http://www.bakersfieldvoice.com/home/Blog/tigoree/34864 We're getting close to election time, but instead of focusing on the presidential race, let's discuss a local election.&nbsp; How about the race for Superior Court Judge? Is it just me, or do you find it frustrating when you get ready to cast a ballot and realize that you don't really know anything at all about any of the candidates for a local office? I&nbsp;like to make informed choices, but it is difficult when hardly anything is published about these local races.&nbsp; Superior Court Judge would be a good example, but this problem often applies to school board positions or even city and county board positions. One thing that I&nbsp;love about the evolution of technology and the Internet is that information about candidates and issues is now more accessible from your own home than ever before.&nbsp; Case in point, I'm writing today on behalf of a candidate so that those of you who regularly read my blog can be more informed about your choices.&nbsp; Be happy, I'm not even charging you for the information! On Thursday, I had the pleasure of meeting and conversing with Charles &quot;Chip&quot; Brehmer at the Valley Baptist Men's Power Lunch at Hodel's.&nbsp; At these lunch meetings, there is always a speaker who tells his or her personal testimony regarding their faith and usually includes an inspirational story. Chip came to do exactly this, and did his best to keep politics out of his personal discussion.&nbsp; Unfortunately for him, none of us would let him do that!&nbsp; As soon as he asked if there were any questions, they started coming, and they were all on the subject of attorneys, judges, politics, and his opinions on current issues.&nbsp; Everyone there looked at this as an opportunity to get to know a candidate for office that we might not otherwise have personal contact with. Let me tell you, Chip has got his act together.&nbsp; He was an extremely cool customer as he answered our questions thoughtfully, respectfully, but with authority.&nbsp; All candidates for Judge are attorneys, but rarely do first time candidates come with a substantial amount of experience as a judge.&nbsp; Chip has served as a &quot;fill in&quot; judge, called a Judge Pro-Tem, on some 200 cases.&nbsp; He didn't get paid for that, so his involvement as a Judge Pro-Tem in Kern County reveals a heart for service as well as a commitment to preparation.&nbsp; A Servant's Heart... Chip was asked what he would do if he came across a situation as judge in which he could not make the decision that the law required without compromising his faith in Jesus Christ.&nbsp; In a room full of Christians, it would have been easy for him to say that he would make the decision based on the law of God rather than the law of the land. Instead, he indicated that a situation like that would require him to remove himself from the case.&nbsp; He then eloquently discussed the importance of impartiality in this position, as well as higher judge positions, and the damage that has and can be done when judges allow their own perceptions to cloud their professional view of the law.&nbsp;&nbsp; Courage... After Chip spoke, I had an opportunity to chat with him about a number of things personally.&nbsp; He offered to contact someone on my behalf that was in a position to help me with something that I&nbsp;brought up.&nbsp; I&nbsp;gave him some information regarding that, but truthfully didn't expect much.&nbsp; However, Chip did what he said he would do, and he did it that day.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Integrity... Folks, I'm not one to endorse candidates all the time, but this one earned it. To learn more about Chip Brehmer, use the technology that you have in front of you and visit his website. We're getting close to election time, but instead of focusing on the presidential race, let's discuss a local election.&nbsp; How about the race for Superior Court Judge? Is it just me, or do you find it frustrating when you get ready to cast a ballot and realize that you don't really know anything at all about any of the candidates for a local office? I&nbsp;like to make informed choices, but it is difficult when hardly anything is published about these local races.&nbsp; Superior Court Judge would be a good example, but this problem often applies to school board positions or even city and county board positions. One thing that I&nbsp;love about the evolution of technology and the Internet is that information about candidates and issues is now more accessible from your own home than ever before.&nbsp; Case in point, I'm writing today on behalf of a candidate so that those of you who regularly read my blog can be more informed about your choices.&nbsp; Be happy, I'm not even charging you for the information! On Thursday, I had the pleasure of meeting and conversing with Charles &quot;Chip&quot; Brehmer at the Valley Baptist Men's Power Lunch at Hodel's.&nbsp; At these lunch meetings, there is always a speaker who tells his or her personal testimony regarding their faith and usually includes an inspirational story. Chip came to do exactly this, and did his best to keep politics out of his personal discussion.&nbsp; Unfortunately for him, none of us would let him do that!&nbsp; As soon as he asked if there were any questions, they started coming, and they were all on the subject of attorneys, judges, politics, and his opinions on current issues.&nbsp; Everyone there looked at this as an opportunity to get to know a candidate for office that we might not otherwise have personal contact with. Let me tell you, Chip has got his act together.&nbsp; He was an extremely cool customer as he answered our questions thoughtfully, respectfully, but with authority.&nbsp; All candidates for Judge are attorneys, but rarely do first time candidates come with a substantial amount of experience as a judge.&nbsp; Chip has served as a &quot;fill in&quot; judge, called a Judge Pro-Tem, on some 200 cases.&nbsp; He didn't get paid for that, so his involvement as a Judge Pro-Tem in Kern County reveals a heart for service as well as a commitment to preparation.&nbsp; A Servant's Heart... Chip was asked what he would do if he came across a situation as judge in which he could not make the decision that the law required without compromising his faith in Jesus Christ.&nbsp; In a room full of Christians, it would have been easy for him to say that he would make the decision based on the law of God rather than the law of the land. Instead, he indicated that a situation like that would require him to remove himself from the case.&nbsp; He then eloquently discussed the importance of impartiality in this position, as well as higher judge positions, and the damage that has and can be done when judges allow their own perceptions to cloud their professional view of the law.&nbsp;&nbsp; Courage... After Chip spoke, I had an opportunity to chat with him about a number of things personally.&nbsp; He offered to contact someone on my behalf that was in a position to help me with something that I&nbsp;brought up.&nbsp; I&nbsp;gave him some information regarding that, but truthfully didn't expect much.&nbsp; However, Chip did what he said he would do, and he did it that day.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Integrity... Folks, I'm not one to endorse candidates all the time, but this one earned it. To learn more about Chip Brehmer, use the technology that you have in front of you and visit his website. en-us Sun, 05 Oct 2008 17:22:08 PDT <p>Very thorough endorsement, Tim.&nbsp; I'm glad you did this. Thank you.</p> http://www.bakersfieldvoice.com/home/Blog/tigoree/34864/#c_322907 http://www.bakersfieldvoice.com/home/Blog/tigoree/34864/#c_322907 <p>Very thorough endorsement, Tim.&nbsp; I'm glad you did this. Thank you.</p> <p>Tim, I've been thinking about this blog of yours.&nbsp; Each time I see a sign for a judge, I think about it.&nbsp; It really isn't fair that we get to hear so little about the people who make major decisions in this county.&nbsp; I'm really glad you wrote this.</p> http://www.bakersfieldvoice.com/home/Blog/tigoree/34864/#c_323643 http://www.bakersfieldvoice.com/home/Blog/tigoree/34864/#c_323643 <p>Tim, I've been thinking about this blog of yours.&nbsp; Each time I see a sign for a judge, I think about it.&nbsp; It really isn't fair that we get to hear so little about the people who make major decisions in this county.&nbsp; I'm really glad you wrote this.</p> <p>Dana, I&nbsp;totally agree.&nbsp; Furthermore, I&nbsp;think that community journalism sites and publications are the perfect place to write about encounters with candidates like this.&nbsp; Think about it, if a bunch of people did that, we'd all have a lot of great information about the candidates that would truly allow us to evaluate them based on our own beliefs.&nbsp; Commercials and even debates can be very controlled by the candidates (or the media) to the point where it is difficult to believe anything you see in that format.&nbsp; It all feels like a front.&nbsp; A member of the community honestly talking about their encounter with a candidate, however, gives a truer picture.&nbsp; Surely their are others out there that could do us all a favor and inform us from their experiences!</p> <br /> http://www.bakersfieldvoice.com/home/Blog/tigoree/34864/#c_323743 http://www.bakersfieldvoice.com/home/Blog/tigoree/34864/#c_323743 <p>Dana, I&nbsp;totally agree.&nbsp; Furthermore, I&nbsp;think that community journalism sites and publications are the perfect place to write about encounters with candidates like this.&nbsp; Think about it, if a bunch of people did that, we'd all have a lot of great information about the candidates that would truly allow us to evaluate them based on our own beliefs.&nbsp; Commercials and even debates can be very controlled by the candidates (or the media) to the point where it is difficult to believe anything you see in that format.&nbsp; It all feels like a front.&nbsp; A member of the community honestly talking about their encounter with a candidate, however, gives a truer picture.&nbsp; Surely their are others out there that could do us all a favor and inform us from their experiences!</p> <br /> <div class="bako_blogcomment">I read Peg Connelly's letter in <em>The Californian </em>yesterday, and she had a very negative encounter with Nicole Parra.&nbsp; I appreciated hearing this comment (Peg, why didn't you post your complaint here?!...haha!), because I know PEG (I don't have to know Nicole), and I&nbsp;trust Peg's opinion.&nbsp; Of course, I wouldn't vote for a person merely because she snubbed a friend of mine, but the incident would definitely make me look more closely into other claims against the candidate (whomever is running). <p>Tim, you couldn't be more right.&nbsp; A community paper is just the right place to bring these things to light...&nbsp; Well, if not the paper, then definitely the blogs.&nbsp; :)</p> </div> http://www.bakersfieldvoice.com/home/Blog/tigoree/34864/#c_323754 http://www.bakersfieldvoice.com/home/Blog/tigoree/34864/#c_323754 <div class="bako_blogcomment">I read Peg Connelly's letter in <em>The Californian </em>yesterday, and she had a very negative encounter with Nicole Parra.&nbsp; I appreciated hearing this comment (Peg, why didn't you post your complaint here?!...haha!), because I know PEG (I don't have to know Nicole), and I&nbsp;trust Peg's opinion.&nbsp; Of course, I wouldn't vote for a person merely because she snubbed a friend of mine, but the incident would definitely make me look more closely into other claims against the candidate (whomever is running). <p>Tim, you couldn't be more right.&nbsp; A community paper is just the right place to bring these things to light...&nbsp; Well, if not the paper, then definitely the blogs.&nbsp; :)</p> </div>