(8/7/2012,  Los Alamitos)  Los Alamitos City Council Seats appear to have suddenly become the hottest gig  in town!

I wonder if it had something to do with last night’s City Council NON-Meeting,  where Council Members Stephens, Poe, and Edgar proved you don’t even  have to show up to collect a City Council paycheck.

Or maybe somebody’s getting every Tom, Dick, and Dean in town to run and dilute the vote enough that our non-attending, law-breaking incumbents can get re-elected.

Whatever the cause, as of  5:02 tonight we had seven potential candidates who had pulled papers. . . and none who had returned them!

Here they are, apparently in the order in which they pulled papers:

1. Marilyn Poe (incumbent)
2. Ken Stephens (incumbent)
3. Richard Murphy (Businessman, Traffic Commissioner)
4. Dean Grose  (Businessman, resigned former Mayor)
5. Tom A. Poe  (Businessman, Former Chief of Staff for Long Beach 5th District.City
6. Demetria Tan-Devaney, a Cypress resident from 2005 to 2008 who then moved to Los Alamitos, about a year after Ken Stephens did.
7. Decline to State at this Time

Yup, “Decline to State!”  Really.  Straight from the City Clerk’s keyboard to your eyes.

I’m guessing this guy or gal is a real advocate of open government!  Wonder if he/she/it showed up at City Hall with a bag over her face? [ad]

Like I frequently say here, I’m not making this up!  I’m not that smart!

So, our number of applicants doubled during the first two days of this week.  Does that mean we’ll have over ten running for two positions by this Friday, the deadline (unless either incumbent fails to file).

Or will we be back down to 3 or 4 when it’s time to complete the paperwork, file the petition, and pay the fees?

All candidates are encouraged to tell us more about themselves, their qualifications, and their goals and dreams for Los Alamitos in a comment below or by submitting a post with contact information through the “Contact Us” link in the masthead above.