When is an election not an election?
As American military personnel put their lives on the line each day to advance democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan, right here at home we are experiencing an antidemocratic process that is undermining the interests of senior citizens residing in Lake County.
I am speaking of the California Senior Legislature, which meets each October in Sacramento to advocate and discuss items of interest to California”s seniors and to make recommendations to the California Department of Aging and the California Legislature.
When I saw the notice in the Clear lake Observer-American last month seeking candidates for the Senior Legislature to represent Lake County, I jumped at the opportunity. Being a 17-year resident of Lake County and having served 10 years in the California Senior Legislature in the 1980s and early 1990s from Santa Clara County, I decided to offer my services to his important body. I collected hundreds of signatures supporting my candidacy from my fellow Lake County seniors and filed my application with the Area Agency on Aging. I was willing to serve and quite ready to accept the outcome of the people I was hoping to represent. If they chose another candidate, so be it.
Recently, I was informed that an Advisory Committee appointed by the Area Agency on Aging and not the seniors of Lake County was to choose our representative to the California Senior Legislature. I also was told that three of the nine members of the Advisory Committee were candidates for the Senior Legislature.
I contacted Congressman Thompson, Sen. Chesbro and Lake County Supervisors Gary Lewis and Ed Robey to express my displeasure with the process.
Jim Levy, a representative of the California Senior Legislature in Sacramento in a letter to Senator Chesbro explained the process and further stated, “No candidate for the California Senior Legislature should contact their state or federal representative regarding this election.”
Further, Mr. Levy apologized to Sen. Chesbro”s staff for receiving “erroneous information about the California Senior Legislature about the election process from a misguided candidate.”
I find these comments insulting and out of line!
Instead of an election, we are left with a selection process or, more aptly, a coronation that resembles the way a bunch of men used to choose leaders in the Kremlin.
The losers are the seniors of Lake County. How can we have confidence in representatives fighting for us when they are afraid to even ask us, SENIORS, what we think through the ballot box?
Maybe it”s time we start spreading democracy here at home.
Mae Nahmias
Clearlake Oaks
