http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/politicsanyone/11594 BY VIC POLLARD, Californian columnist | Wednesday, Jul 4 2007 10:20 PM Last Updated: Thursday, Jul 5 2007 7:27 AM SACRAMENTO -- Sadly, I have to report that this is the last one of these columns. It may reappear at some point in a different form, but my role as The Californian's Sacramento reporter will end next week. As you may have noticed in a story we published last week, The Californian is closing the Sacramento reporting office for financial reasons. This company joins a long and growing list of newspapers forced to make painful cuts under the relentless changes in the economics of the modern media world. I am disappointed but not surprised, and I count myself lucky for many reasons. An alarming number of my colleagues in the Sacramento press corps have preceded me into other lines of work and other phases in their lives. That this office lasted so long is a tribute to the commitment of the owners and editors of The Californian to providing readers and voters in Kern County with a steady flow of information about the impact of state government on their lives. It's expensive to maintain a remote office 300 miles away from Bakersfield. The paper has been represented by someone in Sacramento most of the time since 1970. Its first correspondent here was Mary K. Shell. Yes, Mary K. Shell, who went on to become mayor of Bakersfield and a Kern County supervisor. &quot;That was before we even had fax machines,&quot; Shell recalled the other day. She wrote a weekly column on a typewriter and shipped it to Bakersfield on a Greyhound bus. That went on until 1979, when she decided to run for mayor and moved back to Bakersfield. In 1982, the paper sent Bruce Scheidt, then a young reporter in the newsroom, to become a full-time reporter covering state government and politics. Scheidt, who spent his nights and weekends studying law, left in 1989 to become an attorney. Scheidt was followed by Mike Otten, a former Sacramento Union reporter, and Lois Henry, now the paper's assistant managing editor. I came to work for The Californian in 1994. Although I had spent part of my youth in Bakersfield, graduating from Arvin High and attending Bakersfield College, I was no stranger to Sacramento. I had been a reporter here for most of the time since 1973, working for several newspapers owned by the Gannett Co. When I arrived, Ronald Reagan was governor and Jerry Brown was running to succeed him. Now, I plan to take some time off, and then see what might come next. I don't plan to write a book, but at a time like this, it's impossible not to think about what you've learned. In more than three decades of watching state government up close, with a fair amount of national reporting thrown in, the lesson can be summed up in one word: VOTE. It sounds corny, but when you get down to the basics of what this country is all about, that's it. It's increasingly fashionable to say one's vote doesn't count, that all politicians are on the take, that the big-money interests will always get what they want anyway. But remember this: If just a few more people, relatively speaking, had voted for Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore in either Tennessee or Florida in 2000, we almost certainly would not have the war in Iraq that has become so unpopular. The lesson is, you can't always tell in advance how much influence your vote will have. But when it turns out that you could have helped fix something bad, and you didn't try, it's too late. BY VIC POLLARD, Californian columnist | Wednesday, Jul 4 2007 10:20 PM Last Updated: Thursday, Jul 5 2007 7:27 AM SACRAMENTO -- Sadly, I have to report that this is the last one of these columns. It may reappear at some point in a different form, but my role as The Californian's Sacramento reporter will end next week. As you may have noticed in a story we published last week, The Californian is closing the Sacramento reporting office for financial reasons. This company joins a long and growing list of newspapers forced to make painful cuts under the relentless changes in the economics of the modern media world. I am disappointed but not surprised, and I count myself lucky for many reasons. An alarming number of my colleagues in the Sacramento press corps have preceded me into other lines of work and other phases in their lives. That this office lasted so long is a tribute to the commitment of the owners and editors of The Californian to providing readers and voters in Kern County with a steady flow of information about the impact of state government on their lives. It's expensive to maintain a remote office 300 miles away from Bakersfield. The paper has been represented by someone in Sacramento most of the time since 1970. Its first correspondent here was Mary K. Shell. Yes, Mary K. Shell, who went on to become mayor of Bakersfield and a Kern County supervisor. &quot;That was before we even had fax machines,&quot; Shell recalled the other day. She wrote a weekly column on a typewriter and shipped it to Bakersfield on a Greyhound bus. That went on until 1979, when she decided to run for mayor and moved back to Bakersfield. In 1982, the paper sent Bruce Scheidt, then a young reporter in the newsroom, to become a full-time reporter covering state government and politics. Scheidt, who spent his nights and weekends studying law, left in 1989 to become an attorney. Scheidt was followed by Mike Otten, a former Sacramento Union reporter, and Lois Henry, now the paper's assistant managing editor. I came to work for The Californian in 1994. Although I had spent part of my youth in Bakersfield, graduating from Arvin High and attending Bakersfield College, I was no stranger to Sacramento. I had been a reporter here for most of the time since 1973, working for several newspapers owned by the Gannett Co. When I arrived, Ronald Reagan was governor and Jerry Brown was running to succeed him. Now, I plan to take some time off, and then see what might come next. I don't plan to write a book, but at a time like this, it's impossible not to think about what you've learned. In more than three decades of watching state government up close, with a fair amount of national reporting thrown in, the lesson can be summed up in one word: VOTE. It sounds corny, but when you get down to the basics of what this country is all about, that's it. It's increasingly fashionable to say one's vote doesn't count, that all politicians are on the take, that the big-money interests will always get what they want anyway. But remember this: If just a few more people, relatively speaking, had voted for Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore in either Tennessee or Florida in 2000, we almost certainly would not have the war in Iraq that has become so unpopular. The lesson is, you can't always tell in advance how much influence your vote will have. But when it turns out that you could have helped fix something bad, and you didn't try, it's too late. en-us Thu, 05 Jul 2007 09:18:43 PDT Vic,<br /> &nbsp;You did a great job for us. Thank you.<br /> &nbsp; Plus the donuts you brought us were legendary.<br /> &nbsp; You deserve some time off to try to catch one of those stupid smelt fish that some people worry about. http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/politicsanyone/11594/#c_112892 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/politicsanyone/11594/#c_112892 Vic,<br /> &nbsp;You did a great job for us. Thank you.<br /> &nbsp; Plus the donuts you brought us were legendary.<br /> &nbsp; You deserve some time off to try to catch one of those stupid smelt fish that some people worry about. Best wishes, Vic.  I actually read your column.  Hope you get to do more good work at a paper that will let you stay as long as you want. http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/politicsanyone/11594/#c_112898 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/politicsanyone/11594/#c_112898 Best wishes, Vic.  I actually read your column.  Hope you get to do more good work at a paper that will let you stay as long as you want. See you around, Vic, and thanks.&nbsp; If you're planning on keeping your hand in while taking time off, I'm sure the folks at Calitics would appreciate your insight and knowledge.&nbsp; http://www.calitics.com/frontPage.do http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/politicsanyone/11594/#c_112903 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/politicsanyone/11594/#c_112903 See you around, Vic, and thanks.&nbsp; If you're planning on keeping your hand in while taking time off, I'm sure the folks at Calitics would appreciate your insight and knowledge.&nbsp; http://www.calitics.com/frontPage.do <p>I always thought you wrote good stuff, too.</p> <p>The other thing that I tire of hearing is that &quot;there is no difference between the parties.&quot;</p> <p>That couldn't be more untrue.&nbsp; Say that the next time a vote in Congress or Sacramento splits exactly on party lines -- which is dam near every time they vote on something.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/politicsanyone/11594/#c_112904 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/politicsanyone/11594/#c_112904 <p>I always thought you wrote good stuff, too.</p> <p>The other thing that I tire of hearing is that &quot;there is no difference between the parties.&quot;</p> <p>That couldn't be more untrue.&nbsp; Say that the next time a vote in Congress or Sacramento splits exactly on party lines -- which is dam near every time they vote on something.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> Thanks for the link, Tom.&nbsp; It looks like a good place to try to establish <em>myself, </em>too. http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/politicsanyone/11594/#c_112905 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/politicsanyone/11594/#c_112905 Thanks for the link, Tom.&nbsp; It looks like a good place to try to establish <em>myself, </em>too. Thanks for all your work, Vic. I always thought we needed more of your pieces, because they typically shed light on some process that we wouldn't have heard about otherwise. http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/politicsanyone/11594/#c_112908 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/politicsanyone/11594/#c_112908 Thanks for all your work, Vic. I always thought we needed more of your pieces, because they typically shed light on some process that we wouldn't have heard about otherwise. Good on ya, H4F.&nbsp; I need to spend more time there.&nbsp; It's hard to walk back from the national stuff, but local issues are where the real power and changes come from. http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/politicsanyone/11594/#c_112912 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/politicsanyone/11594/#c_112912 Good on ya, H4F.&nbsp; I need to spend more time there.&nbsp; It's hard to walk back from the national stuff, but local issues are where the real power and changes come from. Thanks for your insights, observations&nbsp; and reporting.&nbsp; The news companies, and the public, seem to take reporting for granted. In a world today where info-tainment has replaced real news, and anyone with a cellular phone containing photo capability and a blog thinks they are a journalist the country has never needed reporters more. <br /> <br /> It is, as you point out, a fact that newspapers are now cutting staff amid declining ad revenues. It is also a fact that newspaper publishing, like so many industries, has been reduced through merger, buyout and liquidation to a handful of major players dominating the landscape with fewer alternative sources to supply information. When very few companies become your sole source of revenue the model breaks and people are left without important voices to point out what happens in their communities.<br /> <br /> Good luck to you. As a card carrying member of the AARP eligible I know you'll need it. &nbsp; http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/politicsanyone/11594/#c_112936 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/politicsanyone/11594/#c_112936 Thanks for your insights, observations&nbsp; and reporting.&nbsp; The news companies, and the public, seem to take reporting for granted. In a world today where info-tainment has replaced real news, and anyone with a cellular phone containing photo capability and a blog thinks they are a journalist the country has never needed reporters more. <br /> <br /> It is, as you point out, a fact that newspapers are now cutting staff amid declining ad revenues. It is also a fact that newspaper publishing, like so many industries, has been reduced through merger, buyout and liquidation to a handful of major players dominating the landscape with fewer alternative sources to supply information. When very few companies become your sole source of revenue the model breaks and people are left without important voices to point out what happens in their communities.<br /> <br /> Good luck to you. As a card carrying member of the AARP eligible I know you'll need it. &nbsp; Good luck Vic. I also enjoyed your column when I lived in Bakersfield. Glad to see you getting out of our state's hell hole, though. While there may be a smidgen of difference between the two parties of donut-eating, taxpayer-dollar-swilling do-nothing parasites, it isn't in the political games they play.&nbsp;&nbsp; http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/politicsanyone/11594/#c_112956 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/politicsanyone/11594/#c_112956 Good luck Vic. I also enjoyed your column when I lived in Bakersfield. Glad to see you getting out of our state's hell hole, though. While there may be a smidgen of difference between the two parties of donut-eating, taxpayer-dollar-swilling do-nothing parasites, it isn't in the political games they play.&nbsp;&nbsp; Take care Vic, enjoy your free time, and then get back to work on your book perhaps? http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/politicsanyone/11594/#c_112965 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/politicsanyone/11594/#c_112965 Take care Vic, enjoy your free time, and then get back to work on your book perhaps? <font size="2">Thank you for your columm,I enjoyed it very much.I worry about losing &quot;hard news&quot; in media today~TBC has my back on that ,right?~ and you will be missed.Enjoy a break,then I hope life finds you right where you most desire to be.</font> http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/politicsanyone/11594/#c_112991 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/politicsanyone/11594/#c_112991 <font size="2">Thank you for your columm,I enjoyed it very much.I worry about losing &quot;hard news&quot; in media today~TBC has my back on that ,right?~ and you will be missed.Enjoy a break,then I hope life finds you right where you most desire to be.</font>