You’ve heard the voices making their cases on local radio and over your phone.

And you can’t drive down Main St. without catching a glimpse of a few dozen signs trying to brand their names into your memory by Tuesday.

Six days away from the election, Hesperia registered voters probably have encountered a message or two — or dozens — from local campaigns hounding you for your vote.

Hesperia City Council candidates, Hesperia Unified School District governing board candidates and political action committees have raised nearly $300,000 combined in signs, mailers, advertisements and whatever means deemed necessary to get their message out to you, the voter.

But some candidates have far outspent others.

City Council candidate Mark Kirk has raised at least $140,242 and spent $131,269, according to campaign statement forms released on Oct. 23. Kirk is nearing the city’s all-time spending record, set by Councilman Ed Pack in 2006 at $151,616.

Kirk’s biggest monetary competition has not even raised half as much as Kirk; candidate Russ Blewett has raised $61,170 and spent $60,388. The other candidates, Scott Bennett, Paul Bosacki, Mayor Mike Leonard, Dennis Arquette and Rochelle Garner, have not raised more than $12,000 each.

In the school board race, Anthony Riley’s campaign bank is larger than all five of his opponents combined. Riley raised $57,088 and spent $56,227 as of Oct. 23, reported The Hesperia Star.

School board candidates Chris Bentley, Bruce Henson, Chris Lindsay, Frank Rich and Eric Swanson have raised no more than $14,000 each.

Meanwhile, candidates from both races have turned in 470 forms, which declare they will not spend more than $1,000.

Some candidates — especially the ones spending less on their campaigns — have accused Kirk and Riley of trying to “buy the election.”

Others, such as Kirk, say they have worked hard to earn the support of their contributors and are exercising every resource available to get their message out to the voters. They argue that getting their viewpoints out to you, the voter, is downright expensive.

What do you think? Has the money paid off? Do the names Kirk and Riley strike a familiar chord that may sway your vote?

Which forms of campaign advertising do you find most effective — large signs by the side of the road or those flashy pamphlets invading your mail space?

Just what role will money have played in Hesperia’s local election 2008?

Be sure to stop in again next week to find out.

Post from: Inside Hesperia

My name is Natasha Lindstrom, and I joined the Daily Press just seven weeks ago. I haven’t been here long, but I have already witnessed many exciting changes taking shape in Hesperia.

Most recently, the city approved the Main Street and Freeway Corridor Specific Plan, the most comprehensive effort to revitalize growth in Hesperia since its incorporation 20 years ago. The plan, which has been in the works for the past three years, reorganizes the zoning of the city’s main commercial corridors in an attempt to transform “the mostly vacant freeway corridor into a thriving regional commercial and entertainment center,” according to the plan’s proposal. It didn’t get passed without a public hearing that extended over two City Council meetings and included more than two dozen complaints from unhappy property owners.

The city is also finally beginning to buy right-of-way for the long-awaited Ranchero Road underpass, a project in the works for the past five years. The city received federal environmental final approval on Aug. 27, and the city should begin construction by this time next year.

The Hesperia Unified School District board has also kept me busy.

Bruce Minton’s resignation became official Sept. 1, nearly a month after he surprised his colleagues and community members when he made several accusations against fellow board members in the process.

The new busing policy implemented at the beginning of the school year sparked so many complaints from parents concerned about their children’s safety — about 300 phone calls in a four-day period alone — that the district reversed the changes at the end of August.

In case you want to know more about me, I am new to the area, without any family or friends within 100 miles, other than the ones I’ve made in the last few weeks. Born and raised in Phoenix, Ariz. — an even hotter desert — I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for the past four years studying at Santa Clara University, a Jesuit college nestled in the heart of Silicon Valley. I graduated in June with a bachelor of arts in communication and a bachelor of science in political science. After perusing the somewhat grim print journalism job market, I was thrilled to land the staff writer position here at the Daily Press.

I hope to update this blog frequently to provide you, the readers, with extra insights on the stories I’m covering and perhaps extended versions that don’t make it to the print edition. Most importantly, I want to provide a space for concerned residents or observers to open fruitful dialogues on any topic that interests them.

Ask me questions, pose questions to one another, tell me what you think I’ve missed or what upcoming relevant and compelling news you think should be covered.

Use the blog comments to suggest new topics or e-mail me with “blog” in the subject at nlindstrom@vvdailypress.com.

See you soon.

Post from: Inside Hesperia