2010 Oceanside City Council Election

Tonight I went to the Oceanside City Council chambers to sit in on the candidate forum for the special election we're having to fill Rocky Chavez' empty spot. It was sponsored by the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce and moderated by one of the members, maybe the president. I don't know exactly, because...

Confession:  L called me right as the session was started needing some help so I missed the first 30 minutes because I was talking to her. Sorry, priorities.

The forum had 7 candidates: Lloyd Prosser, Mike Lucas, Chuck Lowery, Ward O'Doherty, a write-in named Dowell and Ken Crossman.

Lucas was not nearly as looney as he was 2 years ago at the last one of these I attended; he's a slippery one. His website and campaign materials seem reasonable; you have to actually interact with him to get that he's a crank. He did claim that our water supply is not safe and does not meet Federal regulations for safety because he has it tested every year and it flunks. No details though. He has a real issue with water and development; he's lived here 30+ years and this is the second time I've heard him complain that there are too many houses and people here. No comment about what he would do about that, such as, I dunno, having the City buy up houses he doesn't like or something, but he doesn't believe in water conservation "because my house was built in 1975 and when I moved here there was enough water." He also commented that he'd vote "No" on everything.

Of the remaining candidates, Dowell doesn't stand a chance as a write-in and did not say anything noteworthy anyway. Crossman doesn't have a website and had no campaign materials available so he's out. That leaves Lowrey, O'Doherty and Prosser.

Lowery first; a lifetime Oceanside resident and now a former small business owner; he sold his bakery that he'd run for decades here in town a few months ago apparently. Basically supports redevelopment without sweetheart deals to developers, supports the idea of city employees paying into CALPERS (everyone did, no differentiation there). Surprising to me he does not support a city-funded July 4 celebration "in this recession." Supports re-sanding the beaches with taxpayer money (which is how it gets done, by the way).

O'Doherty is a new-comer to the political scene. He is a former TV show producer and director and is claiming a credit for the 1996 Olympics, the Academy Awards and Golden Globes and some other stuff. I haven't been able to find anything on that so my conclusion is that he was some peon second unit guy and not a part of the primary production team. He is now a "financial advisor" - you know, one of those useless professions whose services no one really needs. He seems like a decent enough guy, very earnest and frustrated at the "closed club" that is local politics. He seemed to be in favor of the same things everyone else was. Didn't support the beach sand thing, which tells me he hasn't lived in beach towns very much. Also thought we didn't accentuate tourism enough (but apparently won't pay to rebuild the beaches every Spring, go figure).

He did get off a funny comment during the Q&A where they were all asked "Do any of you have a family member already working for the city?" His comment was "I don't have any family members working anywhere."

By the way, there was a reason for that question...

And now to Lloyd Prosser. Of all of these guys, Prosser "looks" and "acts" like a politician - very smooth, very congenial. Comes off as reasonable. A life-long Oceanside resident (sort of since he was in the USMC and retired as a Lt Col but apparently was born here and went to Oside High and has lived here since at least retirement 20 years ago) he, again, seemed to be in line with the other 2 or 3 guys I was watching. He spent 17 years as an Oceanside Utilities Commission bureaucrat and is now some sort of government "consultant" (eyeroll). But, all that bullshit notwithstanding and this in my opinion is a big negative, his wife is Vicky Prosser, who is Jack "Cement Plant" Feller's personal assistant. So, I guess if you like that guy then you'll like Lloyd Prosser. I dunno, do we really need another frickin' USMC retired officer on the City Council? Rocky was such a success for the city, after all... (that was sarcasm).

There were several other questions asked by the moderator (where they came from I don't know, they weren't audience-sourced) that were semi-stupid in their form, such as "How many of you have ever signed the front of a paycheck?" Meaning, I suppose, how many of you have ever owned a business?" But were I a clerk working at a payroll company I could say "Yes" to that question. Later they were asked if they had ever "managed" a business, which you can say "yes" to and not be the owner. So, I'll go ahead and say some dipshit at the Oside Chamber of Commerce thought that first question was "clever."

I guess the Waste Management trash and recycling contract is crappy and everyone was all over that, too.

So, we're kinda same-old same-old as far as choices go here, meaning the pool of candidates do not represent any sort of radical agenda and they are all professional looking and acting, something that was also emphasized as important for council relations. The more moderate left leaning candidates actually have more relevant experience at running businesses than the more right leaning ones (one of whom has basically spent his entire adult life sucking on the government teat either in the military or as a civilian government bureaucrat), even though that always seems to be oh so very important to the right leaning voters.

How ironic, and not in a "black fly in your chardonnay" kind of way.

A quick note about Proposition K, the charter city proposition. This thing is a stinker, but not in the concept, it is a stinker in the execution. It was written by Associated Builders and Contractors lobbyist Bill Baber with/for Jack Feller (he's not smart enough to be able to write something like that himself). It's just their little project, done in secret with who knows what kind or "agreements" between them. I'm not being a loony here, that radical left leaning liberal loony newspaper the North County Times says this things sucks and should be given the heave-ho, because it among other things does not include language requiring competitive bidding for contractor jobs with the city. Hmmmmm... an ABC lobbyist not including language like that? Had to be a mistake, right?