There is a dark horse candidate for U.S. Congress in the 24th district of California, challenging twenty year incumbent rubber-stamp republican, Elton Gallegly, and this guy may just be exactly what Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties want. He's a qualified write-in candidate (finally), and I thought it would be a good idea to find out everything possible about him.
Now that I've had a chance to interview him in depth, I'm convinced that this man's ability to describe things as they are and his fearless determination to put things right are the right combination of traits for the United States Congress. While he may not yet be well-enough known to mount a successful challenge, his story needs to be told now. The details of his odyssey may be of some help to other democrat candidates negotiating similar roadblocks. I submit it as a hazard map for those who come after.
Follow me below the surface...
I first learned of
Michael Stettler in late February of 2006. We both participated in a mighty protest against the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito: the Young Turks' 24/7 Filibuster the Filibuster action, during the week of January 26, 2006. Thousands of listeners tuned in online to the Young Turks live internet video stream over the course of several days, while simultaneously following the live House and Senate proceedings on CSPAN TV, typing furiously in the Thom Hartmann chatroom, and phone calling senators and representatives urging a filibuster of the Alito nomination.
Shortly thereafter, Stettler declared his candidacy, challenging twenty-year incumbent rubber-stamp republican, Elton Gallegly. Since then, congressional candidate Stettler has faced long odds and life-changing obstacles.
Gallegly, who has not had a serious challenger in twenty years, has accumulated an impressive war chest. He has also amassed an astonishing voting record, which should give his constituents ample reason for concern. Gallegly took as his campaign manager Ventura County District Attorney Michael Bradbury, who stepped down from his post to manage Gallegly's campaign and to serve as his legal counsel. Considering the source, the actions taken against Mr. Stettler by Ventura County authorities since he pulled papers for candidacy are predictable, but no less despicable.
Mr. Stettler's work before the campaign was as a professional electrician, but for the last four years he'd focused much of his time as a dedicated caregiver to his housemate, Mrs. Myrtle Hunnel. This work gave him particular insight into the challenges of citizens who are elderly, disabled, and in many cases isolated. Mrs. Hunnel and Mr. Stettler are Registered Domestic Partners (platonic, for the morbidly curious), in the original spirit of the California Domestic Partners Act. While that legislation is receiving much attention now due to its expansion to include same-gender partnerships, the original scope and intent of the legislation was to allow a California senior citizen to select such a partner as a trusted live-in companion, thus securing those same much-coveted rights. Domestic Partnership provided Mrs. Hunnel a measure of security and a peace of mind that she would be able to stay in her home.
Mrs. Hunnel, of Ojai, California is an elderly widowed retiree. Having lost most of her sight due to macular degeneration, she was able to stay in her own home only with help. Sadly, Mrs. Hunnel had the all-too-common experience for seniors of having been long neglected and repeatedly swindled by her three adult children. After a long train of hired caretakers that she could not stand to live with, she met Mr. Stettler through a mutual friend. They hit it off and she made him an offer he couldn't refuse. In exchange for a room in her home, he would repair her long-neglected house, look after her, and see that her household needs were met.
Extensive work on the house ensued and the arrangement worked well for both of them, even when it became evident that, against her wishes, her children actively and openly were conspiring to put her in a care facility.
Early on, when Mr. Stettler renovated Myrtle's long-neglected hot tub, she immediately began a routine of using it daily. They talked and conferred on the day's activities each morning in the hot tub, and it became her favorite activity. Mrs. Hunnel had been a lifelong registered republican and a generous contributor to various republican causes. As she grew to know and trust Mr. Stettler, they talked of politics often. She came to realize that a democratic point of view made much more sense to her and she soon re-registered as a democrat, channeling her many donations to democratic causes from that point forward. One morning in the hot tub they came up with a plan that he should run for Congress to protect the rights of senior citizens and she insisted on fielding him as a candidate.
One daughter in particular, Doreen Scott, a bank official, suddenly started visiting and whisking Mrs. Hunnel off to the bank very frequently. Mrs. Hunnel had a hard time remembering what had occurred upon returning home from these visits and asked Mr. Stettler to check her bank accounts. Upon doing so, Mr. Stettler learned that significant sums of cash had evaporated from Mrs. Hunnel's bank accounts without her knowledge. Right away, he arranged for her to see her attorney about getting the money back, and the two of them agreed at that point that a Domestic Partnership would be smart.
Immediately thereafter, alleged anonymous calls to Ventura County Adult Protective Services brought representatives from that office to study their home. It became evident that several false accusations were being made against Mr. Stettler, which Mrs. Hunnel and Mr. Stettler both explained repeatedly to the county authorities were entirely false.
An investigation was launched, the particulars of which remain unclear at this time, since no charges were ever brought against either Mr. Stettler or Mrs. Hunnel's daughter, Doreen Scott. Still, many twists and turns later, these authorities secured an indefinite-term restraining order against Mr. Stettler, and he was ordered to leave their home and all of his property, including his campaign materials, in the midst of his congressional campaign. He was afforded no due process in the matter.
Despite her carefully crafted Registered Domestic Partnership Agreement, Living Trust, and Advanced Healthcare Directive, Mrs. Hunnel was indeed shipped off by court order to a secure-perimetered residential facility where she is right now being forcibly medicated for dementia. The County of Ventura now owns all of her property (and apparently all of Mr. Stettler's property too), having inserted itself, The Ventura County Tax Collector, into her trust as trustee, and is disposing of it all, as her County medical expenses now demand. It should be carefully noted that the care she wanted and was receiving from Mr. Stettler was not costing her anything. It may be of interest too, to note that the court orders also stripped her of her right to vote.
I expect that we have not heard the last from Mr. Stettler. Keep an eye on this race and this district as all is not what it seems in the 24th District of California.