Politics as usual
Staff editorial

As a surprise to would-be letter writers, Saddleback Valley News cut off political letters with the Oct. 27 issue. The paper allegedly has a policy of no political letters 30 days prior to the election, but someone has been asleep at the SVN wheel. On Oct. 31, everyone who had written a letter got an email from SVN announcing no more political letters would be published before the election.

Blog staffer Kathy Miramontes managed to get a letter into SVN last week. She wrote about the attacks coming primarily from Diane Greenwood’s campaign. Following publication of SVN on Oct. 27, Miramontes received an angry email from a Greenwood supporter. This hatchet-thrower forwarded an email attack against Miramontes written by “Herb Glotz.”

The Mission Viejo news blog has twice received crank emails in the past year, one from “A.J. Smith” and another from “Herb Glotz.” What do these two cranks have in common? Both are phony names, and both originated from a supporter of Diane Greenwood. Apparently, her supporter thinks he succeeded in covering his identity. The blog’s publisher tracked the emails to the originator, Joe Holtzman.

In Glotz’s (Holtzman’s) latest email tirade, he claims to be a resident of Casta del Sol and a member of the “lodge.” Holtzman doesn’t live in Casta, and he’s not a member of the Elks (if that’s what he means by “lodge”). “Glotz” (Holtzman) threatened Miramontes by emailing that she would be banned from entering the Casta gates. How “Glotz” (Holtzman) would prevent anyone from entering Casta del Sol wasn’t specified.

This is among many examples of Greenwood’s unethical team and her unethical war against other candidates. As other examples, Greenwood got caught in a lie to the firemen’s union, and a campaign worker of hers made false claims regarding campaign signs. Greenwood’s unethical campaign has had one problem after another, falsely claiming the city council met behind closed doors with Southern California Edison – it didn’t happen. Contrary to other Greenwood claims, the city has no jurisdiction over the power lines, and the city never subsidized Edison. Voters have had ample warning – if they’re paying attention.

Meanwhile, Holtzman -- using his own name -- entered the race as a write-in candidate for the Santa Margarita Water District board of directors. The race had three candidates on the ballot for two seats, and none of the candidates is a stellar choice. If voters would like to amuse themselves, perhaps they’d like to write in the name “Herb Glotz” and see who shows up to claim the booby prize.