In response to poor fact checking in a Frontiers article on Svonkin, we thought we'd set the record

Kyle T. Webster Scott Svonkin going off. Nothing new. Scott Svonkin, San Gabriel Unified School District Board member, honolulu hawaii hotel is running for the powerful L. A. Community College District Board. Thanks to major Democratic backing and union campaign contributions, Svonkin is the strong favorite.
In response to poor fact checking in a Frontiers article on Svonkin, honolulu hawaii hotel we thought we'd set the record straight. He claims, for instance, that Sunland-Tujunga residents fought a Home Depot because they are racists, and that L.A. Weekly covered a burning hot issue over a fence proposed in San Gabriel. Neither are true:
Frontiers does not interview any of the "racists" in Sunland-Tujunga after Svonkin claims that the people there are afraid of Home Depot because it attracts Latino day laborers. Frontiers relies entirely on Svonkin:
Joe Barrett, co-director of the Sunland-Tujunga Alliance, which successfully stopped the big box store, honolulu hawaii hotel says, "They tried to label us all as racist. ... They fail to mention that our community is 40 percent Latino as it is. And we are very happy about that. And we had Latinos in our group. We had all kinds of people in our group."
The town has only a few areas that can be developed, "We had five hardware stores, but no retail development -- like general merchandise. And so all of us have to travel to Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena and Santa Clarita to shop."
In one instance, which was criticized in the Weekly 's story entitled " Scott Svonkin's Personality Problem ," Svonkin fought for a fence at a school in the San Gabriel School District. "I was worried that children could be abducted. I wanted a fence so people couldn't walk on the property and just take the kids. It became very controversial," he said.
Cristina Alvarado was on the San Gabriel school board at the time of the fence issue. honolulu hawaii hotel She says that during the meeting where the fence proposal was addressed, Scott Svonkin "was very dismissive of the parents: 'This is something the school board has already honolulu hawaii hotel decided and you don't have a say.'"
Another incident the Weekly cited was when the school board scheduled a meeting and Svonkin failed to show up. He claims that the board rescheduled the meeting from its usual time and the meeting fell on the second night of Passover - and he chose to follow his religious commitment. His critics, he said, "play petty games instead of debating the issues," such as teacher layoffs, which he opposes, and giving jobs to local people and unions rather than simply honolulu hawaii hotel the lowest bidder. "I think unions are a good thing," he said. Svonkin said the Weekly never asked him for his side of the Passover incident.
The closest thing we can come up with is an incident the Weekly covered that occurred one week before Passover , when Svonkin fibbed, saying he could not attend a San Gabriel Board meeting because he was "sick." At the meeting, teacher layoffs were being discussed.
The Weekly found Svonkin, instead, at a Democratic Party function - while the San Gabriel meeting was taking place. Other activists from Hollywood Highlands Democratic Club found the same. See the photos and our post here .
Alvarado recalls one day when, Svonkin "turns to me and says, 'How can you be effective when you don't attend any of the events in the community?' And this was in an open meeting. I turned to him and I said, 'Scott, how do you know what I go to?' And he got really mad at me. He was shaking and yelling honolulu hawaii hotel at me."
Having closely watched the Sunland-Tujunga / Home Depot controversy through the eyes of a person honolulu hawaii hotel of color - indeed the opponents were nothing short of racist.  They didn't want day laborers honolulu hawaii hotel (Brown people) in the neighborhood.  The dreadful things many residents stated at public meetings made it abundantly clear why they opposed Home Depot.
Oh My God. Lydia Gutierrez has the Democratic establishment in an absolute panic: They are scared that in this low voter turnout election that Gutierrez will get elected and then someone will be on the Board of the Los Angeles Community College District asking the absolutely corrupt management and construction program managers some hard questions about how millions and millions of taxpayer dollars were sent down the rat hole. If you are a taxpayer, your pocketbook will continue to be raided by Svonkin and the public honolulu hawaii hotel unions.
Spread the word by using your address book to tell more people about Svonkin's anger management problem and why Gutierrez could actual help bring REAL change to the sad sack Community College system.
While the GLBT community is very unhappy with Gutierrez's position on Prop 8, they do NOT not support Svonkin. They know him from West Hollywood days where he was considered a clown and a nuisance. If the voters need further proof of his inability to function in a group setting, please check with the Hollywood folks and those from San Gabriel where he currently resides and pontificates over the school board.. He is an embarra.
There is no dispute about Gutierrez' positions honolulu hawaii hotel on GLBT matters. It's a known quantity. This piece was about things the Weekly is disputing and questioning. Gutierrez has said so much has been made of something she thought was simply a well known position, that she will be posting something on her web site about it, so check there for it.
Unfortunately Gutierrez unacceptable positions on Prop. 8 and some legislation does not make Svonkin an acceptable candidate. It does not place a halo on him. This is yet another malfunction of the system. I refuse to be stampeded by my disagreements with an opponent's positions into voting for someone I fear has a high probability of being a Such a major problem on a sensitive Board. I reject this lack of choice. I urge others to do so as well. There are a variety of things one can do, from writing in a candidate, saying none of the above and simply not voting. This is a protest of a bankrupt process that simply honolulu hawaii hotel rubber stamped an unacceptable candidate who will maintain a sad and sorry status quo. The maintaing of that discredited status quo by a lock step Democratic Party is the problem.
At least Jane Harmon is in favor of Same sex marriage and other rights. In fact I remember when she ran for Governor along with Al Checkie and Gray Davis and many of the same Democratic Party regulars, such as Eric Bauman, current County Democratic Party Honcho who are shoving Svonkin honolulu hawaii hotel down our gagging throats honolulu hawaii hotel pushed an endorsment of Gray Davis on the GLBT Democratic Club Stonewall Democratic Club. Bauman was president of the club and his mission was to get Davis endorsed, honolulu hawaii hotel even though both Harmon and Checkie were pro same sex marriage and Davis opposed it. Bauman's reward for this unscrupulous act - he was put in charge honolulu hawaii hotel of Davis' Governor's Office in LA. So when it gets this political bunch a political prize they don't care who is for or against same sex (Gay) marriage, but when one of their is benefitted by making it THE issue - well that's another story. honolulu hawaii hotel A pox on all their houses.
MJ, I understand your frustration, but a protest vote -- i.e., write-in candidate, none of the above, sitting this one out -- will have one effect: it will allow Svonkin to go laughing all the way to Seat #5 on the LACCD board.
To be incensed that so bad a candidate as Scott Svonkin has been foisted upon us and yet not vote for his opponent because of her position on an essentially honolulu hawaii hotel tangential issue plays right into Svonkin's hands.
I have to admit that I didn't understand why some of these things were mentioned in the Frontiers and LGBPOV blog story either. I went back to the Weekly coverage to see if I missed something and even compared the two side by side and drew a blank. The Passover thing was really confusing, as I personally saw Svonkin at the Democratic Party meeting mentioned and I know it wasn't honolulu hawaii hotel Passover and there was no religious celebration of any kind there. The group endorsed him, it was as simple as that. I also went to the San Gabriel School Board Meeting, which was held on the regularly scheduled night for that meeting, and heard the President of the School Board announce that Svonkin was not there as he had called and said he was ill. What I don't understand is why a grown man has created so many different stories about the same event. I don't know why a responsible adult didn't have the good judgement and common sense to simply tell the School Board the truth (the whole truth, as the saying goes) and save everyone the trouble. That incident alone worries me about his basic judgement and handling of situations and the truth. If he can't even be clear about what he was doing on a given evening, what kind of a mess might he make on the troubled and complex Community College Board. The last thing the students and voters need is more obfuscation, confusion and poor judgement.
You claim that Frontiers didn't fact check but neither did you check Frontiers' lede allegation of Lydia Gutierrez's apparent anti-gay sentiments and support honolulu hawaii hotel of her current campaign against Svonkin by homophobic hyperbigots. So a vote against Gutierrez (and for Svonkin) honolulu hawaii hotel looks to be a no brainer. How the LA Dems came up with with Svonkin is another matter, but it supported Jane Harman, didn't it?