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Patricia K. Shaw
Tuesday, March 16 2010 - 10:24 PM
Marvin Crist
As most of you know, I live in Palmdale and because of this I don’t get much involved in Lancaster politics. Since decisions made in one city do affect the other I am interested however in who gets elected, even if only as a spectator.
My goal is not to tell you for whom to vote, that is a personal and important decision only you can make. What I do want to do is clear some of the confusion and misstatements of facts concerning one of the council candidates, Marvin Crist.
For many years Marv has been the president of the Antelope Valley Sheriff’s Boosters. This group raises money for many of the things the Lancaster Deputies need but never have enough budget to buy. Every year he co-sponsors the Fallen Heroes Ride that raises money for the families of Deputies who have lost their lives in service to our community.
You should also know that, along with his good friend Ron Emard, Marv also sponsors “Thunder on the Lot” which raises over $100K each year to benefit Antelope Valley kids. He doesn’t seek kudos or limelight for what he does; he just quietly goes about doing all of this work simply because it’s the right thing to do.
Some of you might recall a few years ago I was raising money for the Antelope Valley Fallen Heroes Memorial that now sits in front of the mall. For that effort we staged a variety show and dinner. In order to maximize profit I needed the food and alcohol donated and who stepped up and made that happen? Marv Crist. Very few people who were there that night knew what an integral part he played in making it such a success. (There are indeed a number of people I can say the same about including our own Ray Cuneff who served as emcee for the evening)
Some of you also know that Marv is the owner/creator of this very blog site, and to be honest, it is so humorous when someone writes that he has “censored” or “banned” someone. Anyone who knows him knows the very reason he created this site was just so people could have a place to freely express their thoughts on social and political issues WITHOUT censorship. The only time he has removed a post is when it violates a law, such as copying and pasting an entire article from another publication, and the handful of times he has blocked a blogger is when they in some way threatened another with physical violence or incited others to do so. As far as controversial subjects are concerned – that is exactly what he WANTS on this site. Who would read it if it didn’t?
Marv and I have had numerous conversations on lots of different topics and while we may not always agree, I have never found him to be anything but honest, fair, and truly passionate, not just for Lancaster, but the entire Antelope Valley. And it’s because of those disagreements that I can say without a doubt he is nobody’s puppet. He has his own ideas, his own mind and is not afraid to tell anyone straight out exactly what he thinks.
Check out his website at marvincrist.com
(Before the rumors start let me state very clearly I am not working on his campaign nor have I discussed writing this blog with him)
Jack says...
PK question
1. i tried to pull up Marvin’s endorsement page and it won’t let me pull up the page, is he not listing any backers at this time?. why or why not,
2. some more info on his background, besides charity work would also be helpful to the bloggers that live in Lancaster, in helping them decide which canddidate they want to vote in office.
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Sovereignty Soldier says...
Wait, didn’t he pull this site for days because someone was either:
a) leaving comments about the R. Rex Parris dinner and the comments heard there!
OR
b) because of the anger over the local corruption in the McGowan scandal!
That is the two stories I was told anyway.
If either are the case it is a cowardly move and not in support of free speech.
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Ray Cunneff says...
I should second what PK has said. I too live in Palmdale and stay out of Lancaster politics but those who know him will agree that Marv’s heart is in the right place and he quietly goes about doing good work for our community.
I do not believe he took the website down due to anything other than server issues. I was proud to emcee the Fallen Heroes Memorial Fundraiser for many reasons, not the least of which the chance to once again work with PK Shaw and Marvin Crist.
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PKShaw says...
Jack, I have absolutely no connection with his campaign so I don’t really know what’s happening with his website. I would guess that it’s just not finished yet. Ask him your questions via the “Help/Abuse” tab at the top of this site.
SS, for every action taken in this valley there are at least five different lies/rumors/distortions made up to explain it. I don’t know if people just don’t have the guts to come right out and ask about it or if the stories they create are just more interesting to them. There are times when this site goes down – like last year it was down for a few days because of some construction happening nearby – but I can assure you when it does there is nobody more frantic about getting it back up than Marv. There may be others interested, for any number of reasons, in seeing the demise of this site but not him.
Something else Marv did recently that shows what a classy guy he is. Last week I attended the Lancaster Chamber candidate forum. Possibly Marv’s strongest opponent in the city council race, Johnathan Ervin, could not be there because the military had sent him to Korea for his reserve duty. Most people would have, and in fact all the other candidates did, remain silent as to Mr. Ervin’s absence and let the audience make up their own explanation. Not Marv. He stood up, using part of his precious little time, to tell everyone where Johnathan is and thank him for his service. He didn’t have to do that, and no one would have faulted him if he hadn’t, but he did it because it was the right thing to do.
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Have Faith says...
Is he distancing himself for the election and plans to continue in lock step once in office? What evidence of Crist’s independent thinking is there as compared to Ervin’s?
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Denise_Latanzi says...
Ok, after telling myself not to get involved in this thread for 2 days, i"m going to do it anyway ;)
First let me say that I’ve never met Marv Crist, so I have no real leanings one way or the other about who he actually is, so for the most part, when it comes to him I am any other voter.
I was happy when I heard he was running again because I remember the mailers that went out opposing him last time. They were pretty horrible, and I’ll tell you right now that I voted for him then BECAUSE of how bad they hit him.
NOw its 2010 and he’s running again and its a bit different of a ballgame. He’s running on a slate with the same people that paid for hitmail against him last time, which is curious to say the least. I’ve actually received the slate mailers, and its pretty clear that’s what it is.
That said, I also have taken the time to make my self familiar with Crist’s bio, and at least on paper, he is a very attractive and involved candidate.
I went to the Chamber of Commerce forum with a pretty open mind about the council candidates, there is only one that I would not vote for even if his name was the only one on the ballot.
Going into the forum I would have given Crist a huge lead over any of the other candidates for a variety of reasons. His name recognition is high with voters, his reputation in the community is fairly strong, and he doesn’t have the negative baggage that Smith does to over come.
A good example of the negative baggage happened at the Chamber. I was behind Ron in the food line, and he introduced himself to the guy that was taking the lunch tickets, and the guys reaction was an almost unconscious negative that was really obvious to anyone who heard it, including Ron. It was a striking reaction because it was clear that Ron had never met the guy before, and it was equally obvious that Ron is used to that sort of negativity from people at just hearing his name.
So, back to the forum. Going in, I would have given Marv the lead on name recognition and community involvement. Coming out of it I was disappointed, only because he appears to be a one note candidate and its a note that has already been played out. I expect a little bit of substance from the candidates and didn’t get it from him. Also no hint of independence, as he appears to be walking the straight Parris/Smith line.
I did appreciate that he took the time to talk about John, no other candidate would have done that. It probably worked for him a bit too, so it was a smart move.
As far as the council candidates went, the big surprise was Victoria Zavala. I would expect that if she keeps performing like she did, she’ll surprise people.
It’s going to be very interesting to see how this council race pans out. While Marv comes in with a pretty big advantage over the other candidates, there are some factors that could be game changers. It’s going to be very interesting to see what comes out of the V.P forum, and what happens at Time Warner.
Oh, I should add that the fact that Johnathon has been deployed through part of this should help him, people will respect what he’s doing, even people that may not have been paying attention to the whole Wal-Mart thing will respect the fact that he serving his country.
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CASimons says...
He has my vote!!!!!!
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