Banana republicans watch: November 6, 2013.

Politics depress me. In general and in specific. (I’m not sure how I feel about the Astrodome being declared dead.)

But there is at least one bright spot. Voters in the bankrupt municipality of San Bernardino threw out several elected officials in a recall election.

Those given the axe:

  • “Longtime councilwoman” Wendy McCammack. This is interesting because Ms. McCammack was also the top vote-getter in the San Bernardino mayor’s race. However, there were a total of 10 candidates, and she got “just under” 25% of the vote. I wonder how many of the eight other candidates are going to throw their support to her, and how many will support “Carey Davis, an accountant and political newcomer”.
  • City attorney James Penman. City attorney is an elected rather than appointed position? Interesting.
  • Robert Jenkins, “charged with more than 30 felony and misdemeanor counts related to allegedly posting ads on Craigslist for sex partners and directing them to a former partner and another man”.

I haven’t been giving much attention to the Angela Spaccia/Bell trial. Most of what I’ve seen in the LAT has been the usual back and forth we’ve seen in the other trials: “City council approved!” “Did not!” “Did too!” “Rizzo’s a big poopy head and it was all his fault!”

(There have been a few amusing bits I missed covering. Among them:

(Former city attorney) Edward Lee said that even though his name was on most of the contracts, he did not recall signing them, raising the possibility that his name was forged or that the papers were slipped to him in a stack of other documents that required his signature.

The contracts in question being those for Spaccia and Robert “Ratso” Rizzo. This is interesting: while I can’t find the story now, I do recall reading that former Bell finance director Lourdes Garcia slipped contracts for Spaccia and Rizzo into stacks of other documents that were signed blindly by city officials.)

Things are getting a little more interesting. Randy Adams, the former police chief of Bell, is testifying for the defense today. You may remember former chief Adams from such hits as “I’m looking forward to see you and taking all of Bell’s money?!”, “Hire me and give me my disability pension“, and “I don’t know why he is not a defendant in this case”.

Note to self: stop off at grocery store on way home, stock up on popcorn.

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