Some claim that the election was over two weeks ago because more than 7000 absentee ballots were in the City Clerk’s office waiting to be tabulated. I truly hope that is not the case and as many, if not more, voters turn out on Tuesday, April 13, 2010, to cast their ballots in this very important local City Council race. We have all witnessed the same despicable campaign tactics that have been used for the past decade; smears, lies, opponents signs being removed, fabricated accomplishments, and undeserved credit. It not only came from some of the incumbents but also from a few challengers. Much of this was either accentuated to help the incumbents or hurt the challengers by some in the local press.

One of the more disgusting aspects of this current Council election was the depths to which The Signal went in slating any political news or story to favor the incumbents with whom the paper had endorsed. At the same time they nailed any challenger with anything they could even stooping so low as to allow bogus comments to be posted on The Signal’s blog and spin stories off of rumors and hearsay.  

They went so far as to make up a story in order to manufacture an editorial off of it which disparaged all the candidate challengers to the Council incumbents and then had to retract and apologize for it. The incident further damaged the papers credibility in the eyes of many in the community.

But it did not stop there; two of the candidates challenging the incumbents had to hold a press conference in front of The Signal’s headquarters on Creekside Drive in order to force the paper to cover an actual story involving improprieties involving PAC money. Once again the paper whitewashed the story slating it again in favor of the incumbents.  

Even when documentation was handed over to the Signal the powers that be at the paper opted to soft-pedal the information to its readers. Just do a comparison of the Signal article titled, “State called into finance fracas”  and what The Beacon reported about the subject matter in a piece titled; “Buying the City of Santa Clarita again? PAC money playing big role in Council Election”.

Just a couple of people with computers and we have been able to publish relevant, in depth articles that actually have been thought-out, researched and fact checked. Articles that have made the local media react instead of being proactive which is what they are there to do; report news not make it up or ignore it.  

The sad side is that in the Sunday edition of The Signal there was nothing more about this important story of PAC money influencing the election and the web of personal connections to the incumbents. Instead the paper used valuable front page space to tout the promotion of a staffer for selling advertising space; real news was superseded for self-aggrandizement which could have easily been placed in a more appropriate place inside the paper.      

What the sophisticated readers in the Santa Clarita Valley have come to realize through all of this is that the electronic media, the blogosphere, has become an important source of timely and legitimate news and commentary. It is an alternative source for real intellectual stimulation in order to shape ones own opinions in a much more informed manner without the insult of having selected information spoon-fed by a disingenuous shell of a community newspaper.

The question now will be; did it make a difference in this election cycle? We certainly will know the answer to that on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning after all the votes have been cast and counted from the election. It will be curious to see not only the final outcome of the election but also the reactions as well and no doubt there will be plenty of analysis and opinions to go around for weeks to come.

My hope is that there will be a clean outcome, regardless of who wins, to the election and that there are no accusations of fraud or mishandling of the ballots. That seems to be a more common theme in recent years and we can only hope that it has not permeated into the City Clerk’s office. I say that because there have been a few people who seem rather assured of the outcome of this election, almost as if they are in the know.

Instead, I will take the position of baseball great Yogi Berra in that it “ain’t over until it’s over.” It will be up to all the eligible voters in the City of Santa Clarita to make their voices heard and not just the so-called “high propensity city voters”. There are over 170,000 residents in the City of Santa Clarita and it would be a real shame if less than 10% of voters turned out to cast their ballot.

All I can say at this point is exercise you right to vote! Make time to spend 10 minutes at your local polling place because it is not only your right, it is a privilege that so many people around the world don’t have. There are many people dying in order to have that right to vote and to participate in a democracy. In Iraq recently over 65% of eligible voters turned out to vote even though there were bombings and more than 30 people were killed. Take and exercise your right to vote seriously!

Tuesday’s election outcome will have a profound effect, regardless of the outcome, on the entire Santa Clarita Valley. Don’t blow it!

Dave Bossert- Commentary

Dave Bossert is a community volunteer who serves on a number of boards and councils. His commentaries represent his own opinions and not necessarily the views of any organization he may be affiliated with or those of the West Ranch Beacon.