September 1, 2007

Councilmember/Mayor Touhey and His Great False Pretense

The residents of West Covina should be advised that the petition to get the Districts initiative on the November 6, 2007 ballot failed because it was defeated by the political machine that controls virtually every aspect of our local City government.

Council Member Touhey wants to pretend that he was protecting the City when he, along with Council Members Herfert and Sanderson, the City Manager and the City Attorney, attacked and delayed the Councilmanic District Petition from May 22, 2007 to July 11, 2007. That gave the proponents only about 25 days to collect close to 4400 signatures. We achieved that objective and 1600 more. What the Four (4) Strong Council Members (Gang of 4), working together, wanted to do is protect their ability to continue to ignore the majority of the residents and promote the will of powerful land developers, their selected special interest, and their own personal and political gain.

The Proponents of the initiative wanted fair and equal government for everyone in West Covina. We wanted to get as many residents as possible involved and engaged in West Covina government. The interest of the residents should be first. The City Leaders should be particularly concerned with public safety. Our Nation is at war with a suicidal enemy and our Country is more deeply in debt than ever before. We have our City Leaders voting to spend frivolously large amounts of tax dollars without at large disclosure to every resident. The district vote was an attempt to have every geographic area of West Covina represented at City Hall not just one part of our City.

I went to court because nearly 6000 registered voters believed that voting for council seats by the District would be a good idea for the citizens of West Covina to consider. The Petition standing on its own merits, plus all the effort to get the petition to the City Clerk; it (the Petition) did not deserve to die in the City Clerk’s office. I went to court to testify how we circulated the petition. To demonstrate that there was no false pretenses in the circulation of the petition. We knew that everyone who signed the petition simply wanted to have the entire City think and vote on a more fair way to select our Members of the City Council. My Attorney cost me $3,000.00. The Strong (4) Political Machine had two (2) Attorneys at a cost of approximately $10 to $20,000 for an Elections Code Specialist. My Attorney assisted me in trying to get a fair court hearing. I asked my Attorney to get me on the witness stand. I was only able to put on the court records that my name is Fredrick Sykes because the Judge’s method of operation in this hearing was not to hear live testimony. Judge David P. Yaffe denied our application, our prayer for relief. The Four (4)’s Strong Political Machine had the means and they chose to do what often times prevails in court. Why should you testify when you are able to purchase a powerful spokesperson / Attorney to distort the facts?

The fact is if the District vote is what the Strong Four (4) wanted the Petition would have had no problem making the November 6, 2007 ballot. There would have been no delay for the petition and no need for litigation what so ever from the City of West Covina; because at this moment in time the Strong Four (4) is making the decisions for our City.

The Strong Four (4) do what they want to do without reservation. After all look at Big League Dreams (BKK Trash Dump now Money Dump); 57 Million Dollar bond debt plus another plan to add untold amount of a bond debt to construct the proposed golf course and its elaborate amenities. The largest development ever in West Covina and it is all being done without majority vote. Costly trips at tax payers expense without public notice, China in July 06 and Japan in August 07. West Covina residents please wake up and put people and measures in place that allow full disclosure of the activities of our local government so that we can better prepare for the future of our City. 

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Fredrick Sykes

1.626.806.4272