BANNERS THANKING MCKEON CRITICIZED DEMOCRATS SAY CITY COFFERS EFFECTIVELY GIVING $5,000 TO CONGRESSMAN.Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE Staff Writer SANTA CLARITA Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, -- Controversy has erupted over city government's $5,000 worth of banners thanking U.S. Rep (programming) REP - A directive used in IBM object code card decks (and later PTF Tapes) to REPlace fragments of already assembled or compiled object code prior to link edit. . Howard ``Buck'' McKeon for introducing a bill to severely limit the Cemex sand and gravel gravel, particles of rock, i.e., stones and pebbles, usually round in form and intermediate in size between sand grains and boulders. Gravel is composed of various kinds of rock, the most common constituent being the mineral quartz. mine proposed in Canyon Country. The message on the 14 large banners hanging around town are misleading and appear to be an illegal political endorsement Political endorsement is the action of publicly declaring one's personal or group's support of a candidate for elected office. For example, a person could endorse Joe/Jane Blow for US President in 2008, meaning that he/she intends to support any campaigns Mr/Mrs. of McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, who is running for re-election in November, said Bruce McFarland, who heads a local Democratic club. ``I think (city officials) should be held accountable. They should know they're not above the law,'' said McFarland, president of the Democratic Alliance for Action in Santa Clarita. City Attorney Carl Newton has said the banners thanking McKeon for introducing a bill to block the planned Cemex mine in Soledad Canyon Soledad Canyon is a long narrow canyon / valley located in Los Angeles County, California between the cities of Palmdale and Santa Clarita. Soledad Canyon contains the localities of Vincent, Acton, Ravenna, and Agua Dulce. do not violate federal election codes, but he might learn otherwise today. Newton said he plans a telephone conference today with officials from the Federal Elections Commission about the legality le·gal·i·ty n. pl. le·gal·i·ties 1. The state or quality of being legal; lawfulness. 2. Adherence to or observance of the law. 3. A requirement enjoined by law. Often used in the plural. of the banners. City officials said the banners were needed to inform people the mine and the bill are not done deals. McKeon was Santa Clarita's first mayor. Twelve banners -- each 7 feet by 20 feet -- hang from bridges on well-traveled Valencia streets, and two larger ones -- 5 feet by 30 feet -- hang on the Golden Valley Road bridge in Canyon Country. The banners' message: ``Thank You, Buck Buck after murder of his master, leads wolf pack. [Am. Lit.: The Call of the Wild] See : Dogs Buck clever and temerarious dog perseveres in the Klondike. [Am. Lit.: Call of the Wild] See : Resourcefulness , for HR5471!'' The message refers to a bill McKeon introduced in Congress in May that would cancel Cemex's lease to mine 56.1 million tons of sand and gravel -- a project city government has spent $6 million battling -- and limiting any future mining at the site to historic levels of 300,000 tons a year. The measure will likely not be considered until next year. McFarland said he believes the banners benefit McKeon's re-election campaign at city government expense and violate FEC See forward error correction. FEC - Forward Error Correction regulations. Federal laws ban city governments from making contributions or independent expenditures to campaigns for or against federal candidates. Possible gray areas involve the message on the signs -- whether it could only be interpreted by a reasonable person as favoring favoring an animal is said to be favoring a leg when it avoids putting all of its weight on the limb. A part of being lame in a limb. a candidate. The banners were hung July 1 and will be removed before August, said city government spokeswoman Gail Ortiz. Removing the signs before a complaint is filed would be taken into consideration by the FEC but would not automatically halt an investigation. Should McKeon be named as a respondent In Equity practice, the party who answers a bill or other proceeding in equity. The party against whom an appeal or motion, an application for a court order, is instituted and who is required to answer in order to protect his or her interests. in the complaint, he would have an opportunity to say why a violation did not occur. McKeon has no involvement with the signs, a spokesman said. ``We didn't participate in this. We didn't design it. We didn't ask the city to do it. We didn't know about it,'' said James Geoffrey, McKeon's spokesman. ``The city (officials) did this on their own initiative.'' Newton has said the banners are not illegal. With Santa Clarita City Council approval, thousands of dollars more from the city's general fund will be spent for postcards and mailers designed to fight the Cemex mine locally and at higher government levels. judy.orourke(at)dailynews.com (661) 257-5255 CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Banners financed with city government funds thank Rep. Howard ``Buck'' McKeon. David Crane/Staff Photographer |
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