Press Release-O-Palooza: Are Things Really This Slow in Ventura County?

Apparently Santa Paula must be the utopia of Southern California, since city lawmakers have enough time on their hands to send out this release:

The City of Santa Paula has proposed to the television program, "The West Wing," to have one of their characters who is running for President hail from Santa Paula. Actor Alan Alda has recently joined the cast of "The West Wing" as Senator Arnold Vinick from California. Vinick is running for President to succeed the character played by Martin Sheen on the program. On the January 26, 2005 episode of "The West Wing" the Alda character in a speech mentioned that he grew up in an area that produced citrus. In the eyes of Santa Paula Mayor Mary Ann Krause, that could be only one place: Santa Paula.

The Mayor sent a letter to Alan Alda and "The West Wing" Executive Producer John Wells on January 28 offering Santa Paula as Senator Vinick's hometown. The Mayor also sent Alda a box full of Santa Paula related t-shirts, sweatshirts and a Santa Paula High School baseball cap to wear on the program. In addition, the Mayor sent a box of oranges from the Limoneira Company to Alda, Wells and the writing staff of the program.

Last Friday, the Mayor received a letter from Lauren Schmidt, a writer on "The West Wing" thanking the Mayor for the writer's oranges. In her letter Schmidt said, "We are still in the process of developing his (Alda's) character, and thus, are not ready to commit ourselves to all the intricate details of his past. However, we will definitely keep Santa Paula in mind, if we ever take a journey back to Vinick's home for campaign events."

The City of Santa Paula plans to keep up its campaign to be the home of the
next President of United States. For further information, contact Santa Paula City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz at 805-933-4200.