{"id":50387,"date":"2014-04-07T20:47:48","date_gmt":"2014-04-08T03:47:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=50387"},"modified":"2014-04-09T17:26:46","modified_gmt":"2014-04-10T00:26:46","slug":"lancaster-deputy-mayor-behind-last-minute-mailer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2014\/04\/07\/lancaster-deputy-mayor-behind-last-minute-mailer\/","title":{"rendered":"Lancaster deputy mayor behind last-minute mailer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(Click<\/a>
(Click the image to view the entire mailer.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LANCASTER \u2013 Lancaster city council candidate Johnathon Ervin<\/strong> expressed outrage Monday over a last-minute political mailer sent out to Lancaster\u2019s \u201cvalues-based\u201d voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s trying to question whether I have family values and whether I have morals, and I think that\u2019s unfair,\u201d Ervin said. \u201cI think that it\u2019s the same type of dirty politics we\u2019re used to in this election, coming from the same source.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mailer states it\u2019s paid for by Kitty Szeto<\/strong>, Lancaster\u2019s deputy mayor who also works at the R. Rex Parris<\/strong> Law Firm. \u00a0The mailer also uses the law firm\u2019s address.<\/p>\n

Labeled the \u201cFaith and Family Voter Guide,\u201d<\/em> the mailer urges voters to cast a \u201cballot in faith.\u201d It features incumbents Ron Smith<\/strong> and Marvin Crist<\/strong> and their positions on issues such as prayer at council meetings; prochoice or prolife; and the transgender “Bathroom Bill”.<\/p>\n

Ervin is sandwiched between the two incumbents and portrayed as having \u201crefused to respond\u201d to a survey on the faith-based issues.<\/p>\n

But Ervin said he\u2019s being singled out, when the majority of council candidates did not respond to the questionable survey. In fact, only Crist, Smith and Michael Rives responded. View the survey results here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ervin said the survey was ignored because it was sent via email, without a subject line, and it contained a hyperlink, which could have contained a virus. (View the email here<\/a>\u00a0and the actual survey here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\u201cNormally, you don\u2019t click soft links\u2026 if they want to send a survey, they\u2019ll send it in PDF format, I\u2019ll print it out and fill it out like most questionnaires,\u201d Ervin said. \u201cI didn\u2019t do the survey, and now it looks to me that I\u2019m punished for it, and that\u2019s the type of retribution that\u2019s not Christian-like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pastors Cecil Swetland<\/strong> and Chris Johnson<\/strong> are listed as the senders of the email survey.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would implore those two men, men of God I would hope, to rebuke this type of hit piece, because I think voters want to know that they\u2019re not involved in this type of dirty politics,\u201d Ervin said.<\/p>\n

Swetland and Johnson could not be reached for comment Monday to confirm whether or not they were aware their names were used on the email survey. Attempts at contacting Szeto were also unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

The Lancaster city election made national news last month, when Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris financed a mailer calling Ervin a \u201cgang candidate\u201d who had led an \u201canti-law enforcement protest.\u201d \u00a0About a week later, an unclaimed democratic-themed mailer endorsed Oscar Mejia<\/strong> and Jordan Campbell <\/strong>for\u00a0Lancaster city council, while slamming Ervin. Mejia,Campbell and the Los Angeles County Democratic Party denounced that mailer.<\/p>\n

Ervin said the new last-minute attack mailer is just another attempt to distract voters from the issues at hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the voters want to talk about the issues, and tomorrow (April 8), they\u2019re going to have a choice to make,\u201d Ervin said. \u201cAre you going to vote for people that are constantly trying to distract you from what the real issues are? Or are you going to vote for somebody that\u2019s ready to talk about the issues, ready to get along with Palmdale, ready to bring jobs to the area and to expand services and help our seniors?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lancaster Municipal Election takes place Tuesday, April 8, with polling locations opening at 7 a.m. and closing at 8 p.m. For more information regarding the City\u2019s upcoming election, contact the Lancaster City Clerk Department at 661-723-6020.<\/p>\n

Previous related stories:<\/p>\n

Lancaster mayor apologizes after \u2018hit mailer\u2019 backlash<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

March organizer: Parris political mailer is a \u201cflat out lie!\u201d<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Candidates denounce \u2018fraud\u2019 mailer<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Lancaster politics: Pot calls the kettle black<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LANCASTER \u2013 Lancaster city council candidate Johnathon Ervin expressed outrage Monday over a last-minute political mailer sent out to Lancaster\u2019s \u201cvalues-based\u201d voters. \u201cIt\u2019s trying to question whether I have family values and whether I have morals, and I think that\u2019s unfair,\u201d Ervin said. \u201cI think that it\u2019s the same type of dirty politics we\u2019re used […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":50391,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50387"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}