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Archive for November, 2013

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Orange Planning Commission Controversy Makes National Headlines

Posted by Newsletter Reprint on November 19, 2013

The controversy in the City of Orange over the Planning Commission appointment of Michael Merino makes national headlines, as it was covered by William Bigelow at Breitbart.com this weekend…

CA Veteran Denied Reinstatement on City Commission After Deployment

by WILLIAM BIGELOW 17 Nov 2013

In a rather fishy development, Captain Michael Merino, a member of the city of Orange’s five-member planning commission and a registered Republican, was denied the chance for reinstatement on Tuesday after the Navel reservist took a two-year leave of absence when he was deployed to serve at Guantanamo Bay. The Democratic mayor of Orange, Tita Smith, is refusing to nominate Merino for the now-vacant post. Merino also served in the 1991 liberation of Kuwait and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Councilman Denis Bilodeau, also a Republican, is calling for the City Council to bring up the subject for consideration on Tuesday November 26th, with local veterans groups expected to attend.

Merino served on the Orange Planning Commission from 2006 through 2011.

 

Smith said Merino’s term expired during his deployment and because he had been on the panel more than five years, a new person was needed to replace him.

Bilodeau stated, “I am heartbroken that Capt. Merino answered his call of duty, and we are not honoring that by giving him his position back.”

Merino has asserted that he thought his job on the commission would be protected by federal regulations covering military personnel, but smith said the federal provisions do not cover the jobs on the commission.

Merino, who had run twice for city council, was disillusioned, saying, “I am disappointed by the council’s actions. I have no intention of running for council again. I don’t understand the politics behind this decision.”

Posted in Orange | Tagged: , , , , | 4 Comments »

OC Political Advertisement: Landslide Communications Slate Mail

Posted by OC Political Advertisement on November 17, 2013

Candidates need to communicate with voters when running for office.

One of the best ways to communicate with voters in a cost-effective manner is through slate mail.

When it comes to slate mail Landslide Communications has some of the most recognizable slates, including; Save Prop 13, Woman’s Voice Voter Guide, National Tax Limitation Committee, Republican Leadership Series, Small Business Action Committee, and California Public Safety Voter Guide.

Visit the website of Landslide Communications today by clicking here, to learn more about the slate mailers that they have to offer.

Landslide_Ad

Posted in Advertiser | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

OC Political Advertisement: No-Scar Hair Loss Surgery at Orange County Hair Resoration in Irvine

Posted by OC Political Advertisement on November 17, 2013

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Posted in Advertiser | Tagged: | Leave a Comment »

Great Park Vote Gets Delayed

Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on November 17, 2013

This last week the vote to push forward on the Great Park was set to take place. I was not initially planning to cover it, but a large number of readers have asked me to weigh in on what took place and to give a brief analysis.

To give a bit of background on the situation, Councilmember Jeff Lalloway voted with Larry Agran and Beth Krom to delay the vote on the Great Park which came as quite a surprise to me and based on the e-mails that I received a large number of readers.

Here is my overall analysis on what this means and what hopefully will happen.

In a year of historic GOP losses, 2012 had a glimmer of hope when Republicans regained majority control of the Irvine City Council. Wresting control from Larry Agran’s majority was the first step in getting the Orange County Great Park on the right track.

After months of negotiation with a development partner, the Irvine City Council had the opportunity last Tuesday to move the Park forward. But, to 688 acres of sports facilities, gardens and wildlife corridor, Republican Councilmember Jeff Lalloway and Democrats Beth Krom and Larry Agran said, “no, not just yet.”

In addition to getting the Orange County Great Park built, the development partner announced that Broadcom was in discussions to move their corporate headquarters to the Great Park, instead of a speculated move to the District in the City of Tustin.

Getting infrastructure at the Great Park, keeping thousands of high-paying, high-tech jobs in Irvine, fulfilling promises to build a world-class destination for Orange County’s enjoyment. Why is Jeff Lalloway stalling? The development deal will expire at the November 26th City Council meeting. With virtually no development fees left to build the Park, this is the last, best and only hope to fulfill the promise of the Orange County Great Park.

Councilmember Lalloway needs to help protect the Republican majority of the Irvine City Council by doing what’s right and advancing development proposals at the Great Park. If he truly wants to protect Irvine’s interests, he will support Mayor Steven Choi and Councilmember Christina Shea in finally moving the Park forward.

Posted in Irvine | Tagged: , , , , | 3 Comments »

Tait Unseats Eastman from OCTA, Brothers Edges Beall for LAFCO After Los Alamitos Flips, and Other Fun City Selection Committee Vote Break-Downs

Posted by Chris Nguyen on November 14, 2013

As those of you who read the blog today know, the City Selection Committee (who are the mayors of each Orange County city) met tonight to fill various seats on regional boards and commissions.  For details on each seat, read my post from this morning.

For those of you reading my live blog of the City Selection Committee, you may have noted the relative lack of vote recording (and indeed several of you emailed or texted me asking for to break the votes down more specifically). That was due to the auctioneer-like speed with which David Vazquez of ACC-OC read off the votes.  Thanks to David and to SCAG’s Kevin Gilhooley for helping me fill in the gaps during and after the meeting, so I can prepare this post below that shows how every single city voted for every single seat (except for a possible mishap in my notes regarding the OC Senior Citizens Advisory Council).

Only OCTA has population-weighted seats; three population-weighted seats and two one-vote-per-city seats are up this year while the other two population-weighted seats and three one-vote-per-city seats are up next year.  All other boards and commissions are appointed on a one-vote-per-city basis.

OCTA 4th District (Population-Weighted Seat)

The big headline of the night from the City Selection Committee is the decision of the 4th District mayors to unseat Anaheim Councilwoman Gail Eastman (R) from OCTA by replacing her with Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait (R).  Buena Park and Placentia voted for Eastman while Anaheim, Brea, Fullerton, and La Habra voted for Tait.

 City Population Percentage Tait Eastman
Anaheim 346,161 48.03% X
Brea 41,394 5.74% X
Buena Park 81,953 11.37% X
Fullerton 138,251 19.18% X
La Habra 61,202 8.49% X
Placentia 51,776 7.18% X
TOTAL 720,737 100.00%

While Tait won the vote 4-2, this was a population-weighted seat, so Tait won 81.44% to Eastman’s 18.55%.

OC LAFCO

LAFCO was the only seat that went to multiple rounds of voting.  This seat expires in June 2014 and fills the vacancy resulting from the resignation of Peter Herzog (R-Lake Forest).  Sam Allevato (R-San Juan Capistrano), Tony Beall (R-Rancho Santa Margarita), Cheryl Brothers (R-Fountain Valley), Dean Grose (R-Los Alamitos), Barbara Kogerman (R-Laguna Hills), and Steve Mensinger (R-Costa Mesa) sought the seat.  Brothers with 13 votes and Beall with 7 votes advanced to the run-off.  Grose had 4 votes while Allevato, Kogerman, and Mensinger each had 3 votes.

Awkwardly, Allevato and Brothers failed to win the votes of their own cities while Mensinger’s city was the sole city that failed to show up for the City Selection Committee meeting.

Allevato Beall Brothers Grose Kogerman Mensinger
Aliso Viejo X
Anaheim X
Brea X
Buena Park X
Costa Mesa
Cypress X
Dana Point X
Fountain Valley X
Fullerton X
Garden Grove X
Huntington Beach X
Irvine X
La Habra X
La Palma X
Laguna Beach X
Laguna Hills X
Laguna Niguel X
Laguna Woods X
Lake Forest X
Los Alamitos X
Mission Viejo X
Newport Beach X
Orange X
Placentia X
Rancho Santa Margarita X
San Clemente X
San Juan Capistrano X
Santa Ana X
Seal Beach X
Stanton X
Tustin X
Villa Park X
Westminster X
Yorba Linda X
TOTAL 3 7 13 4 3 3

 

The second round delivered more intrigue.  In the Beall-Brothers run-off, each achieved 16 votes until it was discovered Placentia had not cast their ballot.  Placentia then voted for Brothers giving her a 17-16 lead over Beall (remember that Costa Mesa was not present to vote).  However, an appointment requires an absolute majority of the 34 cities, so 18 votes were required.

In the second round, all three of Allevato’s votes (Aliso Viejo, Laguna Woods, and Yorba Linda) went to Beall.  Of Grose’s four votes, three went to Brothers (La Palma, Seal Beach, and Villa Park) while one went to Beall (Los Alamitos).  Of Kogerman’s three votes, two went to Beall (Laguna Beach and Laguna Hills) while one went to Brothers (Anaheim).  Of Mensinger’s three votes, two went to Beall (Fountain Valley and Fullerton) while one went to Brothers (Irvine).  Brothers lost Dana Point to Beall.  Beall held on to all of his own first-round votes.

Beall Brothers
Aliso Viejo X
Anaheim X
Brea X
Buena Park X
Costa Mesa
Cypress X
Dana Point X
Fountain Valley X
Fullerton X
Garden Grove X
Huntington Beach X
Irvine X
La Habra X
La Palma X
Laguna Beach X
Laguna Hills X
Laguna Niguel X
Laguna Woods X
Lake Forest X
Los Alamitos X
Mission Viejo X
Newport Beach X
Orange X
Placentia X
Rancho Santa Margarita X
San Clemente X
San Juan Capistrano X
Santa Ana X
Seal Beach X
Stanton X
Tustin X
Villa Park X
Westminster X
Yorba Linda X
TOTAL 16 17

 

Since it requires an absolute majority of 18 votes to appoint, a third round of voting was held, again with Beall and Brothers.  Los Alamitos made the critical flip to give Brothers the critical 18th vote in the third round, allowing her to defeat Beall 18-15.

Beall Brothers
Aliso Viejo X
Anaheim X
Brea X
Buena Park X
Costa Mesa
Cypress X
Dana Point X
Fountain Valley X
Fullerton X
Garden Grove X
Huntington Beach X
Irvine X
La Habra X
La Palma X
Laguna Beach X
Laguna Hills X
Laguna Niguel X
Laguna Woods X
Lake Forest X
Los Alamitos X
Mission Viejo X
Newport Beach X
Orange X
Placentia X
Rancho Santa Margarita X
San Clemente X
San Juan Capistrano X
Santa Ana X
Seal Beach X
Stanton X
Tustin X
Villa Park X
Westminster X
Yorba Linda X
TOTAL 15 18

 

OCTA Districts 2 and 5 (Population-Weighted Seats)

In votes with less intrigue, the OCTA 2nd District seat was easily retained by Matt Harper (R-Huntington Beach).  Harper’s Council colleague, Joe Shaw (D-Huntington Beach), nominated himself and voted for himself, but Harper won all of the other cities’ votes.

City Population Percentage Harper Shaw
Costa Mesa 111,358 18.98%
Cypress 48,547 8.27% X
Fountain Valley 56,180 9.57% X
Huntington Beach 193,616 32.99% X
La Palma 15,818 2.70% X
Los Alamitos 11,626 1.98% X
Newport Beach 86,436 14.73% X
Seal Beach 24,487 4.17% X
Stanton 38,764 6.61% X
TOTAL 586,832 100.00% 48.03% 32.99%

 

The OCTA 5th District seat’s intrigue was second only to that of the 4th District seat.  Incumbent Frank Ury (R-Mission Viejo) survived a challenge by Robert Ming (R-Laguna Niguel).  Ury won the two largest cities (Lake Forest and his own Mission Viejo) Ming won three of the four medium-sized cities, but Ury held on to all the small cities.  For purposes of this, the large cities are populations over 75,000, the medium-sized cities are populations between 35,000-75,000, and the small cities are populations under 35,000.

City Population Percentage Ming Ury
Aliso Viejo 49,477 9.17% X
Dana Point 33,863 6.28% X
Laguna Beach 23,105 4.28% X
Laguna Hills 30,703 5.69% X
Laguna Niguel 64,065 11.88% X
Laguna Woods 16,500 3.06% X
Lake Forest 78,501 14.55% X
Mission Viejo 94,824 17.58% X
Rancho Santa Margarita 48,550 9.00% X
San Clemente 64,542 11.96% X
San Juan Capistrano 35,321 6.55% X
TOTAL 539,451 100.00% 32.84% 67.16%

 

OCTA Districts 1 and 3 (One City, One Vote)

The one-city-one-vote seats in the 1st and 3rd Districts were far less interesting than the population-weighted seats.

The OCTA 3rd District seat had zero intrigue, as Al Murray (R-Tustin) retained the seat in a vote by acclamation.

The OCTA 1st District seat was fairly simple since there’s only three cities that can vote.  Steve Jones (R-Garden Grove) retained his seat by winning the votes of his own city and of Santa Ana while Diana Carey (D-Westminster) won the vote of her own city.

Carey Jones
Garden Grove X
Santa Ana X
Westminster X
TOTAL 1 2

 

OC Housing and Community Development Commission

This one was straight-forward.  Irvine Mayor Steven Choi (R) won the seat by unanimous acclamation of all 33 cities present.

OC Waste Management Commission Districts 1 and 3

In the 1st District Waste Management Commission seat, Michele Martinez (D-Santa Ana) won the seat with the votes of her own city and of Garden Grove while Margie Rice (R-Westminster) won the vote of her own city.  Rice had previously occupied the seat, but Martinez defeated Rice’s bid to return to the commission.

Martinez Rice
Garden Grove X
Santa Ana X
Westminster X
TOTAL 2 1

 

In the 3rd District Waste Management Commission seat, Mike Alvarez (R-Orange) won the seat with the votes of his own city, Irvine, Villa Park, and Yorba Linda while Beckie Gomez (D-Tustin) won the vote of her own city.  Gomez had previously occupied the seat, but Alvarez defeated Gomez’s bid to return to the commission.

Alvarez Gomez
Irvine X
Orange X
Tustin X
Villa Park X
Yorba Linda X
TOTAL 4 1

 

San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy

For the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, Troy Edgar (R-Los Alamitos) retained his seat by the acclamation of all 33 cities present.

OC Senior Citizens Advisory Council

For the OC Senior Citizens Advisory Council, there were more seats than candidates, so every vote was by acclamation:

  • 1st District Seat #1 – OC Political apologizes for illegible notes making this result unclear, but either the seat was continued to the next meeting, or the seat was won by Barbara Barker of Garden Grove, who is not a city councilmember
  • 2nd District Seat #1 was won by Prakash Narain (R-Cypress)
  • 2nd District Seat #2 was won by incumbent Lillian Kammerer of Fountain Valley, who is not a city councilmember
  • 3rd District Seat #1 was won by Beckie Gomez (D-Tustin)
  • 3rd District Seat #2 was won by Gene Hernandez (R-Yorba Linda)
  • 5th District Seat #1 was won by incumbent Kathryn McCullough (D-Lake Forest)

1st District Seat #2, both 4th District seats, and 5th District Seat #2 were continued to the next meeting.

Orange County City Engineers Flood Control Advisory Committee

For the Orange County City Engineers Flood Control Advisory Committee, there was exactly one candidate per seat, so every vote was by acclamation:

  • 1st District: Incumbent Marwan Youssef of Westminster retained his seat
  • 3rd District: Mark Carroll of Irvine regained his former seat
  • 4th District: Jim Biery of Buena Park regained his former seat
  • 5th District: Steve May of Laguna Beach won this seat with no opposition

The City Selection Committee can fill seats on this committee only from the ranks of members of the Orange County City Engineers Association.

Orange County’s California Identification Remote Access Network Board (Cal-ID RAN)

This seat was continued to the next meeting.

Posted in Orange County, Orange County Transportation Authority | 7 Comments »

Live from City Selection Committee

Posted by Chris Nguyen on November 14, 2013

After battling Santa Ana traffic, your intrepid blogger has reached the Costa Mesa Hilton, site of the City Selection Committee meeting, where Orange County’s mayors have gathered to vote on who will represent Orange County’s cities on OCTA, OC LAFCO, OC Waste Management Commission, OC Housing and Community Development Commission, and four other commissions. For more information on what’s on tonight’s docket, see my post from earlier today.

(5:40 PM): Thanks to Kevin Gilhooley from SCAG for filling me in on some of what I missed.

The biggest upset is in the OCTA 4th District seat, where Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait unseated Anaheim Councilwoman Gail Eastman. Buena Park and Placentia voted for Eastman while Anaheim, Fullerton, and La Habra voted for Tait.

Awkwardly, in the 2nd District OCTA seat, Joe Shaw of Huntington Beach nominated himself and voted for himself while all other cities voted for Matt Harper of Huntington Beach, so Harper retained his OCTA seat.

In the 5th District, incumbent Frank Ury of Mission Viejo survived a challenge from Robert Ming of Laguna Niguel. Due to the enormous number of 5th District cities, we don’t have the vote breakdown.

In the 1st District, Steve Jones of Garden Grove won the votes of Santa Ana and Garden Grove to defeat Diana Carey of Westminster who won only Westminster.

In the 3rd District, Al Murray of Tustin was reelected by acclamation.

For the San Gabriel and Lower LA Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, Troy Edgar was reelected by acclamation.

(5:50 PM): Michelle Martinez of Santa Ana won the votes of Santa Ana and Garden Grove over Margie Rice of Westminster in her bid to reclaim her old seat (Rice only won Westminster’s vote) as the 1st District Waste Management representative.

Mike Alvarez of Orange defeated Beckie Gomez of Tustin in Gomez’s bid to reclaim her former seat as the 3rd District Waste Management representative.

(5:59 PM): In a massive field of candidates for the OC LAFCO seat, the run-off consists of Cheryl Brothers of Fountain Valley and Tony Beall of Rancho Santa Margarita. Dean Grose of Los Alamitos, Steve Mensinger of Costa Mesa, Barbara Kogerman of Laguna Hills, and Sam Allevato of San Juan Capistrano did not make the run-off.

(6:02 PM): Cheryl Brothers of Fountain Valley won 17 votes while Tony Beall of Rancho Santa Margarita won 16 votes. 18 votes are needed to be appointed to OC LAFCO.

(6:06 PM): For those of you wondering, Costa Mesa is the city not present.

(6:08 PM): Brothers wins the LAFCO seat with 18 votes to Beall’s 15.

(6:10 PM): The meeting is complete, with Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait running an incredibly speedy meeting. 25 appointments in about an hour averages to about 2 minutes per appointment.

Posted in Orange County | 2 Comments »

City Selection Committee Meets Today to Fill 25 Seats on OCTA, LAFCO, County Housing and Community Development Commission, Waste Management Commission, Other Commissions

Posted by Chris Nguyen on November 14, 2013

The City Selection Committee meets today at 5 PM at the Hilton Hotel of Costa Mesa to fill 25 seats on eight different regional boards and commissions.  Of these 25, 21 are for terms that would naturally expire in the next two months while 4 are to fill mid-term vacancies.

All districts mentioned below are supervisorial districts.  Except for OCTA, all seats will be appointed on a one city, one vote basis (OCTA’s population weighted votes are based on the most recent Department of Finance population estimates, which were relased on May 1, 2013).  On the docket are:

  • 5 seats on the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) for terms from January 2014-December 2015 (there are 5 other city seats on OCTA that have terms of January 2015-December 2016); compensation is $100 per meeting, with a $500 per month maximum
    • 1st District (One city, one vote): Incumbent Steve Jones of Garden Grove
    • 2nd District (Population weighted vote): Incumbent Matt Harper of Huntington Beach
    • 3rd District (One city, one vote): Incumbent Al Murray of Tustin
    • 4th District (Population weighted vote): Incumbent Gail Eastman of Anaheim
    • 5th District (Population weighted vote): Incumbent Frank Ury of Mission Viejo
  • Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) – one of two seats representing City Councils; this seat expires in June 2014 and fills the vacancy left by Peter Herzog’s resignation from his Lake Forest City Council seat; compensation is $100 per commission meeeting and $50 per committee meeting, up to a $200 per month maximum
  • Orange County Housing and Community Development Commission – a seat representing cities; this seat expires in June 2014 and fills an existing vacancy; compensation is $100 per commission meeting and $50 per subcommittee meeting, up to a $300 per month maximum
  • 2 seats on the Orange County Waste Management Commission for terms expiring in May 2016 (there are five seats representing city councils); compensation is $100 per commission meeting and $50 per committee meeting (this commission meets quarterly)
    • 1st District: Vacancy (seat previously held by Margie Rice of Westminster)
    • 3rd District: Vacancy (seat previously held by Beckie Gomez of Tustin)
  • San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy – one seat for a term from January 2014-December 2015 (there are two seats representing Orange County cities, but the other one is appointed by the Governor; the gubernatorial seat is currently vacant; both of these seats must be filled by a City Councilmember from Anaheim, Brea, Buena Park, Cypress, Fullerton, La Habra, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Placentia, or Seal Beach); compensation is $75 per monthly meeting: Incumbent Troy Edgar of Los Alamitos
  • Orange County’s California Identification Remote Access Network Board (Cal-ID RAN) – one seat representing Orange County’s mayors for a term commencing in January 2014 and ending at the end of the mayor’s term; there is no monetary compensation for this seat: Incumbent Scott Voigts of Lake Forest
  • 10 seats on the Orange County Senior Citizens Advisory Council for terms from January 2014-December 2015; these seats represent cities but do not necessarily have to be city council members nor city residents; compensation is $30 per month
    • 1st District Seat #1: Vacant
    • 1st District Seat #2: Barbara Barker of Garden Grove
    • 2nd District Seat #1: Vacant
    • 2nd District Seat #2: Vacant
    • 3rd District Seat #1: Vacant
    • 3rd District Seat #2: Lillian Kammerer of Fountain Valley
    • 4th District Seat #1: Vacant
    • 4th District Seat #2: Vacant
    • 5th District Seat #1: Councilwoman Kathryn McCullough of Lake Forest
    • 5th District Seat #2: Vacant
  • 4 seats on the Orange County City Engineers Flood Control Advisory Committee – (four of the five seats representing Orange County’s cities) for terms from December 2014-December 2016; appointees must be members of the Orange County City Engineers Association; there is no monetary compensation for these seats
    • 1st District: Marwan Youssef of Westminster
    • 3rd District: Vacant (previously held by Mark Carroll of Irvine)
    • 4th District: Vacant (previously held by Jim Biery of Buena Park)
    • 5th District: Vacant (previously held by Nasser Abbaszadeh of San Juan Capistrano)

Anaheim, Buena Park, Fountain Valley, and Irvine each lie in two supervisorial districts, but can only vote in one district in the City Selection Committee for district seats.  For district seats, Anaheim and Buena Park vote in the 4th District, Fountain Valley votes in the 2nd District, and Irvine votes in the 3rd District.  All other Orange County cities lie in a single supervisorial district.  The complete list is:

  • 1st District: Garden Grove, Santa Ana, Westminster
  • 2nd District: Costa Mesa, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Newport Beach, Seal Beach, Stanton
  • 3rd District: Irvine, Orange, Tustin, Villa Park, Yorba Linda
  • 4th District: Anaheim, Brea, Buena Park, Fullerton, La Habra, Placentia
  • 5th District: Aliso Viejo, Dana Point, Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano

Posted in Orange County | 4 Comments »

AD 73 Fundraiser for Bill Brough This Friday

Posted by Newsletter Reprint on November 14, 2013

This just came across the wire from the Bill Brough for Assembly Campaign:

Brough_Honda_Fundraiser_pg_1._jpegHonda_Fundraiser_page_2._jpeg

Posted in 73rd Assembly District | Tagged: | 1 Comment »

County Board of Education to Discuss Controversial Common Core Curriculum, AB 1266

Posted by Chris Nguyen on November 13, 2013

OCBESealThe Orange County Board of Education has agendized a discussion of the controversial Common Core curriculum for its meeting this morning.  Under the information items proposed by Board members, the Board has the following on its agenda:

Board Policy 100-2 – All
Common Core – Boyd/All
Brown Act – Boyd
Williams’ OC Register Editorial – Boyd
Oath of Office – Boyd/Parker
AB1266 Resolution – Hammond

(Boyd is Board President David Boyd, who represents the 2nd District.  Hammond is Robert Hammond, who represents the 1st District.  Williams is Ken Williams, who represents the 3rd District.  Parker is Elizabeth Parker, who represents the 5th District.  The only member not mentioned on the list is Jack Bedell, who represents the 4th District.  The district lines roughly follow those of the Supervisorial districts with a few exceptions, including a gerrymander to split the City of Costa Mesa, where both Boyd and Parker reside.  A map of the districts is available here.)

Related to the Common Core discussion, the County Board of Education has also agendized a discussion on this OC Register op-ed on Common Core by conservative Board Member Dr. Ken Williams.  (The Williams op-ed is one of the rare articles that is not behind the OC Register paywall.)  Here are excerpts of the Williams op-ed:

As Obamacare implementation is the subject of national headlines, also in 2014, an equivalent tsunami will occur in America with a controversial national education curriculum arriving in our schools and classrooms. For practical purposes, it transforms and adversely impacts classrooms and removes parents and locally elected school board members from governing schools in their community.

Common Core is a one-size-fits-all program. It was paid for by the federal government – against federal laws that prohibit Washington from establishing national educational standards, testing and curriculum.

It’s similar to the current national health care debate. Common Core’s stealthy implementation by the Obama administration, national and state educational organizations and state governments keep parents and taxpayers in the dark.

…

Originally, 46 states voluntarily adopted Common Core with federal funding “Race-to-the-Top” grants. Conservative states such as Alaska, Nebraska, Virginia and Texas declined to adopt the standards. As opposition increased across the country, Indiana and Michigan recently dropped out under public or legislative pressure.

Here in California, Common Core was adopted by the State Board of Education in August 2010. A main objection to Common Core is it circumvents the ideals and concept of “local control.” In reality, an unelected, governor appointed, 11-member state board of education, decides without substantive debate. Local boards have little input or ability to change curriculum.

Local control of education has been hijacked specifically by unelected officials holding the purse strings in Sacramento; and in general by the federal government and national education organizations. Common Core dismisses the idealism of local control of education by parents, teachers and school boards laid out in the Northwest Ordinance by our founding fathers; it “dumbs down” academic standards; and huge financial costs are born by taxpayers to implement a national curriculum that is unfunded, and has never been tested or proven.

…

In today’s paper, the OC Register editorial board noted (sorry, this one is behind the paywall):

[Lance Izumi, director of education studies at the Pacific Research Institute] warned that state schools will shift in 2014 “from the rigorous state standards to less-rigorous Common Core standards. This is a sharp turn backward.” Common Core is a national program, sponsored by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, to standardize school curricula nationwide. In California, for example, that means pushing the algebra requirement from eighth grade to ninth grade.

The Board will also be discussing AB 1266, which is described by the Privacy for All Students campaign (the effort to overturn AB 1266) as “a bill recently enacted by the California Legislature and signed by Governor Jerry Brown. The legislation creates the right of elementary and secondary school students to use sensitive sex-segregated school facilities such as showers, restrooms and locker rooms based on the student’s perceived gender identity rather than their actual sex. It’s the only legislation of this kind to have ever been enacted in the country.”

The County Board of Education traditionally met on Thursdays, but moved their meetings to Wednesdays, effective with their previous meeting.  They’re scheduled to meet at 8 AM today in their Board room at 200 Kalmus Drive in Costa Mesa.

Posted in Orange County Board of Education | Tagged: , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

The Brown Act Does Not Allow “Closed Session” Discussions by a Public Entity On Project Labor Agreements

Posted by Craig P. Alexander on November 13, 2013

As Chris Nguyen reported in the two previous posts, I have the honor of representing Rancho Santiago Community College Board of Trustee member Phillip Yarbrough on the issue of the use of “closed sessions” by the Board of Trustees to discuss Project Labor Agreements. As I reviewed the Brown Act including the Appeals Court decisions and the Attorney General opinions on this subject, it became very clear to me that a public entity that is subject to the Brown Act, is not allowed to hold “closed sessions” of the Board meetings to discuss Project Labor Agreements. This issue is complicated in its legal explanation and Chris attached a copy of the letter I sent to the Chancellor and the Board President last week explaining my conclusions to them.

For those of you not familiar with the Brown Act – the Ralph M. Brown Act makes it a requirement that a local public entity must hold its meetings in open sessions where members of the public may attend and address the board on subjects the Board is dealing with in that meeting. There are some expressly stated exceptions to that rule that authorize the board to have “closed sessions” where the public may not listen to the board’s discussions on those topics. In short, the topic of Project Labor Agreements is not one of the authorized subjects for discussion in closed session. Thus any discussions on PLAs must be held in open session. The Board of Trustees did the right thing tonight by voting to hold all future meetings on this topic in open session.

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