William Barker, candidate for Mission Viejo City Council dies on election eve
City Council has options if Barker wins
MISSION VIEJO, Calif.—A candidate for Mission Viejo City Council died on election eve, authorities said today.
William Barker, 72, who was one of a dozen candidates running for three open seats, is believed to have died of a heart attack, City Clerk Karen Hamman said. Orange County coroner's investigators were sent Barker's home about 4 a.m., she said.
"I talked to him yesterday,'' Hamman said. "This is the second time he ran for City Council, so I got to know him over the years.''
Barker, an engineer, served on the city's Community Services Commission from January 2005 through 2007, Hamman said.
"He was a very nice man,'' the clerk said. "He was very excited about his candidacy for City Council. A lot of residents reported seeing him on street corners with his signs and he was looking forward to being elected to the City Council.''
If Barker wins the election, the City Council has two options, Hamman said. Council members could appoint someone to fill the vacancy or call a special election within 114 days.
Since a special election would have to be consolidated with another election, that would make the March 2011 election the next time voters could pick someone to replace him, Hamman said.
The election night results brought forth a much expected outcome, a Republican takeover of the House of Representatives and some “slippage” in Democrat seats held in the Senate. The reasons were several for the outcome, but it is not the end of the world. The Democrats (and everybody else) need to stop their snivelin’.
Wipe your nose and move on with the outcome. What happened is a combination of historical politics, race realities, fear-mongering and voter suppression.
That “silly season” called the mid-term elections is over. Thank God this campaign season is over.
And guess what? It’s not the end of the world (although political parties would make you think that Armageddon would come, if you didn’t vote them or their party).
Editor’s note: Despite repeated attempts to set up an interview for this story Steve Cooley, Republican candidate for Attorney General failed to respond to Our Weekly requests. This article has been pieced together from other published reports and with information from his on-line biography.
Although he was called a “law-and-order conservative” by former California Gov. Pete Wilson and ex-state Attorney General George Dukemejian,” Steve Cooley is one of the few Republicans who has acknowledged that the three-strikes law needs reforming.
If Proposition 24 passes, California will get larger class sizes, fewer teachers and will lose other social service workers and state workers. That’s the prediction by Frank Wells, a spokesperson for the California Teachers Association (CTA).
Proposition 24 repeals tax law that allows multi-state businesses to use a simplified formula to determine how much tax they must pay the state.
Editor’s Note: Next week, California voters will decide who will take over the daunting job of leading the state’s public school system. Larry Aceves, a Latino, is a former superintendent of districts in San Jose and the Central Coast. Tom Torlakson is an assemblyman from Contra Costa County who taught for 10 years in the 1970s and ‘80s. Both are Democrats. This interview is a round-up of questions posed by ethnic media editors and reporters.
