Election held on higher ground
Imagine on-duty Brea police officers refusing to reveal their names or coaches and referees at youth sports events concealing their identities with masks or the Yorba Linda Star omitting bylines from news stories and publishing anonymous columns and unsigned letters to the editor.
Ridiculous, right? If these scenarios actually happened, you’d hear howls of protest from residents and the city’s elected and appointed leadership.
Yet similar behavior often occurs during election campaigns in the form of anonymous street signs, unsigned advertisements, phony e-mails and less-than-truthful Web sites and blogs posted by shadowy figures.
Sadly, before ballots are cast, city leaders and politically active citizens condemn only the anonymous actions that attack them or their candidates, as they ignore or even promote unsigned smears against opponents.
Of course, residents might dismiss this complaint because the issue just involves politicians slamming each other, and negative campaigns have become the accepted norm with anonymous attacks just another tool used by cynical political operatives.
However, these misdeeds hurt the entire community.
For example, low voter participation might have more to do with residents turned off by unsavory political practices than, as Councilman Jim Winder suggested at a recent council meeting, people happy with city government.
And a “hit your opponent with anything that sticks” attitude might explain why so many real leaders in the community won’t seek elective office. A common complaint from voters is the lack of truly outstanding choices on the ballot.
Also, a community that provides youth with excellent schools and many sports, cultural, religious and recreational opportunities should model for them a higher level of political discourse.
The next City Council election is in 2008, when three seats will be on the ballot, including those now held by Mayor Allen Castellano and Mayor Pro-tem Jim Winder, who will be completing second terms, and the individual elected Tuesday.
Voters supported a three-term limit for council members by a 15,087 to 6,906 vote in 1996. But they’ve twice supported a two-term limit: 17,604 to 4,817 in 1992 and 13,008 to 8,517 in 1996.
Maybe some potential top-tier candidates are listening so Yorba Linda voters will have better options next year.
A FINAL NOTE
Newsweek’s 2007 high school rankings are based on the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school last year divided by the number of graduating seniors.
Valencia High School moved up to 477 from 690 in 2006 and 869 in 2005. Esperanza High dropped to 692 from 499 in 2006 and 403 in 2005. El Dorado High wasn’t ranked in any year.
Longtime Yorba Linda resident Jim Bell, who began his teaching career at Valencia in 1976, is completing his first year as Tiger principal.
Ridiculous, right? If these scenarios actually happened, you’d hear howls of protest from residents and the city’s elected and appointed leadership.
Yet similar behavior often occurs during election campaigns in the form of anonymous street signs, unsigned advertisements, phony e-mails and less-than-truthful Web sites and blogs posted by shadowy figures.
Sadly, before ballots are cast, city leaders and politically active citizens condemn only the anonymous actions that attack them or their candidates, as they ignore or even promote unsigned smears against opponents.
Of course, residents might dismiss this complaint because the issue just involves politicians slamming each other, and negative campaigns have become the accepted norm with anonymous attacks just another tool used by cynical political operatives.
However, these misdeeds hurt the entire community.
For example, low voter participation might have more to do with residents turned off by unsavory political practices than, as Councilman Jim Winder suggested at a recent council meeting, people happy with city government.
And a “hit your opponent with anything that sticks” attitude might explain why so many real leaders in the community won’t seek elective office. A common complaint from voters is the lack of truly outstanding choices on the ballot.
Also, a community that provides youth with excellent schools and many sports, cultural, religious and recreational opportunities should model for them a higher level of political discourse.
The next City Council election is in 2008, when three seats will be on the ballot, including those now held by Mayor Allen Castellano and Mayor Pro-tem Jim Winder, who will be completing second terms, and the individual elected Tuesday.
Voters supported a three-term limit for council members by a 15,087 to 6,906 vote in 1996. But they’ve twice supported a two-term limit: 17,604 to 4,817 in 1992 and 13,008 to 8,517 in 1996.
Maybe some potential top-tier candidates are listening so Yorba Linda voters will have better options next year.
A FINAL NOTE
Newsweek’s 2007 high school rankings are based on the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school last year divided by the number of graduating seniors.
Valencia High School moved up to 477 from 690 in 2006 and 869 in 2005. Esperanza High dropped to 692 from 499 in 2006 and 403 in 2005. El Dorado High wasn’t ranked in any year.
Longtime Yorba Linda resident Jim Bell, who began his teaching career at Valencia in 1976, is completing his first year as Tiger principal.
posted by Jim Drummond at 12:00 PM
<< Home