I’m reviewing the filings for 47th Congressional District and it seems that Rosemarie “Rosie” Avila a 17 year veteran of the Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) Board of Trustees won’t acknowledge that reality on her ballot designation. The designation she has chosen is Businesswoman/School Boardmember. Rosie is running for the Republican nomination to challenge incumbent Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez.
There are a few problems with her ballot designation. They are all tied to what the Elections Code 13107 requires:
(a) With the exception of candidates for Justice of the State Supreme Court or Court of Appeal, immediately under the name of each candidate, and not separated from the name by any line, may appear at the option of the candidate only one of the following designations:
(1) Words designating the elective city, county, district, state, or federal office which the candidate holds at the time of filing the nomination documents to which he or she was elected by vote of the people, or to which he or she was appointed, in the case of a superior court judge.
(2) The word “incumbent” if the candidate is a candidate for the same office which he or she holds at the time of filing the nomination papers, and was elected to that office by a vote of the people, or, in the case of a superior court judge, was appointed to that office.
(3) No more than three words designating either the current principal professions, vocations, or occupations of the candidate, or the principal professions, vocations, or occupations of the candidate during the calendar year immediately preceding the filing of nomination documents.
So what we have is a situation where Rosie has combined the words “Board†and “Member†into a single word. Considering that “Board Member” is two words, it is amusing that a School Board Member wouldn’t know that. Next we have the fact that the Elections Code clearly states that a candidate must choose only one of three possible designations.
In Rosie’s case, she can either choose to list her elected office, or her principal professions, vocations, or occupations. It is pretty clear that she cannot combine the two. She must choose either Businesswoman or Santa Ana School District Trustee.
What I don’t get is that with 17 years experience as a school board member, why doesn’t she want to acknowledge that fact? Is she embarrassed? Does she feel responsible for helping drive the district in to a very deep financial hole?
The other thing I don’t get is how did the Registrar of Voters miss such a clear error? They have a few days to figure it out so I hope they do. Of course, any voter can challenge the designation if they choose to.
Of course she doesn’t want to mention being on SAUSD. 17 years and what has she accomplished? Nada! Oh wait, she has managed to peach the the ways of the conservative right. But that hasn’t helped our kids at all. We still have high rates of teenage pregnancy and crime. Oh yes, let her run for Congress… she will be a lovely addition to the motley crew!
This story should be cross-referenced with the homeschooling story. She’s the poster child for everything that’s wrong with our educational system and justification for the fact that so many people don’t even want to send their kids to our public schools, let alone use vouchers for private schools! Seriously, we need to fix our school systems. Maybe they should be privatized with Social Security? 😛
Remember separation of church and state? Seems like the definitive law of the land to me and these wackos keep arguing the point anyway. The only thing worse than the far left is the far right!
SMS
Chris,
That is quite an omission. However, not to defend her, because she is indefensible, but I wonder if she left out the district since she is also a Trustee at Biola University?
BTW, Avila supported David Benavides for Council in 2006, primarily because he is a Biola grad, and because he told her he was pro-life. He later changed to pro-choice, which you pretty much have to do in the Dem. Party. I don’t know if she still supports him.
One more aside worth noting, Avila is Tan Nguyen’s alternate on the OC GOP Central Committee. And Avila’s MInuteman ally, Lupe Moreno, is running again for the OC GOP Central Committee. Don’t forget that Miguel Pulido appointed Lupe to the Library Board in Santa Ana. She is still on that commission, while Thomas Gordon, who is a lot more moderate than Avila or Moreno, got the boot from the EPIC/Gang Commission. I don’t know why the DPOC has not compelled Pulido to drop Moreno…it sure is a black eye to your party to have Pulido continue to support a rabid anti-Mexican. He has likewise endorsed Avila I believe in every one of her campaigns for the school board.
I thought Moreno left the GOP. There was a significant story in the OCR about it. What a loser…
CP,
She slithered back to the nest and rejoined the GOP.