Has 4th District Supervisorial candidate Jeff Leonard lost his head? Or did he just photoshop it onto an able skater’s body?
That appears to be the case from the slide show on his campaign website.
That’s clearly Jeff’s head in both photos, but are those Jeff’s arms in shot #2? His legs?
You decide.
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not only is the 2nd photo fake, it’s incredibly inept.
he should look beyond the lollipop guild for assistance.
That’s one of the worst photoshop jobs I’ve seen. Why would he do something like that?
Good to see a public figure/candidate with a sense of humor & humility. How refreshing.
He posted this photo on his website? How funny! Obviously it is NOT him on the board, DUH. You don’t need to explain the obvious. That’s what makes it funny.
bad idea to have the ‘shopped image follow the donor.
other than that, it’s better than the crap I see on the mirror…
You guys don’t have much of a sense of humor do you?
Knock it off. Jeff is shredding, just not in the way he thinks.
What do you mean? Everyone is laughing.
Jeff’s a fool and more importantly, the real skateboarders who he worked with on the skatepark think he’s lame and a wannabe.
Sorry Jeff, hangin’ with the cool kids doesn’t make you cool.
Rough crowd.
Country Mouse, what’s cool is getting the skate park built. Jeff did that and you did what exactly? Nothing…I thought so. Wanna Be.
Here’s the image blown up 300% with relevant original images at original size (no sharpening).
It looks like they copied his head from the authentic non-jumping photo and put it onto the head of someone else in the jumping photo, then covered up the sloppy paste job by drawing in blackness where his neck connects to the other dude’s body.
No pads?!?! What kind of a message is that sending? Lead by example!
Yes, that’s a terrible Photoshop and no, I don’t believe he meant it as a joke.
Tyson spoon-fed Jeff the grants to get the skatepark done, to help loyal Jeff burnish his image. And you knew it. Jeff wanted to take all the credit, to the point of pushing away other council members who wanted to help.
Jeff’s the dictionary definition of “wannabe”.
A different shirt and different shoes in the jump photo. The remnants of the black hoodie are noticable in the paste job.
Who thinks that a photoshop in a politicians propaganda is a good thing? I don’t get it, maybe this site was put up by someone who doesn’t like Leonard.
have a peaceful day,
Bill
This photo is obviously a joke. I was involved in the skate park fund raising committee and can tell you that the park would not be there with out the help of Jeff Leonard. The skaters who were involved in the process appreciate everything he did to make the park happen. Of course, that does not mean I support everything he does on city council, but it seems like y’all been sippin’ on some Hateraide. Lighten up!
I received a solicitation today from the Discovery Museum:
“Once again Eureka Mayor Bass and Councilmember Leonard are jumping in the bay to support the Discovery Museum… costumes still to be determined!
Instead of bombarding you all with emails asking for monetary support from each of us, we are doing a joint fundraising effort.
Just let us know how much you are willing to pledge to see us plunge into the chilly Humboldt Bay in a costume.
The Discovery Museum event is scheduled for this Saturday at 10 am at the boardwalk for those of you who would like to be there.
Thank you for any monetary help you can provide the Discovery Museum.
Virginia Bass and Jeff Leonard”
What a great example of community spirit. Two competitors setting aside their campaigns to do something good for kids.
Where’s Bonnie?
It’s a toss-up as to which campaign is more laughable, Virginia’s smelly Hooked on Bass or Jeff’s What-a-cool-Dude I am.
If we donate can we pick the costumes that Jeff and Virginia wear for the Discovery Museum event? He can be a barefooted little hobbit and she can be clueless Alice in Wonderland
Bonnie wouldn’t join in with the leap into the bay, you’ll have to ask her why. But those of us who know her know that she is a humorless drudge.
As far as the photo? If you knew Jeff at all you would know it is a joke. He has a sense of humor that is obviously lacking in a lot of you.
I think he must have just forgotten to write ‘Just Kidding’ on the photo. I am sure that is it. He is a busy man and sometimes busy men forget to say.. ‘Just Kidding’.
“But those of us who know her know that she is a humorless drudge.”
Obviously YOU don’t know Bonnie.
Country Mouse 12:03:
Can you explain a little more? How was council-member involvement in the skate park rebuffed? Sounds oddly similar to the public Q & A with the Water Board (on the Marina Center SIRAP) requested by Larry Glass and voted-down by Jeff Leonard, who, shortly afterward, organized his own public Q & A with the Water Board on the Marina Center SIRAP…
Is political subterfuge, posturing and doctored photos prerequisite for higher office?
The skate park is laudable, so is the boardwalk and the zoo, but how many more big box malls on Humboldt Bay generate the tax revenue needed to maintain a rural city’s infrastructure?
Do big boxes generate enough tax revenue to cover their own impacts on rural communities??
We need candidates that question a failed model that already saturates Eureka, not those eager to further perpetuate it based upon blind faith.
Yeah, and Al Gore was a big Internet infrastructure supporter when no one gave a damn, but it doesn’t mean he invited it. Shame on Leonard. Shame on photographic trickery.
Ouch ouch ouch. Rough crowd!
I’m no Jeff supporter but to be fair he sent out an email announcement some time ago with that photo, which seemed to me to be tongue in cheek. My guess is that a well meaning campaign volunteer put it in the website without knowing better.
Al Gore never said he invented the internet.
HiFi needs to lighten up. Not only does he not know how to indulge in humor himself, but he can’t seem to appreciate it from others eithers. What a crustacean.
Despite what you think about Leonard’s politics, without him the skate park would not be there, period. Anyone involved in the effort knows this. Sometimes it’s easier to criticize others then to offer a helping hand, huh?
Everyone on here LIVES to criticize doncha know. But I do like Jeff’s website and he has a beautiful family.
JFK playing touch football, Michael Dukakis in the tank, Al Gore pretending to build houses…all politicians have their weak publicity moments.
When Larry Glass asked Jeff when the meeting was for the skatepark, back when Jeff started to get involved with it, Jeff literally wouldn’t tell him. He later rebuffed all of Larry’s overtures to help. Jeff jealously guarded his pet project because he wanted to grab all the credit. Now he wants it both ways: to appear to be the cool, seasoned skaterdude, and then when people call him on it, to tell them it was all “a joke.”
Yep, King of the Weasels!
Country Mouse, you sound like a spurned ex lover. It’s almost like you went head to head with Leonard and lost. Vendetta much?
The photo is so obviously shopped it required no explanation and the fact that Leonard posted it on his site shows he has no need to fake cool, he is comfortable with his lack of skater skills.
‘he wouldn’t let me help, wah’
Looks like Leonard’s campaign toadies are out in force on Heraldo today, eh?
There was skate park meetings held for at least 2 years at various locations, including city hall. Anyone who wanted to help out could, it certainly wasn’t a secret cabal. I like Larry Glass and would vote for him, but i don’t remember seeing him at any publicly announced event. If he was interested helping out, he could have. Country Mouse i don’t think anyone, including Jeff, thinks of him as a seasoned skater dude. The picture is a joke and when i first saw it months ago, i laughed. Personally i wouldn’t have put it on my campaign web site.
Which is the original intent of this post.
Thanks for your reasoned dialogue.
hey, i didnt know that sk8ers ever voted
Also, because i am defending his effort on the skate park doesn’t mean i support everything he does, including his stance on the balloon tract.
If you’re computer savy, it’s a joke. If you’re not, it’s campaign crap. Jeff has publicly stated at a council meeting that he can’t skateboard worth a darn. So why would he even try to give the impression that he can? Cute, but very misleading and disingenuous.
‘wah, I don’t like his picture” that counts for reasoned dialogue?
Hey, he started it!
Did not!
Good Lord! The Times Standard did the photo shop. The Leonard campaign thought it was hilarious. Too bad you humorless idiots can only laugh at SOMEONE instead of at SOMETHING that really is pretty humorous.
I smell a lot of fear here among the obvious shit this blog is full of.
Leonard is a fool
Jeff Leonard is an “able skater” and I thank him enthusiastically for everything he did to get that park built.
I wonder what Country Mouse and Anonymous have done for the community.
We agree, Joel.
…and if Leonard is a “fool” what does that make you?
Hating on someone who has spent almost 8 years serving this community is hardly something someone of intelligence would do.
The legacy of accomplishments he will leave when he is termed out is pretty impressive.
Hey, Heraldo, while you are laughing your ass off, let me thank you for publishing Jeff’s web site. It has proved to be a lucrative day for us thanks to you.
We have some interesting u-tube stuff coming up. Can we count on you to link those for us as well?
Hugs and Kisses…
Politics and Photoshopping aside, the skate park is awesome and took a lot of work to make happen. I’ve heard nothing but raves regarding it. Kids are stoked and proud to have such a great place to skate. I’m glad it’s there (happy that KSLG was able to boost it, too).
Back to the politics? We all know it’s a small town. Getting personal is a losing game. And a sense of humor only helps.
If it was intended as a joke, a wise candidate would have made it deliberately obvious. For example, copy the head as a square containing a part of the original background and paste the square onto the other photo. When you cut a contour around his head it’s reasonable to assume, at worst, subterfuge was the goal, and at best, the candidate lacks good judgment.
I am having a little trouble understanding the benefits of a political figure posing as a skater to somehow bolster his image in a serious way. Because last time I checked, the skate contingent was not particularly politically powerful. So outside of funny, what would be the point?
So, it’s a Pee Wee Herman style “I ment to do that.”
is that the official word?
The amount of hate exhibited on this board is scary.
Jeff Leonard has never done anything to hurt you little people. Why the personal attacks?
It just makes you all look very small indeed.
Agree High Finance, Jeff has done more with his time in office in a positive sense, aka, 14th St.park and the skate park, than all the rest of the council. Great job Mr. Leonard.
Nobody told me you were having so much fun at my expense! I would have gotten involved earlier!
Truth is, after months of demographic research, my campaign team determined that there are only 10 undecided voters left in the entire 4th District – and 9 of them skate!
All part of our top secret campaign strategy…
or a silly photo a friend sent me. You decide.
So I was wrong! Our skater friends are the deciding vote… It all makes sense now.
“High Finance Says:
February 25, 2010 at 9:22 pm
The amount of hate exhibited on this board is scary.
Jeff Leonard has never done anything to hurt you little people. Why the personal attacks?
It just makes you all look very small indeed.”
Us “little people”?
What an arrogant inbred lowlife asshat you are, you phony S.O.B.
There are so many legitimate issues facing Humboldt County. Most will be at issue in the upcoming election.
“Skate-Gate” isn’t one of them.
Move on H.
The petty comments mixed with misspellings and bad grammar are hilarious (sorry, I have a mean side) and representative of the sort of person commenting here. I want substance when I vote. Jeff Leonard at least is an earnest person with goals in place, willing to put his name and reputation out there. Regardless of my voting plans, I see some character here. I hope he doesn’t continue to read this blog. It can be so mean and, well, petty. No other word for that in my late night vocabulary.
d’herbois – I want to make this absolutely clear -
you are a very little person
Damn, Jeff revealed our secret strategy. The silly photo of him in his hawaiian plunge shirt is also a ploy.
Actually its a two prong ploy. Get the Hawaiian vote AND look cool and laid back.
Oh, I forgot…he’s also short for his size. He did that on pupose too. You have no idea how many short people will vote for him because of size identification.
I am sure our crack campaign team will have other things for you to foment over by the time it’s all over.
Have fun out there!! We love the buzz.
To bad people who are “short for their size” (whatever that means) can’t reach the desk portion of the voting booth, making them ineligible to vote. Randy Newman was right about them.
Tiger Woods, Jeff Leonard, 2 people I wouldn’t miss hearing about for the rest of my life. Somehow I don’t think I’ll be able to get away from Tiger.
Hey Barb,
In your own words, why should I vote for Jeff over Virginia?
(Sorry Bonnie, time for some fresh blood)
HiFi, Chill out and get a sense of humor. Must be hard for you to get through the day with that attitude you have.
Barb honey, website hits do not equal votes for Jeff. When you finish chuckling, maybe you can discuss with candor Jeff’s shameless brown-nosing of his master, Mr. Arkley, or his wasting of taxpayer resources to lobby in San Francisco for Mr. Arkley’s pet project, at a time he is proposing to cut millions from Eureka’s police and fire services.
Country mouse, the hits resulted in donations…thus the term “lucrative”.
Get it?
The rest of your diatribe is indefensible and requires no defense. Yeah, right Jeff has proposed cutting millions from the Eureka fire and police departments and using a pittance of the funds set aside for council travel was soooooooo egregious.
The Arkley thing is just plain stupid. I did enjoy your pitiful little story about poor Larry who has wanted to work on the skate park but was edged out by that selfish Jeff Leonard.
FYI, Larry wasn’t even on the council when Jeff started the long uphill journey of trying to fund a skate park. That battle has been ongoing from 2003 to today. But why report the facts and the truth when you can feed that bottomless pit of hatred by making things up?
4th district voter,
I would say you should vote for whomever you think will get the job done.
The only way to figure that out is talk to the candidates.
Okay Barb, but can you give me some reasons why you are voting for Jeff over Virginia? (other than the obvious)
Git r done? How descriptive.
4th district voter:
I am not in the district…sorry, I just can’t take off the mother hat and give you anything more than what I have already posted.
Do your homework. I am sure you will figure it out.
;)
Since this blog is not about presenting facts and having a civil discussion about those facts, that would be a smart choice = doing your own homework. Getting really boring with all the name calling and snide remarks.
So Barb, when Jeff votes to cut millions from the police and fire in the next few months, while largely preserving the budgets of the zoo and Hockaday’s Chamber of Commerce, is it your plan to act surprised and shocked? Are you forgetting your son’s vote a couple weeks ago to “put everything on the table” (i.e. cuts to police and fire budgets, at a time Eureka’s crime statistics exceed those of Oakland, per capita, for rape and burglary) when Larry and Linda were dissenting and urging NO cuts to public safety?
Guess all the Leonards must suffer from “convenient amnesia.”
That last “anonymous” comment has Barb’s fingerprints all over… I wonder how many posts, and how many names, she’s used to defend Jeff at this site?
Country Mouse, I did not post the anonymous post. Unlike you, I do not post anonymously so get over it.
Your argument re:the budget,is just another leap into the chasm of illogical thinking. When Frank, Mike and Jeff voted to leave everything on the table, they were not proposing a cut to anything.
Leaving everything on the table is SOP for a responsible budget cycle. That means the Zoo is on the table, the chamber, the bureau and all the salaries of city employees et al.
There should never be sacred cows if you want to seriously look at a budget.
Sounds like a course in civics 101 would be a good one for you to take.
I am intrigued by the crystal ball you have. I would think predicting any one’s vote in the future might result in your looking pretty foolish, but, then of course you remain anonymous. Always convenient when you don’t want to look as foolish as your posts already appear.
Just wondering, Barb: If Jeff opposes cuts to public safety, why didn’t he vote with Larry and Linda to leave already the strapped police and fire budgets alone?
Perhaps the true question you and Jeff are desperately trying to avoid.
Because Mouse, the police & fire departments consume more than 57% of the city budget.
It is impossible to balance the budget with $2 million dollars worth of cuts without touching those departments temporarily. Unlike your friends in D.C., Eureka cannot just print more money.
He is flying high, opps, too many possible meanings in that one. Actually small and light allows you to fly in this sport. He may have a new calling.
Somebody needs to take a long, very long look, at the overall increase to public safety over the last few years, compared to all other departments in the City….incrementally, you keep paying these kinds of dollars to these folks, and God love them, we will be in the same place as Vallejo, bankrupt, breaking a few unions and starting over again. What say ye, lame-o’s? ( oh, yes, the once who are touting this subject to gain popularity amongst their peers, whoop’s, constituents. You really make me sick with this diatribe.
Mouse, You refered to Jeff’s support of the Zoo and Hockaday’s chamber. While I believe that the Zoo is truly a community asset that once gone will never be replaced and as such should be a last resort among cuts and more importantly the voters believe so too. The Chamber on the other hand, is easily cut and reinstated should that be desired, though I don’t know why. Larry and his extremist friends have missed the boat on this one. They have targeted a very popular platform, in the form of the Zoo, with the electorate and will pay a heavy price for their folly in June and November. There was an easy and more vulnerable target for them to villanize. Hockaday himself is unsympathetic and has been generally worthless, moreover he is perceived so by the right and left. Easy pickins. This kind of lack of vision and focus is why Larry is vulnerable this time.
Once again (and Mouse knows this) the Chamber spends the money from the city ONLY on tourist promotion & assistance.
The money the city gives them comes from a small fraction of the Bed Tax the city collects.
The city MAKES money off this deal.
One of the reasons you see increases to fire and police is that they were under funded for years and have only recently had the funds to increase staffing. Now the city manager is requesting cutbacks that would put the city back to a staffing level that is unsafe for the city and unsafe for the officers. We have very high crime stats for a city our size and the new Chief was just starting to get a handle on our many problems when these cutbacks were proposed. The city even got stimulus money to keep officers on the beat. Fire houses and equipment are getting old and in need of repair or replacement. These are the facts. So we pay for red pandas rather than public safety. Go figure.
By the way, the city gives the chamber their building for a dollar a year. Other agencies that the city supports should be so lucky.
Hi Fi, As you know, the funds contributed by the city clearly, though admittedly indirectly subsidize chamber operations. The city “makes” money on bed taxes, how much the Chamber contributes over and above what would occur anyway has never been truly evaluated and is subject to easy debate.
Points being: 1 – Chamber activities are easier to turn on and off than the zoo, and 2 – The Chamber is a more appealing (to the voters) target for extremist pandering. 3 – Larry f–ked up attacking the zoo.
No Anonymous, it is the other way around.
The overhead is paid 100% by the dues the business members pay annually. Those dues also pay part of the cost of tourism services & outreach.
It is a win-win for the city & Chamber. Increased tourism benefits the city by increased bed taxes & sales taxes which represent a majority of the city’s revenues. Most of the business members of the Chamber also benefit by the increased tourism.
If you are looking to take more of the bed tax away from promotion & put it into the general fund, a better idea would be to look at how much is going to the Humboldt Convention & Visitor’s Bureau.
The Bureau gets more than a $100,000 more in bed tax funds from the city than the Eureka Chamber does. But while the Chamber devotes 100% of its efforts to the greater Eureka area, the Bureau spends its energies on all of Humboldt county. In other words, Eureka dollars are paying to benefit Willow Creek & Orick.
Good point.
We already have the Visitors Bureau, no need to duplicate services with the Chamber when we can tweak the Bureau to better serve us.
It’s unreasonable in hard-times to funnel $120,000 a year to the richest club in town. They could earn it back in dues if they actually worked to appeal to the “other half” of the businesses in Eureka that are not members!
Jeff Leonard wanted sell Eureka’s only community garden for more retail, why not sell the Chamber property…they can consolidate with the Convention Bureau and move their building onto one of Eureka’s empty lots that belongs to a member.
These funds we are talking about are Eureka’s tax dollars. It should go to benefit Eureka.
The Visitor’s Bureau works to bring tourists in to all of Humboldt County. They do NOT concentrate on Eureka. The Eureka Chamber works only to bring tourists to Eureka.
It is the Visitors Bureau which is duplicating the Chamber’s work. The Chamber has been doing this longer & more successfully. The Visitors Bureau gets far, far more than the Chamber does.
It is stupid & ridiculous to call the Chamber the “richest” club in town, the great majority of its members are small businesses just trying to earn a living.
It may come to pass that both the Chamber and the VB get cut off at the pockets. Things are looking that bad. Larry didn’t ‘attack the zoo’. He asked it to be considered for cuts just like everything else. The Zoo has taken NO cuts while police, fire, and Public Works have been reduced to bare survival levels. If the zoo had been willing to take equivalent cuts, there would be far less fuss. Instead it hides behind the big ‘accreditation’, the holy grail that comes before all else, as its budgets go UP every year. The zoo could cut back a lot while still providing entertainment and education. Accreditation could be the goal for some future time when more money was available. A better alternative would be for the zoo to get off the taxpayers’ back and find other funding. That way the zoo would become less political, the city would save a large amount of money, and the taxpayers would be able to have decent fire and police protection. That does sound like a better way, doesn’t it? Larry may have brought up the issue but he did NOT create the problem. Let’s keep things in perspective. No sacred cows!
I believe Jeff Leonard wanted to move Eureka’s “only community garden” (serving about 12 people and locked to the public) to a different location.
Is it possible to “sell” the community garden? Keeping things in perspective is a good idea.
Methinks, re-inventing the wheel also enjoys re-inventing history.
Your use of parentheses in that post is interesting, Barb. Do you think a community garden should be open to anyone who wants to come in and harvest the gardeners’ produce? Or are you suggesting we need more community gardens to expand the opportunity?
Additionally, yes, it is possible to “sell” a community garden. It can take years of soil improvement and no use of chemicals to grow organic and optimally nutritional food. You can’t just tear up a lawn and throw down seeds.
Obviously, you guys weren’t there on opening day to see Jeff ripping it up. He should have posted a picture of his switchstance-backside-Arkley-shove-it in the clamshell bowl.
I’ve seen him make that move during council meetings. It’s a good one!
Here’s the August 2008 post about the city council debate on the community garden.
The community garden may only have 12 plots but it certainly provides food for more than 12 people Barb. At the very least the garden provides for 12 extended families.
I cant beleive Barb is even responding!!!–Mom, be a Mom, not campaign manager….Or tell the truth….Not what you want..
Oh, I see.
You want to close the zoo, which would take years to do, cost untold sums to arrange, leave a beautiful facility to sit wasted and leave the many hard working people employed there out of work, our community with no petting zoo, education facility and scrap the city’s best family meeting place but we CAN’T consider selling a perhaps salable and valuable plot of land accessible to and used by 12 extended families for a garden that produces a few bushels of food.
That would be a travesty!
Actually we need more community gardens, there are not enough garden plots for people who want one.
While the land has a value, the gardens themselves are not expensive, any vacant city or county owned lot will do for a garden.
have a peaceful day,
Bill
Keep the zoo as a petting zoo. It is reprehensible
to cage exotic animals unless they are in danger
of extinction. One Monday, by mistake, we went into
the zoo, the smell of marijuana was almost to the
contact high point. Can’t imagine where it came
from. Maybe, it was the beginning of public gardens.
Maybe, this is Jeff’s design. If were all high we
won’t have a clue as to how dumb he really is.