Mayor Frank Ferry just sent out a December 2009 letter to residents in which he touted the City’s recovery efforts, the forthcoming completion of the Cross Valley Connector, and more.
Then he dropped in a reference to www.MayorDude.com, the city-wide campaign that started earlier this year to get youth interested in local goverment:
I’ve also enjoyed getting to know more of our young people through our mayordude program at www.mayordude.com. This fun website has allowed me the opportunity to connect with many of you. It is also linked to my Facebook page and Twitter, providing more opportunity to share with you what is happening in our City, as well as to hear from you about what you are thinking about. Once again, my thanks to you for your support and participation in our City.
I think the City rightly deserves some kudos for the Mayor Dude program (even if it feels like they never would have allowed another rotating Mayor to benefit from it) because it did get youths involved with local government. Browse the monthly chats the SCV’s youths had with the Mayor and you’ll see it was quite the ‘teachable moment’ for our precious precious young ‘uns.
But that was then and now we enter the City Council campaign season. I know it may seem early, but it’s not. We already have two announced candidates -David Gauny & TimBen Boydston- and all three incumbents are starting to organize and kick off their campaigns.
Now all incumbents enjoy certain advantages; I won’t begrudge Ferry for sending out updates to residents as part of his Mayoral duties, but the Mayor Dude campaign is way beyond that. It is more like a city program than a function of the “Mayor’s Office.” In the mind of the public, it makes Ferry seem more than he is; instead of Frank Ferry, City Council candidate, he is now and continues to be simply Mayor Dude, a title which makes it seem like the Mayor position is a separate, electable position (it is not, it rotates among all council members).
So City of Santa Clarita: time to put the Mayor Dude campaign to sleep. Or perhaps winter hibernation. Remove the references to Frank Ferry the council candidate and put a question mark over his face until next year, after the elections.
It’s only fair.
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Frank fair?
I just thought of a new local political term called “Getting Joanne MacGregored” It occurs when some upstart runs against an incumbent, collects a couple of endorsements and gets all excited, and then gets run over by the incumbent 2 to 1. Will TimBen and Dave Gauny get “Joanne MacGregored.”
By the way Joanne MacGregor is a great lady and was REALLY concerned about retaining her seat. In retrospect, hilarious.
Jeez Tim! It’s Joan!
Oops!! Sorry.
Will Dave Gauny and TimBen get “Joan MacGregored?”
From Tim Meyers’ 11/1 column in The Signal:
Make no mistake. If Joe Messina gains a seat on the William S. Hart Union High School District board after the Tuesday election, it could represent a true sea change in the local politics of the Santa Clarita Valley.
Powerful segments of the mainly Republican political machine have gone for broke since Oct. 13… A Messina victory could confirm the death of machine politics in the SCV…”
Or could Gauney and Boydston be the “Machine Killers” SCV needs?
edit: GAUNY, not Gauney
Spoof:
Joe may have narrowly defeated the machine but NO ONE defeated an incumbent. (Joe came almost 900 votes behind the incumbent.)
If you don’t think incumbency exists independent of the MACHINE then explain how an incumbent who had withdrawn from a race still came first!
Tim,
Your point is well taken. Voters were clearly not educated on these elections. My belief is that voters are practically blindfolded when voting on these types of offices; nobody knows who to vote for because nobody understands the issues facing these governing bodies.
But your logic was also proven very wrong in many parts of the country last night. People are watching when there are issues that matter to them – and many are unhappy with the status quo in the city.
In the end, the discussion should be about who you support, not math. Otherwise, the conversation would end abruptly and we would never have change.
Spoof:
Math is critical because people need to know what they are getting into before they spend all this time and effort. Better to think about it long and hard before getting one self “Joan MacGregored”
I was told there was going to be no math in politics. Who can I talk to about this?
Math is good when calculating the equal spacing and cost for planting drought tolerant plants in a 10X10 area. Timmy’s area of expertise, and only gained with at least an undergraduate degree.
I’m pretty sure that Boydston and Gauney both understand the math. They’ve taken their abuse and they both know what they’re up against. Their efforts have already made an impact in our city; people see this and respect it. Each time this happens, the political machine (as you called it) weakens.
I think most people understand the math so I don’t understand why you keep giving us this information like it’s something new. No matter what you give a dog, the same crap comes out. As a thinking man, maybe you could add something more to the political aspect of this dialog?
I realize that it’s easier to write about math than take a stand on a substantive issue that might offend some but I suppose the incumbents count on people like you to keep the public apathetic.
As a columnist, you know that the media is key to swaying election outcomes. How responsible are you with this tool? If our paper (and you) had the balls to write the truth, the incumbents would have been gone long ago.
“If our paper (and you) had the balls to write the truth, the incumbents would have been gone long ago”.
Well said and on the mark. “The” city council is corrupt or it at least walks in the shadow of impropriety.
Ben Curtis, an insider himself, even acknowledged this fact.
Tim;
Moberg got more votes than he deserved!!
OK Spoof:
TimBen, Dave Gauny, nice guys. Not that impressed.
OK Tim:
Oh but, wow, how your impressed with the leadership qualities of Ferry, McLean, and Weste?
At least enough so that your only real comment is that the math makes it difficult to replace them. Powerful stuff. You belong at that paper. Your content is right on par.
God Bless America!
We don’t understand local issues but we sure as hell can tell you how to deal with Afghanistan, health care and the budget!
We are good!
Timmy, if you are impressed with the current council your recommendations/position have little value and you best stick with landscaping..
Hi Tim. I am impressed with David Gauny. I have had several lengthly conversations with him on a variety of topics and have found him to be a good listener. He asks intelligent questions, keeps an open mind, is thorough without evasion in his answers,and seems to be someone who strives to work towards solutions without making brash statements which only serve to alienate people. He is calm, deliberate, and steady when making his arguments after researching all sides of the issue (s) and comes across as a reasonable thinking man. He has always treated me with respect even if we disagree on an issue and I would be very comfortable having him represent me on the Council.
Tim – Let’s not forget Nov 8, 2005:
MacGregor = 16,751 votes (47.32)
Todd = 15,621 (44.13%)
Vitale = 3,024 (8.54%)
I also love math — MacGregor won by the slimmest of margins and consensus was only because there was a third contender thrown into the mix that she was able to save her seat.
Point is that I don’t believe incumbancy is infallible. That said, it’s an uphill battle for a challender to educate voters on why he/she is the better choice.
BTW – Joan stopped speaking to me after that election. She does, however, manage to muster an occasional smile from time to time.
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES SPECIAL STATEWIDE AND CONSOLIDATED ELECTIONS NOVEMBER 8, 2005 PAGE 15.3
SANTA CLARITA COMM COLLEGE SANTA CLARITA COMM COLLEGE
GOV BD MEMBER OFFICE NO 1 GOV BD MEMBER OFFICE NO 3
JONATHAN D
KRAUT
ERNIE
TICHENOR
FINAL OFFICIAL
STATEMENT OF VOTES CAST
RONALD A
VITALE
TERESA
TODD
REGISTRA- BALLOTS JOAN W MAC
CITY/PREC TION CAST GREGOR
GRAND TOTAL VOTE 114913 55377 18091 18686 3024 15621 16751
——————————————————————————–
Okay, the formatting turned out a little quirky on that last cut-and-paste chart.
Spoof:
To clarify, I don’t get any money from The Signal. That is only a hobby. I make my living from financial type work so that is probably why I am so in love with numbers and have trouble with the “vision” thing.
Teresa;
MacGregor only needed one more vote to win. That’s why she was on the Board for the last 4 years rather than you. To be very frank, you were not the better candidate than she was 4 years ago. An educated public saw that
Teresa
1,000 votes is not a slim margin in a local election. People need to focus on the absolute numbers and not the percentages because the denominators are not large.
Tim – I did not intend to imply that you were being paid for your content or that it’s somehow shaped by monetary interests.
Merely commenting that the quality of your contribution is consistent with the paper’s reporting.
I also did not suggest that vision is a requirement to opining. I just hoped that you might someday expand your monologue to include the candidates’ qualities, or an actual opinion about their positions.
Stick with math if you prefer. I’ll just reduce my effort to seek a productive conversation with you on this issue.
Petz is wondering how the Christmas card Mikec sends to the Colley family will read.
Publius: I respect your opinion, but believe I would have been a good addition to the college board. At the time, Joan was a great cheerleader for the college, but a wee bit out of touch with the community she served.
Tim: You’re right — absolute numbers reign. Let’s not forget Nov 4, 2003 in the Hart race: 10643 votes cast, Mercado 3475, Todd 3458 for a difference of 17 votes. Ironically, the same number of votes lost on the Measure S bond two years prior. Sidenote: Messina fared with 1933 votes that race; he’s come a long way since then.
And Publius is correct, a winner need only win by one vote. There’s no difference in the outcome whether you lose by one vote, 17 votes or 10,000 votes.
All things happen for a reason and I have no regrets. I’ve had the privledge to serve on the Sulphur Springs Board and was able to elevate important issues during my Hart and COC campaigns. Add to that, losing those races gave me the opportunity to pursue other paths, which I am grateful for. All’s good.
Are you sending him to Puppy heaven?
I did a Facebook status update blasting that stupid Mayor Dude campaign when the City first began wasting money on it.
So… Jeff. …. Let me get this straight… You want the city to stop promoting a popular program because you don’t like the mayor?
Where did you get that from?
The Mayor Dude campaign amounts to free advertising courtesy of the taxpayers for the benefit of a City Council candidate. Period.
as long suspected, SCVfan is Frank Ferry. He’s the only person who would describe the program as “popular”.
Jeff is right, it’ unprecedented, distorted and wholly inappropriate in the term immediately prior to the election.
So I’m assuming you didn’t like the “Got Mayor” program for Cameron either. Or the governor appearing in the “California” commercials encouraging Economic Development?
So essentially, no public outreach campaigns for the City Council/Mayor if there is an election. Or maybe it’s ok for the first year and then regardless of internet hits or resident involvement it should be cancelled during an election. Got it.
Ha ha Mike…You’re not even close. I’m not an elected official and never will be. Signing up for that job is just crazy. Especially – with residents to deal with.
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Tim,
SOMEONE did beat an incumbent and did so handily: Jensen for Hart school board.
Maribel