We have complained long and hard about Chris Howard and Gerry Hemmingsen’s performance on the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors (BOS) so it should come as no surprise that they are not receiving our endorsement for re-election.
Instead, for District 3, we endorse Jake Smith. We firmly believe he can add a cohesive factor to the BOS that will help to end the divisiveness that has been so prevalent on the Board for the past few years.
With 31 years of experience with CalTrans, who better to push through a plan such as Berkowitz’s to apply for $300,000,000 to get an alternate to Last Chance Grade.
Never would Jake Smith turn off a microphone when people from the public would speak during public comment. Chair Howard did it twice, in the same meeting!
When former Supervisor Chuck Blackburn and dozens of others pleaded with Chairman Howard to pass the Chairman’s position to Roger Gitlin, it fell on deaf ears. Many folks were sick and tired of Howard’s incompetence in running a meeting.
While we think all the candidates for District 4 are good men, (Ron Philips and Roger Daley) we endorse Dave Mason.
Both Jake and Dave are convinced that being a Sanctuary State is bad on many levels. While the “Gang of 3” (Howard, Hemmingsen & Cowan) didn’t see any urgency in agreeing to drafting a resolution, both Jake Smith and Dave Mason see the wisdom of opting out of SB 54. If they had been on the BOS, opting out would have been history by now. Community members who decry illegal aliens and in particular the lack of cooperation between the local and federal levels regarding deportation of illegal alien criminals due to SB 54 would have been a non-issue.
A representative of the American Civil Liberties Union spoke during public comment at the April 24th BOS meeting and threatened a lawsuit if the BOS opted out of SB 54. Cowan, Howard and Hemmingsen jumped on that bandwagon and cried about the costs involved even though it was pointed out to the Board that a resolution would not cost anything, they still would not approve going forward with a resolution.
In addition, we’re still saddled with the danger of Last Chance Grade falling into the ocean. Sup. Bob Berkowitz’s Great American Renewal Plan fell on deaf ears. It didn’t seem to matter to the Gang that Berkowitz had more Congressional/Washington DC experience than the three of them put together. Hemmingsen decried it as “No Plan.”
Having Jake Smith and Dave Mason working together with Gitlin and Berkowitz would allow major issues to be resolved and rectified.
Take Code Enforcement for example. Some of the complaints by residents is that Dave Mason didn’t handle their problems. Well, come to find out that Mason was a one person show. He had to cover the entire county. When Gitlin and Berkowitz asked for another code enforcer, the Gang voted, “NO.”
It’s a sure bet that with Mason on the BOS the money will be found and allocated to include another code enforcer. Having a clean, sanitary and beautiful city is a step in the right direction.
Speaking of allocating money, there’s the issue of the Klamath Chamber of Commerce only receiving $2,500/year to help their budget with tourism. When Berkowitz asked for an increase with accountability assurances, what did the Gang do? They voted against it although Klamath contributes over $70,000 to the County budget.
With Jake Smith and Dave Mason on board, these two experienced men would see to it that Klamath would be treated more equitably.
These are just some of the reasons why change is so important and having Howard and Hemmingsen off the board. What has Chris Howard accomplished in nearly four years? What has Hemmingsen accomplished in nearly 12 years.
When you vote, think seriously about voting for Jake Smith and Dave Mason. They are agents for change in the right direction. Be sure to vote. Make the right choice.
Mr Smith should re-think his position on SB54 if he wants to represent my district 3… there are a lot of immigrant families here. The whole ‘opt out’ thing has embarrassed us enough and is very bad for foreign tourism.
Thank you
Joseph, please. Whether you support SB54 or not, it will not effect how the Sheriff operates within the County. If you break the law in the County you should expect some sort of attention from law enforcement, either the Sheriff or City police. If they are illegal or legal immigrants not much is going to change because Mr. Smith does not support SB54. That is up to law enforcement period. As far as being embarrassed about SB54 and any connection to foreign tourists, I fail to see the connection, or any connection what so ever. If you don’t like a particular candidate, then vote for his opponent, but please refrain from making up things that are either false or irrelevant.
If I were planning a foreign trip and saw a list of places that put themselves at financial risk just to declare themselves ‘anti-immigrant’ I would skip those places. You can say its not xenophobic till you’re blue in the face, but thats what it looks like to everyone else.
You have two problems with your statement. There is no financial risk to the County by passing a resolution not to support SB 54. While I am not a mind reader, I have been on numerous foreign trips and about the last thing I think about is the financial health of the place that I am going. There are many places where I intend to visit where the government’s economic situation is relatively fragile. That doesn’t mean I will take Greece, Ireland, or Portugal off my list of places to visit. I am sorry Joseph, being “at financial risk to declare being anti immigrant” is not something very many foreign tourists are going to pay much attention if at all. Secondly, being against SB 54 doesn’t have much to do with being anti immigrant period. That is something that the Progressive Democrats have concocted to spin the fact that we are talking about illegal immigration, a whole different group of people. In addition, we aren’t even talking about the entire group of illegal immigrants, just those that are violent criminals and present a danger to our community. Something Sacramento and the local hand wringers seemed to forget. So as I said before, if you do not like a particular candidate, don’t vote for them. Making up straw men to justify your objection to opposition to SB 54 is patently dishonest, particularly when your argument is based on your opinion and not on facts, merely supposition. If you have an overwhelming desire to give a free pass to the worst of the illegal immigrants in California then I hope it doesn’t come back to bite you, as far as the rest of your comments, pure progressive spin.
Donna I e-mailed Lori Cowan March 17th asking her to sponsor a bill to op out of the Sanctuary State long before either one of them jumped on the band wagon. When I saw her at the Wine and Cheese party I ask her why she never responded to my e-mail, her responce was she gets lots of e-mails and does not have time to read them all. Then she said “that will never happen”
Donna, thank you. Your support is much appreciated.