Today's Election

[aggienaut]

   Primary election. today.

   Today while I was walking to Fat Cat Cafe for lunch, I encountered some protestors on the street corner by the District Attorney building. They had a big banner that said "Prosecute Reisig!!!" In front of them a well-dressed and charismatic man was giving them earnest advice such as to hold the signs up high; and when a passing car heckled them he told them not to be dissuaded ("don't worry, when you do a protest there are always opponents"). I continued on to Fat Cat thinking that this man was probably Reisig's opponent, and that this tactic was pretty "such sauce," especially on elections day. I also haven't the faintest idea what one would want to prosecute Reisig for.
   At Fat Cat the owner, Edna, just told me to go back in the kitchen and get my own soup, before I'd even ordered (had in fact shown up behind a five person line), and I just paid when I was done and there was no line. I heart the Fat Cat Cafe.
   Returning past the street corner (about 40 minutes after my first pass), the well-dressed man was still there, but he was on his phone. As I waited to cross the street he got off the phone and addressed the protestors: "well, that was a tax-payer, and they said I should go back to work, so I guess I'm going to do that." He then tried to shake the protestor's hands, but one by one they each rebuffed him. And then I realized, this man WAS Jeff Reisig!

   Obviously he's done something to piss off some people enough to protest him (but then again its easy for a Deputy DA / aspiring DA to make enemies), but the grace with which he faced his protestors greatly impressed me. In his manners towards the protestors there was not a hint of avarice, and while in hindsight it was kind of saucy of him to give them advice, he did so with sincerity. And he spent probably his entire lunch break with them. He solidly won my vote today.


   And now, I'm going to go vote. Lamar Heystek for city council! No on Measure G! (Measure G, a flat tax of $49 per lot of land per year, regardless of the value of the land, is completely regressive -- there would be no obstacle to the city council tying it instead to the value of the land, except for their regressive nature)
   My money is on Mike Levy getting lowest votes -- he's trying to play both sides, but former city council members Asmundson & Forbes blow him out of the water for the Establishment vote, & Heystek & Roy blow him out of the water for the student vote. Unfortunately I think former Mayor Asmundson is a sure bet, and Forbes probably has better odds than Heystek for the second spot, but I still think Heystek has a good chance.
   Retardedly, and against the advice of myself and a number of his other advisors, Heystek has actually teamed up with Forbes and sent out a joint mailing. This despite the fact that as I said Forbes is in my opinion Heystek's most direct rival. I think Forbes & Asmundson teamed up with weaker candidates (Asmundson in an epic pity-party has teamed up with Levy) because they realized they were the greatest threat to one another - that and their core support group of crochety Davis bougousie are already all voting for both of them but they want to trick students into voting for them too.

   Anyway, I'm going to go get my vote on now. Then I'm going to nap. Then I'm going to fire ze missiles. This is not a thirty thirty entry.

Comments

[insolent-pool.livejournal.com]

A quick Google search returned the following:
----------------------------
We need to get Pat Lenzi elected so we don't have to read about Jeff Reisig and the gross misuse of gang injunctions and other civil rights violations levied at innocent residents of the Bryte and Broderick neighborhoods!

Reisig has gained prominence and generated controversy for writing a gang injunction against the "Broderick Boys" gang in February 2005, which prohibits identified gang members in the West Sacramento communities of Broderick and Bryte from associating in public, except at school, church and other specified locations.

The injunction prompted an outcry from some community members who said the gang didn't exist and others who said the injunction was overbroad.

As Karen Bernal of Sacramento Democracy has written as an outcry to supporters, "Many residents who have been on the receiving end of the current D.A.'s approach to law and order are all walking for Pat, including Arturo Solario, the man who was unjustly detained for 17 days without charge over the packback incident in West Sacramento when Bush came to town. If that's not a vote of confidence for someone, I don't know what is!!

We need to get Pat Lenzi elected so we don't have to read about Jeff Reisig and the gross misuse of gang injunctions and other civil rights violations levied at innocent residents of the Bryte and Broderick neighborhoods!"
---------------------
This made me giggle.

Gang Injunctions

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

well thats just silly. They're beef is with the judge who authorized it, not the prosecutor who is bound to do what he can and couldn't have done that without a judge. And really, their beef isn't with the judge so much as the legislators who authorized it. So.. yeah. They can suck it.


And he certainly can't be prosecuted for something the Court approved...

Re: Gang Injunctions

[insolent-pool.livejournal.com]

He's the DA. The public turns on him first.
Although the part about the gang not existing does catch my attention.. if that's true (don't know the guy, so I can't say), he could have put political pressure on the courts.
Then again, it would be nearly impossible to catch him. *shrugs*

Re: Gang Injunctions

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

I think thats ridiculous. How could he have put political pressure on the Courts? Maybe if he was a governor or something, MAYBE, but even then. As it is he's not even a full DA, he can't do shit the judge doesn't want him to do. I'm fairly certain the "Broderick Gang" exists, I believe they may have been involved in the "Halloween Murders" I mentioned earlier. Either way I have faith in the judicial system and believe that the Judge must have seen compelling evidence that the gang did exist and needed to be broken up (in particular since a gang injunction is apparently super rare). And so, in my personal opinion, the injunction could not have been an abuse of the law.

He can't be prosecuted for it, and the DA is bound to pursue crime, but the public should vote for a DA which will emphasize the type of crime they want to see prioratized, and if one disagrees with his heavy emphasis on gangs then one should vote for his competitor. ...but again its ridiculous to say he's a badperson for what he's done.

Heck it was probably even the head DA that assigned him to the case, he just happened to do an unusually good job prosecuting it.

Re: Gang Injunctions

[insolent-pool.livejournal.com]

Like I said, I don't know.. I'm from/in Texas. I'm saying that it's possible, a DA does have enough political force to put some pressure on things.
But, again, *if* something like that happened, it would be difficult to prove.. so chances are this is just a smear campaign (in my personal opinion).

Personally, I don't vote on the issues presented. They are rarely upheld. I dive into the background of the person in question (if I can find anything, that is), and base my judgement on previous action.

[anonymous-frosh.livejournal.com]

I hope Asmundson doesn't win, and I've heard quite a bit about the Forbes-Heystek combo. Levy and Asmundson received some of the same endorsements, but Levy doesn't seem to have much of a presence. I support him, especially after talking with him, but he doesn't have the incumbents advantage, and had a serious lack of yard signs for quite a while.

[anonymous-frosh.livejournal.com]

Seems like this was your 30 in 30 post.

Ick elections.

Today's post

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

I was working on one, but then Kristy tempted me with Pita Pit. I figured, heck, I've already made a substansive post today, my intended post can be late and they can deal. So.. yeah official post forthcoming.

[http://users.livejournal.com/-sameer-/]

That's crazy about Reisig.

Reisig

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

Crazy awesome! Its funny that was my only experience with the guy and I'm all about him winning now. I think glimpses into someone's character like that say a lot more than how they portray themselves in their commercials or posturing on issues. Currently he's leading 54.8% to 45%, but 18.35% of ballots are in.