If Beau Woodward really wanted to run for the city council why didn't he start collecting signatures even a week earlier, why wait until the very last day.  And why didn't he get at least 40 or 50 signatures in the event that some would not valid signatures.  I think he is wasting the city's money with a lawsuit.

What a [edit.].  When my friends ran for office, we would gather at least 100 signatures in the the district to ensure at least the minimum of the signatures were valid.  He only got 33 signatures!  Its his own damn fault.  First Assemblywoman Karen Bass is an [edit.] for kicking Nicole Parra out of the building, then Beau Woodward lawyers up and sues the City.  What a [edit.]!

Oh yes, I want to vote for a man who doesn't talk to the news media on the day he announces, doesn't collect enough signatures because he doesn't know the boundaries of his own district and then sues a public agency at the expense of taxpapers for his mistake. These are all signs of a good public servant.

Why does he deserve extra consideration.   Would anyone who wasn't an Abernathy puppet get a second chance?  In this town! 

What Steve said.  (see above)

"like a ward map" that's exactly what I said,try collecting 90 signatures(in case of error),if he got all that much get up and go,it should be no problem,but I am no professional...waste of taxpayers money .Let it go with some dignity and try next time,and use some of that "perfect party " planning your Mom taught you.You may not enjoy "the media" but it is Free advertising for an unknown.

Send my consultant fee to TBC~if Steve,Jason,James or Lois gets it in their name~lunch is on me.Well not on me,but I buying!

 SORE LOSER

Sore loser is right.  This is how the Abernathy people are trying to save face?

I've spoken with Harold Hanson on several issues we did not exactly agree on and he is a perfect gentleman, thoughtful, and knows how to follow through.  If those are qualities of old age, go Harold!

Hope the judge socks him with court costs and the city's legal fees.

Unimpressive.    The only way to get yourself into an election is to sue???    Loser.

This person couldn't even do the signature thing correctly, what makes him feel he can do any better in Office?  The signature thing is just an example of what he can get done.

Now, who's to pay for his little law suit?  Is he going to try and stick it to the tax payers??  That's for sure is not a good side of him to show to the voters.

The guy didn't see to it that the job was carried out and completed and now he's mad and wishes to sue the people of which he wishes to receive votes from?  Give me a break for crying out loud.

Some one said it correctly above with LOSER.

Reminds me of a little child playing with others and when he doesn't get his way, he runs to Mommy to fix it his way.   That in its self is my laugh for the day. LOL

I'll vote for the one that got it right. LOL

went back and pulled mine for a bit and no difference so I know mine didn't do it.

Did it after an edit above

Steve, I couldn't have said it better myself!

This is so typical of the Abernathy Machine -- they want their way, period.  No respect for the rules or the rule of law, even though it was THEY who screwed up!

I hear from people who attend church with Woodward, the crybaby candidate-not-gonna-be that he's a couple cans short of a six pack.

James:

The way I see it, older people are not fools.  You don't get to BE older if you're a fool!

--John

I heard him on the Radio,

This whole thing is about one voter, that went to register was told that she was ok and good to go, only later to find out she was not.

Yeah you could get a hundred signatures but the guys got a point, how's a city official going to say you registered everything is ok, and then when when she tries to get invovled to hep someone run, and they say nope your no good, thats messed up.

I know the Lefties won't say it but if this was a Dem, everybod would say how can the city screw a Democrat, the bias blah blah blah....

I tell you what I hope the guy gets on the ballot, the city messed up...and i for one like some one actually having to run... THis guy sounded very good to me on the radio today... 

BS: Allegedly she registered at the DMV, and it's the county who said she wasn't registered. So a) it wasn't the city, and b) it wasn't one government that said she was OK and then the same one said not; it was the state saying she was OK and the county saying she's not.

Wouldn't be the first time the DMV messed up a voter registration. Ever time I moved in graduate school, the DMV never get it right. Only discovered it the first time because I moved within the same complex and the mail carrier put my sample ballot in my new box even though it was addressed with my old apartment number. The second time I found out because they mailed a voter registration card to my new address saying they had gotten forwarded mail from my old address. After the second mess-up, I swore off the DMV motor voter registration and used a regular voter registration card.

I would like to start by commending James Geluso on being the most accurate reporter for the Californian that I have come across. However, that is not saying much with columnists like Lois Henry on staff.

Here is what all of you commenters should know; The woman who registered to vote at the DMV went as far as clarifying with the DMV employee that she had done all she needed to do to update her voter registration. (She was a registered voter for many years in Orange County before moving to Kern County in 06' ) She is a registered voter in the 5th ward who desires to see someone have an opportunity to run for city council. Why should Woodward or this woman be faulted because of a mistake on the part of the DMV employee. Anyone who has registered to vote at a DMV knows that the minimum-wage clerk behind the counter has never pulled out their company-issued guide and verified that they followed all the necessary procedures in registering a person to vote.

Main point: Since the election was not cancelled tonight, let there be a race, and let the registered voters of ward 5 determine whether or not Woodward should be elected to public office. In the meantime, find something better to do with your time than to slander a young man with a family who desires to see Bakersfield prosper through public service to a community he has lived in since birth.

To Boone51

I have not seen slander of "a young  man with a family...".  What I have seen are comments from people who are surprised that someone who is ill-prepared to follow election procedures now wants to spend taxpayer money to get on the  ballot for a district that he does not know enough about to know the boundaries or how to find them.  Living in Bakersfield since his birth does not make him qualified to govern. 

To K95003

If for some reason you have failed to see slander of this "young man with a family", it is because you have not read the related stories or the comments on this blog post. In response to whether or not Mr. Woodward is wasting taxpayers money, consider this: The man went through the same process as every other candidate and came up with 33 signatures. 20 is the magic number of registered voters signatures within his ward. In fairness to him, how is Beau able to verify, on the spot, that  the citizens of Bakersfield (within his ward) that are signing his petition are actually registered voters.  He has to take their word to some extent, right? The dispute here is not whether or not Beau should have gotten more signatures, it is whether or not the 20th signature by Stacie Frenzel should be accepted as a qualified signature of a resident within his ward. If the court decides that it is, LET THERE BE AN ELECTION!&nbs p; 

Second, I never attempted to qualify Beau as a candidate based on his decision to reside in Bakersfield since birth. It simply demonstrates that he has a vested interest in this community which is something I feel, as a registered voter, will cause him to have some passion towards his service.  If you notice in the comments posted above, one person stated, "Beau is a few cans short of a six pack." and another had to be edited three times which implies that they were insulting Beau with foul language. This person has already exposed their ignorance.

Also, I have heard many people use the argument that he is wasting taxpayers dollars but I just don't have any evidence that this is true. Please clarify this and put some sort of dollar amount next to this claim. I understand that the general public will take whatever makes the headlines of a newspaper to heart and find some reason to rally against this but please verify that the officials that will be reviewing this case are not already on payroll for the county. I understand and would also be outraged if Woodward was suing for punitive damages but there are no damages in his claim against McCarthy! Please gather some facts before you repost, I have heard your opinion many times in the coverage of this story because it seems to align so well with the liberal news media!

To quote a previous comment :"anyone who has registered to vote at a DMV knows that the minimum-wage clerk behind the counter has never pulled out their company-issued guide and verified that they followed all the necessary procedures in registering a person to vote" 

Gee, Ms. Frenzel placed her trust in the above mentioned "minimum-wage clerk" and is surprised that it was not handled according to the "company-issued guide"? 

By the argument that the DMV clerk is incompetant, the choice to depend upon the DMV clerk comes into question.

Again, the issue is that Woodward did not take adequate time to verify that voters were in his district, or were registered to vote.  Spending enough time to review the district boundaries and to review the voting records could have solved this issue.  This is an issue of lack of preparation and follow through.  Using the court system to cry foul is offensive and smacks of the liberal entitlement agenda so rife in our society today and in our "liberal news media".

Why do you assume Frenzel was surprised that the DMV clerk mishandled her voter registration form? Did you read that anywhere or are you just assuming that she had 100% confidence the DMV would not screw up. The DMV is a place where citizens are able to go and register to vote while renewing their California Driver's License. Not all DMV clerks are incompetant and there was no justification in me saying that. Even more than that, the clerk she dealt with that day may have made a mistake, which we are all capable of doing, and what happened has happened. But again, let me reitarate the fact that the mistake on the part of the DMV employee should not prevent Woodward from having the opportunity to run for City Council.

Let me again be clear on what the ISSUE should be: Woodward should not be penalized because of a mistake on the part of a DMV clerk! Am I wrong in saying that?  And how do you fault a man for using the court system that was put in place to ensure that justice be carried out. Again, the counsel reviewing this case is on staff. Aren't they wasting taxpayers dollars if they don't have any work put before them? And to be brutally honest, Woodwards case will be heard and over with so quickly that it would be impossible to have any effect on the workload of these individuals.  

I am hoping that the bold text may help you see clearly the issue at hand.

Boone: There is a way that Woodward could have known whether they were registered voters. The Ken Weir recall people have lists of registered voters they got from the county. They don't have to take anyone's word for it.

I don't assume Stacie Frenzel was surprised. She told me she thought she was registered. If she had less than 100 percent confidence that DMV wouldn't screw up, then why didn't she check with the county?

James, I don't recall stating anywhere that Mrs. Frenzel did have less than 100% confidence that the DMV wouldn't screw up, I simply asked if K95003 was assuming this or if they had read this somewhere. Also, that is a good question that you probably should have asked her when you interviewed her. My guess is the adjustment to being a new mom in a fairly new county might be one or two of her reasons though( no excuse.) And I am not irritated, I would just like to see justice prevail and accuracy in the Californian's reporting on this story... (wink)