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The battle lines have been drawn for the April 2012 Santa Clarita City Council election. As I wrote in last week’s column, Frank Ferry was making his play to form a cabal on the City Council by getting his crony Ed Colley to run against Bob Kellar. It was no surprise that Ferry announced his endorsement for Colley and his puppet Laurie Ender last Wednesday. The only thing that Ender and Colley have going for them is they are aligned with Frank Ferry which may actually backfire on both of them and Ferry come the April election.

What I find ridiculous is the notion that the incumbents always get re-elected. That is a theme that some flaccid, visionless and amoral political observers keep pointing to as a predictor in these local elections. There may be past evidence that points in that direction but it brings to mind that well known investment phrase; ‘past results may not be indicative of future returns.’

There has been an underlying trend building in the last several local elections in which the incumbents have not won by the comfortable margins they may have once enjoyed. The last City Council election saw a panicked Frank Ferry send out a desperate plea for donations once he realized that challenger David Gauny was gaining and posed a real threat.

In fact, I would say that Ferry would have lost had he and his supporters not stepped up the dirty tricks. They ran a candidate, David Galvan, with a similar name to David Gauny in order to confuse voters. The result was that Ferry squeaked by with one of the slimmest wins in his political career; 32 votes. And he would have most likely lost decidedly had his supporters not run Galvan; it was a dishonest win.

So, I would argue that there is a good chance that this coming City Council election is anything but predictable. There is an underlying movement; a grassroots swell that has been building for some time in regards to the disdain City residents are feeling towards Ferry and some of the other Council members.

Back in February 2010 I wrote in regards to Ferry, Weste and McLean; “at what point will the voters of the City of Santa Clarita wise up and realize that the current Council incumbents have overstayed their welcome and have become too cozy in City Hall. Are you okay with the documented shenanigans and the entitlement attitudes seeping out of the Santa Clarita Council Chambers?” 

That still holds true today and it is up to not only the City voters but also those of us living in the surrounding unincorporated communities to take an interest in this coming Council election. If we are to see the Santa Clarita Valley reach its real and full potential then it is time to push back at the Ferry cabal decisively and with impunity.

If you are a registered voter in the City please take the time now to start looking into all the candidates that are running for the two City Council seats. It will be a long four months until the April Council election and there will be a lot of misinformation and dirty tricks between now and then coming from Ferry and his political gangsters.

It’s time to Save the City of Santa Clarita from these thugs and unite the Santa Clarita Valley!   

Dave Bossert- Commentary

Dave Bossert is a community volunteer who serves on a number of boards and councils. His commentaries represent his own opinions and not necessarily the views of any organization he may be affiliated with or those of the West Ranch Beacon.