ROSES AND RASPBERRIES: The Californian, Nov. 7, 2008

By The Californian editorial board | Friday, November 7, 2008 12:24 AM PST ∞

A razz ---- the "Slow Vote to China" award ---- to the Riverside County Registrar of Voters Office for its apparent inability to get mail ballots out in a timely fashion, even when people request them more than a month ahead.

Residents have been taking advantage of early voting ---- both by mail and in person ---- in huge numbers the last few elections, which helps the registrar handle the Election Day crowds. But the process causes its own set of problems ---- namely getting the requested ballots in the mail in time for voters to return them before the election.

More than 100,000 people have requested mail ballots just in the last four years, bringing the total to 372,000, so the task is no easy one. But people who ask for ballots six weeks before an election shouldn't still be waiting for them the weekend before.

The registrar's office would have a better excuse if the requesters waited until the figurative last minute ---- the Oct. 20 deadline ---- but even then, if they're going to allow people to ask for the mail ballots that close to the election, they need to be prepared to get them out in time. Forcing voters to drop off their ballots at polling places defeats the purpose.

A rose ---- the "On the Other Hand" award ---- to that same registrar of voters office for what appeared to be a smoothly run operation on Election Day. With one of the largest turnouts in recent history, most of the problems of two and four years ago ---- long lines, broken machines, slow tallies ---- were averted. The registrar's office and all of the volunteers deserve a pat on the back for making democracy run efficiently.

A rose ---- the "Gently Used Water" award ---- to Murrieta for continuing its conversion of park irrigation systems to recycled water. The City Council recently approved a deal with the Rancho California Water District to hook Copper Canyon Park onto the "purple pipes," and will work on adding Town Square Park and the Civic Center to the system.

Everyone knows ---- at least nominally ---- that we live in a desert and that water-guzzling landscaping is draining a precious and dwindling resource, but few are really doing anything to rectify the situation. If the water used to keep non-native landscaping ---- like grass ---- green would otherwise just be washed down the creek, though, we all come out ahead.

And with water sources from both Northern California and the Colorado River drying up, reusing water is just one way to delay the inevitable browning of Southern California.

A raspberry ---- the "If You Can't Say Anything Nice, We'll Sue" award ---- to Sky Blue Investments, a real estate investment group, for filing a lawsuit against two Canyon Lake City Council candidates over relatively innocuous comments about a controversial housing development planned for Goetz Hill. The lawsuits have all the earmarks of what are known as "SLAPP" suits ---- essentially suits designed to silence opposition.

Sky Blue plans to haul more than 31 million cubic yards of dirt and granite off the hill to create building pads, prompting candidates Barry Talbot and Nancy Horton to refer to the project as a "mining operation."

Sky Blue asserts that their comments hurt its ability to hire a grading contractor.

The merits of the project and semantic definitions aside, Sky Blue's lawsuit is an absurd effort to punish the two candidates for making reasonable comments about the project. Whether it's accurate or not might unfortunately end up being up to a court to decide, but it seems like fair comment to suggest that digging up tons of granite and selling it constitutes "mining." Neither candidate suggested Sky Blue was doing anything illegal or unethical, they just chose to couch it in terms Sky Blue didn't like.

Last time we checked the First Amendment was still in force. If Sky Blue is going to stay in the development business, perhaps it should first develop a thicker skin.