• John Sellars’ 2006 DLANC Grievance
MAIN PETITION LINK – http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/stepdownrussbrown
The following is one of several “missing” grievances filed against Russell Brown or other DLANC board members, but not provided by DONE after a Public Records Act request was made. This grievance has also vanished from the DLANC website, along with any record of how it was handled by the Grievance Committee. The following information was found on the subscription-based Newdowntown Yahoo group.
Subject: DLANC Election Challenge
Posted to subscription-based Newdowntown Yahoo group, Sun Sep 24, 2006 10:17 pm
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newdowntown/message/12608
Lisa W. Sarno
Interim General Manager
Department of Neighborhood Empowerment
334-B East Second Street,
Los Angeles, CA 90012
September 24th, 2006
Delivery by eMail
Dear Ms. Sarno
Please consider this an election challenge involving Mr. Russell
Brown, candidate, and Mr. Jerry Kvasnicka, independent election
advisor (IEA).
I am submitting this directly to you as the Coordinator that would
normally cover this, Betty Wong Oyama, refused to acknowledge an
election complaint/challenge that I filed last November.
Please assign another person to handle this challenge.
This challenge involves Russell Brown & Jerry Kvasnicka
� Candidate forms were required to be filed by 5PM on August 12th 2006
by being returned to DLANC Election Committee Staff, the Independent
Election Advisor or delivered in person or by mail to the DLANC office
on 1st Street, mailed to a P.O. Box 41048, CA 90041 or faxed to 866 636
4441. Strangely no email address was made available. This would require
that the DLANC office be open and that the PO Box be available to
receive mail until 5PM. They weren’t and candidates including myself
were denied the mandated right to file our papers in terms of and in
compliance with the Neighborhood Council Election Procedures.
The DLANC office was closed when I went there at approximately 3:30PM.
I went to the 90041 Post Office to Mail it to the PO Box there but
found that it was closed and had been since 3:30PM that day. I
subsequently had it faxed to the 866 636 4441 number.
� Jerry Kavasnicka claims that he never received my candidate papers on
the fax number. Being shown an affidavit by the person that had sent
the fax, attesting to the facts, he seemed to accept that a fax had
been sent but became irate and refused to verify me as a candidate thus
he has prevented me from running as a candidate and has not provided
any written reason for rejecting my candidacy so I can appeal his
decision.
� The legal description of the City West area is not defined and
enclosed and would appear to encompass the entire DLANC jurisdiction.
Jerry Kvasnicka denied this fact.
� In a blatant violation of the Brown Act, Jerry Kvasnicka met secretly
with Mr. Russell Brown and a majority of the DLANC Executive Committee
in un-noticed, agenda less and unreported (no minutes) meetings. At
least one of these meetings was held at a private apartment rented by
Mr. Russell Brown (February 10th) in downtown Los Angeles.
� Jerry Kvasnicka in explaining candidate requirements to a group of
potential candidates, I believe on August 8th, stated that even though
Mr. Russell Brown’s driving license had a Hollywood Hills address that
was going to be OK as he had been to Mr. Brown’s residence in downtown
Los Angeles. This courtesy was obviously not extended to other
residential candidates as far as I know. At this same meeting he made a
comment about candidates running “dirty tricks” and then, along with
Mr. Brown turned and stared at me, saying “No dirty tricks ! Right John
!”. This was a statement designed to diminish and defame me in the eyes
of others and coming from Mr. Kvasnicka, as election administrator, it
was also prejudicial and indicated a bias on his part against me.
� As an independent election administrator Mr. Kvasnicka must surely be
familiar with the common law doctrine of incompatible offices which
prohibits a person from holding two public offices at the same time if
the performance of the duties of either office could have a significant
adverse effect on the other.
California case law prohibits any person from holding two or more
incompatible offices simultaneously. The law provides that a person
holding incompatible offices is deemed to have vacated the first office
at the moment she accepts the second office. People ex rel Chapman v.
Rapsey, 16 Cal. 2d 636, 644 (1940)
His statement regarding Mr. Browns driving license having a Hollywood
Hills address would seem to indicate that he was aware of the fact that
Russell Brown was still holding an elected position on the Hollywood
Unified Neighborhood Council Board of Directors, in violation of the
doctrine of incompatible offices and on the basis of a falsified
drivers license, which is in and of itself a serious violation of
California law.
� Mr. Brown violated Section IX of the Neighborhood Council Election
Procedures by using his name, email address, home and cell phone
numbers on DLANC election documents, emails, DLANC New Downtown Yahoo
Group postings and on published and outreach notices in the local
press. Nowhere is the DLANC office phone number to be found. I am sure
that he will say he was forced to do this as he was head of the
“Election Committee” but the fact of the matter is that he was
campaigning and advertising for his candidacy and by doing so unfairly
predjuced the campaign of Genevieve Liang and perhaps discouraged
others from running at all.
“For more information, please visit our website at www.DLANC.com
Or Call DLANC Secretary and Election Committee Chair
Russell Brown
DLANC.jr2Brown@…
Cell 213-999-0379 Home 213-687-0898″
I would request that Mr. Brown be barred from taking office and
Genevieve Liang be installed as the winner in the Resident Area Wide
seat. In the alternative that the election for the Area Wide seat be
rerun.
I also request that the City West election be rerun.
Yours truly,
John Sellars
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
