elections

In a representative democracy, the system the United States supposedly has, the policy making is controlled by the representatives elected by the people. The idea behind representative democracy is that people will elect representatives that will serve their best interest. However, in the United States the funding for election campaigns is provided by large corporations, banks, and a handful of wealthy individuals that results in the election of representatives who serve the best interests of the large corporations, banks, and wealthy individuals.

To televise or not televise, that was the question in front of the South Lake Tahoe City Council on Tuesday, April 19. While live streaming of the Council meetings is not required by law, it is something the City has done on both the internet and television since May, 2007.

The agenda item was added after discussion arose during the April 5 meeting when Mayor Wendy David asked that they stop televising the public comment portion of the meetings. Her comment caught many by surprise, even by some of her Council members.

On October 27, 2015, Sue Novasel, the County Supervisor representing South Lake Tahoe, Meyers, Tahoma and Pollock Pines was served a “notice of intent to circulate a recall petition” by a group of citizens who said they are “tired of the corruption and cronyism that has plagued our county for years.” It wasn’t only Novasel, but all five of the County Supervisors, Shiva Frentzen, Ron Mikulaco, Michael Ranalli and Brian Veerkamp.

City Councilwoman JoAnn Conner filed a lawsuit against the City of South Lake Tahoe and City Manager Nancy Kerry in El Dorado County Court on Wednesday, December 9, asking for the City Council's censure of her be withdrawn.

In a special meeting of the Council on October 19, Conner was censured for interactions she had with City staff which at times were described as bullying and creating a hostile work environment.

Seven of the eight candidates for the four open seats of the Tahoe Paradise Resort Improvement District (TPRID) Board of Directors were at Thursday's meeting and candidate's forum. The election will be held on November 3.

Vying for the two seats with a two-year term are Jan Roman-Gonzales, incumbent Joseph Cardinale, incumbent Peter Nelligan and Frank Jones.

Candidates for the two seats with a four-year term are incumbent Victor Babbitt, incumbent Judy Klot, Diane Verwoest and Brandi Jordan-Griffith.

Jordan-Griffith did not attend the forum due to a case of the flu.

An effort by some residents of Olympic Valley to turn the small Sierra Nevada community into a town has attracted notable opposition from Squaw Valley, the ski resort that would provide most of the new municipality’s income.

The following is an opinion article from the Reno Gazette Journal and reprinted here:

It doesn't matter if you love or hate Democratic Sen. Harry Reid to agree that the announcement of his retirement just dramatically reduced our state's political power in Washington D.C.

Nevada will go from a state whose issues were often at the center of debate because of Reid's position as minority leader to a state without a congressional power player in either party.

Twenty-one days after the election, the final results have now been certified by the El Dorado County elections department.

The closest race was for the three open seats for South Lake Tahoe City Council. The top vote getter was long time local Wendy David who had 18.05 % of the vote with 1727 residents feeling confident she'd represent them well. Coming in second was incumbent Tom Davis who received 1461 votes, or 15.52% of the vote. Austin Sass moved ahead of incumbent Angela Swanson and ended up with 1318 votes to Swanson's 1289, just .31% difference.

It's been eight days and there is still no official count from last Tuesday's election. With 100% of the precincts counted by 1 a.m. November 5, El Dorado County election employees have been counting the absentee and provisional ballots since then. They released their third report of the count today, showing little change from Friday's numbers.

The results of the first wave of counting the approximate 13,000 absentee and provisional ballots from Tuesday's election were released this evening and just one vote separates two candidates from serving on the City Council or not.

Wendy David.......17.98%.......1271 votes
Tom Davis.........15.48%.......1094 votes
Angela Swanson....13.99%........989 votes
Austin Sass.......13.98%........988 votes
Brooke Laine......13.35%........939 votes
Matt Palacio......12.83%........907 votes
Bruce Grego.......12.22%........864 votes

Douglas County has now counted 100% of the ballots for Tuesday's election.

State Senate 17 Senatorial District
REP - SETTELMEYER, JAMES A. 15,301 100.00%

State Assembly Dist. 39
IAP - GIORDANO, AL 3,716 22.33%
REP - WHEELER, JIM 12,924 77.67%

County Assessor
DOUGLAS W. ''DOUG'' 15,195 100.00%

County Clerk/Treasurer
REP - THRAN, TED 14,966 100.00%

County Commissioner District 2
REP - THALER, STEVEN 14,585 100.00%

County Commissioner District 4
REP - MCDERMID, NANCY 14,156 100.00%

District Attorney

If you have an absentee ballot and have not mailed it in, there is still a way to make sure your vote is counted! You can turn in your ballot at any precinct location on Tuesday. All precincts are open from 7 am to 8 pm. You can also hand deliver your ballot to the El Dorado County Elections Department, 2850 Fairlane Ct., Placerville or the El Dorado County Recorder-Clerk's Office, 3368 Lake Tahoe Blvd., Suite 108, South Lake Tahoe. Ballots must be received by the Elections Department no later than 8 pm on Tuesday.

Below is a list of all locations in El Dorado County's District V:

TahoeChamber has endorsed seven candidates for the upcoming election that best portray the values and abilities necessary to serve the South Shore business community. As directed by the TahoeChamber Board of Directors, the TahoeChamber Candidate Endorsement Committee (TC-CEC) used the pillars of the Chamber’s adopted Tahoe Future A South Shore Community Vision 2020 as the foundational criteria for evaluating candidates. The pillars include Economic Vitality, Quality of Life, Sustainability, Infrastructure and Intellectual Capital.

The November elections are just 7 weeks away and the Tahoe Chamber has added tools to their website for local voters to stay informed.

The deadline to register to vote in California is 15 days before Election Day and 31 days before Election Day in Nevada if registering by mail. This resource is courtesy of a partnership between CalChamber and BiPacin an effort to increase voter registration, participation and knowledge of issues affecting voters’ communities.

"I call upon you to with every ounce of respect to please take your community's engagement to heart and hear their voices as their elected officials," said resident Jenna Palacio during the South Lake Tahoe City Council's meeting Tuesday. "This is your opportunity for leadership."

Palacio was one of many who spoke in front of the Council and asked them to stay on their original track and keep the single use plastic bag ban in place.

There are three seats up for grabs in the November election for the Lake Tahoe Community College Board of Trustees. Trustees from areas 1, 2 and 5 are up for re-election.

Area 1 is currently represented by Kerry David, who has announced his intention to seek re-election. Area 2 is currently represented by longtime Board member Roberta Mason, who is retiring from her seat after 40 years of service to the college. Area 5 is currently represented by Molly Blann, who announced in June that she is not seeking re-election.

Voter will be voting for three City Council members, the City Clerk and City Treasurer on the November 4th ballot in South Lake Tahoe. The filing period opens on Monday, July 14 for all interested City residents who are interested in running for the open seats.

The terms of Council members Angela Swanson, Tom Davis and Brooke Laine will end this fall as well as that of City Clerk Susan Alessi and Treasurer David Olivo.

Updated at 12:05 a.m. Wednesday morning: 100% of the precinct's results are in.

County Supervisor District 5
The top 2 will face off in November.

Kevin Brown – 788 votes, 19.06%
Kenny Curtzwiler – 731, 17.68%
Gerri Grego – 499, 12.07%
Sue Novasel – 1135, 27.46%
Teresa Piper – 235, 5.68%
Angela Swanson – 737, 17.83%

Measure P

Yes - 1271, 68.41%
No – 587, 31.59%

Measure L
Yes - 2552, 78.52%
No – 698, 21.48%

El Dorado County desperately needs climate change – political climate, that is. The county in historic Gold Country stretches from the tony estates of El Dorado Hills to the vacation resorts of South Lake Tahoe, but its government is still stuck firmly in Hangtown.

That’s the old handle of Placerville, county seat of El Dorado. There’s a historical marker noting the old hanging tree just down Main Street from the county courthouse.

South Lake Tahoe City Clerk Susan Alessi received the 2014 Presidential Award of Excellence from the City Clerk’s Association of California. Ms. Alessi was presented with the Presidential Award at the annual conference which was held in Pasadena and attended by hundreds of City Clerks from around the state.

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