Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Lamb has served Sun Valley well


By RAE DEVITO

Joan Lamb has been a friend, neighbor and respected council member to me and many people in Sun Valley. I voted for her when she first ran for City Council and will vote for her again on Nov. 8.

Her record and performance at City Hall give evidence that she is a well-qualified person to serve in that capacity. However, her campaign will have a new look this year because she is a write-in candidate, and there is a reason for that.

Joan asked me a couple of weeks ago to sign her candidacy petition, and I was pleased to do that. She needed five signatures and mine was the last added to the list. We learned sometime later on that my signature was not valid. Both Joan and I felt blindsided. My signature was not valid because I had moved four years ago from a condo in Sun Valley that I still own to a house in Sun Valley that I am renting, and did not change my registration to record the new physical residence. Both locations are within a few streets of each other. I was unaware of a regulation requiring re-registration under these circumstances.

< I continued to vote during this time and monitored my registration. Specifically, I missed voting in an election a couple of years ago and was concerned that my registration might be affected. I called the election board to confirm and was assured my registration was not affected and I was a valid registered voter in Sun Valley. Thus, I voted on, and regarded it as a privilege. I have campaigned in the past and worked at the polls. In retrospect, my concern focused on the wrong issue.

I have since learned from friends and neighbors and former candidates that many people are not aware of the scope of the physical residence regulation. For example, had I moved only one unit away in my condo complex (Unit A to Unit B), I would have needed to update the registration to reflect this. There are additional aspects to the regulation and I hope to use this misstep as a civics lesson and heads-up to others.

This situation changes the way Joan will campaign but it is not a campaign issue. It is a public interest story and presented for purposes of disclosure and enlightenment. The task at hand was and is to re-elect Joan Lamb to the Sun Valley City Council.

Joan deserves to be re-elected because of her record and personal qualities. As a resident of Sun Valley, I feel that we also deserve to have her re-elected. If you agree, please contact Joan and offer your participation.

Vote on Nov. 8. Here is an interesting opportunity to vote the old-fashioned way by actually taking pen in hand and writing the name Joan Lamb on the ballot as the person you have chosen to represent you. I will take pleasure in this process and encourage you to do the same.




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