Independence Day Comes Early [if Edwards stayed in]

[This was an opinion written about five days before Edwards quit. Not an endoresment but an analysis of the scenario edwards would have created had he stayed in the race. It is apparent what impact this plays now. Independents and Edwards supporters are now forced to choose or sit out the race. Who does that help? It does help one candidate more than the other, I believe. Look further into Edwards and Independent voter polling (demographic). I hope he got a sweet deal, at least. Nonetheless, I'm happy for all.]

Opinion Editorial [not a letter to editor]

Independence Day Comes Early in California

Independence Day will come early in California when unprecedented amounts Independent voters (decline-to-state) cast their ballots in the California Democratic Presidential Primary election tipping the political-electoral balance.

Independents in California make up 19.3% of voters, 20% in Los Angeles County, and 26% in Whittier. Since 1998, democrats and republicans in California have declined in registratation while independents have grown over 9%. They have power.

The California Republican Party chooses not to allow the growing and influential California independent voters to participate in their primary process. However, the California Democratic Party opted for an inclusive, semi-open, process.

What does this mean for Democratic candidates? By now, democrat campaigns have nearly exhausted their efforts to persuade this unpredictable, non-organized, and fiercely independent group with little indication on how they may actually vote.

Independents will not sit this race out and pass up the opportunity to significantly influence the electoral outcome of the California Democratic Presidential Primary and exercise their political might in state and national politics.

The democratic field of candidates leaves independents with little choice. Past elections demonstrate that they don’t necessarily follow popular polls and anointed candidates. Which means, they may not vote for the top two candidates (Clinton & Obama) and opt for the perceptual independent-moderate democratic candidate (Edwards) thereby upsetting the democratic elites and rank and file partisan voters.

On Tuesday, February 3 don’t expected bomb bursting fireworks, at least not in the air.

Karate Kids Having Fun (link)

Karate Kids having fun at Mayberry Park Dojo doing Triggered Salute technique. Amazing what the kids are capable of, all while being good and humble. Great way to build confidence and self-esteem. Kids with confidence and self-esteem are capable of great positive things!

Disappointment in Democratic Candidates: South Carolina

Watching Hillary and Barak tear each other apart on personal attacks and not on issues is appalling. Ok, a good ribbing on a rare spontaneous occasion is one thing, but this was on an open stage debate before the American people. This is what they leave people and me with?

Edwards is looking good staying above or below the fray and is smart. The dynamics have changed on how I view the Democratic candidates.

What now? Who to support?

I dunno?

"You Dont Deserve it", they say. My Response, "Who the Hell are You!"

Some of my detractors told me, in person, recently that "I make them look bad and they plan to meet with the editors of the Whittier Daily News to stop articles written about or mentioning me". My response: Who the hell are you?.

They assumed that I requested the article, which is wholly untrue and even if it were true, so what. "It should have been on someone else who deserves it", they say. OK!

If these people actually stood for something and were truly concerned about their community, they would get off their derrieres and work with real people outside of their elitist debauch soirees'.

I believe that everyone is entitled to their opinion, but people who force their idea of detachment (from people and issues) in politics are really barking up the wrong tree here. I have a social-political responsibility (contract) to my community and I strive to nurture my relationship with it, as a way of life. So my polite advice is either stand for something or sit down and shut up.

###

The article... nearest my heart is the division of counties into wards ... should they become corrupt and perverted, the division into wards constituting the people, in their wards, a regularly organized power, enables them by that organization to crush, regularly and peaceably, the usurpations of their unfaithful agents, and rescues them from the dreadful necessity of doing it insurrectionally. In this way we shall be as republican as a large society can be, and secure the continuance of purity in our government by the salutary, peaceable, and regular control of the people." --Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Kercheval, 1816. ME 15:70

Whittier Daily News: " The 'Inferno' truth

The 'Inferno' truth
Trustee Gary Mendez's code shaped by grandma, karate
By Tracy Garcia, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 01/12/2008 10:31:03 PM PST


RE-ELECTED: Gary Mendez, a Whittier native, has been elected to serve another term on the Rio Hondo College Board of Trustees. (James Carbone/Correspondent)WHITTIER - Gary Mendez's grandmother scared the dickens out of him as a youngster - and it's something the newly re-elected Rio Hondo College trustee says he will never forget, because it ended up shaping the way he lives his life.
"I remember early on, she told me about Dante's `Inferno,"' said Mendez, 38. "She said there's a stage of hell meant for those who never take sides, and they end up in this purgatory.

"As a young man, that scared the heck out of me, as you can imagine," he said, chuckling.

"But it also showed me that if you don't take sides and stand up for what you believe, there is an area in hell that is for you," Mendez said. "And I took that seriously."

He has kept that lesson close to his heart as an adult, and says it's also part of the reason he has landed in some sticky situations since he was first elected to the Rio Hondo board in 1999.

In 2001, he was accused by fellow Rio Hondo board members of not living in his trustee area. That prompted an investigation by state officials, who ultimately cleared him.

In 2005 he formed a majority vote with newly elected trustees Angela Acosta-Salazar and Garry Couso-Vasquez and was elected president of the panel, only to be censured and have the title stripped by the board six months later following an altercation with former President Rose Marie Joyce.

This past fall, just a couple of weeks before he won re-election, he claimed the now-retired Joyce had


been secretly forced out by the board for poor performance - an allegation that Joyce and the board have vehemently denied.
That prompted trustees to call for Mendez to be censured again at a special meeting in October, which was canceled when only two trustees showed up.

More recently, Mendez was in the spotlight when he and other local activists campaigned in Iowa earlier this month for former Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson.

Mendez and the group - which included a 15-year-old high-schooler and her older sister - got stranded in the Hawkeye state and caught people's attention when he quickly tried to raise $2,000 for four train tickets home.

"Why is there so much drama? I think about this a lot, I've asked myself that question," said Mendez, who was raised by a single mom, Ruby, in Pico Rivera and Whittier before striking out on his own at 17.

"And I kind of know the answer - I'm not afraid to take up things and causes that people are reluctant to do," he said. "It's a lack of fear - but not consequence - and confidence that maybe I'm not afraid to do what I think is right."

His detractors, many of whom run in the same local political circles and declined to go on the record about Mendez, said they think otherwise.

"We keep our distance from him. We don't care to associate with him," said Lillian Gonzales, president emeritus of the local Mark Twain Democratic Club.

Mendez is currently on the Democratic Party's Los Angeles County Central Committee in the 56th Assembly District.

"One time, we were at a 56th Assembly District meeting and he just had a matter of opinion and stood up and yelled," Gonzales said. "This is the kind of person he is.

"That's why I stay clear of him. I don't have any wish to be near him for any reason," Gonzales said.

But Ralph Pacheco, a Whittier Union High School District trustee who met Mendez when Pacheco was on the Rio Hondo board nearly 20 years ago, disagrees.

He points to Mendez's volunteer work at Mayberry Park in South Whittier, where he teaches karate to local children, as an indicator of his personality.

"He has a way of connecting with children. These children just respond to him and that's a gift," Pacheco said. "It's a side of Gary Mendez that most people who know him politically don't know about.

"And if more people knew that side of Gary Mendez, they would have an entirely different perspective of who he is - not as a politician or elected official, but as a person," Pacheco said.

After graduating from Whittier High School, Mendez began working and attending Rio Hondo, where he earned a degree in paralegal studies. Eventually, he transferred to Cal State Sacramento, where he earned a bachelor's degree in government.

He began his political career working for now-Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Santa Fe Springs, then was a field deputy for former state Assemblyman Tom Calderon.

His mother's death in 1998 brought him back to Whittier from Sacramento, at which point he said he started to feel like he "wanted to step up and take some challenges."

"And Rio Hondo was the first thing that popped into my mind," he said. "Serving on the college board, it was like home for me."

In 2004 he started his own political consulting firm, Urban Strategies, and made an unsuccessful bid for a seat on the Water Replenishment District.

He also ran for Norwalk City Council in 2005 and was roundly defeated by Rick Ramirez, whom he now counts as a good friend.

He's also a third-degree karate black belt - another part of his childhood to which he's clung.

"I used to play musical instruments in the third grade, and I would walk home and they used to get taken away by the neighborhood kids," Mendez said.

"My mom would have to get on the phone to find out who had taken it, but after a while, she said, `Gary, we can't do this anymore,' so she enrolled me in karate."

He said he soon learned how to defend himself enough to stop being bullied, and karate became "something I grew to love and has been a pillar in my life."

So when the going gets tough in his political world, Mendez says he can always fall back on his old karate ways.

"As long as what I'm doing is right, they can kick me and take me down, but I stick to what I believe is right.

"And," he quickly adds, "it's just politics."

tracy.garcia@sgvn.com

(562) 698-0955, Ext. 3051

Southeast Youth Violence & Gang Summitt

I attended this event at the Norwalk Marriot this morning. Nice event with panels of discussion from people and organizations involved with subject. I was looking for some type of training comprehensive but was not the case. Thats ok.

Richardson Drops Out

It's a bit sad but it was always a possibility.

It's been a great effort and we are proud of Richardson. Our love of the Guv will continue and we hope that he is seriously considered for Vice President or Secretary of State. Our country deserves the like of Richardson. There is no one as experienced and qualified as Bill Richardson among the presidential field. We will always be here for you and ready should you call upon us. Anytime and anyplace.

Gary Mendez

Back from Iowa

There is so much to report on the Iowa Caucuses. The main purpose was to support Bill Richardson, keep him "viable", and give young people the opportunity to enrich and empower their lives through the experience.

I believe I have accomplished my goals. On Richardson, viability is open to many interpretations. I will refrain from defining it till after February 5.

The young people who went to Iowa now see how they, individually, and as a team, can influence the outcome of a United States Presidential Primary.

The difference in growth is vastly apparent as they speak on their experience. There was a lot of criticism about this trip from the usual sources and some surprises from people I did not expect to be so negative. People will always try to diminish the effort to empower others, go figure.

A full report may be warranted...perhaps soon.