WE ARE RULED BY CORRUPT AND INCOMPETENT "CLOWNS OF ESTABLISHMENT"
by Richard Johnson
   As we survey the ruins of government in Mendocino County, and contemplate all we have done to promote better regulation of Big Business in its constant quest to turn nature into money and garbage, words really fall short of describing the magnitude of our failure.     From Forests Forever, the special Forest Practice Rules, and the grading ordinance of yesterday, to the Eel River and UVAP debacles of today, we must conclude that government -- and especially local government in Mendocino County -- only exists to facilitate destruction and privilege. It's painful to recognize, but rational to do so.
    We can think back and see the trust we misplaced in such idiosyncratic and unprincipled characters as Norman deVall, Charles Peterson, John Pinches, Hal Wagenet and David Colfax or the well spoken but inconstant liberals like Liz Henry, Seigi Sugawara. We are ashamed to contemplate the John Ball affair, the self dealt salary increase and the travel budget scandal to see that we have verily been casting pearls before swine.



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The CLOWNS OF ESTABLISHMENT represent moneyed interests, and the network of self serving bureaucrats who treat county government as their own farm where they are to enjoy lifetime employment. Having shredded all attempts at reform, rebuked all who have sought equity, flaunted their power to lavish favors on their friends in Big Business, they heap up their own salaries, grasp at whatever lucrative perks they can accumulate and laugh at any measure designed to bring them under control. There are no "liberals" or "conservatives" here, only BOSses.
    The dishonorable supervisors WATTENBURGER, COLFAX, SMITH(indicted not yet), PINCHES and DELBAR. The front three are up for re-election this year. See Election Reports for more information. Official photograph.
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    And can you believe that only last year, the KING OF CORRUPTION, Mr. Al Beltrami was still stalking the halls of administration, after 25 YEARS of bankrupting the government and presiding over a cesspool of nepotism where birth into certain landowning families was guarantee of a lifetime county paycheck?
    It makes one wince with embarrassment, But there it is.
    Today, there are no liberals, no conservatives in county government. Surely on the board of supervisors there is only one party in power: the Clowns of Establishment. Within their own little world they preen and pose and carry out their little intrigues and petty tantrums and caprices for who knows whom.
     The public has learned long ago to avoid their meetings because they speak in a secret language, finishing each other's sentences and mumbling in obscure acronyms. They come, they go, they talk this way and that, but they always decide to allow development to move up to the next level. Today, NOTHING stands in the way of the Southern Californication of Mendocino County.
    Can anyone say Colfax is "better" than Delbar? Can you distinguish between Wattenburger and Smith in their policy positions? Last October, Eselle Palley Clifton changed history when she expressed to me her utter astonishment at their dysfunctionality, cupidity, and incompetence. These are our leaders? And they just raised their own pay by a breathtaking 40%.
    The reason we are in this position is that while we have political power as an environmental movement, we have not elected an environmentalist to the BOS since Dan Hamburg. When you think about Measure G in 2000 with 58% of the vote, Measure H of 2004 with 56% of the vote, and Measure Y of 2006 with 64% of the vote countywide, you clearly see we could elect a supervisor in every supervisorial district IF WE DECIDED TO.     But unfortunately, fellow environmentalist, we are like children who obediently stay within the boundaries set for us by those we consider our betters: those who control things here. It's as if we made a pact to be irrelevant and we have never broken our word.
    Until now, we have used the Sole Proprietor model of electoral participation in which the candidate -- a person of means and leisure, not to mention interests to promote - decides to go into business for themselves and proceeds to hire volunteers. This was the method used by Els Cooperrider, a person who never participates in anything she doesn't personally run like it was her restaurant. There is another way.

The Voters' Union Model:
    In the Voters Union model, a committee of citizens selects itself to elect someone not yet named. In a supervisorial district, this would be a District Voters Union Committee. In an at large city, there could be one committee to elect a slate of candidates.
    The committee drafts a Platform, which is a contract with the unnamed candidate which describes the principles according to which the candidate must act once they are in office, perhaps even specifying how the official will vote once they are elected. The Committee holds the candidate responsible for implementing the platform. If once elected the official does not live up to the platform, the committee picks another candidate next election.
    Once elected, the official appoints members of the District Voters Union Committee to their staff, if any, and to boards and commissions. The Committee is responsible to the community to make sure their chosen candidate adheres to the promises under which they were elected.
    To get to that point, the District Voters Union Committee pledges to do political work: voter registration, voter ID, and finally GOTV. They also raise money, and send out mailers.
    Once established and with their platform in hand, the Committee invites prospective candidates to apply for support. They pick one as their candidate and move into operation.
    The election is June 3, 2008.
    This model, which was actually used to elect Norman deVall to his initial term as fifth district supervisor several decades ago, is a remedy for our continued failure to effectively use our political rights to achieve what we deserve here at the county level: an environmental utopian showcase of our values in action. Instead, we have allowed a tiresome series of opportunists and charlatans to abuse our trust for their own gratification.  Until we decide to win, we will continue to lose.