What's been going on with local politics

Much that I did not know, about who's driving recent events in local politics, in Sac News and Review:

This year, Doolittle went so far as to lobby Nevada County supervisors to appoint a Republican activist to replace the retiring clerk-recorder. The board initially appointed the candidate, Fran Freedle, but later reversed itself after controversy arose about Freedle’s lack of experience.
...
One GOP political consultant, who did not want to be named, said it’s uncommon how Doolittle “controls people all the way down to school board.”

Added Nov. 17:

Something seems to be going around.

An intriguing piece on David Parker and his entourage:

A band of carousers has rallied behind its beloved bartender following his alleged firing from a Nevada City saloon, forming a rapidly growing drinking group called "Sparky and the Shifters."
...
Just weeks after losing his bar job, Parker also lost his seat ["21-year tenure on the Sierra College board of trustees"] in a bid for re-election Nov. 2.

Parker - founder of the Marching Presidents in the annual Constitution Day Parade - called his dismissal from Cooper's two months ago "a parting of ways" and would not comment on the reason. "It is personal. I don't discuss that," he said.

Neither would his former employer, Rick Mackenzie, who threatened to sue The Union if the paper wrote a story about Parker's exit.

"It is nobody's business," Mackenzie said. "If this is printed, you'd better have good legal counsel."

More on Doolittle - and background on the man who Parker lost to - in this Feb. 2002 Sac News and Review article.