MAILBAG - Nov. 12, 2006

Proud to play even a small part in the voting process

Please consider the following observations as an “attaboy” for us all, and one person in particular.

The alarm explodes at 4:45 a.m. — 4:45 a.m.! — Tuesday morning, voting day. Strong coffee, quick shower, bewildered cats and I am off to my polling station. By 6:30 a.m. the signs are out, the flags are up and worker oaths taken. We sign on this line and that attesting that everything is in order. The ballot box is empty, the voting booths are daisy chained, the eSlates are glowing — all waiting for the first voter, daring us to decide. At 7 a.m. the polls open and the first voter has verified that everything is correct and ready to go. For the next 13 hours, America, Newport Beach division, will vote.

This was my fifth election as a poll worker. I am thrilled and humbled to work at the polls. My father was a 21-year-old “boy” at Pearl Harbor who earned 12 battle stars by 1945. I honor his memory and sacrifice every time I hand out an access code, every time I help a new voter conquer the eSlate, every time I learn a voter stayed up late on Monday night to “figure out all those propositions.”

We are a fortunate society and country to have such a legacy and responsibility.

The polls close at 8 p.m., and for our precinct no one is waiting. We begin dismantling the latest expression of 200-plus years of effort and achievement. We sign on this line and that certifying that everything is secure and true, fold up the voting machines, repack the boxes and bags of supplies. The vote tally is printed out and posted on a door.

Hmm, some things go the way I had hoped, some not. Oh well, we can live with the outcome because it is our outcome. By 9 p.m. or so, 16-plus hours after my alarm went off, the precinct inspector (head honcho) sets out to deliver our results to vote central, the media and the world.

We are a fortunate society and country to have such a legacy and responsibility.

LYNDA ADAMS

Newport Beach

After elections, a frightening future awaits Costa Mesa

Well, it’s over. The most rancorous campaign in recent memory has finally ended, and the mayor and his running mate, by hook and by crook, have won seats on the Costa Mesa City Council.

I’m not happy with the results because the voters in this city missed the opportunity to bring proven, dedicated leadership to the council and mend the wounds opened over the past few years. Instead, they’ve placed in power a new majority — an unbeatable voting bloc that will allow them to do almost anything they choose. Based on their recent history and their campaign tactics — fabrication and deceit — I have no reason to believe the city is in good hands. Quite the contrary.

Over the past few years I’ve written often, here and on my web log, about what I perceived was happening in this city. I wrote about those forces that were systematically turning this city into a bastion of intolerance. Others have joined me in sounding the alarm, but these alerts apparently fell on deaf ears.

Now, about 8,000 voters in this city have decided that Costa Mesa will continue down this slippery slope, where intolerance is accepted behavior.

I don’t for a minute think all those voters are bigots; I just think many of them didn’t fully understand the issues. I think they, incorrectly, thought the mayor’s flawed immigration screening plan could and would work. It can’t and won’t. The mayor and his team tapped into the fear and apprehension generated by the national illegal immigration debate and used it as a tool to confuse Costa Mesa voters. The fact is, however, that our city will now be known throughout the nation as a stronghold of intolerant views — where hate forms the underpinning of municipal actions.

I’m saddened that the voters cast aside such outstanding candidates as Bruce Garlich and Mike Scheafer — men who have dedicated much of their adult lives to making Costa Mesa a better, safer place to live, work and play. We owe them a debt of gratitude for their efforts on behalf of all residents of this city.

The next two years will be precarious for Costa Mesa. The voters need to finally wake up and pay attention because the next rights trampled by this new ruling majority may be theirs.

GEOFF WEST

Costa Mesa

Voters put the ultra-liberal Daily Pilot in its place

That thunderous, reverberating noise you hear in the background after Tuesday’s election of Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor and Wendy Leece is a “stick it in your ear Daily Pilot!” from the voters of the city of Costa Mesa.

Why don’t you stick to something you are supposed to, like report the news instead of meddling in local elections and trying to promote your brand of ultra-liberal politics? You should all (Tom Johnson, Steve Smith, Joseph N. Bell, et al.) be ashamed of yourselves.

TOM WILLIAMS

Newport Beach