It seems like eons ago but remember Steve Pappas? He lost by a mere 800 votes to Doreen Farr in the November 2008 race for Third District Santa Barbara County Supervisor. His challenge to the outcome of the election failed to invalidate so much as a single vote. The Superior Court Judge who heard the case ruled that his allegations of massive voter fraud were "frivolous."
An April 29, 2009 editorial in the News-Press asserted that the late Judge J. William McLafferty "didn't seem to give Mr. Pappas a fair hearing."
Pappas appealed that ruling and yesterday (Thursday) the Second District Court of Appeal based in Ventura upheld McLafferty's decision when it decided that Pappas indeed had no basis for overturning the outcome of the election.
The Santa Maria Times has the scoop.
Too bad McLafferty, who passed away in January of this year, didn't live to see the outcome of the challenge to his decision. Of course he could have lived a million years and probably wouldn't have seen a retraction of that assertion in Wendy's editorial about not giving Pappas a fair hearing.
© 2010 by Craig Smith and www.craigsmithsblog.com
