
Crossing fingers
There’s always something going on
As always I remain
As always I remain

So where are we now
Life is just a daisy chain
Your innocence my lost refrain
Where are we now
Never said you’d stay the same
As always I remain

I must admit I’m an untimely man
Appearing to calloused to all
There’s a right way a wrong way
As always I will
Remain on this road right or wrong

So where are we now
Life is just a daisy chain
Your innocence my lost refrain
Where are we now
Never said you’d stay the same
As always I remain
As always I remain