Comments on: ‘Is incumbent a carpetbagger?’ Answer unlikely before election

By: Alan

Alan — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 03:25:16 +0000

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.

By: Kari

Kari — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 03:29:29 +0000

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?

By: Jack M.

Jack M. — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:30:59 +0000

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.

By: Bubba Vote

Bubba Vote — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:02:23 +0000

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.

By: Kent

Kent — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:39:52 +0000

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?

By: Beatrice J.

Beatrice J. — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:21:58 +0000

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

By: Alan

Alan — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 04:04:16 +0000

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.

By: honky

honky — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 23:00:24 +0000

HE IS A CARPETBAGGER!!!

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 20:46:30 +0000

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.

By: Teri Sforza, Register staff writer

Teri Sforza, Register staff writer — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 20:06:03 +0000

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.