Updates for recent election columns

Here are updates on topics in recent columns about the upcoming election:

--Reader replies to a question in my Sept. 20 column about whether Barack Obama will be better off this year than he was four years ago with Yorba Linda’s voters matched the response I’ve received on such subjects as low-cost housing, the city-owned Black Gold Golf Club and the 3-2 City Council vote for a new police service provider.

Although not all survey respondents predicted the percentage of the Yorba Linda vote the president will win, all but one forecast he’d take the same or less than the 33.4 percent he won in 2008 against John McCain’s 63.6 percent.

Predictions for this November range from 21 to 38.9 percent, so far. You can still email your forecast to jimdrummond@hotmail.com; whoever comes closest to Obama’s per cent will be designated Yorba Linda’s “top political prognosticator” after the election.

Obama bested Al Gore’s 28.7 percent in 2000 and John Kerry’s 26.5 in 2004.Usually, about 80 percent of Yorba Linda’s registered voters (43,795 at current count) turn out for a presidential election.

--Another high-volume email topic every two years involves campaign signs posted on public rights-of-way. My Sept. 13 column mentioned some of Yorba Linda’s too-often-violated temporary sign rules, copies of which the city provides each council candidate.

Recent drives on Yorba Linda Boulevard and Imperial Highway within the city limits revealed fewer signs to date this year but several violations of city regulations, mostly involving sign size and placement within 15 feet of a driveway or intersection.

Fortunately, so far no candidate has affixed illegal signs to the fences near the Veterans Memorial on Valley View Avenue, a subject of considerable controversy two years ago.

Oddly, several signs, some violating the 15-foot rule, promote Carol Downey, Judi Carmona and Eric Padget for the Placentia-Yorba Linda school board, even though they won’t be on the ballot because nobody filed to run against them.

--Six of the seven council candidates are supported by competing political action committees: Yorba Linda Residents for Responsible Representation favor incumbents Nancy Rikel and Mark Schwing and newcomer Ken Peterson, and United Citizens for Yorba Linda is promoting Gene Hernandez, Lou Knappenberger and Craig Young.

Happily, leaders of both of these groups have stated they won’t be accepting donations from developers or city contractors, as have the candidates they support. Two PACs active in past elections, Past and Present Elected Officials Representing Yorba Linda and Committee for Improved Public Policy, were almost entirely financed by developers.

--Jim Winder ends his third council term in December as the first member impacted by the voter-approved term-limit law, which took effect Dec. 13, 1996. Others seated after that date retired or were defeated after one or two terms or are still serving. Members seated before the cut-off, including Mark Schwing, were eligible for three more terms. (Schwing won in 1988, 1992 and 1996, lost in 2000 and 2002 and won again in 2008.)