City Attorney candidate David McKenna: “I didn’t feel comfortable voting … so I chose not to participate”
October 24, 2011 Leave a comment
By Michael Reiter, Attorney at Law
First, a disclaimer: this site is neutral as explained in the post “Why We Try To Keep Partisan Politics Out of These Postings” These postings are provided as a community service, and not to push a particular candidate, or slate of candidates.
In the International Baccalaureate program in high school, we had a required class called “Theory of Knowledge.” Our teacher, Mr. Newman left me with the phrase “The Clock That Strikes Thirteen Puts Into Doubt The Previous Twelve.”
David McKenna has struck thirteen.
I am not big on aggregating news (you can go to the hyperpartisan blogs for that), but this piece in the Riverside paper, available online here, must be read by every voter:
David McKenna, who is challenging six-term incumbent San Bernardino City Attorney Jim Penman in the Nov. 8 election, acknowledged a charge Penman leveled during a candidate forum: Until moving to San Bernardino this year, McKenna lived in Riverside County for the past five years without registering to vote.
McKenna said he had spent most of the past five years working in Riverside and visiting hisSan Diego and children in Virginia.
“I didn’t feel comfortable voting … when I was not part of the community and didn’t know the candidates, so I chose not to participate,” McKenna said. [Emphasis Added].
Not only does it feed into City Attorney James F. Penman’s campaign theme that David McKenna is a carpetbagger, but it shows questionable judgment for a position that requires a considerable amount of discretion.
Add the earlier gaffe when David McKenna did not do his due diligence and sent out thousands of electronic mail messages that wrongly accused City Attorney James F. Penman of accepting money from the Colonies defendants, when that money was an independent expenditure in support of City Attorney Penman’s 2007 opponent, Marianne Milligan.
Another incredible incident was when City Attorney challenger David McKenna reinforced the carpetbagger meme when McKenna said he didn’t know anything about the San Bernardino International Airport except that it was an airport.
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About Michael Reiter, Attorney at Law
Michael Reiter, Municipal Attorney. Partner with Cole Huber, LLP in Ontario, Roseville California 