ELECTION ’12//ASSEMBLY 18
May 10, 2012 | Someone must have told Abel Guillen one of his two spirits is backing Joel Young, his opponent in the 18th Assembly District, according to a list of endorsements uploaded Tuesday evening and removed the next day on the League of Women Voters’ election Web site.
Young’s campaign said the list of endorsement viewed Tuesday night on SmartVoter.org, the League’s online guide for voters, was mistakenly transferred from his past run for the AC Transit board of directors. A corrected version was uploaded Wednesday night, but not before a chorus of criticism erupted as many of the people erroneously listed again say their names connected to Young’s downtrodden run for the 18th Assembly seat.
Many were skeptical of the mistake Wednesday afternoon when contacted about Young’s latest inability to keep his endorsement list true. An article detailing a false endorsement from an Oakland domestic violence shelter published online Tuesday night in the East Bay Express also raised suspicions that the campaign, increasingly known for stretching the truth, was up to something again.
It is not clear how the list, that included just about every local official of note in the East Bay, showed up on Young’s Assembly page on the Smart Voter site. The list even included his current opponent Abel Guillen and former challenger, Kathy Neal. Mark Goodwin, Young’s campaign manager, said information was incorrectly pasted from the old AC Transit page to the new Assembly page. The League of Women Voters on Wednesday said the organization only provides the free platform for candidates, but does not monitor it for accuracy. All content is provided by the candidate, they said.
However, one East Bay consultant, who has used the Smart Voter site in the past and has inputted information dozens of times for candidates in the area, says the explanation is not plausible. Information similar to what was inputted on Young’s page would have to be created anew, they said. Unless there was massive user error in inputting the new list of endorsements to Young’s Assembly page, they added, you have start over with every new campaign.
Regardless, the episode illustrates growing concern over the continued misuse by Young of endorsements that either no longer belong to him or never were given to him in the first place, in addition, to a palpable paranoia among his detractors, bordering on hysterical, about what type of campaign misdeed he will commit next.
ebcitizen.com 
nh
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Marcie, you're right! Sometimes I get bogged down in some of these other beats I cover and forget the issues and whether the candidates change their opinions. I'll be posting a guide in issues in a few weeks and plan to cover Wednesday's AD18 debate at the Bal Theatre in San Leandro, 7pm.
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Anonymous:
See my post a few minutes ago in the other article. Isn't that the job of journalists or bloggers? The Blog is called “East Bay Citizen” not “East Bay Political Insider.” Of course, Mr. Tavares just has to provide what his audience wants – I guess that I shouldn't fault him for that? I just wish that the journalists and bloggers would provide a forum for examination of the real issues.
-Marcie Peterkin
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You can check their various campaign websites for their platforms or lackthereof. But then again Goodwin himself said he's only had 100something hits on Young's website. maybe that explains the lack of substance.
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Why does your blog posting or article quote an anonymous “east bay consultant” when this is so easy to check? Did you try to contact the people who run smartvoter before posting your article, or try to set up a sample page yourself? I went to the FAQ page and the anonymous poster from May 11 seems to be right on about the feature that lets you start with an old page from a previous election. It's hard to tell if any of this is actually relevant to the *issues* of this election. It seems that all you local reporters are covering the *process* rather than the *issues*. When and where can we read articles that actually examine the platforms of local candidates?
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Did Goodwin release the Nadia Lockyer videos? If so, he redeems himself as a campaign manager! Distract everyone from the mess that is your campaign! …. ok back to Youtube!
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And I didn't post that by the way…obviously…
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You won't let me post comments with my real name. In fact, you keep deleting them from your site.
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I'm responding to Anonymous who said at 12:57 AM on May 11 that when you use Smart Voter, you have to start over with every new race. This is not an accurate statement about how Smart Voter works.
The following quote is taken directly from the FAQ for candidates found on any county Home Page for Smart Voter:
“I used your web site in a previous election and would like to start with that data and edit it for this election. May I do that?
Yes. After you log into your candidate area, near the top of the form, you will see an invitation to start with an older Smart Voter page. Use your browser to find the existing page, then copy the page address or URL from the top of the browser window. Come back to the window with your candidate form and paste the URL into the area labeled “Candidates with Prior Smart Voter Pages or Multiple Offices”. All pages and the photo from the prior page will be copied into the area for this election. Then you may edit the data as you wish for the current election. Note that your photo should not be more than two years old — just send another.”
The campaign worker for Mr. Young followed these instructions, intending to return to the Smart Voter site and edit what he had posted – and indeed he has returned to the site and updated the old material with current information.
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Now, that's better, Mark Goodwin, campaign manger for Joel Young. Political operatives don't post comments using their real names. C'mon. Didn't they teach that to you when you ran Timmy Smith's campaign last year for 4th grade school treasurer?
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he is just throwing and sees what sticks. the writing is on the wall with this guy.
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I've done political consultanting around the state, not in any races this year in the East Bay, but I agree, When you use smart voter, you have to start over with every new race. You almost have to do what happen with Young's list on purpose.
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This isn't surprising as for the longest and while running for the Assembly seat, Young kept up his old website which featured prominent East Bay elected officials who had not endorsed his candidacy. It made it seem like these electeds were endorsing his run for the Assembly District when in fact, they had not chimed in.
Young is either shady or his campaign manager is inept. Or both.
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