Cost and timing of special elections
This whole district discussion raises a few questions that have so far gone unanswered. Mainly, when would the election be and how much would it cost if it were a special election?
Fred Sykes, who along with about 20 other people has been pushing to get residents to vote on council districts during a special election, said that he would like to piggyback on the special election that is supposed to be held to replace Congresswoman Hilda Solis. That way, the election would only cost $10,000. But after speaking to assistant city clerk Sue Rush, there seems to be a few problems with Sykes' hopes.
- One, a special election date has not been yet been set, so determining whether the timing of the district measure would coincide with the special election is still unkown.
- Two, there may be portions of the city that is not represented by Solis, and therefore not everyone in the city could cast a vote.
- Three, regarding cost, I couldn't get a confirmation that it would cost the number Sykes said it would.
Then there is Councilman Mike Touhey, who wants to get a redistricting measure on the November ballot. It's cheaper that way, Touhey said. He predicted that a special election could cost as much as $127,000. Again, that is a number that I couldn't confirm with the city clerk's office.
It is clear there is a lot of back and forth between Touhey and Sykes, and I'm sure we will see more volleying tonight.
Isn't Fred Sykes that wannbe cop who shot and killed an innocent dog in a neighbors yard while the dog was in a cage??
This is a power grab by Roger Hernandez and Fred Sykes to take over our WC Council.
Hernandez the wife beater and Sykes the animal beater.
It sounds like a Mike Touhey is on the loose with his key pad. I fail to see the point other than to discredit someone. We could talk about Touhey coming to all the BP council meetings with his hands out but who cares he is a nobody with a revengeful attitude. I think all these council people need to shut up and do the job they were paid to do they already have the city in debit what's next!!!!!!!
When you put the core group pushing districting together Fred Sykes, Dana Sykes, Elsie Messman, Tom Messman and Alfed Williams they average since 1998 voting in 1.5 of the last 5 muni elections. These are the people that want a voice but have never voted. They want Districts but nothing changes for them they don't vote but they want a say on how you vote for your councilmembers, that's strange to me!
So this Sykes guy and his cronies don't vote but now he wants a seat on council so they get together to try and divide and conquer. I SAY NO!!! SEND EM PACKIN!!!!
Send em packin, not only do they not vote some of them just recently registered to vote and their in there 50's and 60's. They also have people helping them do the Districting, collecting signatures here in West Covina from Glendora Mark Smith and Azusa Mike Lee. These two guys don't even live in West Covina. It smells funny to me, how about to you?
Funny how if you run for City Council and don't win you can change the rules of the game so that you're odds of getting elected increase. These people don't care about W. Covina. They just care about getting themselves elected to Council. Yeah right, just what we need, more people like our Mayor running W. Covina. They're cut from the same cloth as Hernandez. Coincidently, he doesn't care about W. Covina either. I have been around people of wealth and power long enought to realize that for people like Sykes and Hernandez it is only about the power. Maybe he's not the only one but come on man, at least do a better job of hiding it.
Besides, did it ever occur to anyone that Fred Sykes worked up these districts. Wouldn't that be a conflict of interest? He ran for council and lost and he says he's running again in 09.
Look at the size of these proposed districts.... There not equal at all. The "hand full" of supporters for this bad idea claim they were created based on population... No way in heck is that right. What skills does the "hand full" possess that makes them experts in dividing a city?
The "hand full" say it's for better representation because the current council only care about their neighborhoods. And try to claim they all live in the same part of the city.... More bull from the "hand full". How would that be possible? They make decisions all over the community and live in different areas too. Just another excuse to try to fool the people into putting the "hand full" in office.
The "hand full" say, let Touhey pay for putting this on the ballot from his own pocket not the city's. But the "hand full" wants you to fork out the dough to pay for their special election to put this bad idea on a special ballot costing the tax payers hundreds of thousands......
I too smell fish! A whole lot of fish
Non-voters and non-elected officials want to tell use how to vote and spend our money. If they do this without power, can you image what will happen if they get any.
Now that Roger has made Sykes part of the planning commission we will see what happens.
Wow, so just being a citizen, a taxpayer and a resident is not enough to qualify as someone eligible to have an opinion on government policy. Thanks for the clarification.
Citizens, taxpayers and residents of course qualify as being eligible to have an opinion on government and issues, that's democracy; but remember that's why we have elections, so citizens can vote in their representatives to make decisions on our behalf.
It seems that Sykes and his cronies are still up to no good. They are still trying to get poor old Fred a seat on council, by trying to divide our City. Unfortunately for them more and more residents are seeing through their actions that they truly do not care about the residents and that they are more and more like Roger Hernandez. They will do anything to try and get some power and do not care if it's bad for West Covina to be divided with districting. Personally I would rather vote for 5 to represent me than only 1 who may not care about my concerns.
Seems like West Covina residents are becoming wise to the deceitful antics of Sykes and his small group of supporters. People are all talking about how his group is not being truthful to residents regarding districting and they are seeing the real reason is he just wants to get on council. He's just like his mentor Roger Hernandez and will do anything to get his way. But buyer beware, the truth always comes through.