One Crisp Blue Shirt and a Shiny Badge
I did happen to see the News-Press photo of the Falcone press conference late today....I would post a link but they are not available via the News-Press website. The picture clearly shows a man who very much looks to be in uniform. My efforts yesterday to point out that an SBPOA member at the event would not likely have a City of Santa Barbara patch and probably wear an alternate, SBPOA badge are still relevant and we now have visual proof.
I haven't seen that The Santa Barbara Independent has posted an article about the press conference. On Noozhawk, the picture unfortunately just barely crops out the man in the crisp blue shirt with a shiny badge. KEYT had a story on the press conference and had a clear view zoomed in on the crisp blue shirt in question.
My comments regarding the perception of whether a uniformed officer was present or not stands. Really, the issue isn't about SBPOA support for Falcone -- they have every right to do so and considering the filing period hasn't even ended, Falcone has landed a major coup. My congratulations to her stands as well.
The issue is about whether people might think a uniformed officer was present...the gentleman clearly pictured in the crisp blue shirt did not have a City of Santa Barbara Police Department patch but he did have a badge on.
I haven't seen that The Santa Barbara Independent has posted an article about the press conference. On Noozhawk, the picture unfortunately just barely crops out the man in the crisp blue shirt with a shiny badge. KEYT had a story on the press conference and had a clear view zoomed in on the crisp blue shirt in question.
My comments regarding the perception of whether a uniformed officer was present or not stands. Really, the issue isn't about SBPOA support for Falcone -- they have every right to do so and considering the filing period hasn't even ended, Falcone has landed a major coup. My congratulations to her stands as well.
The issue is about whether people might think a uniformed officer was present...the gentleman clearly pictured in the crisp blue shirt did not have a City of Santa Barbara Police Department patch but he did have a badge on.
Labels: Iya Falcone, Mayoral Race 09, Santa Barbara Police
posted by Sara De la Guerra | 3/11/2009 12:11:00 AM
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10 Comments:
These inappropriate endorsement activities have become more frequent in recent local elections. I recall political signs outside a fire station in Goleta recently resulting in an apology and reprimand from the chief.
The activities are a reflection of the political action committee. Politically calculating candidates could be monitoring inappropriate actions but there is little political damage, if any, from fudging the rules a bit. It could be an oversight by a candidate or it could also be a calculated political strategy for advantage proving once again the unfortunate corporate structure of our elections.
As SDLG states Falcone's corporate endorsements are very impressive.
It should be pointed out that wearing a fake uniform is not illegal. That's not at issue here. Misleading? Maybe.
So now we have ANOTHER posting on this subject? You couldn't have included this in one of the two EXISTING threads on Falcone's endorsement?
I wonder if Helene will receive anything resembling this kind of treatment? Here is your chance to show you can be impartial and fair Sara. Check out this excerpt from a statement from the Schneider campaign given to Josh Molina of the Daily Sound:
“Especially in this economy, it is imperative for candidates to have a broad base of large and small donors committed to their election,” said Jeremy Lindaman, Schneider’s campaign consultant, and onetime adviser to current Mayor Marty Blum.
“Those that do not have this type of communitywide support become beholden to narrow interest groups such as unions, which are unaffected by the economic downturn because they simply collect union dues regardless of economic conditions.”
Sara this is shameless union bashing by the campaign of a candidate who has received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from unions, including the ones her campaign now is attacking. Are you going to stay silent about this, or are you gong to write a fourth post about union member uniforms?
That definitely was a fake police uniform, complete with a badge the same shape as the real ones, fake commendation award pins, and fake stripes on the sleeve.
Not illegal, but so, so obviously intended to fool people as part of the POA package of intimidation that the other mayoral candidates somehow are soft on crime with no evidence to the contrary.
These big public employee labor union endorsements are just pandering to a candidate who will spend money on pensions instead of public parks.
And the fake uniforms are just insulting to voters.
Why with all this photo-cropping, cop slopping, and non-reporting one could get the impression our local media is biased.
Naw, not in Santa Barbara. Not in our local independent press. Dang it, where is Travis when we need him. But he has long been in the tank for Iya anyway, for some strange internally inconsistent reasons.
The only thing impressive about Iya's mass public employee union endorsements is the sheer audacity of it in the face of taxpayer backlash against this very group.
Her loss but our gain to have the lines drawn so early in the game. We now know who brung the girls to the party and who they will be dancing with.
I'm awaiting the first sightings of the Clown Party presence. Look for those floppy shoes, startling color palette and the squeaky nose. AHOOGAH!!
I want to thank Sara for this post. Some people think it is wrong to bring this up. I don't.
I have posted some outrageous and hurtful comments here and she/it has deleted them as I asked.
However, here goes.
For the life of me, I can't understand why anyone in SB would support Iya or Helene after they both voted for a raise and extra day off for city union employees. This was just last month.
HELLO!
"It's the economy, stupid".
Regarding the Iya photo. . .
The guy on the left of the photo looks like a cop to me, and the two on the right in their yellow coats look like firefighters.
That's fine. But folks, get a grip. We are entering a depression. Iya and Helene are from the old school, and they will do nothing, NOTHING to get us out of it.
David Byrne, from Talking Heads said it best, "Same as it ever was. . . "
This whole concept just goes to demontrate how stupid the unions/candidates think we (the voters) are. And when we fall for it every time, we prove just how stupid we are.
Get a clue people! Either of these two candidates will give us 4 (or 8) more years of the same garbage.
We (the voters) will get what we deserve. We do not hold our elected officials accountable.
Once you make yourself beholden to the public employee unions to get elected, you forget who your real constituency is.
You think you work for the public employees; instead of the other way around.
Elect someone who knows the difference. Das and Iya do not.
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