by TChris

Vernon, California consists of five square miles of "warehouses, meatpacking plants, fuel tanks and an occasional vacant lot." No parks, no schools. The city's motto is "Exclusively Industrial."

Vernon wouldn't seem like an ideal place to live, but the city owns almost all the houses within its borders, and it offers cheap rents compared to the cost of living in bordering Los Angeles. The catch: most of the renters work for the city, and therefore have an interest in perpetuating the political careers of those responsible for providing them with inexpensive housing. As a result, Vernon hasn't had an election since 1980, despite what seems to be profligate municipal spending, including employment of a city administrator who was paid $600,000 annually and given the use of a leased Cadillac Escalade, a city-owned apartment, and $120,000 for limousine services. Perhaps not coincidentally, the administrator, who retired last year, was the city clerk's father.

Don Huff thought he could do better, so he joined two others in a run for city council. Huff says city crews cut off his power before he was evicted in retaliation for opposing the entrenched government. But how did the election turn out? We don't know, because the city clerk refuses to count the ballots.