Friday Briefs

Clarification on Development Project in Northwest Quadrant

I was under the impression that the development was north of Sutter Hospital, however, new information sent to me indicates in fact it will be west of the hospital. Here is the map of where it would be from last year's Davis Enterprise.


County Clerk Freddie Oakley Takes a Stand For Same Sex Marriage

The Sacramento Bee this morning that Freddie Oakley, the Yolo County Clerk-Record has designed her own marriage certificates that she will distribute to same-sex couples on Valentine's Day.

This is an action that she has taken on her own time, using her own resources, and I think this is perfectly legitimate. No tax dollars were used and this is her own personal view.

As you can imagine the reaction has been mixed to this proposal. However, the Sacramento Bee quoted Secretary of State Debra Bowen, a Democrat, as seeing no legal problem with what Oakley is doing. She suggests that if the voters do not like, they can always vote her out.

Assemblyman Doug La Malfa, a Republican, who lives in Oroville but represents the northern part of Yolo County said it was inappropriate.

"If I was a Yolo County supervisor, or whatever, I would ask her to do this on her own time and not out of her office."

County Supervisor Matt Rexroad wrote in his blog this morning:

"I'm completely opposed to same-sex marriage. However, I'm not going to tell another elected official in Yolo County not to do something with her own time and resources. She's not violating the law. She's expressing an opinion that she holds. Bring it up at election time. "

My own personal belief as one who strongly supports the right of same-sex couples to marry, is that people like La Malfa should keep their nose out of the business of Yolo County voters and local governance. He may represent portions of this county in his assembly district, however, he does not live in this county, he does not get a say in who is Yolo County Clerk or what she does.

Let's applaud Freddie Oakley for taking a stand for what she believes is right. Whether or not it costs her votes, she took a stand and deserves plenty of kudos for sticking to her principles. If the rest of government acted likewise, this would be a much better country.

Correcting Jim Smith's Blogcentral Commentary on 5th Senate District

One of the things I do a lot to prepare for writing articles and commentary to read a lot of the local papers and commentary. I get a lot of information from outside of this realm, but it is always good to know what is going on. One of the Blogs I read on a regular basis is Jim Smith, who is editor of the Woodland Daily Democrat. Honestly, I wish Debbie Davis and some of the Davis Enterprise reporters would do something like this.

Unfortunately, I found some inaccuracies in Smith's column yesterday, which I put in a comment. However, while Smith acknowledged the error that I pointed out, he left his column unedited. Most people are not going to see my correction which is not on the main page, but will only read the column.

Smith was discussing Cabaldon's announcement for the State Assembly and what this would mean for other races.

Smith writes:

"Now, consider: What happens with Lois Wolk? She's a very strongly connected Assembly Democrat who has done what she needed to do to get along with the party. She is also well liked by her constituents. If she, as has been speculated, decides to run for the 5th District Senate position, what happens to Machado?

....

So, consider: Does Machado bow out of the race if Wolk decides to run for the Senate? Or, has Machado been granted some other legislative position to leave the race open for Wolk? If so, what position. It's unlikely Machado will simply drift off into the sunset."

Of course, Senator Mike Machado, unless the term limit laws are changed in February of 2008 (which is a possiblity), will be termed out. This is his second term, he narrowly won re-election in 2004 against Former Stockton Mayor Gary Podesto.

Wolk most likely will not run unopposed for the State Senate, in fact, one rumored challenger is John Garamendi, Jr., a former Davis resident and son of the Lt. Governor, John Garamendi. That would be a fun race to watch. But this is one of the few contested Senate Seats in the state and the bulk of the population is not in Yolo County.

Smith also writes:

"It's a fact that when the 5th District was gerrymandered to include portions of Yolo County the fit didn't go very well. Machado is an excellent representative for the Bay Area portion of his district, but doesn't mesh all that well with the diversity of those folks in Davis or Woodland."

The 5th Senate district does not extend into the Bay Area. It goes as far west as Fairfield, which is certainly not in the Bay Area. It goes as far north as the Yolo County line. And the bulk of it goes south to Stockton. But it does not go to the Bay Area, it goes into the Central Valley.

Mistakes are going to happen, the key thing when blogging is to be open and honest about them and correct them so that future readers are not getting misleading or inaccurate information.

UPDATE at 8:30 am on Saturday morning: I just logged onto to Smith's blog and he has now posted a correction.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting