Monday, May 15, 2006

Sample Ballots Are Here

Most of us should have received our sample ballots for the June Primary by now. Those of us in third parties got blessed with a combined ballot with all the third party primary ballots included. Not a bad idea to save time and money, I suppose.

I'll be sending the wife's to her, in San Francisco, so she can send in the Absentee Ballot application. First time she's ever had to do that, I believe.

More and more people are going the absentee route. As for me, I think I'll continue to go vote at our local polling place, which for my precinct is the Odd Fellows Hall on Buhne Street in Eureka.

A couple times in past years I've voted early. A lot of people don't know that you can go to the Elections Division office, at 3033 H Street in Eureka, and vote weeks ahead of the election. I used to like doing it that way to avoid the chance of getting stuck, should there be a line at my normal polling place (which rarely happens).

I stopped doing that for a couple reasons: First, it seemed like just an extra hassle for the people at Elections Division, them having to drop everything to give me a ballot and process it. Yes, I do care about making extra work for people when there's no need to.

Second, the last time I voted early, I changed my mind in one race after I voted, and wished I'd held off and voted on Election Day. After I'd voted there was a candidate forum on TV and, in one of those rare instances where a candidate forum changed my mind, I'd wished I'd voted for someone I hadn't.

Not that I'd voted for someone else. As I've mentioned here before, I often don't vote in city council races as I see no compelling reason to vote for any particular candidate. In that particular instance, one candidate said at least one thing that actually changed my mind.

My attitude may change, though, as it looks like the Left, via Chris Kerrigan, may be trying to turn the Eureka City Council into an Arcata City Council clone. That's the impression I've been given from recent news reports, anyway.

Nothing really against the Left OR Chris Kerrigan. Heck, it's good to have some divergent views among council critters, but I don't want the Eureka City Council to end up like Arcata's. That would be a bad thing.

As far as absentee voting: Nope. I'll save that for when I'm confined to a wheelchair, assuming I live that long.

50 Comments:

At 9:30 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Fred,

You see the Time Standard DA poll?

...Surprising

 
At 9:39 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nothing against the Left, Fred? Many of your posts on this blog make it appear that you do.

 
At 10:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow! That Times Standard poll is shocking! Paul in a huge landslide! Rose must not be hitting it hard.

 
At 10:06 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ron Kuhnel is no Dave Meserve, the former actually has a brain and knows how to get along with people. This isn't to say he's anti-Green though, he was quite eloquent in his defense of Xandra Manns's appointment to the Planning Commission.

 
At 10:59 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Eureka politics is not about Left v. Right, it's more about Lord Arkley v. The People. Question is, are we going to have a democracy or continue with the kind of government where the very rich can whisper sweet nothings in a council member's ear (see. J. Leonard) in order to sidetrack a public process for private gain?
It's going to be up to the people of Eureka in November, n'est pas?
(that's French, y'know - like the rest of the world that sees through Bush and his minions like Lord A.)

 
At 11:05 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, maybe Paul will get 666 votes.

 
At 11:27 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

10:59 a.m. I guess you were not born here in Humboldt because you give very little credit to those of us who were. Don't speak down to us. Or better yet, go back to where you came from.

 
At 11:30 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Richard, your troubles with Arkley are your problem.

 
At 11:36 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

10:59 was born in Eureka, CA. and is sorry if you think he is talking down to you. That would be your problem, n'est pas?

 
At 11:54 AM, Blogger Anon.R.mous said...

Wow! You must be learned you know FRENCH.

Francia aspira

 
At 12:54 PM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

9:30 wrote: "You see the Time Standard DA poll?".

Now that you mention it I have. Surprising if only because I'm surprised that the lefties were able to manipulate that poll so quickly. Of course, it could just be that one or two people are deleting their cookies and voting over and over again. I suspect that's what's happening.

9:39 wrote: "Nothing against the Left, Fred? Many of your posts on this blog make it appear that you do.".

I suppose that may be true, but around here, all the bad things happening are started by the lefties. The right wingers don't have the power to do much. If they get some blue noses in office that try prohibiting one thing or another, I'll get on their case too.

 
At 1:14 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

yeah the democrat apologist sellouts like to forget that the nsa mass spying program began under truman and was greatly expanded under clinton...you cant trust the two party system dummies!

 
At 1:43 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

all the bad things happening are started by the lefties.

Geeze, Fred, no bias there. You're argument is a little over the top. The recall was started by the right wingers. Right wingers paid out-of-town signature gatherers $8 per signature to lie to people to get them to sign the recall petition.

Right wingers wiped pepper spray in the eyes of non-violent protestors which sparked a meritorious lawsuit that cost the county millions.

Right winters started the shadow group "Eureaka Coalition for Jobs" to start a smear campaign right before an election.

Rich right wingers threaten to sue the county every time the county implies it might not do what the Rich right winger wants.

I'm sure you can put together a list of things Lefties have done that you don't like, but to say ALL bad things are started by the left is just stupid.

 
At 4:01 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I guess 11:36 is speaking of himself in the third person.

Or, it's his other personality that blogged earlier.

 
At 4:13 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

somebody's spiked the TS poll, it's going up 300 in about 10 minutes.

 
At 5:00 PM, Blogger ΛΕΟΝΙΔΑΣ said...

"Polling place is the "Odd Fellows Hall"? Is that ironic or what?

 
At 5:03 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think that someone has their finger on the scale...

 
At 5:26 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey! That Times Standard poll can't be getting that many votes! Someone has way too much time!

 
At 5:58 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

If it's a race betwen who can clear their cookies the fastest - what does it show? The Gallegos boys have to cheat to win. Is that a precursor to the election? Hope all those poll-watchers who are so concerened about fair elections aren't going to look the other way just cause it's Paul.

 
At 5:59 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

10:59 and 11:36 are both Harmony Groves. Shouldn't you be gearing up for the next council meeting instead of trolling blogs Harmony?

 
At 7:39 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

yeah right, harmony groves is from beverly hills and she should have stayed put

 
At 8:41 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Neely has a Push Poll going. Wonder if she will declare hers, or if she'll try to hide it like Gallegos.

 
At 6:39 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Trully if she is made Mayor Arcata will suffer even more than it already has on her watch. Fear not good people for soon I shall create a resolution making me Arcata City Mayor for LIFE. Masochistic? Yes. Neccessary? YES! I already have the support of Clowncilmwn Pitino and Wheetley. I also have the support of various county supervisor candidates and other Arcata gov't employees. I also have the suport of the business community. Harmony, Dave...Leave Humboldt now before you are tarred and feathered. Oh and one more thing. Hail George Bush...Hail the future Emporer for Life.

 
At 8:06 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

oh my god this is too funny.

I had Poll call last night about Measure T. I was asked a series of questions about Measure T and the pollster tried to get me to vote for it. This pollster was Ken in Los Angeles and sounded like a gang banger who either had a bad cold or was snorting drugs on the phone. He also sounded like he had the education of a rock.

Way too funny - the "local control for business only" folks are using non local gang banger pollsters from Los Angeles.

Also - there was a Neely push poll also - the guy who called was from Ontario Canada.

What a bunch of hypocrites!

 
At 9:54 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dikeman got more votes in the Recall than Gallegos got when he was elected.
Dikeman's support has gone up and Gallegos' has gone down.
Gallegos won by a thin margin the first time, not a landslide, as commonly told.
Maybe Vroman will give him a job in Mendocino with Stoen, since his next fundraiser is sponsored by Vroman
"Sponsored by Alternative Energy Engineering, Ron Sinoway, Jared Rossman, Steve Dazey, Norm Vroman, Les Scher"
The company you keep, Paul....

 
At 10:02 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Measure T and Bonnie Neely using out of town labor? And the press is not all over this? It must not be true. If it is, where are you times standard and eureka reporter!

 
At 10:16 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

votelocalcontrol, get nonlocalhelp, no make that expensive nonlocalhelp to get your way. no one will notice, and no one will care

 
At 10:16 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Is there a polling business in Humboldt?

 
At 10:21 AM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

9:54 wrote: "Maybe Vroman will give him a job in Mendocino with Stoen, since his next fundraiser is sponsored by Vroman".

Hey, watch it. Norman Vroman is a registered libertarian voter. He was a card carrying LPer at one time. Why he's supportive of Gallegos is beyond me.

 
At 10:42 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

A push poll is a political campaign technique in which an individual or organization attempts to influence or alter the view of respondents under the guise of conducting a poll. Push polls are generally viewed as a form of negative campaigning. The term is also sometimes used incorrectly to refer to legitimate polls which test political messages, some of which may be negative. Push polling has been condemned by the American Association of Political Consultants.

The mildest forms of push polling are designed merely to remind voters of a particular issue.
More negative are attacks on another candidate by using polls. These attacks often contain information with little or no basis in fact.

True push polls tend to be very short, with only a handful of questions, so as to make as many calls as possible.

The main advantage of push polls is that they are an effective way of maligning an opponent ("pushing" voters away) while avoiding responsibility for the distorted or false information used in the push poll.

The question: Is Bonnie Neely and the Measure T crew using these tactics. It should be public if they are.

How do feel about this Fred?

 
At 12:01 PM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

Push polls? We've discussed them here before. They're fairly obvious to me. I wonder just how they effective are in changing other people's minds.

Whether this latest round of polling is a push poll, I don't know. I'll wait for them to call me to decide.

 
At 12:52 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anyone else get a poll call about Measure Turd?

This is just something those "democracy" jerks would do.

Hey 8:07AM - what were the questions?

 
At 1:41 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Polling costs nearly $10k just to get started.

 
At 2:04 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

A push poll is not a short call. It is long and contains statements followed by "Will you change your mind now?" kinds of questions. They are long because they need time to try to influence the person being called, and because they have to wrap in other questions to disguise their true purpose.
The question isn't whether you like polls - but, in this case, will their cost be declared or hidden.
My guess is Neely will disclose, and not try to hide it, unlike Gallegos.

 
At 4:13 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Pretty much the same groups running and supporting measure T opposition, Fleming and Dikeman. Checking by the sign placements and such.

 
At 4:54 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Now that is funny! I don't care who you are!

 
At 8:26 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

4:13 - what planet are you on?

 
At 11:32 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Famous cross-examination by Mendocino District Attorney Norm Vroman:

Vroman: "And you have been convicted of a felony previously, haven't you?"

Defendant: "So have you!"

 
At 12:36 PM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

Yep. For income tax evasion. My kind of guy!

 
At 2:05 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Vroman, Stoen and Gallegos

what a combo

 
At 10:39 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Paul shuld be so proud to have someone like Vroman backing him.

 
At 11:41 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just got back from Mendo County and happened to cross paths with Vroman at a candidates forum(all of the sheriff, da, supe, tax collector, etc) in Willits. Rumor has it that he has a good shot at re-election. No sign of Stoen...

Mike Harvey

 
At 12:06 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

he's off in fort bragg writing his memoirs

 
At 8:05 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yeah - the memoirs of a serial killer.

 
At 10:36 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I had heard once, don't know if it's true, that people who did not comply with the People's Temple rules seemed to "commit suicide" on a somewhat steady basis.

 
At 10:58 AM, Blogger Rose said...

This is from an old newspaper clipping (some words were unreadable)

Eric Krueger (Ukiah Daily) Journal Staff Writer

Sources familiar with the People's Temple have linked Rev. Jim Jones to several deaths in Mendocino County and the Bay Area over the past seven years, but no concrete evidence has been presented to substantiate the claims.

According to these sources, Temple members, acting on Jones' orders have murdered at least five people.

The sources are firm in their conviction that Jones ordered the execution of Temple members he perceived as a threat to the church.

"I think he is the cause of several deaths around here," a source said.

Jones was said to be responsible for the death of Maxine Swaney who died in a 1976 auto accident on Highway 101 near Gobbi Street.

"Jim said the reason she died was because she was planning on leaving the church," said one source. The source indicated that Swaney's car had been run off the road.

According to the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office files, Maxine Elizabeth Swaney, 52, of Redwood Valley, died when the car she was a passenger in went out of control, ran off the freeway and rolled over five times.

Swaney was crushed by the car after being ejected from it, files note.

Her husband Nathaniel, had been driving the car and was not injured. He told authorities he had apparently fallen asleep at the wheel.

Although the car was registered to Mr. Swaney, Sheriff's files had the People's temple listed as its legal owner.

Investigators found no evidence of foul play,

Files indicate the Swaney's operated a home care facility in Redwood Valley.

Sources also said the 1970 death of Maxine Harpe could be traced back to Jones.

The 30 year old divorced mother of three was found hanged in a garage near herTalmage residence.

The Sheriff's office listed the death as a suicide. No signs of violence were reported at or near the scene of her death.

But sources said Jones had Harpe killed because she was planning to leave the temple. "She knew too much," said one source.

Sources indicated Harpe's death was staged to look like a suicide. There were "too many accidents like that" involving people planning to leave the temple, a source observed.

Harpe revealed little in her reputed suicide note.

It read: "Call Jim (Randolph), it's very important, if he's not there, try Edith, tell her or Jim I'm not home and they should get here right away. Then stay in the house until they come."

The note was apparently left for one of Harpe's daughters.

Files indicate Harpe was having a relationship with Randolph, also a temple member and an employee of the county welfare department.

Shortly before Harpe's death, Randolph transferred at least $3,400 of her money to the temple. Files say the money was supposed to go into a fund - set up by the temple - for Harpe's children.

"Maxine didn't want any of this money for herself and wanted the children to have it," Randolph told investigators after Harpe's death.

He said he would sign the official statement for authorities after it was reviewed by Tim Stoen, at the time a temple member and Mendocino County assistant district attorney.

No signature appears on the statement read by the Journal.

According to the files, Stoen had helped set up the temple trust fund for Harpe's children. Files also note that former Mendocino County Sheriff Reno Bartolomei was a "custodian of the trust fund."

Around a year before Harpe's death, her sister had reportedly called the local welfare office. Fearing Harpe might commit suicide, the sister asked the office to check on Harpe's mental condition, sheriff's files show.

However, Randolph reportedly tampered with Harpe's file at the welfare office and apparently prevented any action based on her sister's request.

The 1974 death of Leo Bleier was yet another incident sources linked to Jim Jones and the People's Temple.

Sources said the 64 year old Redwood Valley man owned property the temple wanted. When Bleier refused to sell, Jones allegedly used two young girls from the temple to sexually entrap him.

This presumably resulted in the arrest of Bleier on charges of child molesting,

According to official files, Bleir's death was a suicide, involving a self inflicted gunshot wound and slashed wrists.

Investigators believed that he killed himself out of despair over his arrest.

Sources say he was shot on orders from Jim Jones.

Investigators found no signs of a struggle in Bleir's residence. He had owned the Redwood Valley Market.

According to sources, Jones was behind two murders in San Francisco. Jones, they said, had Christopher Lewis around age 35 gunned down in 1977.

Lewis was killed because he knew too much about Jones and the temple said sources. They said Lewis had been a bodyguard _and hit-man for Jones.___ had? ____ Jim ______

Lewis had been sentenced to perceived to and______ and? Jones was afraid he'd start ____ ____ _there, the___ sources said.
(The above paragraph is unreadable.)

The San Francisco Police Department has confirmed that Lewis was shot and that there was an investigation of the case.


An SFPD spokesman said he couldn't reveal more information about the case because the inspector in charge of it was out with an injury.

In a bizarre case, sources said Jones was responsible for the poisoning of young Curtis Buckly in San Francisco some four years ago.

The youth planned to leave the temple and speak out against it, sources said.


Jones reportedly told a congregation that Buckly, who was about 13 would die. A while later, Jones returned from a phone call and announced to his followers "Curtis Buckly just died with rat poison in a Coke," sources recalled.

Jones then told the youth's mother that her son would be reincarnated said the sources.

According to them the death was never investigated.

Neither San Francisco Police nor the coroner's office have any record of the death. The city's health department death registry would not release any information over the phone when called by the Journal

 
At 11:08 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Rose,

Wasn't there another couple in the East Bay that were murdered after being involved with the People's Temple also?

I also heard that money raised by the People's Temple was put in off shore accounts. Do you know anything about that?

 
At 12:55 PM, Blogger Rose said...

Yes. Al and Jeannie Mills may be the ones you are referring to:

Jeannie Mills wrote the book "Six Years With God."

She describes "The Blue-Eyed Monster" as related by a 5 year old - kindergarten age girl who had come back into her care..."I got in trouble in the church because I lied, and Father (Jones) said I'd have to go to the Blue-Eyed Monster. Then they took me in this dark room, and the monsters were all over the room. They said, "I am the Blue-Eyed Monster and I'm going to get you." Then a monster grabbed my shirt and tore it open.... ... "Then all of a sudden the monsters started to say, "I'm going to get you again" and then one hit me right here," she said pointing to her chest. "Then it felt like a knife was going right down to my back, and my body started to shake back and forth like this." ... "Then my teeth were tied together so I couldn't open them." ... "I couldn't believe it - it hurted so bad." A five year old child.

In other books you learn that the little girl is describing a darkened room filled with adults armed with cattle prods (thus the BLUE electric light). They zapped the child with the cattle prods, the impact of the electrical current locked the child's teeth together as they were propelled across the room to be hit yet again.

Beatings took place in "Planning Commission" Meetings. "The beatings were intensely brutal. … Many times the beatings would be done on children four and five years old. … ...beaten the number of times decided by Pastor Jones, often as many as 150 times. ...Jones would demand that a microphone be held to the child's mouth so that the audience could hear the groans of pain. ....:

"Following such beatings and punishments, the Temple's Attorney (emphasis added) secured protective legal documents, notarized parental releases and "requests" for punishment."

The books written by Jeannie Mills (aka Deanna Mertle) and Deborah Layton were written very shortly after the massacre, and relate their very personal stories of life in the People’s Temple - the gradual descent into madness and manipulation, and the reasons why they stayed. They do not paint themselves in a very favorable light. But even these accounts are somewhat sanitized as they rarely refer to specific people - often they will refer to “the lawyers”, or “one very high up”, “one of Jones’ most trusted advisors” when referring to Stoen. Sometimes they refer back to an incident and name him.

While Mills gives Stoen a walk, refers to ‘the attorneys’ but does not reference him by name when describing incidents, other accounts of the same incidents do name Stoen. She and her husband had “pressed an early suit against Stoen for fraud, though Stoen having defected, this was privately settled and dropped in the press.” (3) Mills and Stoen ultimately worked together in the final days, when Stoen had defected and begun his custody battle.

Unfortunately, there will be no clarification from Jeannie Mills. She and her husband Al and Daughter Daphene were murdered execution style in February of 1980.

There is SO much more to the story. READ THE BOOKS!

    The reporters accounts:

"Guyana Massacre, the Eyewitness Account" by Charles Krause of the Washington Post. He was on the airstrip the day of the shootings.

“The Suicide Cult - The Inside Story of the People’s Temple Sect and the Massacre in Guyana" by Marshall Kilduff and Ron Javers, Staff Correspondents of the San Francisco Chronicle

"Raven" by Tim Reiterman who currently works for the LA Times.

"White Night" by John Peer Nugent

    The Survivor's Accounts:

"Six Years With God" by Jeannie Mills

"Seductive Poison" by Deborah Layton

"Snake Dance - : Unravelling the
Mysteries of Jonestown " by Laurie Efrien Kahalas http://www.jonestown.com

"The Strongest Poison" Mark Lane (Chapter 18 is titled "Timothy Stoen", 55 pages)

    Other accounts:

"The Children of Jonestown" by Kenneth Wooden

 
At 3:44 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Can anyone provide documentation as to receiving out-of-area phone calls in regards to Measure T, as a "push poll" or otherwise?

 
At 6:27 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Did they use "Bellavia Reseach on Addictions" or Pacific Crest Research? Or Kerrigan's firm?

 

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