City Clerk on Border Patrol

Editor's Note: A version of this letter to readers also appeared in CityWatch.com

My heart was racing. The adrenaline was pumping. I could barely catch my breath. I couldn't remember the last time I had felt so fearful.

I was ready to call 911, but hesitated just long enough to remember that I actually had nothing to fear after all, because the LA City Clerk was protecting me and all that I cared most about in the whole wide world.

Yes, indeed. My fear that a pretend stakeholder might use the dark of night to sneak over the boundary from the 118 Freeway and into Chatsworth just in time to be a candidate for the March 2 election was totally unfounded because the city clerk's office was there "holding everyone to a higher standard."

No longer do I have to worry that a stealth stakeholder might immigrate from east of the center line of Corbin Avenue and demand to run for a 4-year term on the all-powerful Chatsworth Neighborhood Council.

No longer do I have to worry that a stealth stakeholder might sit in the back of our meeting room begging to help make our community better.

Chatsworth has all at-large board seats. Under the City Clerk's edict, no longer would Chatsworth stakeholders have to rely on a simple system where candidates - and voting stakeholders - used the affirmation required by the CNC Bylaws. Previously, a person merely declared under penalty of perjury that he or she really was a stakeholder and was allowed to seek office and/or vote for the 21 at-large director seats. This had worked extremely well since CNC was certified in early 2003.

But this is 2010. We have moved to modern times when Neighborhood Councils no longer run their own elections. Now we have the professionals in the city clerk's office running our elections.

I could finally take a deep breath again and relax, knowing that the city clerk's office wouldn't settle for a simple flash of identification. No, no way. They were "holding everyone to a higher standard" and requiring two forms of identification for all candidates. They even have an 8-page list of acceptable forms of ID included in the 17-page candidate filing packet that had replaced the simple, single page that Chatsworth had used for the previous six elections.

No. The city clerk's office is there to protect us all from the possibility of a plain, average citizen showing up and asking to participate in the grassroots efforts of a Neighborhood Council but not having two forms of ID. And, of course, all my fears have been soothed because I know that every person who wants to be a candidate who faxes their identification (rather than showing up in person to file) will be 1,000% honest with whatever they fax.

I don't have to worry that some drive-by stakeholder will ask a third grader with basic Photoshop skills to doctor his identification to show a fake address. I don't have to worry that the pretend stakeholder will completely fabricate two pieces of ID just to be a member of the Chatsworth Neighborhood Council. I don't have to worry that the immigrant stakeholder will use ID that doesn't prove any connection to Chatsworth.

I don't have to worry that a real "fake" stakeholder wouldn't care if they falsified identification. The honest people will be honest and show real ID. It's the dishonest people who don't care who will fake the ID in order to be candidates. And no matter how high the "higher standard" the city clerk's office requires, a person who wants to fake his status will be able to do so quite easily and the city clerk's reps aren't likely to be able to stop it.

Councils that have "specialty" seats with specific requirements obviously need to know that potential candidate meet that threshold.  With all at-large seats in Chatsworth, this is not an issue.

I don't have a worry in the world because the city clerk is "holding everyone to a higher standard," blocking all those potential undocumented stakeholders and candidates at the gates to Chatsworth.

I personally had a very satisfying experience at the city clerk's office near Union Station in December. After testifying before the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners at City Hall, I decided on the spur of the minute to find the election division and file my papers.

I filled out my name and CNC address and the other required information and presented my Council President business card along with a CNC card identifying me as "an official stakeholder of the Chatsworth Neighborhood Council."

Sorry, the business card was not acceptable because they weren't sure PO Box 3395, Chatsworth, CA 91313, was actually within CNC's legal boundaries. But when I gave them a street address for the Chatsworth Post Office, and marked its location on a map of the CNC boundaries, they decided to accept it.

Whew. Thank goodness no person in the world has ever faked a business card for any purpose! (Mine was very real. I promise.)

They had to get a supervisor to look at the "official CNC stakeholder" card because they had never seen such identification. The supervisor decided it wasn't worthy enough of the "higher standard." Their list of acceptable ID includes "membership card for a horse owners club." Perhaps my honorary purple Corral 54 baseball cap could have sufficed.

So, I offered my Costco American Express card, which proves that someone paid Costco for me to have a membership, but certainly doesn't prove that I have any connection to Chatsworth to meet their "higher standard." Costco doesn't even have a Chatsworth location.  And the credit card actually expired more than three years ago.

Bingo. Approved. I became an official candidate based on a business card and a Costco credit card. Yes sir, that's the "higher standard."

Let me remind you that the city changed the definition of stakeholder for all Neighborhood Councils. Chatsworth adds a slight modification: A stakeholder is any person who lives, works, owns property or boards a horse within the CNC boundaries or declares a stake in the community and shows a factual basis for it.

With such a broad definition, I contend that you only have to be a living, breathing human being to qualify - and I'm not sure about the human part of that. Whenever I am asked if a person qualifies, I respond that the fact that the person is asking means that they are a stakeholder.

Among the city clerk's list of "approved" identification for candidates is a valid driver's license for a homeless candidate. I guess that means that showing a specific address and also being homeless meet the "higher standard." A Social Security card is acceptable, even though the card only proves someone has a Social Security number. And, of course, the card specifically says that it cannot be used for identification.

To be fair, a candidate could also use a utility bill or rental agreement, but that might exclude roommates, significant others or spouses.

So, out of curiosity, I asked the nice people in the election division what kind of identification I would need to run for LA City Council. Silly me; I thought that they would have a ton of paperwork and ask for serious identification to run for a real political office that has real power, real salary and real consequences.  Nope. No identification required. Nada. None. Not even one form.

But, I will definitely sleep better tonight knowing that the city clerk is "holding everyone to a higher standard" by requiring two forms of ID to run for the all-powerful Chatsworth Neighborhood Council, which has Bylaws that require only self-affirmation, no ID at all.

As I told BONC, among other people, I truly believe that I hold candidates to a much higher standard. While the city clerk is busy requiring two forms of ID to qualify as a candidate, I impose the highest standard of all.

I ask each potential candidate: "Do you want to participate?" What higher standard could there possibly be for grassroots involvement?

Judith Daniels
President
Chatsworth Neighborhood Council