Shari Czerwinski sent the following in as a comment, but I am choosing to publish it as a post.
To quote Shari: “The City Council member position is an honorable, tireless, elected dedication to our democratic porcess. By skipping someone so highly respected as Claudia Bill-de la Pena, who has different but fully supported and represented views and opinions from constituents other than the remaining members of the Council, does send a significant message to those that do respect and are active in the democratic privileges of this country.
I congratulate all the hard working members of the Thousand Oaks City Council, but I do feel that if Councilmember Bill-de la Pena was skipped, then Mayor Gillette should address this ASAP and continue the honored, fair tradition of rotating Council members for the position of mayor.Â
Our democratic system calls for honest, fair and firm processes that are not reshaped to someone else’s favor, due to interpretations. Interpretations are out there, but it doesn’t mean the process should be rewritten.”
Text by Shari Czerwinski, posted by Janna Orkney
clint // Dec 31, 2009 at 2:02 AM
We don’t need to continue the rotation tradition, we need to start electing our mayors and start having term limits for the elected officials. Our system of government is weak and the people are not being heard.