|Candidate_Dir: ca/or/vote/perdicaro_f |Contest_Dir: ca/or/race/5062 |County_List: Orange County, CA |Residential_County: Orange |Office_Title: Member, City Council; City of Fountain Valley |Preparer_Last_Name: Perdicaro |Preparer_First_Name: Frank |Preparer_Email: frank@dsea.com |Preparer_Email_OK: Y |Preparer_Phone: 714 775 2304 |Preparer_Address: 12256 Calendula Ave |Preparer_City_State_Zip: Fountain Valley, CA 92708 |Candidate_Last_Name: Perdicaro |Candidate_First_Name: Frank |Campaign_Street_Address: 12256 Calendula Ave |Campaign_City_State_Zip: Fountain Valley, CA 92708 |Occupation: Software Professional |Political_Priority_1: Less spending |Political_Priority_2: Smaller government |Political_Priority_3: Continued safety |Position_Paper_1_Title: Election Bio & Notes |Position_Paper_1_Full_Text: Notes / Facts / Biographical Information Frank Perdicaro September, 1998 General Frank Evan Perdicaro 12256 Calendula Avenue Fountain Valley, California 92704 (714) 775-2304 Born June 29th, 1965 in Brookline, Massachusetts Married to my high school sweetheart, Cynthia. Education Tewksbury Memorial High School 1983 Tewksbury, Massachusetts Valedictorian Zero days missed in high school Bowdoin College, Brunswick Maine Major in Physics, Minor in History, 1987 Also studied studio art and computer science. Graduated with departmental and collegiate honors University of Massachusetts, Lowell Master of Science, Computer Engineering, 1995 Attended part time while working full time Orange Coast Community College, 1997 Welding course at night Profession Design, implementation, testing and installation of software for the prepress market. I work on software that makes it easier and cheaper to design and print all types of printed material. Hobbies Mountain climbing Bicycling (commuting to work) Motorcycling Old cars Furniture design Target shooting Law Ham radio Politics Philosophy, in general Live by the Golden Rule, but realize that all men are imperfect. Use available resources thoroughly and completely. Hard work cures most problems, but there exist some problems with no reasonable explanation or conclusion. Philosophy on government Government is inherently evil. As George Washington put it centuries ago, "Government is not reason, it is not eloquence - it is force!". Yet every society in the history of the world has had a government, so government can be classified as a required evil. As citizens we need to keep always in our mind that government has one purpose, to secure the liberties of the people. As leaders or ordinary taxpayers, we have to judge each action of government by this simple rule. Government has no inherent rights or powers; as a society we deed some of our rights and powers to government so it can work to secure our liberties. Despite its flaws, the government of the United States is the best government in the world. History, even recent history, shows us there are many forms of considerably worse than our own. It is the duty of each of us to sure our government remains true, just and operates under the rule of law. Skipping a long discussion, I feel it is safe to conclude that in recent history government in the United States has strayed from its original, small, boundaries and has grown large. Too large. A large government might not, in itself, be dangerous to liberty, but in our present situation there are two broad issues that are cause for concern. The first was best summed up by Nobel Laureate Freidrich Hayek: "In government, the scum rises to the top." Today too many elected officials are politicians, not leaders. Yes, there are honest, intelligent, hard-working people in government today, but such people are the exception rather than the rule. As a result, our leadership is too often poor. The evils of the professional politician oft discussed. But the other, more serious, threat to liberty remains too well hidden and undiscussed. James Madison foresaw the problem: "It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man who knows what the law is today, can guess what it will be tomorrow." What caused me to seek elected office Though not new to the game of politics, I am new to task of running for an elected position. Virtually every time it is mentioned that I am seeking office the question comes up "Why would you want to do that?". My response is there are two general reasons, the duty and the disgust. Though the idea might be unfashionable today, I realize each citizen of this great land has a duty to work to preserve and expand the liberties each of us enjoys. John Kennedy made an eloquent statement of this idea around the time I was born; Bowdoin College commencement, 1987, was the first time I hear, and listened to, a speech that said as much. It meant little then, but over the intervening decade circumstances and events proved to me each of us has to work to keep what we all enjoy. If nobody works at keeping it pure, our system of government will no longer serve to secure our liberties, but will grow to do the opposite. In short, for evil to triumph, good men need only do nothing. I do not want to sit idly by and do nothing. This concept is perhaps best illustrated by a quote from a justice of the US SJC. "It is not the function of our government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error." (U.S. Sup. Ct. Justice Robert H. Jackson, 1950) The duty is an abstract concept; it took incidents of disgust to spur me to action. Below are four important examples. 1) Fountain Valley: The city council and the mayor decide that the people of the city of Fountain Valley would best be served if the car tax remained. Not one of the MANY people in the city that I spoke with expressed any desire to have the car tax remain. Not one. Both the mayor and the city council are out of touch with the average Fountain Valley resident. 2) Fountain Valley: At a city council meeting a few years ago, the city decided to pass an emergency resolution prohibiting antennas. The resolution was so broad and vague as to be meaningless, but nobody on the council seemed to care. Having studied physics as an undergraduate, and being an amateur radio operator, I was a bit disturbed. The council had just banned from the city any thing that conducted electricity. People, cars, light bulbs, wiring, buildings, pencils, rain, moist air.... all of it. Not one member of the city council even pretended to understand high school level science. 3) California Department of Motor Vehicles: We all know the DMV has problems, but this incident shows just how ignorant, belligerent and immoral a state agency can be. About two years ago I purchased a used vehicle. Due to its age and construction if fell into a very narrow classification for license plate fees. Naturally, the DMV misinterpreted the law so it could charge me the higher fee. Our disagreement eventually ended up in court. I had right and the law on my side. Having spent quite a while at the law library, research that went to the 1940s. Since case law was thin in the area, I spent the time to research the bill that originate the law in the early 1970s, consulting the Senate and Assembly Transportation Committees. After some difficulty, the original author of the bill was located and interviewed. With the facts and the law on my side, I appeared in court. The assistant district attorney representing the DMV could not argue the facts, so he lied! (It is a serious thing to allege an agent of the state lied in court. Luckily the proceeding was caught on videotape so any interested party can view it.) The acting judge was happy to permit the State to lie and he was happy to ignore the facts in the case. He was so drunk with arrogance, in addition to finding against me, he fined me. As might be expected, I was, and remain, disgusted and disturbed by the outcome. My letter to the Governor had no effect, neither did the letter to the presiding judge. The California State Bar sent me a letter telling me it could not do anything to one of its members found lying in open court. This is not the justice system envisioned by our founding fathers. 4) CA Senate: While speaking with a college classmate of mine, I found out one of his co-workers had become a lobbist in Sacramento. In a phone conversation to the gentleman up in Sacramento, the subject of lawmaking came up. We were speaking about irrational and unreasonable laws, and I asked if, when proposing a law, any sort of checking is done. Specifically, is the Senator or Assembly member required to, or even encouraged to, check if the state has the power under its Constitution to enact any particular law? What about the laws of physics, mathematics, or even common sense? The answer is, in practice, no checking is done before a law is proposed. No checking is done when the bill is passed and send to the Governor. The lawmakers of the State of California currently do not feel bound by the state's Constitution or the laws of nature and certainly are not constrained by common sense. In talking to friends, neighbors and co-workers, I found my experiences are somewhat common. We read in the newspapers of the many faults of elected officials, and there is no shortage of bad ideas flowing from every level of government. So why not run for office? Elected officials can lie in court, ignore the state Constitution, disregard the laws of nature and insult the general population and still collect a paycheck! Nothing I could do possibly be worse than what we have now. Rather there is every chance that an application of honesty, respect for law and common sense will improve the situation. I believe we have a fundamentally good form of government gone adrift, and with work we can bring it back on course. Notes / Facts / Biographical Information Frank Perdicaro September, 1998 General Frank Evan Perdicaro 12256 Calendula Avenue Fountain Valley, California 92704 (714) 775-2304 Born June 29th, 1965 in Brookline, Massachusetts Married to my high school sweetheart, Cynthia. Education Tewksbury Memorial High School 1983 Tewksbury, Massachusetts Valedictorian Zero days missed in high school Bowdoin College, Brunswick Maine Major in Physics, Minor in History, 1987 Also studied studio art and computer science. Graduated with departmental and collegiate honors University of Massachusetts, Lowell Master of Science, Computer Engineering, 1995 Attended part time while working full time Orange Coast Community College, 1997 Welding course at night Profession Design, implementation, testing and installation of software for the prepress market. I work on software that makes it easier and cheaper to design and print all types of printed material. Hobbies Mountain climbing Bicycling (commuting to work) Motorcycling Old cars Furniture design Target shooting Law Ham radio Politics Philosophy, in general Live by the Golden Rule, but realize that all men are imperfect. Use available resources thoroughly and completely. Hard work cures most problems, but there exist some problems with no reasonable explanation or conclusion. Philosophy on government Government is inherently evil. As George Washington put it centuries ago, "Government is not reason, it is not eloquence - it is force!". Yet every society in the history of the world has had a government, so government can be classified as a required evil. As citizens we need to keep always in our mind that government has one purpose, to secure the liberties of the people. As leaders or ordinary taxpayers, we have to judge each action of government by this simple rule. Government has no inherent rights or powers; as a society we deed some of our rights and powers to government so it can work to secure our liberties. Despite its flaws, the government of the United States is the best government in the world. History, even recent history, shows us there are many forms of considerably worse than our own. It is the duty of each of us to sure our government remains true, just and operates under the rule of law. Skipping a long discussion, I feel it is safe to conclude that in recent history government in the United States has strayed from its original, small, boundaries and has grown large. Too large. A large government might not, in itself, be dangerous to liberty, but in our present situation there are two broad issues that are cause for concern. The first was best summed up by Nobel Laureate Freidrich Hayek: "In government, the scum rises to the top." Today too many elected officials are politicians, not leaders. Yes, there are honest, intelligent, hard-working people in government today, but such people are the exception rather than the rule. As a result, our leadership is too often poor. The evils of the professional politician oft discussed. But the other, more serious, threat to liberty remains too well hidden and undiscussed. James Madison foresaw the problem: "It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man who knows what the law is today, can guess what it will be tomorrow." What caused me to seek elected office Though not new to the game of politics, I am new to task of running for an elected position. Virtually every time it is mentioned that I am seeking office the question comes up "Why would you want to do that?". My response is there are two general reasons, the duty and the disgust. Though the idea might be unfashionable today, I realize each citizen of this great land has a duty to work to preserve and expand the liberties each of us enjoys. John Kennedy made an eloquent statement of this idea around the time I was born; Bowdoin College commencement, 1987, was the first time I hear, and listened to, a speech that said as much. It meant little then, but over the intervening decade circumstances and events proved to me each of us has to work to keep what we all enjoy. If nobody works at keeping it pure, our system of government will no longer serve to secure our liberties, but will grow to do the opposite. In short, for evil to triumph, good men need only do nothing. I do not want to sit idly by and do nothing. This concept is perhaps best illustrated by a quote from a justice of the US SJC. "It is not the function of our government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error." (U.S. Sup. Ct. Justice Robert H. Jackson, 1950) The duty is an abstract concept; it took incidents of disgust to spur me to action. Below are four important examples. 1) Fountain Valley: The city council and the mayor decide that the people of the city of Fountain Valley would best be served if the car tax remained. Not one of the MANY people in the city that I spoke with expressed any desire to have the car tax remain. Not one. Both the mayor and the city council are out of touch with the average Fountain Valley resident. 2) Fountain Valley: At a city council meeting a few years ago, the city decided to pass an emergency resolution prohibiting antennas. The resolution was so broad and vague as to be meaningless, but nobody on the council seemed to care. Having studied physics as an undergraduate, and being an amateur radio operator, I was a bit disturbed. The council had just banned from the city any thing that conducted electricity. People, cars, light bulbs, wiring, buildings, pencils, rain, moist air.... all of it. Not one member of the city council even pretended to understand high school level science. 3) California Department of Motor Vehicles: We all know the DMV has problems, but this incident shows just how ignorant, belligerent and immoral a state agency can be. About two years ago I purchased a used vehicle. Due to its age and construction if fell into a very narrow classification for license plate fees. Naturally, the DMV misinterpreted the law so it could charge me the higher fee. Our disagreement eventually ended up in court. I had right and the law on my side. Having spent quite a while at the law library, research that went to the 1940s. Since case law was thin in the area, I spent the time to research the bill that originate the law in the early 1970s, consulting the Senate and Assembly Transportation Committees. After some difficulty, the original author of the bill was located and interviewed. With the facts and the law on my side, I appeared in court. The assistant district attorney representing the DMV could not argue the facts, so he lied! (It is a serious thing to allege an agent of the state lied in court. Luckily the proceeding was caught on videotape so any interested party can view it.) The acting judge was happy to permit the State to lie and he was happy to ignore the facts in the case. He was so drunk with arrogance, in addition to finding against me, he fined me. As might be expected, I was, and remain, disgusted and disturbed by the outcome. My letter to the Governor had no effect, neither did the letter to the presiding judge. The California State Bar sent me a letter telling me it could not do anything to one of its members found lying in open court. This is not the justice system envisioned by our founding fathers. 4) CA Senate: While speaking with a college classmate of mine, I found out one of his co-workers had become a lobbist in Sacramento. In a phone conversation to the gentleman up in Sacramento, the subject of lawmaking came up. We were speaking about irrational and unreasonable laws, and I asked if, when proposing a law, any sort of checking is done. Specifically, is the Senator or Assembly member required to, or even encouraged to, check if the state has the power under its Constitution to enact any particular law? What about the laws of physics, mathematics, or even common sense? The answer is, in practice, no checking is done before a law is proposed. No checking is done when the bill is passed and send to the Governor. The lawmakers of the State of California currently do not feel bound by the state's Constitution or the laws of nature and certainly are not constrained by common sense. In talking to friends, neighbors and co-workers, I found my experiences are somewhat common. We read in the newspapers of the many faults of elected officials, and there is no shortage of bad ideas flowing from every level of government. So why not run for office? Elected officials can lie in court, ignore the state Constitution, disregard the laws of nature and insult the general population and still collect a paycheck! Nothing I could do possibly be worse than what we have now. Rather there is every chance that an application of honesty, respect for law and common sense will improve the situation. I believe we have a fundamentally good form of government gone adrift, and with work we can bring it back on course. |Position_Paper_2_Title: On Unser, Responsibility and Law |Position_Paper_2_Summary: A letter to OCR responding to criticism of Bobby Unser's actions. |Position_Paper_2_Full_Text: Mon Oct 12 10:11:37 PDT 1998 On Unser, Responsibility and Law Mr. Moser begins his castigation of Bobby Unser with the statement that ignorance of the law is not valid excuse. Is this ancient wisdom really that wise? Our country was formed around this idea, but the notion is invalid today. The idea that every man should behave in accordance to law, even if the exact text of the law is not know, is an outgrowth of the idea of a Constitution. The US Constitution lays down a framework and and all laws flow from it. All laws are related to the simple ideas clearly stated in the Constitution, so every man has a duty to understand and obey these ideas. This is itself was a reaction to the law of kings, where edits could be issued for any reason at any time. It was impossible to know what was in the king's mind; it was not possible to behave according to any know set of rules; one's life and liberty were always in danger. Try and draw a connection to today. Take some time and venture down to the Orange County Law Library in downtown Santa Ana. Read the laws so ignorance REALLY cannot be an excuse. Start with the regulations and ordinances for you city. This is probably a thick book, but one that could be finished in a day. Then start on the laws of the State of California. The text of the laws occupies about fifty linear feet of shelf space. Given enough coffee, you might get through the laws in a month. But the text of the laws is only part of it. The true nature of law is shown in case law. Case law is the set of legal decisions made on the basis of the text of the law, and is the day-to-day law use in the courtroom. The case law for the State of California occupies about one thousand linear feet of shelf space. This will take you a year to read. We all know the US Government has grown large in the past few decades. The size and complexity of the government can only be comprehended by reading the laws, and regulations that have the effect of law, that rule our lives every day. Unfortunately, it would take about a century to read the laws and regulations now in effect, so any person actually attempting to understand the law would be dead before he finished. Ignorance of the law is an excuse, because it is fundamentally impossible to know the law. This was not always the case, but it certainly is the case today. We have reached the point foreseen by James Madison when he wrote It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man who knows what the law is today, can guess what it will be tomorrow. Bobby Unser is acting in the best of American traditions, taking personal risk to protest an unjust, irrational and vile situation.