WTF Kind of Marijuana Caregivers Are You?!!!

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Don't bother to answer the question... I already know.

or TOKE AND DRIVE

Of all the stupid, irresponsible actions of Lyin' Lynda Allen, Theresa "Brassy Boobs" Brassey and Corkscrewed Cornelia Green, yesterday's was the most egregious yet. They let Brassey drive! alone and stoned! (Of course, all three of them are always stoned nowadays.)

At 10:18 a.m., Brassey poked her head out the back door, emerged, and waddled unsteadily toward the cars, checking about to see if anyone was watching her. The hired handyman appeared to take no notice... at least until Theresa climbed into the Big-Ass Black Pickup Truck, turned it on, and began at 10:21 to execute a T-turn in the constricted, overcrowded yard.


Yesterday's configuration of tents and sheds
on Allen's & Brassey's property
(new additions and re-locations daily)

At that point, the handyman made a beeline to the screened porch and relayed a warning message. Within seconds, Corkscrewed Green popped out the back door and quickly jogged to the truck as Brassey pulled up to the driveway gate. Green quickly returned to inside the house, passing Lyin' Lynda emerging out the back. Green intercepted Brassey out front and held a confab with her on the street. At 10:25, Brassey hesitantly piloted the Big-Ass Pickup Truck away to the south.

There was way too much urgency displayed during this episode to be merely a case of Brassey forgetting a list of building materials or groceries. No, I've had the unfortunate experience of living next to the unstable pair, Allen and Brassey, for almost four years and Brassey was clearly acting erratically (and, more seriously, without the Alpha Bitch's express permission.)

When asked to vote on the 2010 Proposition 19 - Legalize Marijuana in CA, Regulate and Tax, voters in San Joaquin County rejected giving dopers unrestricted access by 61% to 39%. (Even all the Left Coast potheads and other useful idiots could not overcome a statewide rejection of 54%.)

Statewide:

Yes Votes - 3,897,789 46.0%
No Votes - 4,574,463 54.0%

San Joaquin County:

Yes Votes - 45,263 38.83%
No Votes - 71,295 61.17%

But (and this is a Big-Ass Truck-sized But), residents of the state are saddled with that partial birth abortion known as the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 (CUA), HSC 11362.5. In subsection (b)(2) is this verbiage:

"Nothing in this section shall be construed to supersede legislation prohibiting persons from engaging in conduct that endangers others, nor to condone the diversion of marijuana for nonmedical purposes."

"Conduct that endangers others" explicitly applies to DUI operations of motor vehicles.

Of course, police can't test and won't enforce; D.A.'s can't win and won't prosecute; courts are already... well, you know... too screwed up to interpret laws correctly any more; the past governor reduced "minor amount" possession to no more than a traffic ticket; and the current governor will... will encourage the pothead lawyer legislature to completely legalize grass.

I'm guessing Brassey would have to kill herself (like) - and likely someone else (dislike) - before a successful DUI prosecution would stick in SJCo. (Except, live people say only nice things about dead BDG's...)

To top it all off, the San Joaquin County D.A.'s office failed in their CUA responsibility to construct and maintain files of registered sex offenders medical marijuana users and their caregivers. No one knows WTF is going on! The whole damn house of cards is built on the intrinsic integrity of law-abiding pot smokers and the thorough-going professionalism of certified so-called doctors who write the Marijuana Recommendations. (Which is to say, we're screwed.)

Is anyone willing to tell us how well the CUA - that bad law imposed by duped doped well-meaning idiots in a direct democracy and left to citizen self-enforcement by incompetent (we say) and underpaid (they say) officialdom - just how well is that bad law working out for us? The answer is not to completely legalize weed, but to put it back under competent medical authority - if such can be found. (We may just be screwed, after all.)

And the Barefoot Dirty Girls of Manteca grow the best damn Sierra High(c) brand of shit, smoke it by the potful, and happily! euphorically! hungrily! hit the roads and highways of our locale in their Big-Ass Black Pickup Truck.

The BDG's mud flap motto?

UP YOURS

ASSHOLES AND SOCCER MOMS!

WE'RE GRANDFATHERED

CERTIFIED CAREGIVERS!

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Illuminating Letters and Numbers

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These are the results of the Manteca City Council election published by the San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters.*

THANK YOU! to the 4,062 voters who marked their ballots correctly.

It seems that elected officials at various levels of government, who have "Been there, done that," watch to see who else is coming along the path. For example, I received this letter from San Joaquin County Supervisor Leroy Ornellas during the week prior to the election:

Then, after the election, comes this letter from State Senator Lois Wolk:

Even a comment by Manteca Unified School Board Trustee Nancy Teicheira, who won re-election, was formally communicated by the Superintendent:

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* One of the 45 write-ins was my vote for a certain neighbor as Manteca's Cannabis C--- {wink wink}. (How many four letter words can you think of that start with "c"?)

Unexpected Crushing Disappointment

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BAREFOOT DIRTY GIRLS

ENDORSE

WILLIE, JOHN and VINCE

I'm hurt! I'm crushed!

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(I'm overjoyed.)
One can most often tell the kind of people by the company they keep.

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We're Off and Running...

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I'm officially listed as a Manteca City Council candidate by the San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters, and the Secretary of State has randomized the alphabet for listing the candidates on the ballot.

For the two council seats, I'm first in the field of four, followed in order by Anderson, Hernandez, and Harris. (The mayoral field will be listed as: Cantu, Weatherford, Perry, and Moorhead.)

My Candidate Statement will be printed in the Voter Guide and campaign signs have been ordered.

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Candidacy Signed, Sealed, Paid and Delivered

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My candidate nomination papers have all been signed and delivered to Manteca's Election Officer, the City Clerk, for the November 2010 General Municipal Election.

For my loyal followers

 (and the disloyal ones, as well)

This is the point at which this 'blog, Country Living in the City of Manteca, tangentially intersects my City Council campaign 'blog, TLC4Manteca.

See you there over the next few months.





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Details from Michealangelo's fresco, Last Judgment, on a wall of the Cistine Chapel - except for the road sign.
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How Crazy is Running For Manteca City Council?

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A recent comment on the Manteca Bulletin Online system was made by someone who appeared to be a first-level student from the Rex Osborn Office of Double-Tongued Spin-Doctoring and Character Assassination, a city-paid position. There was an echo, a repetition, a redundant enunciation, another insinuation of the perjorative innuendo and slander leveled at me during Rex's clever misrepresentation of city (in)actions regarding my case and his intentional sowing of deprecatory seeds during the forty-minute public abortion at the March 3, 2009 City Council meeting. The subject was supposed to be the illegal activities of my neighbors and the city administration's refusal to enforce city codes - or even to review their own shirked responsibility for the whole sorry, sordid affair.

The commenter suggested I get counseling. Counseling?! Oh, I sought counseling, all right - legal counsel! Many, many dollars of legal counsel. Much more than I will spend on this campaign for city council.

Credentials? I am totally blown away by the inadequacies and irregularities that have surfaced in this so-called city during my three-year "campaign" against both my ignorant, nasty, noisy Neighbors From Hell and City Hall. I have graduated - pummelled, bloody, still standing - from a crash course offered by the Manteca Citizens College of Do-It-Yourself. I am the proud recipient of a Lifetime Go-To-Hell Degree, with gratuitous endorsements from the Police Department (Code Enforcement) and Community Development (Zoning).

The city folks I've dealt with on the other side of the cute, lily-white picket fence at 1001 W Center Street, Manteca, were all trained and graduated with a

B.S. degree in Bumbling Bureaucratic Bufoonery (BS_B3)
(The "Practical Machiavelli" honors endorsement is available for a small fee)

Lower Division courses (All tracks)
   Basic and Intermediate Finger-Pointing
   Basic Shifting of Responsibility
   Plan A: Maintaining Effective Deniability
   Plan B: The Bald-Faced Denial (only for those with Performing Arts aspirations)
   Disarming Irate Citizens: Those Records Are In Storage
   Disarming Irate Citizens: Blame It On the Computer System
   Disarming Irate Citizens: Blame It On the Economy
   Disarming Irate Citizens: Are We Supposed to Know the Codes?

Upper Division courses (Management track)
   Wig-Making and Disguise: How to Look and Speak Like an Official
   Bathtub Cooking and Applying of Black Market Teflon
   Intermediate Shifting of Responsibility and Assigning Blame Elsewhere
   Laundering Public Funds [Semi-]Legally
   Back-Scratching for the Career-Minded Municipal Professional
   Jurisdiction Changes: She's Old - She Must Be Grandfathered
       (prerequisite: Disarming Irate Citizens: Those Records Are In Storage)
   How To Write Official Looking Reports and Letters:
        Section 1: Saying a Whole Lot of Nothing With Words
        Section 2: Using Boilerplate Effectively (for those who fail Section 1)
        Section 3: Scaring The Hell Out of Docile Citizens

Senior Seminars in Special Administrative or Elective Skills (Choose any or all)
   Quid Pro Quo, Vigorish and Other Sometimes Useful Latin/Italian Terms
   Working Your Boss' Reelection Campaign: Pitfalls, Evasions and Workarounds
   Bright-Lining With the Malleable Underpaid City Attorney (bring hand sanitizer)
   City Contracts v. the Brown Act (Art elective)
   Driving Semi's Through California's RDA Loopholes, and Other Shortcuts
   Media Questions: The Side-Step and William Henry Lane Tap Dance (P.E. credit)
   (Call for full selection and details)

Selected sample of collected Master Theses (How To's) and Doctoral Dissertations (Time-Tested Propaganda Manuals - extra charge applies) available for checkout. .pdf upon request. 

• The Joys of Inbreeding: When One of "Us" Gets Elected (Career development for retired administrators)

• Rigging, Deploying and Repacking Golden Parachutes (high profile users only, please)

• Writing (and Rewriting) Employment Contracts For Fun and Profit Cost Savings

• Rubles From Rubes: Painless and Almost Undetectible Taxpayer Shakedowns

• Empire Building as Preface to World Domination: Manufacturing and Exploiting Natural and Man-Made Crises To Enlarge Government Intervention and Control in Markets, Industries, and Communities (as Well as Back Yards, Bedrooms, and Bank Accounts)

• Political Accounting: Taking Credits, Deflecting Debits (media sound-bytes)

• Political Calculus: Trading Favors (fun scavenger hunt format covers wines, cigars, dives, dames (or...), and many other items of interest to those seeking to cozy up to other self-inflated politicos and self-important big shots)

• Tactical and Strategic Retreats: Keeping a Weather Eye on the Rivers and Fords

• Rex Osborn's Bible: The Courtly Art of Character Assassination (private tutorials only; call author for rates - but if you call, he will not accept you as a student because an artful practitioner does not leave such tracks. See? Your first ninja lesson for free!)

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More credentials? Try reading the Manteca Bulletin announcement from last October.
Or, call the Elections Officer after the filing deadline, August 6th, and get the information required to be made public by candidates.
Or, call me for a brief chat (phone number in the public filings.)
Or, go to a city council meeting; I'm usually there.
Or, toss me one of your credentials, then I'll toss you one of mine. (Hint: I'm not a rocket scientist.)

One commenter gets it: "Bottom line, it's because this city will not lift a finger to assist him about these terrible neighbors."

And another: "Behling became interested in running because of the problems he's had with his neighbors and code enforcement but he's not a government employee or a career politician and seems to be smart enough so I'm going to vote for him."

And, to be fair and balanced, I include a back-handed endorsement by my ex-catering truck driver, pot-smoking neighbor, Mellow Yellow Lynda:

Ms. Allen: ... He has nothing else to do or he would not have written those two big books.
Mayor Weatherford: I don't think we want to get into the personal issues here.
Ms. Allen: Well, I try not to do that, but I'm just saying that somebody has a little extra time on their hands. (audience laughs)

Gotta love Lynda's gravelly voice, the Pinole-girl accent and her redneck humor. (Hey! That's HER word. "We like rednecks.")

The bottom bottom line is: These pathetic $^%$&^s next door and downtown are what it took to overcome my inertia, which inertia besets ANYONE who contemplates offering himself up for public office. It is the spark; it is NOT the whole explosion.

Hit the polls on November 2nd. Take all your friends, if any, with you. Vote for whomever you believe will give you the most responsive government to your wants  desires  welfare needs  legitimate needs. Between you and the few other voters who bother to show up that day, you will get the government you elect. You will get the government you deserve, whether you vote or not.
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The City Council Nomination Period Is Open

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Today I met with the Election Officer of the City of Manteca and received the Nomination Paper-Official Filing Form.

The next step is to find twenty to thirty voters in Manteca who will lend their name to my nomination to stand as a candidate for city council.
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TLC Catering's Longtime Political Protector

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"Politics: A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage." - Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
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Willie W Weatherford and his wife, in May of 2001, sold the house located at 377 N Scenic Place, Manteca, CA, to co-owners Cornelia J Green and Lisa Gomes (County Recorder's doc #2001-078747, Assessor's Parcel Number 217-54-014.) In April of the following year, Cornelia deeded her interest in the property to Lisa, who then held it solely (County Recorder's doc #2002-064047.) Whatever happened between Cornelia and her co-owner, Lisa Gomes, precipitated two highly relevant facts - Cornelia wound up living with Lynda Allen and Theresa Brassey at 810 Fishback Street, and parked her travel trailer across the street at 785 Fishback for many years.

Cornelia J Green is - in Lynda Allen's words - "very well-known." She is the infamous "Corky," (here, here) who took an overt and active hand in the illegal operation of TLC Catering and Commissary on R-1 residential property since she took up residence with those two career scofflaws, Allen and Brassey. Corky was TLC's direct political lifeline to City Hall - direct to Willie W Weatherford, Police Chief, then Councilman, then Mayor; and also that (very large) spokesmouth, Rex Osborn, spinmeister extraordinaire.

Patronage? Cronyism? Influence peddling? Mr. Weatherford sat in judgment of my claim of TLC's illegal operation, pretended he had no clue who or what I was talking about, and skillfully directed the vote to deny the City reopen my case for review. Corky was in the council chambers with Lynda's and Theresa's entourage of other losers and hangers-on, while being "protected" by the O. Rex spewing old news. Such is the shameful, sorry state of dirty politics and politicians in Manteca, California. It is not a matter of following any laws; rather, it is a matter of who you know in city government who can quash any complaints. The less we have of Willie, the better off this city will be, regardless of who is elected from the current field of candidates - Anderson, Cantu, Moorhead, or Perry.

Meet the Candidates Night

Last Monday night was a Candidates Night for the November 2010 elections, organized by the South San Joaquin County Republicans and hosted at the Chez Shari golf course clubhouse. Various political organizations were introduced and Rita Stolp of the Tea Party Patriots was the featured keynote speaker. Jason Campbell reported the local angle in a Tuesday Manteca Bulletin article.

I went to the meeting, being a newbie local candidate, blissfully content to merely observe because I was not on the list of speakers... until the organizer/M.C., Frank Aquila, asked, “Are there any other local candidates here tonight…?” I raised my hand, stood, and introduced myself. My first extemporaneous political speech was a disaster; I write much better than I speak (at least I think so.)

Preceding me, Manteca's mayor, Mr. Weatherford (former city police chief, councilman, and two-term mayor), stood and put on a most embarrassing show.  "Aw, shucks, I'm a nobody. I don't set policy..."

A year-and-a-half ago I quoted a young woman, a Manteca outsider, in a council meeting, who had this to say about Manteca's brass:

"I mentioned to my father one evening that dealing with Manteca reminded me of a 1950s town in the Deep South. Ironically, the very next day I was introduced to someone who had been a Manteca resident for 10 years who described the dynamics of Manteca's political scene as, quote, 'Think American South circa 1950.' "

After the meeting, the iconic Mr. Weatherford buttonholed me and attempted to set me straight on my comment that the mayor certainly does set policy by holding employment at will powers over the city manager. His beef was that it takes the council to dismiss a city manager. That part is true (see MMC code sections in footnote), but his claim he is a powerless figurehead is ridiculous. I believe I used the term, the city's Head Cheerleader (which is not really derogatory if you think about it in light of what city council members did on their recent junket to Washington, D.C.)

Gimme a C... Gimme a D... Gimme a B... Gimme a G... What does it spell?

SOLVENCY! SOLVENCY!

(in the Community Development Block Grant program!)

(I know, I know... CDBG is a state program. However, feel free to substitute any other acronymic program for which Manteca has to beg for taxpayer funds to be returned locally from state or federal bureaucracies. And remember that any  every bureaucrat who touches those funds skims a percentage before passing them on.)

Back on point again...

The fancy Latin phrase, quid pro quo (trading favors)... and, if you don't trade, he rattles a few skeletons... says everything about Mr. Weatherford's personal influence and his penchant for taking all the credit for every revenue dollar ever collected, ignoring the debits, and regularly singing his own praises for every taxpayer/ratepayer/feepayer/RDA-purchased "accomplishment" over his councilman and mayoral terms in city office.

The thrust of my speech was that local governments and their constituency have almost no choice but to dig in and hold on, fiscally, while conservative representatives to state and federal governments correct the ruinous, self-consuming course currently held by the "ship of state."

All we hear at Manteca City Council meetings is, "Sacramento is stealing all our money... again!" While California's spending truly is profligate, it is Sacramento's money; they managed to squeeze it (mostly) legally from law-abiding (tax-paying) citizens. But as the the Constitution of the State of California, Article 11, Local Government, makes very clear, every county and city in the state is only a political subdivision of the state; they cannot "steal" what is already theirs. The state can, however, renege on long-standing revenue sharing programs, re-write the taxation and spending laws, and break all sorts of promises... at least until the Olden State turns to dust... or is brought back to moral and fiscal solvency by responsible representatives in the legislature.

Regardless of what disconnected state and fed "lawmakers" do or don't, voters in the City of Manteca need to seriously consider whether this municipality should be impartially administered according to good law, or continue to be the personal political playground of an insular "good old boys" club.

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Footnote:

Manteca Municipal Code

Title 2 ADMINISTRATION AND PERSONNEL

Chapter 2.08 CITY MANAGER

Section 2.08.010 Office created—Appointment—Term.

The office of the city manager is created and established. The city manager shall be appointed by the city council and shall hold office for and during the pleasure of the city council.

2.08.080 Relationship to city council.

The city council and its members shall deal with the administrative services of the city only through the city manager, except for the purpose of inquiry, and neither the city council nor any member thereof shall give orders to any subordinates of the city manager. The city manager shall take his or her orders and instructions from the city council only when sitting in a duly held meeting of the city council and no individual councilmember shall give any order or instructions to the city manager.

2.08.100 Removal from office—Notice from council.

The removal of the city manager shall be only upon a three-fifths vote of the whole council in regular council meetings, subject, however, to the provisions of the next succeeding sections. In case of his or her intended removal by the city council, the city manager shall be furnished with a written notice stating the council’s intention to remove him and the reason therefor, at least thirty days before the effective date of his or her removal.

(See full code at Manteca City Clerk, Municipal Code, Section 2.08.

Authority for the above municipal code is granted in Article 11 of the California Constitution:

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California Constitution

Article 11, Sec. 5. (b)

It shall be competent in all city charters to provide, in addition to those provisions allowable by this Constitution, and by the laws of the State for: (1) the constitution, regulation, and government of the city police force (2) subgovernment in all or part of a city (3) conduct of city elections and (4) plenary authority is hereby granted, subject only to the restrictions of this article, to provide therein or by amendment thereto, the manner in which, the method by which, the times at which, and the terms for which the several municipal officers and employees whose compensation is paid by the city shall be elected or appointed, and for their removal, and for their compensation, and for the number of deputies, clerks and other employees that each shall have, and for the compensation, method of appointment, qualifications, tenure of office and removal of such deputies, clerks and other employees.

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Cities, Lawyers, Neighbors From Hell, and Courts

My friend over at Manteca Live! is having difficulty wrapping his head around the authority/legality/whatever-you-want-to-call-it that the City of Manteca has to promulgate rules for all of us to live by... or, more precisely, the question of whether city hall is arrogating too much authority to itself and its agents. What he doesn't know would scare him even more...

Local governance is more of a crap-shoot than anyone can even dream possible. To make the point, here is a post by an attorney who trains code enforcement officers and building and fire inspectors. In this example, she refers to at least FOUR commonly used codes (IBC, IFC, IRC, and IPMC) that apparently overlap but each reaches into areas not covered by the others.

So the first question is, Which code, if any, is being used to justify a violation? The second question becomes, What administrative process does one endure (or undergo) in order to obtain vindication (or conviction.)

(For all the lip service about due process, city ordinances are often merely window dressing, here day-before-yesterday, gone the next day, and back today in ogre form. City attorneys, with limited experience in anything other than rubber-stamping documents churned out by the city machinery, are part of the problem. Manteca's has been feeding at the same table since before 1986 - more akin to a catfish than a shark.)

After treading the shifting sands of local politics and their shifty rules, and after all hopes for humane treatment from politicians have been dashed, one can always turn to the courts. This author's post generalizes the decision made in this New Hampshire court decision. A property buyer wants to fix transmissions on his residential property and tries to resurrect a land use variance abandoned by the prior owner. The city, however, repeals the zoning ordinance, but issues an agreement letter for the mechanic to continue the iffy land use pending final decision by the zoning board. Surprise! They turn him down and he sues the board and the city. In the end, the court decides in the city's favor.

Notice anything? The grease monkey tries to do exactly what my stirred-and-fried neighbors have gotten away with for twenty-three years on their residential property... and on our city attorney's watch! I don't know which one is the worse public nuisance.

Anyway, Joe, keep up the fight. You fight from the outside and I'll fight from the inside. If we give up, we are giving up either to totalitarianism or to anarchy.

Constitutionality of "Police Powers"

The hard truths about laws are that they limit the absolute "freedom" of an individual do do as he pleases, and the laws carry with them the implied power to enforce compliance. Those are the reasons why laws must be adjudged as constitutional - or congruent with natural law. For believers, man's laws should be congruent with the laws of their God.

Last night's city council meeting got a little testy, with the mayor demeaning a citizen's qualifications to question constitutional issues of a proposed code enforcement hearings ordinance on the agenda and pulling the city attorney into the fray. The hard words compelled the citizen to speak out of order and prompted a short recess. In addition to pulling the item off the Consent Agenda for separate discussion, the short display of civil disobedience (ie., contravening Robert's Rules of Order) was probably the most effective way to give the item the public scrutiny it needs. (See Manteca Live! for Joe's posts.)

We were told that Manteca City Council meetings are now streamed to the WWW - the first time being last night's meeting. They can be found here.

Herewith are some discussion and references regarding the constitutionality of "police powers" as established by the people of California and the United States.

In 1917, the legislature of the State of California adopted an Enabling Act based on the California Constitution authorizing municipalities to establish - and enforce - zoning codes. In 1925, constitutional challenges brought the matter to the California Supreme Court in Miller v. Board of Public Works, 195 Cal. 477 (1925); 234 Pac.Rep. 881. The opinion lays out the court's interpretation of "police powers" within California's Constitution and a brief review of other states' supreme courts.  An excerpt is found below and more excerpts in this post. For the truly curious, the full opinion is available for free at this website. Just accept the terms, then type "195", "Cal." and "477" into the citation search boxes.

The very next year, in 1926, The US Supreme Court addressed these and other issues in Village of Euclid, Ohio v. Ambler Realty Co., 272 U.S. 365 (1926). Excerpts from that decision can be found in this post. For the truly curious, the full opinion is available for free at this URL.

Without doubt there exists the municipal power to enforce municipal codes. The only question is, Does this proposed ordinance, at its first reading, contain the necessary safeguards of Manteca's citizens' constitutional due process rights versus the power of the state, or, the City of Manteca, in this case.

City staff and the city attorney bear the burden of answering as many of those constitutional questions as possible. Also before adopting the ordinance, they must re-edit the processes outlined to delete duplications and provide for as much internal consistency and effectiveness as possible. Remember, these are "man made" laws - and made by men and women such as we have employeed at Manteca's City Hall.

God help us.

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Excerpts from Miller (1925):

". . . the power to do so is conferred upon municipalities in California by the fundamental law of the state and by a legislative [p.483] enabling act, entitled: An act to provide for the establishment within municipalities of districts or zones within which the use of property, height of improvements and required open spaces for light and ventilation of such buildings, may be regulated by ordinance. (Stats. 1917, p. 1419.)"

"The constitutional grant of power to the municipalities is to be found in section 11 of article XI of the constitution, which provides that:"

"Any county, city, town, or township may make and enforce within its limits all such local, police, sanitary and other regulations as are not in conflict with general laws."

"The Enabling Act of 1917 declares that:"

"For the public interest, health, comfort, convenience, preservation of the public peace, safety, morals, order and the public welfare, the city council, board of trustees or other legislative body of any incorporated city and town of California, hereinafter referred to as the council, may by ordinance create or divide the city into districts within some of which it shall be unlawful to erect, construct, alter or maintain certain buildings, or to carry on certain trades or callings or within which the height and bulk of future buildings shall be limited. The council may by ordinance regulate, restrict and segregate the location of industries, the several classes of business, trades or callings, the location of apartment or tenement houses, club-houses, group residences, two-family dwellings, single family dwellings and several classes of public and semi-public buildings, and the location of buildings or property designed for specified uses, and may divide the city into districts of such number, shape and area as the council may deem best suited to carry out the purposes of this act. . . . For each such district regulations may be imposed designating the class of use that shall be excluded or subjected to special regulations and designating the uses for which buildings may not be erected or altered, or designating the class of use which only shall be permitted. . . . (Stats. 1917, p. 1419.)" (internal quotation marks removed)

Politics and Paperwork

Setting up a candidacy for local elections (or simply a political committee) is virtually the same process as setting up a small business. One must sign up a committee, set up a separate bank account and register with California's Secretary of State, who issues a Candidate Number to the registrant. Then a whole accounting system and reporting schedule - with forms, deadlines, amendments and penalties - must be adhered to with the Fair Political Practices Commission in Sacramento.


However, this administration and control barrier to entry is made somewhat easier to overcome with the assistance of an Elections Officer in each jurisdiction. That officer is the City Clerk in the City of Manteca. For two years I have heard nothing but good spoken of her abilities, and my own limited observations bear that out.

The process appears burdensome and likely serves to scare off multitudes of qualified individuals, who would otherwise decide to run for local elected offices. Yet, it is another necessary evil because money - sometimes BIG money - mostly other people's money - is almost always involved. Human history proves that where unaudited rivers of cash flow, people with character flaws are attracted and become tainted with the "filthiness of the lucre" (ref. 1 Samuel 8:1-3, et seq.).

Also, sometimes the system is "gamed" by those who abuse the FPPC late reporting options. They count on quick news cycles and very short public attention spans to gloss over their indiscretions, and thereby achieve their underhanded results. (A political committee called "Mantecans For Safer Streets" comes to mind as one such slap-dash entity flaunting the spirit of the law in the 2008 election cycle.)

This campaign experience could, after all, turn into a chance to practice real life forensic accounting and stir up a few hornets nests along the way. Election could turn into a chance to...

Ah, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Don't Fight City Hall... Become City Hall

The lackadasical, slap-dash arbitrariness that is the hallmark of the City of Manteca comes about, no doubt, from the behind-the-scenes political chicanery in this town. Politicians selling themselves and/or their votes to the so-called "influencial" causes disjointed policies, supercilious law-making, and uneven enforcement of the laws they themselves adopted.

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In a press release over the weekend, I compared the City of Manteca to the computer game, SimCity, where "the player as Mayor" runs his/her city in any old arbitrary manner as he/she deems fit. Sadly, that particular analogy didn't make it into yesterday's Manteca Bulletin announcement of my intention to run for Manteca City Council in the November 2010 election.

http://www.mantecabulletin.com/news/article/7656/

My personal task for the four-year term is to avoid the pits, traps, bombs, and flaming arrows of power brokers and entrenched special interests, both outside and inside city covernment. My altruistic task is to help the innumerable common citizens retake control of their city from the "the Mayor as player," other purchased politicians, and their SimCity supporters who wield the money and influence to their own enrichment at public expense.

A little enforcement of current zoning laws would be nice, too.