MENDOCINO COUNTRY 12/20/09
ABOUT THE VOTERS UNION
The Voters Union of Mendocino County is a
nonpartisan organization of environmentalists for cannabis
decriminalization.
The Primary Mission of the Voters Union of Mendocino
County is to obtain, wield and increase local political power for and
by its members.
The Primary Objective of the Voters Union
is to continually replace Mendocino County supervisors until the board
is entirely occupied by true environmentalist freedom defenders.
The Platform and Bylaws of the Voters Union is
available on the Voters Union pages at"http://www.mendocinocountry.com"
While cannabis identified environmentalists may be
nearly half the population of Mendocino County, we have never been a
polical force because we have declined to seek political power. Our
opponents do .
Environmentalists like Ellen Drell who have run for
a seat on the board have been defeated, and those liberals like Norman
de Vall, Charles Peterson, Liz Henry, Seigi Sugarwara and David Colfax
were generally ineffective in
realigning political power in the county.
The board of supervisors as
always remains dominated by libertarian friends or members of the local
timber and ranching interests, and they are inimical to cannabis and
the people who grow and use it.
In our cannabis identified environmental community,
there is a general ignorance of government and its potential to protect
the environment, legislate for social justice and create prosperity.
There is a general aversion to awareness of important issues and a
reluctance to get involved in social change or movement activities.
While most of us vote, we are disempowered by
conventional free market politics where candidates choose themselves
and their campaign committees and run from the middle of the road,
avoiding issues.
Our community could gain political power by
reversing that relationship and forming the committee, drawing up a
platform and then selecting the candidate to enact the platform once
elected.
We call that the Voters Union model and it was used
decades ago to elect Norman de Vall to office the first time.
We also recognize that defeating an incumbent
supervisor is nearly impossible if there is only one challenger. There
must be at least two challengers in the primary election to lower the
incumbent's share to less than 50% of the vote.
We used that strategy in the 2008 supervisorial
elections and recruited additional candidates in the first and second
districts.
In the first district, the woman we selected got 19%
of the vote, Carre Brown got 37 % and the incumbent got 36%. Brown went
on to win the general election handily.
In the second district, the woman we selected got
25% and John McCowen got 33% and in the runoff, he was elected. There
were two other candidates who each garnered about 20%. The incumbent
who had voted for maximum buildout of the Masonite site in the Ukiah
Valley Area Plan declined to seek re-election.
Incidently, both the women we picked to run quickly
betrayed the Voters Union by forming their own committees. We did not
endorse them for the June election. In the second district, the
neophyte we had selected ended up seeking the endorsement of the
disgraced incumbent and his right wing friends, so unprincipled
is she.
On Monday, January 4, in lieu petitions will be
available for supervisor candidates. That means the June election
season is here.
In furtherance of its mission, the Voters Union will
try to call conventions to attract campaign committees in districts
three and five in 30 days. I have called a general meeting of the
Voters Union for Tuesday, December 22 at 6pm at our headquarters, 892
N. State Street in Ukiah to authorize and help design this plan, and to
discuss platform planks.
You are invited to join the Voters Union to help us
carry out this plan.