We Get Letters

Comments from the readers

To the Editor of Pasadena Now:

Re: “The Lost Children of Los Angeles County: Foster Care Reform Moves Steadily Through Growing Pains”

A vast overhaul to the structure of Los Angeles’ Department of Children and Family Services indeed sounds daunting when working with approximately 4,000 social workers and 30,000 children served in any given month. The push for a trauma-informed, person-centered, and multidisciplinary approach sounds appropriate to serve the population in question but with such a high volume of cases, it seems nearly impossible. It has already been two years since the Continuum of Care Reform Act was implemented and I am skeptical another two years would be enough to fully integrate these new systems. It may be prudent to discuss additional plans to ensure children and families do not fall through the cracks in what is certain to be a lengthy and trying transition process for all.

Respectfully,

Janette Nguyen
Master of Social Work Student

 

---

Super Tuesday: Alex Padilla’s Blame Game

CA Secretary of State Alex Padilla pointed his finger in the wrong direction when blaming LA County Registrar of Voters Dean Logan for Election Day difficulties.

It is Mr. Padilla who serves as the state’s chief election officer, oversees all federal and state elections and maintains the data base of registered voters.

Accounts show Mr. Padilla was advised that implementation of the new “Voting Solutions for All People” system (VSAP) would place a daunting learning curve on both staff and voters and would better be crafted as a pilot project.

Rather than educate on the known technical complexities, Mr. Padilla’s official website offered Coachella-style distractions urging community groups to “adopt” vote centers to brand them with unique signage and events promoted on social media.

This frivolity was followed by “no action” from Mr. Padilla when the state’s supermajority legislature passed “urgency” legislation (SB 207) allowing voters, in lieu of a new affidavit of registration, to change address of residence and party affiliation up to poll closing on election day. Gov. Newsom signed this bill a mere ten days before the first vote centers opened for early voting.

Mr. Padilla now castigates LA’s Dean Logan for shortcomings of his own Secretary of State office, punitively demanding all 5.5 million voters in LA county receive vote-by-mail (VBM) ballots.

Yet a Los Angeles Times editorial (12/07/18) noted the lack of safeguards against fraudulent VBM ballot harvesting when 5+ million ballots are circulating within a large county, aided by the reluctance of the legislature’s supermajority to correct for potential misuse.

Mr. Padilla may unilaterally determine to scrap the VSAP system he actively endorsed, yet I’ve seen no recommendation for making LA County whole in recovering $300 million spent on the system.

At this point it is evident Mr. Padilla has run out of good ideas.

One small (and smart) improvement may be to over-ride dependence on the well-documented, hugely problematic DMV motor-voter system implemented by Mr. Padilla and used for voter registration and voter roll maintenance. (Who has called for Mr. Padilla’s “head to roll” for that on-going disaster?)

With Super Tuesday behind us and the need to support county registrar efforts to improve the VSAP experience, new legislation to augment DMV motor-voter with jury commissioner data at the county level has been introduced by two state senators.

The “Voter Roll Accuracy Act” (Senate Bill 994) by CA Senators Bates and Moorlach would increase the accuracy of county voter rolls by requiring county jury commissioners to share relevant changes in a prospective juror’s voter registration data with county election officials.

This makes sense if the objective is to create a cleaner/leaner voter data base and a smoother check-in at vote centers on election day.
However, it is now probable Mr. Padilla’s own objective is to continue “toying” with California elections – and then blame the line-folks at the county level for failing when doing his bidding.

If this becomes the status quo, confidence in the CA voting system will collapse.
Mr. Padilla? Your name is on this.

Mary Dee Cavanagh-Romney

 

Got something to say, email Managing Editor André Coleman, at andrec@pasadenanowmagazine.com