Recently in City Clerk Category

Rev. Raymond Turner, one of the leaders of an effort to change the City Charter in order to give the City Council - rather than the voters - power to appoint the City Attorney, City Clerk and City Treasurer said his group expects to begin signature gathering next week.

Proponents will need more than 10,000 votes to get their idea on a ballot.

Turner has said the elective nature of those offices is a factor in the city's political divisions. City Attorney James F. Penman, last re-elected in 2007, is not shy when it comes to voicing his policy views and often disagrees with Mayor Pat Morris and the council majority that generally supports Morris' ideas.

Penman considers himself a watchdog with a duty to speak his mind. He has said the charter's current form provides for the City Attorney's Office to serve as the legal representative of the electorate. Changing the charter, in his view, would result in City Hall's legal team serving at the behest of politicians.

Whoever's views win out, elected city attorneys are a rarity in California. Only 11 cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego, let voters decide who gets the job.

The last time San Bernardino voters had a choice, they chose to retain their power to elect the city attorney. Measure M, a more sweeping proposal that included provisions to change the City Attorney's and City Treasurer's offices into appointed positions, went down in 2000 with more than two-thirds of votes cast in opposition.

The City Counsel voted in the tail-end of its Monday meeting to hire an outside attorney to write the ballot summary for a proposed City Charter amendment.

The amendment would convert the offices of City Attorney, City Clerk and City Treasurer from elected to appointed positions. City Attorney James F. Penman said he and City Clerk Rachel Clark wanted to bring in a third party to handle the task since there is an inevitable conflict on a proposal regarding the nature of their own jobs.

A ballot summary is only one step in getting the proposal on the ballot. The proponents would need more than 10,000 signatures from registered voters to get the proposal on the ballot.

Developing ...

Pastor Raymond Turner confirmed this morning that he and submitted paperwork to the City Clerk's Office on Monday Tuesday to begin the process of changing the City Charter to make the City Attorney's post an appointed position.

The paperwork was returned because of a technical error in its wording, but Monday's submission marks the beginning of attempt to fundamentally change the way San Bernardino government functions.

The amendment would also transform the City Clerk's and City Treasurer's jobs from elected to appointed positions.

"I think it's going to help us be a more efficiently run city. You know the divisions we've had because those positions are elected," Turner said.

If City Clerk Rachel Clark or City Treasurer David Kennedy have been the source of any recent divisions lately, those fights have been well hidden.

City Attorney James F. Penman, of course, has had numerous disagreements with Mayor Pat Morris that don't need to be recounted here.

Penman could not be reached immediately for comment, but it's clear that he is the target of the charter amendment effort. This reporter will leave it to those who choose to publish comments on SB Now to debate whether Penman is an obstructionist or someone who exemplifies checks and balances in action.

Either way, amending the charter isn't easy. City Clerk Rachel Clark noted that half 15 percent of the city's registered voters - more than 10,000 people, would have to sign petitions asking for a change in San Bernardino's governing compact. The matter would then be placed before a vote of the people.

Clark did not wish to comment on the proposal to change the Charter as it relates to her job.

Just interviewed Mike Valles. He denied targeting Latino voters only for the Judith Valles attack letter that suggested Joseph Turner would use the office as an instrument of immigration enforcement.

This is Mr. Valles, pictured below outside of Monday council meeting at City Hall:

Here are Valles' answers to questions I asked this morning:

Mike Valles, a retired state legislative consultant, has served as City Clerk Rachel Clark’s campaign boss in her race versus challenger Joseph Turner this year.
Valles is a veteran of many campaigns over the years in San Bernardino, including two successful races he ran for his younger sister, Judith Valles.

Here is the interview:

*Rogers: A scathing letter writen by Mayor Judith Valles in opposition to Joseph Turner’s campaign was distributed by you. Some have suggested you only targeted voters with Latino surnames, is that true?

Valles: "No, what we did was target voters who were strong for Mayor Valles in the past, voters in precincts of the 1st, 3rd, 6th and 7th Wards. When you look at the demographics of the city and those wards in particular, a high preponderance of residents happen to be Hispanic.
But they were not earmarked to only Hispanic (voters), no."

The city clerk debates between incumbent Rachel Clark and Challenger Joseph Turner had gone about like this: Turner rips Clark for not being vigilant enough in ensuring tax code compliance and requiring business licenses of renters who house parolees and sex predators while Clark sticks to her 17 years of strong service platform.

A forum sponsored by two women's groups Tuesday night was a little different.

Turner came out swinging on a new front, ripping Clark for the campaign mailer written by former Mayor Judith Valles that overtly plays on the notion that Turner is a racist who would target Latinos.

"Now you tell me who's playing the race card," an indignant Turner said.

But Clark had some firepower of her own ...

click below for more and video clips ...

City Clerk Rachel Clark has stuck to her message, despite the unrelenting pressure of Joseph Turner, who has ripped her career as "17 years of mismanagement."

The closest Clark has come to firing back is touting her office staff as "coureous to all people," a veiled swipe at Turner's past anti-illegal immigration activism.

But now Clark's campaign has bankrolled a barbed letter-writing campaign by former Mayor Judith Valles.

Valles, in a letter sent to thousands of voters last week, rips Turner on Clark's behalf as fueled by "hatred" and set to turn the city clerk's office into "a branch of the INS."

We have obtained the letter. Read an excerpt of this thought-provoking piece below ...

Incument Clark squared off with Joseph Turner for a third time Wednesday, this time in front of the local Kiwanis Club at the San Bernardino Golf Course.

Click below for a few interesting notes and some pictures of Clark, Turner, and two other major San Bernardino political figures who were among the small crowd. Also below, for the first time on SBNOW, we have video clips to enhance our news coverage of this event.

We reported last Friday that Mayor Pat Morris was suddenly ubiquitous on telephone lines pitching Milligan for city attorney.

Now, thanks to a tip from you, SBNOW readers, we've nailed down the news that Union President Rich Lawhead is on the phone hyping Joseph Turner, (see pic below taken Sept. 6 during a Sun interview), as the right guy for city clerk ...