My name is Jerry Kaplan and I live [in]...Ojai. As you all know, I am not a resident of the incorporated area of the Ojai Valley (The City), but am somehow involved in most everything Ojai. Thank you once again for the opportunity of speaking with you. I believe that this subject relates to the basic thoughts of what it is to be an American. The rights we Americans have goes back to the Revolution, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

I am talking about our rights to free speech and to expect our government to provide us with with an absolutely correct and error free election process and that if there is ever any question of error our government will provide us with a transparent process for investigating and properly resolving potential errors. We should be able to trust our government to do what is right.

This has nothing to do with who wins or who loses. It has to do with what is morally and ethically right if we, as Americans, are going to continue to maintain our rights.

I am sure that Carol [Smith] received at least 4 more votes by participating in the election forum at my home as a result of my pleading with her to attend. So please do not think that I am persuing this messed up election process for political reasons.

Thousands of Americans have died defending our rights. I believe that the least we can do is to continue the investigation of this election until we have all the facts.

To my knowledge all the County Clerk/Recorder [Mark A. Lunn] has really done is to admit problems and has apologized. He also says that the problems were fixed but thus far much of the info provided does not add up correctly. There has been no independent and transparent investigation and my research indicates that many requests for facts and physical proof have been ignored.

To make things even worse several other areas in Ventura County had the same problems. Were the errors just sloppiness or on purpose as a cover up for things like Fraud?

Can/will we just ignore all this or will we do something about it? Will you help protect our rights or will you just take the path of least resistance?

I fully understand that at this point the only practical thing for you to do is certify the election and move forward.....but the residents of the Ojai Valley have the right to expect you to follow-up on this problem and keep at it, with the help of residents until we have all the information necessary to determine exactly what happened and why.

Otherwise the situation would be much like catching the Fox with blood in his mouth after the hen house has been raided and then believing his story that he didn't do it, but in case he did he apologizes and expects us to do nothing more.

If this City Council just stands by and accepts the County Recorders apology of being sorry that his offices made mistakes without taking on the responisibility of a full and transparent investigation, in my and dozens of other Ojai Valley resident's minds you will have completely failed to honor American and Ojai responsibilities and traditions.

[Mr. Kaplan was interrupted at this point by the Mayor....]

Who am I to lay this burden of morality on you...I am a first generation American, my father traveled from Lithuania to the U.S. when he was 14 to escape the programs against the Jews. He worked hard and brought his brother then his sister and mother to the U.S. The rest of the family was killed in Lithuania. My mother was born in Poland and when she was just 18 she brought her two younger twin sisters through the German lines to freedom during the first World War. I spent three years on active duty as an officer in the U.S. Air Force and another 7 years in the active reserves until I retired as a captain. My father earned his citizenship in the U.S. by volunteering for Army duty in the First World War. My brother was in the Navy in the Second World War.

I therefore believe that my family's American Dream has come true and that we have defended the American Dream. I fell we and the residents of the Ojai Valley have earned the right to demand that you too honor our rights and that you too fight for them by insisting on a proper independent and transarent investigation of the problems involved in this election and not give up the battle until that battle happens.

I also believe that such investigation might be as simple a process as just investigating the County's process for validating and properly allocating less than 100 provisional votes together with rechecking the allocation of Mail-in Votes.

Personally, I could not live with myself if I did not defend our rights. I think that it was Thomas Jefferson who said that if we do not constantly defend our rights that we will lose them.

One last comment. I still do not understand how this City Council could spend $6,000 on a Special Election because "It was the right thing to do" but not spend $7,000 on a vote recount to find the truth.... Why wasn't that the right thing to do... Or was there a fear by some that the results could change? If so, what were you thinking?

The County Recorder messed up on this and other Elections. It is his duty to fix it, not just apologize.

- Jerry Kaplan, Ojai

Elected County Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) Advisor to the City Council