SF Chron: She'll (Bowen) Secure Your Vote

[Wilms]

EDITORIAL
THE CHRONICLE RECOMMENDS

She'll secure your vote

Sunday, April 23, 2006

snip

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wisely selected Bruce McPherson, a centrist with integrity, to restore calm and confidence in an office that was riven by Shelley's mercurial management style and ethically questionable dealings. McPherson, by all but the most partisan accounts, has restored a level of professionalism to the office.

The Democrats have two primary challengers to McPherson, each a highly capable state senator who is about to be termed out of office.

snip

But for this office, Bowen is the clear choice in the Democratic primary. In her nearly 14 years in the Capitol, Bowen has demonstrated her commitment to what we believe should be one of the guiding principles of society: An individual's actions should be presumed private, while a government's actions should be presumed public. For example, her bills to help consumers guard against identity theft and block "junk faxes" have set national standards.

As chair of the Senate Elections Committee, Bowen has been a determined advocate of bringing more transparency to the political process -- such as getting lobbying expenses online in a more accessibly way -- and installing more rigorous standards on the use of electronic voting equipment. She has done her homework on technological issues and is ready to make the case that California needs a more aggressive secretary of state to restore public confidence in the electoral process.

Bowen is not one to flinch at a challenge. She entered this race at a time when many top Democrats were reluctant to criticize the scandal-drenched Shelley, who was clinging to office. In her typical straightforward style, Bowen explained, "It became clear we were going to need a new nominee."

She was right. And Sen. Debra Bowen should be that nominee.

snip

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/04/23/EDGNSGU2SP1.DTL

[EFerrari]

1. The bagman was late?

I'll take it!

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[fooj]

3. Perception...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wisely selected Bruce McPherson, a centrist with integrity, to restore calm and confidence in an office that was riven by Shelley's mercurial management style and ethically questionable dealings. McPherson, by all but the most partisan accounts, has restored a level of professionalism to the office.

That's what we are up against, IMO. Gotta watch this one like a hawk.

[Amaryllis]

4. Say more? What exactly are you referring to?

[EFerrari]

13. See robinlynne's #11.

[EFerrari]

5. You bet! The editorial I responded to kept saying

"perception" of the voting machines was the problem.

It was all a matter of "perception".

Which is why I responded that opacity, not perception, was the problem in my ltte

[Amaryllis]

2. Glad to see this. Very good they are endorsing her. I'm surprised;

The Chronicle was like pirranas in a feeding frenzy with Shelley and they still refuse to print that Lockyer cleared him in the Julie Lee case even though they were very eager to report the allegations, which turned out to be completely unfounded.

[EFerrari]

6. Sent to Chron Ed page and to Readers' Rep. Will not be published

but it will be read.

Editor:

It's good to see the Chronicle exercising any kind of respect for our election systems by endorsing Debra Bowen. Bowen has mastered the problems that interfere with clean elections in California and she has been vigorous in her advocacy for them.

On the other hand, the Chronicle has yet to come clean on its role in "drenching" Kevin Shelley in innuendo and then neglecting to make corrections when these reports were debunked. Mr. Shelley was the first Secretary of State in the nation to challenge the security of electionic voting machines and he paid dearly for his diligence.

The problem here is, not only is Kevin Shelley not "drenched in scandal" but the Chronicle editorial page is misreporting McPherson's behavior as Secretary of State.

McPherson has held public meetings without inviting the public and as a topper, he has not bothered to attend those hearings. He has recertified voting machines that the very studies he himself commissioned show are not in compliance with Federal standards. He's asking our state legislature to fix the problem of a "glitch" ridden voter registration database that he himself could remedy by statute. Who knows how many eligible voters will be disenfranchised this year.

The elections Mr. McPherson seems to prefer would be conducted on insecure equipment and would wrongfully exclude eligible voters. What moderate Republican would condone that?

Mr. McPherson has a pattern of mishandling our election systems. Maybe we should expect no less from a political appointee. But, this is not Florida or Ohio. We expect our Secretary of State to facilitate, not obstruct, clean elections. And we might expect more from the Chronicle's reportage and from its Editorial page had we not witnessed the smearing of Kevin Shelley.

The bottom line is, California voters will not accept rigged elections and we will stand by those elected officials that work to protect our elections from corruption. The Chronicle Editorial page is either with us or it's with the riggers.

[fooj]

7. Love it.

The Chronicle Editorial page is either with us or it's with the riggers.

Peace.

[EFerrari]

8. Let's see what Diaz makes of that. He knows I don't expect him

to publish it because it's in the wrong form.

[glitch]

9. Beautiful! Especially your use of "rigging" just about everybody gets that

term.

[EFerrari]

10. You know, they're still attacking Kevin Shelley. That's just

wierd.

[glitch]

14. One thing this whole bush episode in our history has made very clear

Intelligence and integrity should not be assumed, and that goes double for the Corporate Media.

Kevin Shelley is owed many apologies, but he won't get them from these cowards. Where I come from it's a sign of adulthood to admit your mistakes. Very few adults operating the wurlitzer these days.

I am actually glad they don't realize how transparent their actions are, it makes who they are much easier to identify.

[EFerrari]

15. Amen, glitch. That is the up side.

:hi:

[robinlynne]

11. a centrist with integrity?

I beg to differ.

[EFerrari]

12. Me, too. Most centrists with integrity aren't lying sacks of

sh!t.

[nicknameless]

16. What a horrible paper SF Chron has become.

That is the sleaziest editorial I've read in a long time, but I gave up the Chron years ago.
Shelley (hero) is slammed, and McPherson (enemy of Democracy) is praised.
BTW, Ortiz is a big fan of DREs, yet somehow an alleged "Dem".

At least they printed the truth about Bowen.

[EFerrari]

17. It is sleazy. If Kevin is "drenched" it's because they pushed him

into the pool.

[nicknameless]

18. Or perhaps he was drenched with their slimy lies about him.

[Amaryllis]

19. He was slimed. No doubt.