SAMLARC Meet The Candidates

Let me get this out of the way first.  My name is Shawn Gordon, you can friend/follow me on facebook at www.facebook.com/progrockrecords, my profile is wide open, so feel free to follow my exploits.  There seems to be an inordinate amount of time and energy spent by some members on this site trying to figure out who the people are behind nicknames.  I never changed mine because The Patch site fails to save the changes due to some bug.  I'm not going to leave comments that attempt to berate or "call out" people.  If you have facts, provide them, but stating something is a fact, no matter how often, does not make it a fact without actual proof.

So, I went to the SAMLARC board meeting this past Tuesday and saw them approve $1500 to video tape the "meet the candidates" session on Thursday and then post them online so everyone would have a chance to see them.  I thought "this is great, I've got to be at the school at that time Thursday so I'll watch it later".  Now, I'm thinking, you're getting $1500 to video tape for a little while and then bust out the 5 minute segments.  I do video editing, so I know they have maybe an hour work in post production, so I thought it would be available for me to see today (Friday), but, it isn't.  I stopped by the SAMLARC office and they didn't know or seem to care when it would be available, but said maybe it would be monday, they just didn't know.

So, based on what I say at the SAMLARC board meeting, what I know of the candidates and from reading their candidate statements, here is my opinion of them.  Please jump in with your thoughts, especially if you were there and after we get a chance to see the videos.

Danielle Illig: I was put off by the inaccuracies in her candidate statement, it just shows a lack of attention to detail in my opinion.

Don Chadd: I haven't been particularly pleased with SAMLARC in the time he's been President, I don't know how much that is a reflection on him or the organization as a whole.  He seems a bit lifelong politico  http://www.smartvoter.org/2012/11/06/ca/or/vote/chadd_d/ - that might be comforting for some.

Ted Robertson: I liked what he said and what I could find out about him, he'd probably be a good addition.

Gary Thompson: He has a long history with the city, he's done a good job in my opinion.  Some call him a bully, I think of him more as a no nonsense straight shooter and if you have delicate sensibilities, it might go against your grain.  I think he'd do a very good job, I like his focus on transparency and I'd certainly hold him to it.

Jeff Halbreich: I have about the same opinion of Jeff as I do of Ted.  I'm anxious to see their videos.

Sally L. Leonard: Sally was on the board before, I liked the job the board was doing during her tenure, the extent to which she was involved in that makes me favorably inclined towards her and I think she'd be very good on the board.

Cedric Ferrell: Cedric has some real appeal on paper, I'm a little curious about being on the Anaheim Police Chief Advisory Board if he has lived in RSM for 25 years, but maybe he did that a long time ago.  Looks like another good potential candidate from the information available thus far.