Meg has a lot of 'splainin' to do, as far as these women are concerned
| Sunday, Oct 11 2009 10:18 AM
Last Updated Sunday, Oct 11 2009 10:18 AM
When Mary K. Shell picked up my voice-mail message, she'd just come in from the alley, where'd she'd been cutting back some overgrown vines. It's been a quarter-century since she last banged the gavel as mayor of Bakersfield, but apparently she can still wield the appropriate tool with authority.
Madam Former Mayor is still in fine shape in at least one other regard, too: She'll come right out and tell you how she feels about things. Take the California governor's race. Not all of the horses have squeezed into the gate, but we're fairly certain about the identities of five of them -- Democrats Gavin Newsom and Jerry Brown (although Brown has not formally announced), and Republicans Tom Campbell, Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman.
If elected, Whitman would be California's first female governor, which gives her something in common, sorta, with Bakersfield's first (and only) female mayor.
But Whitman has a little citizenship problem -- she hasn't bothered to vote all that often over the years. Prior to last year's election, she had regularly skipped elections in California and other states where she lived and worked.
Does that put her at odds with Mrs. Shell, a staunch Republican who'd like nothing more than the restoration of fiscal responsibility in Sacramento? You bet it does.
"I don't understand how anyone can forget to vote," Shell said. "Too many people have given up too much for anyone to forget to vote."
Which means Shell will bestow her vote on ... whom, exactly? Well, not Brown, who was governor back when Shell was living in Sacramento and writing political columns for this newspaper: "Jerry Brown? Oh, my. Oh, my." The thought inspired her to go out and chop more vines.
Former Kern County Supervisor Barbara Patrick, who in retirement splits her time between Bakersfield and Cambria, feels almost as strongly about Whitman and her shortcomings -- and she's got a son-in-law actively working on Whitman's campaign in San Diego.
"I don't know that it's a deal- breaker for me," said Patrick, a Republican. "I'm certainly disappointed, but I'm waiting to hear from her on what she plans to do to turn around this state, which is nearly ungovernable."
She wasn't awarding any candor points to Whitman for her initial alibi: Whitman said she was simply busy with family and career.
"I would assume the majority of working mothers in Bakersfield are voters," Patrick said, "so that's not a reasonable excuse."
The woman Patrick replaced on the Board of Supervisors, Republican Pauline Larwood, was likewise having none it.
"I mistrust the motives of anyone who has not bothered in past elections," Larwood said. "One cares a bunch about how things are run and shows it by consistently voting. If I know that someone only votes because they are now going to run for office, I would not vote for that person."
Terri Stanton, former vice president of voter services for the League of Women Voters in Bakersfield, flatly declared that a chronic failure to vote disqualifies candidates in her eyes. "I have never missed an election, any election, even when I was out of the country," said Stanton, a Democrat who wouldn't have voted for Whitman anyway, even if Her Megness had voted in every election since the dawn of democracy. But Stanton was on a roll, so I let her go. "Everyone is busy with work and family. That means nothing. If you want somebody to elect you, you have to participate."
This controversy hits us so far in advance of the 2010 primary election, it may not matter much anyway. And campaigns are Darwinian in nature -- the lesser candidates tend to weed themselves out. Whitman has done herself no favors here, but it's a marathon, not a sprint -- and there are no more of those distracting voting booths between here and the finish line.
Reach Robert Price at rprice@bakersfield.com.
