Citizens' Oversight Projects (COPs)

This web site is dedicated to enabling citizens to provide needed oversight to our democracy. You can help! Read how here: COPs Program

Read and endorse our Open Letter To Congress regarding dismissal of Blackwater and enactment of the Stop Outsourcing Security Act. Endorse it now!
ACTION ALERT: Contact Congress to get co-sponsors to the Stop Outsourcing Security Act Endorse it now!

LATEST NEWS from Citizens Oversight

• Activist a common sight recording local meetings -- Ray Lutz is government watchdog -- Anne Krueger, Union Tribune, 2010-01-30 Features Raymond Lutz
• Lakeside Fire Board 2010-01-26 -- Raymond Lutz, Citizens Oversight, 2010-01-26 Meeting after the unexpected firing of the Fire Chief, Mark Baker brings out many angry residents.
• $100,000 given to clinic for uninsured -- Grant is increased for Volunteers in Medicine -- Anne Krueger, Union Tribune, 2010-01-21 Features Raymond Lutz
• C00025 2010-01-18 COPS to GHD re: Health Fair -- Raymond Lutz, Citizens Oversight, 2010-01-18 Includes general list of typical problems in citizen access
• C00024 - 2010-01-13 COPS to GHD -- Service Assessment -- Raymond Lutz, Citizens Oversight, 2010-01-13
• Open Letter to Congress -- Dismissal of Case Against Blackwater Contractors Condemned, Groups Unite behind Stop Outsourcing Security Act -- Raymond Lutz, Dan Kenney, Christian Stalberg, Citizens Oversight, 2010-01-12
• Boys & Girls Club gets health grant -- Anne Krueger, Union Tribune, 2009-12-24 Features Raymond Lutz
• Grossmont Healthcare Board Meeting -- Raymond Lutz, Citizens Oversight, 2009-12-18 Includes Boys and Girls Club $100K grant from general fund.
• ECPAC Community Forum -- Raymond Lutz, Citizens Oversight, 2009-12-16
• C00023 - GHD, Timely Minutes, too many meetings -- Raymond Lutz, Citizens Oversight, 2009-12-05

More from Citizens' Oversight | All Submitted Media

Upcoming Events

18 Feb 2010 - ECDC Meeting, Topic Water; Speaker: Helix Water District General Manager Mark Weston at Coco's Restaurant at 1025 Fletcher Pkwy El Cajon, CA 92020 (6p/7p) sponsored by East County Democratic Club Meet at 6pm and join us for dinner; main meeting starts at 7pm Info: 619-447-3246 or visit http://www.ecdcweb.org Details
18 Mar 2010 - ECDC Meeting, Topic Endorsements & Supreme Court Decision; Speaker: Mary Salas + more! at Coco's Restaurant at 1025 Fletcher Pkwy El Cajon, CA 92020 (6p/7p) sponsored by East County Democratic Club Meet at 6pm and join us for dinner; main meeting starts at 7pm Info: 619-447-3246 or visit http://www.ecdcweb.org Details

Recent Events

Click for details or visit Events for a complete list of events.

HOT PROJECTS

• ECPAC - El Cajon City Council threatens to close the East County Performing Arts Center (ECPAC) theater December 24th for 18 to 24 months for some kind of renovation, the substance of which is not quite clear. Apparently, there is some threat of lawsuit by CCT (Christian Community Theater) and Art Beat Management, headed by Paul Russell.
  • Activist a common sight recording local meetings -- Ray Lutz is government watchdog -- Anne Krueger, Union Tribune, 2010-01-30 Features Raymond Lutz
  • A venue to make El Cajon proud -- Editor, Union Tribune, 2010-01-23
  • A stage in disrepair -- Editor, Union Tribune, 2010-01-16

• Election Integrity - Cops is actively working on a report exposing irregularities at the San Diego County Registrar Of Voters. See San Diego County Canvass Procedures for full details. We've discovered 9,000 "missing" ballots and proof that they are severely mismanaged. Complete report to be released soon.
  • C00022 R: Response to C00022 by Registrar of Voters -- Raymond Lutz, Citizens Oversight, 2009-09-03 San Diego County Canvass Procedures
  • C00022: Questions to Registrar of Voters on Nov, 2008 Election (Part 3) -- Raymond Lutz, Citizens Oversight, 2009-09-01 Requested sign-in rosters, Street Indexes, Question about ballot counts, and Premier contact. San Diego County Canvass Procedures
  • C00017 R: Response from San Diego County Registrar of Voters regarding Elections Procedures -- Registrar Of Voters, Registrar Of Voters, 2008-12-16 San Diego County Canvass Procedures; Includes Ballot Order Procedure, One Percent Manual Tally Procedure, Collection Center Comments on Carton Seals

• Grossmont Healthcare Board - Sent $100,000 "grant" to the Boy's and Girl's club for the Little Rascal's Room, a questionable expentiture since it has almost no relevance to healthcare. Grant exceeded guidelines and was from general fund instead of grants fund, an irregularity. This, while family care facilities were denied funds for prenatal care givers.
  • Activist a common sight recording local meetings -- Ray Lutz is government watchdog -- Anne Krueger, Union Tribune, 2010-01-30 Features Raymond Lutz
  • 3 local hospitals are fined for errors -- Mike Lee, Union Tribune, 2010-01-28
  • $100,000 given to clinic for uninsured -- Grant is increased for Volunteers in Medicine -- Anne Krueger, Union Tribune, 2010-01-21 Features Raymond Lutz

• Sunrise Powerlink - SDG&E surprises Lakeside with the announcement that the huge transmission line project is slated to decimate EL MONTE VALLEY. See background and videos here: Sunrise Powerlink.
  • Taking a Dim View of Solar Energy -- Matthew Philips, Newsweek, 2009-08-25
  • Sunrise Powerlink Community Meeting, Alpine, April 6, 2009 -- Raymond Lutz, Citizens Oversight, 2009-04-06
  • Comments on SDG&E Fire Safety by Donna Tisdale -- Donna Tisdale, Citizens Oversight, 2009-03-17

• Wind Zero - Paramilitary training camp planned for Ocotillo/Nomirage area of Imperial County, just over the San Diego County line, is now called "Coyote Wells". Draft EIR up for comment on 2010-01-26
  • Coyote Wells (AKA Wind Zero) Draft EIR -- ", Imperial County, 2010-01-26
  • Wind Zero Project to Bring Racing And Training Facility To Imperial County -- ", Tribune Weekly Chronicle, 2010-01-13
  • Letter to Imperial Valley College regarding Threat of Arrest -- Raymond Lutz, Citizens Oversight, 2009-05-21 Imperial Valley College

• Blackwater Otay - Blackwater (now "Xe") offends the community with agreement with Southwestern College to use campus classrooms in trade for use of shooting range. The SWC Governing Board voted to cancel the agreement during their October 14, 2009 meeting, about ten months after the agreement was first disclosed. More here: Blackwater Otay and Blackwater In Southwestern College
  • Activist a common sight recording local meetings -- Ray Lutz is government watchdog -- Anne Krueger, Union Tribune, 2010-01-30 Features Raymond Lutz
  • Police academy suspends classes -- Kristina Davis, Union Tribune, 2010-01-21 (Note: this academy recently pulled their contract with Blackwater/Xe to use the Blackwater Otay training facility. See Blackwater In Southwestern College for the full story on our 10-month battle to stop that contract. This additional scrutiny of their training facility may be a result as well.)
  • FIRE Letter to Southwestern College Superintendent-President Raj K. Chopra -- Adam Kissel, Foundation For Individual Rights In Education, 2009-11-03

Recent Changes: Media Topics

• One Percent Manual Tally Procedure -- Registrar Of Voters, Registrar Of Voters, 2008-02-08 San Diego County Canvass Procedure
• Lakeside Fire Board 2010-01-26 -- Raymond Lutz, Citizens Oversight, 2010-01-26 Meeting after the unexpected firing of the Fire Chief, Mark Baker brings out many angry residents.
• Citizens United vs. FEC Decision -- ", Supreme Court, 2010-01-21 Allows unlimited corporate contributions
• Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act -- ", State Of California, 1967 Applicable to State (not local) bodies. COPs Resources
• Agreement between the govt of the USA and the govt of Mexico relating to the FM broadcasting service in the band 88-108 Mhz -- ", Federal Government, 1982 I'm just guessing on the date, but it had to be after 1982
• Activist a common sight recording local meetings -- Ray Lutz is government watchdog -- Anne Krueger, Union Tribune, 2010-01-30 Features Raymond Lutz
• List of advertisers who have requested that NONE of their commercials are within AIR AMERICA programming -- ", ", 2006-10-25
• AT&T and L.A. City Hall Quietly Lead a National Push to Silence the Little Guy -- Patrick Range Mc Donald, L.A. WEEKLY, 2008-12-11
• Understanding Community Media -- Kevin Howley, Sage Publications, 2009-09-01 $42.95 in Paperback; $89.95 in hardcover.
• Air America Media is ceasing its live programming operations -- ", Air America, 2010-01-22 Progressive TVand Radio

Recent Changes: Other topics

• COPs Rov Report - COPs Report on the San Diego County Registrar of Voters November 2008 Election This report is available as a PDF file. Please complete the following form to get ...
• Cops Canvass Report Procedure Summary - #CanvassProcedureSummary Canvass Procedure Summary This section of the Cops Canvass Report describes the overall process used to conduct elections in San Diego County ...
• Cops Canvass Report Introduction - Executive Summary Introduction This report is the result of a project initiated by Citizens' Oversight Projects (COPs) in 2008 to document and review the procedures ...
• Publish Cops Canvass Report Config - PublishCopsCanvassReportConfig This is a configuration file used to publish the CopsCanvassReport. Publish topic is PublishCopsCanvassReport. Version Specific ...
• Cops Canvass Report Issues Summary - Issues Summary This part of the report lists all issues in numerical order. There are two major categories of issues. Issues related to RoV Procedures These ...
• Cops Canvass Report Manual Tally Procedure - #ManualTallyProcedure Manual Tally Procedure The RoV maintains the One Percent Manual Tally Procedure to govern this process, which is mandated by the SoS. This is ...
• Cops Canvass Report Five Percent Review - #FivePercentReview COPs Five Percent Review COPs conducted a review of RoV procedures by gather all available and relevant documentation on a 5% random sample of ...
• Cops Canvass Report Documents - #DocumentsReferenced Documents Referenced The following documents were provided by the RoV as a response to our request or obtained from other sources. These documents ...
• Cops Canvass Report Unscanned Ballots - #UnscannedBallots Ballot Control and Scanning The first step of our review is to determine if all the ballots were correctly processed. Acceptable Error Rate Voluntary ...
• Cops Main - This email list is our main announcement list for general announcements of PublicAccessTV airings, meetings, etc. Email volume is low, perhaps one or two emails per ...

Projects

See COPs Program for a list of all projects and an overview of our project concept.

Collaboration Areas

• Common Calendar - Month-at-a-glance format for all events relevant to East County
  • Calendar Update - Quick list of the events for the next 2 weeks.
  • Event List - Edit this topic to include your events! See How To Add Events for details.
• List Serve - Sign up for our email lists
  • List Serve Etiquette - Common courtesy when mailing to 100's of subscribers.
  • Managing List Email - Does it seem like you're getting too much mail? This should help.
• News Media - submitted media in all categories, and anyone who submits them.

• Current Events Theater - Enjoy videos of politics and current events.
• Student Outreach - Our presence on campus of Cuyamaca, Grossmont, SDSU, and other campuses.
• East County Progressive - Our progressive newsletter!
• Public Access TV - efforts to establish progressive TV and radio programs in San Diego
• Progressive TVand Radio - Lists of good progressive media shows and how to listen and watch them

Ballot Recommendations

• May 2009 Ballot Recommendations - How should we vote on propositions 1A through 1F? It's not a simple matter.
• Nov 2008 Recommendations - Read recommendations for the November 4th General Election
• June 2008 Recommendations - Read recommendations by Raymond Lutz for the June 3rd Primary Election
• Feb 2008 Recommendations - Read recommendations by Raymond Lutz for the February 5th Primary Election
  • Presidential Primary 2008 - What's your choice??
• November 2006 Voter Guide - Club recommendations
• All Ballot Recommendations - All prior and current recommendations

• All Ballot Recommendations - All prior and current recommendations

Party and Region

• Democratic Party - Notes and information on the county, state, and national Democratic Party.
• East County Democratic Club - wiki pages for the Club.
• Our Region - Districts and history
• Vote Count - recent elections
• Harris Ranch Fire - Information about recovery from the fire; stories and Photos.
• Air America Blackout - Companies we should NOT patronize as they have requested that none of their commercials air on Air America radio stations! Boycott Clear Channel Communications stations for pulling KLSD.
• State Party Exec Board meeting, July 14th 2007 in Sacramento
  • RESOLUTION OPPOSING BLACKWATER WEST AND MERCENARY TRAINING IN CALIFORNIA - Approved by unanimous vote
  • RESOLUTION FOR PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF MEETING DOCUMENTS USING THE INTERNET- Referred back to the author.

References and Resources

• Nine Eleven - A starting place for investigating the truth and missing pieces behind the events of 9/11
• Relevant Links - Links to other web sites that are important resources or cooperative organizations.
• Meeting Places - Venues where meetings are sometimes held, directions, maps.
• All Contacts - People and groups that have been defined.

• The Constitution Of The United States - Great reference!
• Declaration Of Independence - Important document!
• Political Research - Papers on Trends and policy analyses
• Creating Message - How to generate talking points.
• News Headlines - Aggregated from various news sources.
• How To Turn In Churches To The IRS - How to turn in churches and other nonprofits who are promoting a candidate or spending significant time on propositions.
• Gun Control - The State Democratic Platform supports Safe Gun Ownership... Read more here.
• Strong Family Model - How should we decide issues of pregnancy termination, end-of-life decisions, and even gay-marriage? The "Strong Family Model" is an important umbrella for these issues.

Other Stuff

• County Removes Lutzs Trees - After sending a request for information to Dianne Jacob's office and to the County Counsel regarding Brown Act violations, the County retaliates by driving over the curb with a truck and removing all the trees in front of the Lutz residence with no notice at all.
• What Are RSS Feeds? - Learn about an important technology for distributing Blog-like postings.
• Basic Instructions - When you first start using this wiki to report on a strange event, I will refer you to this topic to get you started!
• Wiki Usage Tips - Some secrets about using this wiki
• How To Upload Using FTP - If you have large files to upload (videos, presentations), these instructions will walk you through it!

Common Web Utilities

• - advanced search
• Web Topic List - all topics in alphabetical order
• Web Changes - recent topic changes in this web
• Web Notify - subscribe to an e-mail alert sent when topics change
• Web Rss, Web Atom - RSS and ATOM news feeds of topic changes
• Web Statistics - listing popular topics and top contributors
• Web Preferences - preferences of this web