Good news, first:  The city will ask Judge Klausner to lift his restraining order on our February 7 recall election.  Bad news:  The election date will be much later than I would have hoped.  Also, nothing is certain until Judge Klausner actually does lift his restraining order and our city council allows the recall election to be reinstated.

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The details, and some complaints:

Well, in one of those "Good News/Bad News" stories, two other political jurisdictions have become caught up in the fall out over Padilla v. Lever. Three initiatives in San Bernardino County and one in Monterey County have been pushed off the ballot by federal district court decisions similar to that issued in Imperial v. Castruita [the suit in which then-Mayor Jay Imperial sued Rosemead to keep the recall election off the ballot because he knew he could not win].

In Rosemead [and in most General Law cities], the city council elects a new mayor and mayor pro temp from among their membership once each year.  In most cities, the rotation is automatic and non-controversial.  After all, the positions are largely ceremonial.  But, in Rosemead, nothing happens without controversy.

At the city council meeting on Marh 28, Gary Taylor, mayor pro temp from last year, was elevated to mayor.  John Nunuz was elected the new mayor pro temp.  Both votes were by 3-2 margins.  Councilmembers Taylor, Imperial, and Clark formed the three-person majority voting for Taylor for mayor, while councilmembers Clark, Nunez, and Tran formed the three-person majority electing Nunez mayor pro temp.

I've attached [in Word format] a handout I prepared for the February 7, 2006 protest, "Funeral for Democracy."  Figured as long as I have this stuff laying around, I might as well post them.  The protest is long-done, but the issue remains.

This protest was the first of three demonstrations we held during the month of February.  Around 60 people participated for at least part of the protest.  As with all of our protests, it was peaceful.  But we did have a mock coffin to dramatize the death of democracy in Rosemead.  We stood with our signs on Valley Blvd, in front of Rosemead City Hall, and reminded our neighbors that February 7 was supposed to be our election day.  It's the day that Jay Imperial and Gary Taylor should have been kicked out of office, and the day that the people of Rosemead would finally take back control of their city.  It's the day that Rosemead would finally enter the 21st Century.

The attached document is a work in progress.  It's hard to anticipate every possible lie that can be told by Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart sock puppets, but here are a number of their more frequent lies.  The responses are my own, and do not represent the views of every member of the group.

For any questions, you can e-mail me at the address news@saveourcity.us but instead of the city part of the address, think community, instead [all one word, no spaces].

At the February 14, 2006 city council meeting [the day that David Perea moved on to the next world], Gary Taylor said something that just had to be challenged.  He commended Jay Imperial for performing a "service" for the people of Rosemead in suing his own city to stop the recall election.  Taylor said that he had read the law, and that the law was clear:  citizen-initiated petitions needed to be circulated in multiple languages.

The Wal-Mart sock puppets, who place getting a Wal-Mart in Rosemead above any consideration of fairness, democracy, or ethical behavior, cheered the death of democracy in Rosemead a few weeks ago. They were happy that a recall election that 4,800 people asked for by signing one of two petitions seeking the recall of city council members Gary Taylor and Jay Imperial was postponed by Judge Klausner. Jay Imperial and Gary Taylor, of course, joined them in celebrating the outcome. But, apparently, not even they bothered to read the judge’s order. Because, at the city council meeting on February 28, 2006, when I pointed out a few inconvenient facts about the judge’s order to Mr. Taylor and Mr. Imperial, they were speechless. And, as you know, with those two, that’s quite unusual.