First Amelia Sanchez-Lopez For San Bernardino City Clerk Mailer
October 20, 2011 Leave a comment
By Michael Reiter, Attorney at Law
The first Amelia Sanchez-Lopez for San Bernardino City Clerk mailer arrived yesterday in the mail with the Esther Jimenez for San Bernardino City Clerk mailer I had mentioned earlier this week. Esther Jimenez’s mailer was posted to Esther Jimenez’s Facebook page, and linked-to earlier. I am not sure why more candidates do not post their mailers online since they are already paying thousands to produce, print, and send them. It is virtually effortless to add them online, especially on Facebook.
This is Amelia Sanchez-Lopez’s first mailer, not including her mentions on City Attorney Jim Penman’s mailer. The mailer was paid for by “Jim Penman for City Attorney 2011″ and includes City Attorney Penman’s campaign email as well as Amelia Sanchez-Lopez’s email address.
Here is the front of Amelia Sanchez-Lopez’s mailer, and here is the back of Amelia Sanchez-Lopez’s mailer.
The front of the mailer is a letter from City Attorney James F. Penman. The letter states:
From the Desk of
CITY ATTORNEY JIM PENMAN
Dear Fellow Citizen,
Recently, people have been asking, “Who is Amelia Sanchez Lopez?” In our City government, the City
Attorney and City Clerk have comparable roles serving as checks and balances against corruption. The
City Clerk is our chief elections official. Just as I was encouraged and endorsed to run for City
Attorney by the City Clerk in 1986, and just as I endorsed Rachel Clark four years ago, I now
endorse Amelia Sanchez Lopez for City Clerk. Why?
Because: In this election, where none of the candidates have ever worked in a city clerk’s office, Amelia
is the ONLY CANDIDATE who has extensive experience supervising personnel, managing
programs, serving as a CEO, and personally obtaining grants at County, State and Federal levels.
For years, she has implemented and supervised grant-funded programs and managed the budgets
for her agency, and for numerous government programs. NO other candidate has Amelia’s
management expertise.
All three of San Bernardino’s former Mayors, Judith Valles, Evlyn Wilcox and Tom Minor support
Amelia Sanchez Lopez for City Clerk. We know her reputation for integrity and know she will NOT
show favoritism to ANY candidate or office holder.
I first met Amelia Sanchez 35 years ago when she was a Youth Drug Prevention Coordinator with Casa
de San Bernardino, a non-profit substance abuse Agency. Amelia soon became the Executive Director of
Casa de San Bernardino.
For the past 23 years, Amelia has been a County Public Health Education Specialist. She coordinates the
County’s Alcohol and Drug Prevention program, supervises staff, manages projects and supports our
police in combating drug and alcohol related crime.
Amelia is a San Bernardino native; her family has been in our City for five-generations. After her
mother passed away when Amelia was 15, she graduated from St. Bernardine’s High School in San
Bernardino and then from Valley College and the University of California, Riverside (BA). Amelia is
also a graduate of our City’s Community Police Academy and the San Bernardino Citizens’
Academy.
Amelia has two sons and she fmished raising the younger one as a single parent after her husband passed
away in 2005. Amelia is a home-owner and has been a lifelong, active member of Our Lady of
Guadalupe Church where she serves as a Lector.
Amelia is the best-qualified candidate to serve as our next City Clerk. Please join ALL of your former
Mayors and me in electing Amelia Sanchez Lopez City Clerk.
/s/
Jim Penman
San Bernardino City Attorney
This letter answers the question people are asking about Amelia Sanchez-Lopez: who she is, why she is qualified for the office, will she be independent if she is elected, and why Jim Penman is supporting her to be City Clerk. Voters can decide if it effectively answers these questions.
The reverse of the mailer has the headline: “Integrity and Accountability”
There is a picture of Council Member Wendy McCammack, Mayor Evlyn Wilcox, Amelia Sanchez Lopez, and Chamber of Commerce Director Judi Penman on the left middle under the headline. There is a picture of Amelia Sanchez-Lopez on the right middle under the headline. In the middle is a text oval that has a quote: “‘Amelia Sanchez Lopez is truly dedicated to the people of San Bernardino. Please join us and vote to elect Amelia our new City Clerk.’ Judith Valles, Evlyn Wilcox & Tom Minor Our 3 Former Mayors”
In the lower third of the mailer, it says:
As our next City Clerk, Amelia will meet the highest standards of
ACCOUNTABILITY, TRANSPARENCY and FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY.
Her priorities are:
• Integrity – Ensure fair and accurate elections
• Efficiency – Sound financial management while saving taxpayer dollars
• Responsiveness – Provide the highest level of service to all residents
• Accessibility – Promote good government and greater citizen participation
VOTE for Hometown
leadership To Keep Our
City Elections HONEST!
Elect
AMELIA SANCHEZ LOPEZ
OUR CITY CLERK
The letter is not on actual City Attorney letterhead, it is a mock up. The most interesting part of the letter is “Just as I was encouraged and endorsed to run for City Attorney by the City Clerk in 1986 . . .” That City Clerk was Shauna Clark, who later became City Administrator of San Bernardino. The unusual situation of a City Clerk becoming an appointed official was addressed in the new Charter in November 2004:
Section 105. Non-Eligibility of Elected Officials. No person who held
any elected office in the City, between June 1, 1987, and the effective date of this
Charter, regardless of how long any such person held any such elected office, may
be employed as City Manager until eight years passes from the effective date of
this Charter, and no person who holds any elected office on or after the effective
date of this Charter may be employed as City Manager until eight years passes
after such person leaves said elected office.
Section 105 of the Charter of the City of San Bernardino is the Shauna Clark Rule. Former City Clerk and former City Administrator Shauna Clark is now the City Manager of La Habra. The effective date of the Charter is March 6, 2006, which makes the eight year rule March 6, 2014. That prohibits Shauna Clark, Tom Minor, Judith Valles, and a whole host of council people and one City Treasurer from becoming City Manager until March 6, 2014, if ever.
Endorsements and San Bernardino politics are a funny thing. Tobin Brinker was endorsed by the public safety unions. Here is a video they paid for in 2006. Now, they support his challenger John Valdivia. Mayor Valles, who is endorsing Amelia Sanchez-Lopez, is also supporting City Attorney Penman, even though by the end of her mayoral regime she had filed an unfounded ethics complaint against the City Attorney. Shauna Clark went from being a Penman booster to a major Penman detractor.
The information you obtain at this blog is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is established by reading or commenting on this blog. You should consult an attorney for advice regarding your individual situation.
About Michael Reiter, Attorney at Law
