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‘Is incumbent a carpetbagger?’ Answer unlikely before election
October 8th, 2008, 7:00 am · 11 Comments · posted by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer
Challenger Glenn Acosta (right) is unlikely to get an official determination on whether incumbent Ergun Bakall (um, on milk carton, left) really and truly and legally lives in Irvine before they face off on Election Day, Nov. 4.
The District Attorney’s office is checking out the challenger’s complaint - that Municipal Water District of Orange County incumbent Bakall’s primary residence is really in La Quinta, in Riverside County, and not in Irvine; but when The Watchdog asked DA spokeswoman Farrah Emami if anything would be determined before Election Day, Emami said she really couldn’t say.
Which means that both men’s names will indeed appear on the ballot, and any reckoning is postponed until after Election Day.
(To summarize our previous post, challenger Acosta wanted incumbent Bakall disqualified from the race on residency grounds. While Bakall lists an address in Irvine as his residence, his state civil engineering license lists his address in La Quinta. Incumbent Bakall, meanwhile, said this is much ado about nothing; he sold his house in Tustin at the top of the market and rents an apartment in Irvine, where he lives during the week. He has owned his vacation home in La Quinta for 21 years, he said.)
So Acosta is now approaching the race with some biting humor, as the photos above clearly illustrate.
“Several attorneys that specialize in election law have told me that the DA and a judge, for that matter, won’t intervene in elections,” Acosta told us by email. “They’d rather deal with it after the elections. If the incumbent doesn’t win, then the severity of the case drops. If the incumbent does win, then the DA can pursue election fraud.
“However, in either case, it does not help me. Even if Ergun were removed after the election, MWDOC can simply appoint a new Director. It’s unlikely that they would appoint someone from the retail water agencies like me….The system is set up against any challenge to carpetbagging.”
Right or wrong, we do applaud Acosta for his rather wicked sense of humor.
More Watchdog:
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11 Comments
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If it is determined after he wins that he is unable to hold the seat will there be another election or will it be given to the next highest voted person?
Just trying to keep us on take to how this reflects against our tax dollars.
Also want would be the estimated cost of another election, if required?
Alan, as Mr. Acosta says -
“Even if Ergun were removed after the election, MWDOC can simply appoint a new Director. It’s unlikely that they would appoint someone from the retail water agencies like me.”
Which is to say, MWDOC *could* decide to hold a special election, but it most likely would just appoint someone to the seat if it became vacant.
I couldn’t stop laughing. Your article was so funny! I never expected to laugh over politics.
Best of luck to Acosta. It doesn’t sound good. I’m glad, however, that someone is trying to get rid of bad guys.
HE IS A CARPETBAGGER!!!
Thanks for the update Teri.
Just wanted to make sure that no tax dollars would be spent. I guess that is the end of the story here.
Teri - Thank you for bringing this to the public’s attention. I don’t often see water districts on ballots. I presume that these seats go uncontested, so the incumbents just slide right into another 4 years without the public being aware of it. Even if they were on the ballot, no one knows who they are, so we just vote incumbent.
How many of MWDOC Directors are there and, of those, how many were uncontested this year?
Regarding this Bakall and Acosta race, were you planning on more coverage? In your last article, you mentioned that you were going to discuss MWDOC’s woos. I look forward to reading your articles. The public needs to know more of what’s going on.
Thank you.
Beatrice
Seems like renting a place or appearing to is a common trick politicians use. But I’ve never seen anyone nailed for it. Has the DA indicated whether they have a strong case against the incumbent? I think it’s going to look bad for the DA if he had an open-and-shut case, and just chose to wait for political reasons. But, of course, it’s an obscure agency anyway, so who cares, right?
The incumbent is not worried. He figures he’s getting half the votes and the other two on the ballot are just splitting the remainder. Diluting the votes - a true and tried solution. Welcome to the Big Leagues.
Hey, Bubba. You’re right. Incumbent Ergun is just kicking back in his Palm Springs home laughing at all of us Orange County fools that will vote him in again.
Should I just send my payment for my water bills to Palm Springs? I don’t want to inconvenience him in any way.
Now that you’ve brought this race into focus, I haven’t seen any campaign signs for Ergun Bakall in Irvine. Plenty of Glenn Acosta and Ritze signs. Is it unusual for an incumbent to be so low key? Is he just assuming that he’s automatically in because he’s an incumbent?
Incumbent generally have the upper hand in the election process.
Once it is determined after the election that the seat has to be given up it is good to know that we as tax payers will not have to waste any money on printing ballots.
However, with an attorney rate of a few hundred dollars an hour is it worth spending millions of dollars or should we just look to the public to make an educated vote for the person they feel will make a difference and leave it at that without spending more money in legal fees and Court?
It might be a good campaign item for the others seeking office to use against Bakall and cheaper in the long run.