Introducing a Guest Blogger: Cynthia Fields

Hi all:

Check out our first guest blogger, Cynthia Fields.

Cynthia is a published author. Her works include: "In My Mother's Shoes," a Collection of Psalms, Poems and Short Stories. She is currently working on a book entitled, "A Tribute to Mother" -a collection of poems, testimonies and stories by women, men, and children, paying tribute to the mothers in their lives. Sales from this book will benefit the Women's Ministry of Bethel Memorial AME Church, Cynthia is the co-founder of MANDATE records, an independent gospel record label here in San Diego. Cynthia and Amy sing together in Bethel's choir. Read more of Cynthia’s work here and here.

Sincerely,

Joanna Jacob,
Campaign Manager

A Question of Trust

Recently, a friend invited me to be a guest blogger on her new campaign website, to which I readily accepted, although I couldn’t imagine why she would want to hear from me or what of any importance I could possibly have to say. At any rate, I said yes and quickly went blank. What to write, what to write, I thought.

In another conversation with this friend, Amy, I told her that I had finally decided what to blog about to which she quickly responded, "I’m not worried, and I trust you." Okay, wow, as if the pressure wasn’t great enough. Hmm, trust, that’s a powerful word. Trust is like a 100-pound boulder that we often times, without thinking, place in the hands of others. We forget that trust is a rare and precious gift that should be guarded and cared for and treated with the utmost respect. Once that gift is passed off to the receiver, it is assumed that he or she will not abuse or neglect that trust.

Trust can look like many things, and now, in the midst of perhaps one of the most exciting, and historic presidential races of all times, trust will take on the appearance of our votes. Also in recent history, we have been witnesses to how that 100-pound boulder can be too heavy for some as it tumbles out of the weak grasp of those we’ve trusted, crashing to the ground causing irreparable damage.

As a responsible gift-giver, I must take care when placing my trust into the hands of someone seeking a position of power and influence. I have to do my homework, study the history and facts of those seeking my trust and my vote and so, that is what I did. Friendship aside, I am confident in saying, that I trust Amy Lepine, Attorney at Law with my vote. I’ve found her record and history of public service to be impeccable and beyond reproach. Her heart is with the people of San Diego, whom she seeks to serve in the position of City Attorney.

In watching her step out on faith, starting her own law practice, and having the courage to challenge the status quo and run for office, I am encouraged and excited about this upcoming election. As a resident of this fine city, I know we are ready for change and ready to put our trust in a candidate that will not violate or misuse the gift that we will place in her hands as our new City Attorney.

So, to Amy, I say, congratulations on your courage, may God’s grace protect you during the course of this campaign. My support, my prayers and my trust are with you.

Amy Releases Statement on Ballot Designation Controversy

Last week, San Diego voters were bombarded with the news that a Republican Central Committee member had filed suit against the City Clerk, Scott Peters and Brian Mainenschein, over the councilmembers ballot designations.

We obtained a copy of the petition, filed in mandate, in the San Diego Superior Court, after being notified by the City Clerk's office that Amy's ballot designation may be at issue, depending on the outcome of the law suit.

After reviewing the petition, as it was filed in San Diego Superior Court, Amy is confident her ballot designation will stand. Today, she released this statement to the press:

LEPINE COMMENTS ON BALLOT DESIGNATION SUIT BROUGHT AGAINST PETERS AND MAIENSCHEIN; REMAINS CONFIDENT HER BALLOT DESIGNATION WILL STAND

Monday, March 24 (SAN DIEGO): Though watching the suit's progress with interest, current candidate for City Attorney Amy Lepine remains confident her ballot designation will stand, independent of any outcome of the lawsuit filed by a city voter against the City Clerk’s office and co-candidates Scott Peters and Brian Maienschein.Lepine has reviewed the complaint filed by registered voter Mark Rawlins, and feels her ballot designation is completely distinguishable from those of Peters and Maienschein.

“The fact is, I followed the directions, and I truthfully described my principal occupation within the last calendar year, in language unlikely to mislead the voters," Lepine said. "The main thrust of the complaint is that the current council members were not practicing law while sitting on the Council, and should not be able to play by different rules than the rest of the candidates."

To Lepine, the suit evidences more of the infighting that the voters are tired of in current City politics. "I hope that we can move on quickly from this conflict, and get down to the real issues in this campaign."

Lepine, the first to file completed papers in the City Attorney race, submitted her ballot designation on March 5, 2008. She described her principal occupation as "consumer attorney/business owner". Lepine owns her own law firm, practicing in the fields of consumer and family law, and general civil litigation.

First to File, First on the Ballot my friends!

Moments of levity in any campaign are all too few and far between, so in the spirit of this blog's mission - to take the voters inside the race for City Attorney - I now offer you an inside look on how the City Clerk's office determines the order the candidates are listed in the ballot pamphlet.

This is done via random drawing, like so:

This is Elections Analyst Denise Jenkins, pulling names out of a very festive hat.. to determine the order for the City Attorney candidates. And, what number did Amy Lepine get?

That is right! Amy will be listed first in the ballot pamphlet, followed by: Scott Peters, Michael Aguirre, Brian Maienschein, and Jan Goldsmith, in that order.

As you can see, everyone was grinning today. And red, white and blue was all around us:

photos by me, Joanna Jacob

I have to say, it was a really great experience. We now know that Amy's ballot paperwork was in order, that we had submitted the correct number of qualifying signatures to get her there, and that she is officially in all the way.

A Busy Day on the Campaign Trail

Well, everyone, today started with a bang.. as Amy appeared on KPBS' "These Days" with Tom Fudge. Listen to the footage here. I was back at Campaign Central, hunched over the desk, with Kia, our crack receptionist, listening to the interview.

Then, it was a quick drive back to our office for Amy, and a quick briefing on our current cases, and then she was off again, to the first debate, sponsored by the Lincoln Club. I was not able to attend, but preliminary reports are good.. this was the first chance that Amy had to get her message out to the public on a large-scale basis.

Tonight, the local Democratic Central Committee will be considering which of the three Demos in the race(Amy, Aguirre and Peters) to endorse in the City Attorney's race. I will be attending the meeting with Amy, and will be blogging about this tomorrow!

In the meantime, check out this shot of Amy at today's debate, on the front page of the Voice of San Diego today.

Amy's statement on first poll results

Well, dear readers, now that campaign season is upon us, we will be inundated with polls up until Election Day.

As Jennifer Vigil reported today in the U-T, the first poll is out on the City Attorney's race. The complete poll results are available in a link within the article, if you want to check it out.

This poll predicts that Aguirre would garner 25% of the vote in the primary, but would ultimately lose in a head to head run in the general election against Judge Goldsmith, Council President Scott Peters, or Councilman Brian Maienschein, respectively.

In this poll, Amy was not presented as an option in a head to head race against Aguirre.

A few things to note: the poll was conducted between February 26-28, a full week before the final slate of candidates were finalized. Moreover, about 27% of the voters polled said they were undecided.

The point is, the race is still young. Indeed, our marathon to the general election has only just begun. The San Diego Daily Transcript approached Amy for comment today on the poll results, and here is what she said:

"It is very early in the race, less than one week after papers have been officially filed. I look forward to the first official debate tomorrow, and the opportunity to get in front of the voters to present my message of choice between the two extremes posed by the other candidates. I can provide that balance, between an attorney who will only act for the people, and a city attorney who will only act for city officials. The voters deserve, and the City needs, both."

So hang in there, blog readers. There will be many more polls to come. AND, watch for the news out of tomorrow's debate, sponsored by the Lincoln Club. I for one, am looking forward to seeing what happens when this field of candidate hits the stage all at once!

- Joanna Jacob, Campaign Manager

Peters/Coffey press conference: Setting the Record Straight

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT, by Amy Lepine

Interesting read this afternoon in Megan Burks' post, on CityBeat's Last Blog on Earth about the joint press conference of Scott Peters and Dan Coffey.

I was not surprised to hear of Dan's withdrawal from the race; I would have been surprised to hear that he had actually filed. But what did catch my interest was a quote by Scott:

“I talked to all the candidates and said, ‘I think it’s best to stay united.”

I have had exactly one conversation with Scott. It was at the recent Chamber of Commerce "Candidate School", a very very worthwhile event attended by an eclectic group of business people, activists and attorney types. As a panel member, Scott addressed the need to hire to one's weakness. Apparently people tell him he is not the warm, "hugging type" so he hires people who are.

At the lunch break I introduced myself with the icebreaker line that I don't think he comes off cold, that he's warm enough for me. We continued to joke for a few moments, and before we excused ourselves, Scott said he'd like to talk to me sometime "about this", referring, I could only assume, to the race. With a grin, I told him he could talk about endorsing me in public, I would not be offended. Then with all seriousness, I told that I welcomed the opportunity to talk with him. I gave him my card, and told him to call.

I never heard anything more from Scott. I have never been approached by the Peters' campaign and asked to "unite".

Announcing a new feature: Setting the Record Straight

Hi all,

From time to time on the blog, Amy will come on to address occasions when certain opinions, statements, positions or other tidbits are attributed incorrectly to her.

In a fit of novel wordsmithing, we decided to call this: "Setting the Record Straight".

Check back soon, Amy's first post is forthcoming.

Joanna Jacob,

Campaign Manager

The Last Underdog Standing

We learned this morning, bright and early, courtesy of CityBeat writer Eric Wolf's posting on the Last Blog on Earth, that Dan Coffey planned to drop out of the City Attorney's race today.

This means, that out of the three candidates identified as "The Underdogs" in a Voice of San Diego feature on February 22, only Amy remains in the City Attorney race!

Meet the Candidates and Feel the Burn!

Come on out and join Amy and me!

Next Thursday, March 13th, Amy and I will be attending a "Meet the Candidates Mixer" hosted by the San Diego County Taxpayers Association, together with Community Partner Asian Business Association of San Diego, and sponsored by The Burn Fitness Club, the location for the event.

Candidates scheduled to attend, as of today, according to Chris Cate of the SDCTA, are:

SD City Council District 1: Sherri Lightner, Marshall Merrifield, Phil Thalheimer;
District 3: Todd Gloria, James Hartline, Stephen Whitburn; District 5: Carl DeMaio, Bob Ilko; District 7: April Boling, Bill Daniel, Marti Emerald
SD City Attorney: Dan Coffey, Amy Lepine, Brian Maienschein, Scott Peters
SD Mayor: Steve Francis
75th Assembly District: Nathan Fletcher
77th Assembly District: Joel Anderson
78th Assembly District: Auday Arabo, John McCann, Arlie Ricasa
52nd Congressional District: Duncan D. Hunter, Brian Jones, Bob Watkins
53rd Congressional District: Naomi Bar-Lev
El Cajon City Council: Bill Wells
Superior Court: Evan Kirvin

Check our Events page, for more details on the Mixer. The event will run from 5:30 - 8:00. Deadline to RSVP is by March 10th. (Free for SDCTA and The Burn fitness members, $20 for non-members, which includes hosted wine, beer, soft drinks, and appetizers)

HERE IS THE FULL VIDEO OF AMY'S PRESS CONFERENCE

Hear Amy's entire speech on the courthouse steps, then step inside the City Clerk's Office, with Amy and me as we submit the nomination paperwork. Then, Amy announces that she is the first candidate to file, and "Now people know we're serious!" to rousing cheers from her supporters.

This footage is courtesy of Kevin LaChapelle, one of our dedicated team of volunteers, and founder of PowerMentor, a volunteer project dedicated to reducing the culture of violence and crime amongst area young people by developing and equipping mentors to fostering positive relationships to produce change. Click on Kevin's name, to see and hear more about his program. we are so blessed to have him on our Lepine for City Attorney team.

Check back to this site often... we are going to be documenting Amy's run, every step of the way!

And, by next week, we should have some other members of our blogging team up and running, so get ready for some fresh perspectives and new faces from the campaign.

Sincerely,

Joanna Jacob, Campaign Manager

A Truly Grassroots Kickoff

IT IS OFFICIAL!

Surrounded by supporters, on the steps of the Hall of Justice, Amy Lepine made it official today, formally announcing her candidacy for City Attorney of San Diego.

After taking some questions from the press, Amy and her posse of supporters and staff, marched on over to the City Clerk's office to turn in the nomination paperwork. I hung out with her in the City Clerk's office while the elections clerk, Denise, went over Amy's paperwork, and gave her the official equivalent of a thumbs-up, circa 1:00 p.m, telling Amy her paperwork is in! Thanks Denise!

We also confirmed that Amy was the FIRST CITY ATTORNEY CANDIDATE to file her paperwork with the City Clerk.

Now we wait while the signatures are counted... the next step will the the drawing at the City Clerk's office. We found out today that the order for the candidate listings in the official city ballot, is done by random lottery, involving picking names out of a hat. Candidates are invited to attend the drawing. We informed the City Clerk staff that Lepine for City Attorney is totally in on the drawing !

Our fantastic volunteers hit the pavement for weeks to gather signatures, and get us to this day, one day ahead of schedule (Deadline is tomorrow for all candidates to submit their nominating paperwork to the City Clerks's Office)

What does a grassroots campaign mean to me?

Going from this:

Volunteers meeting at Amy's house to discuss signature gathering in February
photo by Aaron Thompson

To this:

Amy leading her supporters, 500+ signatures under her arm, from the Hall of Justice to the City Clerk's office to file her paperwork, one day early!

photo by Aaron Thompson

In case you missed it, will be posting some video footage of the press conference a, check out some more great photos of Amy's announcement here, courtesy of our talented volunteer, Aaron Thompson. And if you are interested in volunteering for the campaign, and marching in the future, join our corps by signing up in one of the ways listed on our website!

Sincerely yours,

Joanna Jacob, Campaign Manager

UPDATE: Here is the video. You can also find it in my newer post, from March 6th.

JOIN US THIS WEDNESDAY!

For the past weeks, Amy and her fantastic volunteers have been gathering signatures from San Diego voters, nominating Amy to be listed on the ballot for City Attorney in the June 3, 2008 primary.

We are very pleased to announce that Amy has gathered more than the 200 signatures required to get her on the ballot, and will be filing her paperwork on Wednesday, March 5th, one full day ahead of the deadline!

At 12:15 p.m. this Wednesday, March 5, we will be holding a press conference on the steps of the Hall of Justice, at 330 West Broadway, in downtown San Diego, to formally announce Amy's candidacy. Immediately following, we will march en masse to the City Clerk's Office, with Amy, to submit her paperwork, and to officially kick off the campaign! Check out the press release, with commentary from Amy!

Please join us! Members of the public are welcome to attend both the press conference and to join the march. For more details, join our mailing list, and we will send you all the information you need to join us on Wednesday. Don't worry if you can't make it downtown - I and my blogging team will be documenting the event, and posting photos and our impressions here immediately following the march!

And, make sure to check our website regularly for more exciting events and announcements.

Sincerely,

Joanna Jacob,

Campaign Manager