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Candidate files motion to reinstate Palmdale city elections

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Richard Loa
Richard Loa

By Palmdale resident Richard Loa

Palmdale City Council candidate Richard Loa has filed a separate legal motion to join with the City of Palmdale in asking the California Appellate Court (Division 5) to reinstate the November 5th city elections that were cancelled by a County Judge.

“I have retained the highly respected law firm of Strumwasser and Woocher to fight for the people of Palmdale,” Loa stated in a news release.  “My legal Counsel, Fred Woocher, has built a reputation as one of the most successful and pre-eminent election law attorneys in California if not the entire nation.”

“The residents of Palmdale are being cheated of our Constitutional right to elect city leaders because of a Judge’s misguided interpretation of California voting laws as applied to Palmdale,” continued Loa.  “Cancelling the election is an inappropriate action that would disenfranchise every voter in our City.”

“State law gives charter cities like Palmdale much greater latitude in determining the manner of local elections,” said Loa. “Judicial rulings in legal cases throughout recent history have favored charter cities when a conflict exists between state election law and city election law.

“I am asking the Appellate Court to step in and restore common sense by allowing the November 5th Palmdale city elections to proceed.  There is simply no legal or moral justification for stopping an election when residents have already received their ballots and are casting their votes,” concluded Loa.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of The AV Times.

Email letters@www.theavtimes.com to submit a story to Your Issues | Your News.

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Previous related stories:

Palmdale to appeal judge’s decision to cancel council election

Shenkman/Parris file injunction to halt Palmdale election

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Filed Under: Opinion

32 comments for "Candidate files motion to reinstate Palmdale city elections"

  1. This Parris and Loa connection is real and Loa will give him a foothold in Palmdale City Government. Say no to Loa and Parris!!!!!!!

  2. did you see Rex at the council meeting this week? near the end he starts his whining about how Palmdale won’t meet with him and all his council lackeys chimed in right on cue about how open they are and how they want to kiss and make things all good with Palmdale. meanwhile Rex is suing Palmdale in court so that Palmdale has to vote by districts even though Lancaster has no districts. someone might want to sit Rex down maybe with puppets and string show him how his actions betray his words. pretty much all the time.

    • Why is Parris so anxious to make ‘nice’ with Palmdale? Let’s just speculate that Palmdale wins on its appeal and the elections stay as they are or Palmdale is given till the next election to create districts.

      Is Parris scared that Palmdale might win the appeal?

      Is Parris scared that he might not get the ‘birthing tourism’ passed at the AV Hospital?

      What if those 2 things happen? You ain’t heard whining yet. He might cry on camera like John Boehner, another one with an addled brain.

  3. Loa is Rex Parris, This guy is so much in Rex’s pocket that I was so shocked to see somebody thinking he was some kind of maverick (HELL NO) he’s a toadee of Parris. WAKE UP Palmdale!!!

    • So, Loa and this woman are together then?
      Someone told me that this woman owns some pizza company, and she is such a fan of doing palmdale and doing business in palmdale that the only thing her company does it get its mail at her house in palmdale. no business in palmdale, no pizza resturant in Palmdale. she’s just some woman with a little money to burn that wants the title mayor after her name. anyone ever seen her at any local events or a city council meeting? Bet not.

      • I think they re opening one in the Forgetten East Palmdale. But of course you westside people would not know about that

        • What are you whining about? The DMV, main Post Office, City Hall, Sheriff’s station, Library, Water Park are all east of the 14. Plus, they are developing many new businesses on the 47th Street East corridor.

          You guys had a Chili’s…………for a while. Why didn’t you guys support it yet you’re complaining that you don’t have nice things.

          If you moved to the far east side, east of 47th Street, well, that’s you your problem for moving so far out. Now, you expect the City of Palmdale to cater to you with what, a new pizza parlor. Sheesh!

          It takes a while for the commerical development to keep up with the direction of housing tracts.

          • The Hospital ( which was built on land bought by the city), The business park, the mall, the many important businesses. You say that because you don’t live here, You have all you need there in the West. It not like the DMV adds value to the community. The 47st “corridor” is a joke. Just go to the Target shopping center and see how empty that is. The shopping center where Do it yourself was. Bet is a major tenat left Rancho Vista the 4 westside council memebers would move heaven and hell to get it filled. Come live on this side and you’ll get tired of driving 20 minutes to go an actual business that is not Wal Mart

          • @Jay. You unwittingly contradict yourself, Jay. You complain that there isn’t enough retail out where you live while the shopping center you have is half empty.

            So, which is it? Why would the City of Palmdale force business to locate where the existing shopping centers aren’t full? Do you not get that?

            I suspect that the hospital had some say in where they wanted to build and it just wasn’t the City dictating to them that they have to build on a certain property. Being close to the 14 is one consideration.

            It just sounds like you’re making up stuff just to complain. If you think that the Antelope Valley Mall was ever going to be built on the far east side, you’re in fantasyland. It’s right off the 14 which is an ideal location. If you guys can’t keep the Target center full, why do expect that a full-scale mall would do the trick. That’s a big gamble for mall developers catering just to you.

            It has nothing to do with where council members live. Mayor Ledford lives on the east side, so I guess he pushed for all the ‘important’ businesses you mention to be built on the west side. You need to think through what you write. The Dry Town Water Park is on the east side. How did that happen when you think the mayor and council members all favor the west side?

        • I’m not a west side person, I live on R8 and 30th east, I went to PHS, and I’ve lived in this area since I was 5 years old. We lived out here when there was nothing out here, so I know how much we have now.
          What else has this woman done besides open up a few pizza restaurants, not one of them in Palmdale? Have you seen her at any city meetings before she jumped in to run for mayor? how can someone lead a city if they don’t even care enough to get involved.

  4. This guy’s just a dope. Spend money to file something that’s already filed? Yeah, make sure you vote people! Garbage in; garbage out!

  5. Mr. Loa, I saw one of your campaign sides on Sierra Highway this morning, touting that you would “stop grafitti”. Exactly how do you intend on achieving such a broad and nearly unattainable goal without bankrupting the city?

        • Actually within the next 48 hours every single Loa sign will have graffiti on it.
          I passed by a couple on Sierra HWY this afternoon (Avenue N) and they were covered in gold and white graffiti.
          He brought it on by challenging taggers directly with such statements..

  6. Richard: Ask Mooney to allow numbered districts with 2 candidates each for council in the Nov. 5 election. One and maybe two minorities will be elected. Perhaps a woman will be elected mayor. By allowing this temp solution, you would allow the voters to weigh in on things and let a new set of people set up a new status quo. Why let the old status quo determine the future of Palmdale? Why let a judge decide the future of Palmdale?

      • Just say no to Lynn Minidis. Anyone who says she went to people who hate Palmdale to get money for her campaign needs to move to lancaster, not run for mayor.

        • I don’t exactly support her but the only other female alternative is Maggie Campbell and let me tell you, that woman is seriously insane.

  7. Does mr. loa read this? is he running as a team with that blond woman? I want to vote for him because he had the guts to sue back, but not if hes teamed with her. all the signs for the two of them are together, that makes me nervous.

  8. I agree. Rex needs to stay in Lancaster, and leave Palmdale to the professionals. If I wanted him to pick the people that lead my city, I’d move to Lancaster. Doesn’t he already own all those council members?

    • Anyway, I went to that thing by the library yesterday, and that blond woman was totally a rex plant. She got her election money from the car dealer that Lancaster paid to move from Palmdale, and her whole game was coached by rex paris.
      Funniest question was when they asked her where her business was and she said her headquarters was in Palmdale. heck lady, does that men when I bring my laptop home and do work at my kitchen table I work in palmdale? better tell my employer because he still thinks I work in Sylmar. your business is in L-A-N-C-A-S-T-E-R stop your lying!
      Rex wants more minorities in office in Palmdale, why’s he running some blond haired, blue eyed lady that no one has ever seen before yesterday?

      • General Motors closed Saturn (Technically Obama and UAW, but let’s not get into that CF) .. Saturn is no more.. Saturn was a wholly owned subsidiary of GM and maintained its own unique structure independent of any other GM brand product. That included their own factories, their own distribution chain and their own dealerships. (New Saturn’s couldn’t even be sold on other GM lots in USA) They were so far disconnected from the rest of GM that even Honda (Penske) and Ford (Galpin) owned Saturn Franchises.
        When GM closed Saturn it terminated the franchise agreements with all 400+ Saturn dealerships and every one of those Saturn dealerships ceased to exist.
        The dealership closed.. there was no franchise and there was no dealership to move because Saturn was no more..
        End of Story..

        But your version is entertaining…

        • my version of what is entertaining? I looked it up, the courts said that Lancaster couldn’t pay a car dealer to move to lancaster after lancaster promised him millions of dollars, right?
          then after the debate was over and I was talking to people, they said that these car dealers also gave money in lancaster to the chosen paris people, and him when he was running. so, she’s a puppet and her strings are pulled by king lancaster.
          one of the ladies watching the debate told me that there is a facebook page called get paris out of lancaster. I said heck no, start a new one called keep paris out of palmdale. the idiots in lancaster voted for him, they can keep him.

        • @Adam Chant
          What are you talking about with Saturn? Saturn didn’t move from Palmdale to Lancaster. Saturn closed and Rally’s Chevrolet division went to Lancaster with Lou Gonzales

          • @William – When GM entered bankruptcy all GM Franchise contracts had to be reestablished under the new GM structure. At that time literally every GM franchise had no brand rights and specifically Saturn franchises were excluded from any guarantee to future brands.
            At that point all GM franchises that were in good standing with GM were required to submit new franchise contracts for brands that the new GM would consider. Awards were based on a number of factors including past performance and local market share, but only conventional GM franchises (Not Saturn) were guaranteed to retain at least one brand in the process.

            So while Rally was under no risk of permanent closure as a part of the stipulations of the government restructure of GM, Saturn of Antelope Valley had all reasonable expectation that they would close due to not having a brand or manufacturer to represent.
            Saturn closed and Saturn of Antelope Valley ceased to exist. Technically Rally Auto Group did also, but in both cases the parent corporations that held franchises were kept alive. (I think this may be a key factor in the court’s ruling on the issue)

            GM awarded new franchise agreements that included Chevrolet going to Gonzales and the other remaining GM brands to Rally Auto Group. Rally was upset that they were denied the ‘flagship’ brand and sued GM over it. The courts sided with GM on the matter and Chevrolet was awarded to Gonzales.
            New GM did not give ‘Rally Chevrolet’ to Gonzales and Rally’s Chevrolet division did not go to Gonzales. Rally Chevrolet closed just like Saturn and specifically just like Saturn of Antelope Valley.
            Gonzales opened up a franchise in Lancaster and Palmdale interpreted it as a violation of the Big Box Retailer law.

            On the inside Rally and the city of Palmdale colluded to force Gonzales to locate his business under the “Rally Auto Group” by requiring him to pay a premium for land that was unused and arguably already promised to the original owner of Saturn of Antelope Valley. Additionally Palmdale used the threat of the BBR law to try and force Gonzales to do what Rally and by extension Palmdale wanted.. Gonzales wouldn’t have it and found an alternative solution. It’s possible that all he needed was a government guarantee to secure the necessary funding for opening his franchise.. Lancaster offered up the necessary money guarantee (probably in the hopes that Palmdale would in fact sue) and Gonzales got his funding.. The suit continued and prevented Lancaster from actually offering any real assistance, but the bank had already funded the franchise..

  9. you go Loa, im tired of Rex worrying about other cities businesses!, the people of Palmdale already voted down districts years ago, why doesnt Rex get it? cause he just wants control over Palmdale, everyone I talk to says the same thing, I always get reminded of it too, by other AV residents, like Scott Pelka. Rex needs to go manage Lancaster, there are already plenty of issues there to deal with!

      • Districts won’t change a thing – ‘minority’ IS majority and the rest is just a lie. These elections are, and will be, decided by whoever gets their butt off of the couch and goes to vote.

        Meanwhile, I wish we could get a restraining order against the Lord of Lancaster. Or at least stick him with the bills. I can only imagine what this farce is costing the City of Palmdale.