Thanks for keeping us up to date on this, I really appreciate all the work you do.

I think the headline here should read "BAKERSFIELD WINS."

wonder who is footing the legal bills for Woodward?   duh .....  what a farce

Hooray for the rule of law!  Even the powerful, dominant Abernathy-Scrivner machine couldn't subvert the rules for this election.

Justice has been done.  Beau Woodward will just have to be held to the same set of rules that Harold Hanson, Jacquie Sullivan and Sue Benham had to -- and did -- comply with.

Fred: Woodward told me he's paying for it himself.

 citybeat, does that mean that Beau Woodward is going to reimburse the City and County for staff time, materials and court fees?  If he is really concerned about costs to the taxpayer, then his remuneration will bode well for his next effort to run.  Or will Abernathy, etal, pick up the tab?

You will monitor?

The moral of this little farce is not to wait until the last minute to circulate a nominating petition.  The smart way is to get the required papers early. Obtain what you think are sufficient signatures as soon as possible. Check them against the Registrar's database. If you don't have enough unquestioned signatures, go get some more. Repeat until you are positive that you meet the requirements of the law.

Veritas: No, it means that Woodward, not Abernathy, is paying for Bradshaw. The city and county attorneys were defending their staff.

None of this bodes well for the gentlemans understanding of the process.We need adults who can "go to work" on day one,not a "get a lawyer" at a drop of the hat child. 

well I hope Woodward's 15 minutes of fame was worth whatever he shelled out for his legal services ... his case was a clear loser from the beginning and whoever convinced him he had a legal leg to stand on was blowing smoke

 I would just bet that the only reason Abernathy is allowing Woodward to concede is that it's become painfully obvious that even local Republicans are frowning at the apparent mockery of the process.  Abernathy thinks that his machine can just mow over everyone, including the law.  Poor Woodward is really just a victim of that power-mad machine, and now that his name is synonymous with subversion, he's done forever.  I hope he didn't really wnat the politcal career that seems to have been forced upon him by the powermongers.  He certainly will never live this travesty down.

Actually, gopherbro, there are some pretty good guidelines for sig. counting.  I think the rule of thumbe is 115% of the requirement means you aren't automatically challenged, but with such a low number, I'd think someone could easily get 200% and chase off any investigation.  The key from a real politik point of view is to get enough signatures so that no one believes they can knock you out with a challenge.

Tom: That guide is only for large petitions, and it's used when a random sample is taken. With a nomination petition as small as this, you need 20 real signatures, period. Each signature will be verified.

Since Beau comes from a VERY wealthy family, I doubt HE is paying for anything unless it's from his trust fund!!!

Mr Geluso-

I do want to thank you for the excellent job you have done on this case/story. You have provided the cases from both sides and the rulings in a pdf format (which is what I think your readers should be primarily concerned with). It seems that the people will continue to speculate and that the readers will turn Beau's 15 minutes of fame into a whole lot more. I would like to say this James. If Frenzel had reason any reason to believe that she hadn't been properly registered to vote that day at the DMV, then when Woodward brought the nomination papers to our house, why wouldn't she register to vote at that point. She signed the nomination papers with full confidence that her signature would be valid. And everyone can say whatever they feel, Woodward's eligibility requirements were this: Get 20 signatures from ward 5 registered voters, he did this on that day. However, the city decided that Frenzel/ Woodward should be penalized for an unfortunate slip up in our system. The proof of Frenzel's claim can be verified through her CA DMV form DL44 which should be on file with the DMV. When Frenzel told the clerk that she would like to register to vote in her new county during her CA Driver's License renewal that day, the burden of registering to vote became the clerk's responsibility at that moment which should have invoked the following steps: Clerk gives her the appropriate paperwork, Stacie fills this out, Clerk receives paperwork, Stacie confirms that she has filled all necessary forms out to be registered to vote, Clerk agrees. From Stacie's end, she felt like this was sufficient enough, apparently not. Anyways, thanks for your effort again James, you have been very fair in reporting this story. What I have learned through this process is that you attract a very bitter crowd that loves to comment and it has been quite entertaining to laugh at some of the responses over a meal with the Woodward family.   

Boone: We asked the DMV for Stacie's paperwork from that day, but they told us because it was a renewal, they didn't keep it on file. Seeing the box checked would have been a powerful piece of evidence.

You know, something has been eating at me regarding Frenzel. Doesn't the motor voter law specifically state that when you move between counties, you can NOT use the DMV to register to vote and must send in a registration card to your new county of residence? I know that was the case several years ago, but am not up on the current law.

I don't think so, Shwaine. The DMV is supposed to give you a standard form, the same form used by the county whether you pick it up at City Hall, fill it out at the county or get handed a form at Wal-Mart. The key is, it's not just a DMV form, and the DMV won't register you — they'll just send in the form.

Given Stacie Frenzel's story — her disbelief that she had filled out enough paperwork, the fact that she didn't come away with a stub — it sounds like the DMV employee never handed her the actual voter registration form. But of course I don't really know.

I guess it's new now that they will send in the form for you. When I moved up to Yolo County, I had to send in the form myself. I just did that automatically on moving back here since I had such bad luck with the DMV processing address changes in Yolo County even with the appropriate box on the address change form checked. Or maybe Yolo County just has a problem, heh.

Don't forget that Harold Hanson had to pay for his attorney, Tom Fallgatter.

As seldom as I agree with Councilman Hanson if Woodward had gotten himself on the ballot Hanson would have gotten a cash donation from me just on principal alone. Harold may not suit everyone's ideological views, certainly not mine, but that he will take a stand on principal vs. the wishes of some power broker he deserves our support. Harold, stick to your principals and best wishes!