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Larry Agran Apparently Attempting to Gain Control of Irvine School Board Again – This Time Via Special Election

Posted by Chris Nguyen on December 19, 2013

Councilman Larry Agran

Larry Agran: Doing for Irvine Schools What He Did for the Great Park

(Update: 12/20 6:55 PM: I now have multiple conflicting stories as to whether Agran is behind this or if he is simply a supporter of the effort. A few OC Political sources closer to the Agran camp state he denies being behind this effort and argue that when Agran has been behind petition drives, ballot measures, etc., he’s been very public about it.  At this point, it does remain unclear as to who is indeed the person or people behind the effort to force this special election.  However, it does appear that Agran is supportive of this effort even if he is not necessarily the organizer of the effort.)

It appears Irvine Councilman Larry Agran is attempting to force a special election to oust an Irvine School Board member from office and potentially get one of his own allies elected because the school board failed to obey Agran’s will in the Great Park battle.

During the 2012 elections for the Irvine Unified School District, Larry Agran attempted to get his own slate of candidates elected to the Irvine School Board.  The slate of Michael Parham, Lauren Brooks, and Paul Bokota swept the top three positions to block Agran’s slate of Carolyn Inmon, Cyril Yu, and Omar Ezzeldine, who came in fourth, sixth, and seventh, respectively.  (Nine candidates ran.)  Bokota narrowly defeated Inmon by 706 votes. Incumbents Carolyn McInerney and Sue Kuwabara had opted not to seek re-election, thereby setting up the hotly contested slates.  Parham was the sole incumbent to seek re-election.  (In the interest of full disclosure, Custom Campaigns, which owns OC Political, ran the campaigns of Parham, Brooks, and Bokota in 2012.)

Not only did Agran fail to get his slate elected to school board, but also, as is well-known to most of our readers, he lost his own race for Mayor against Steven Choi and lost control of the Council when Christina Shea was elected over his ally, P.K. Wong, thereby setting up the Republican majority of Steven Choi, Jeff Lalloway, and Christina Shea.  Considering the domination at the presidential and state level by Democrats in 2012, Larry Agran may well have been the saddest Democrat in California on election night 2012.

Last month, Gavin Huntley-Fenner vacated his seat on the Irvine School Board.  On a 3-1 vote, the school board appointed Republican Ira Glasky to the board.  (Parham voted to replace Huntley-Fenner with Hugh Hewitt.)  A mysterious group has launched a petition drive to void Glasky’s appointment and force a special election.  The web site does not disclose who is behind the drive, other than in the PDF of the petition, which is required in the mandatory disclosure required in state law, which names only Stephen Buxbaum and Patricia Schneider-Zioga.  Schneider-Zioga is a linguistics professor at Cal State Fullerton.

In the Irvine Matters newsletter published by Agran and Councilwoman Beth Krom, they write in support of the petition drive and blast the school board for not opposing the site of the new high school at the Great Park (scroll to the bottom of this post to see the Irvine Matters email).  The school site issue has been the bogeyman created by Agran to attack the plan by FivePoint Communities to develop the Great Park.  The Council majority of Choi, Lalloway, and Shea voted in favor of the plan, doing in one year what Agran and his allies could not do in a decade in power – actually build the Great Park.

Additionally, multiple sources in Irvine have told OC Political that Agran supporters have stated he is behind the petition drive.

Agran is trying to turn the school board and the school site into a political football in his battle to stop the construction the Great Park; this special election is Agran’s attempt to bully the school board into backing his position on the school site at the Great Park.

The text of the petition itself notes, “The cost for conducting the election called for in this petition is estimated by the Orange County Registrar of Voters to be $392,779-$443,329 if the election is a stand-alone election.”  Glasky is forced to run for re-election in November; this special election would be held just a few months before Glasky is due to run.  There are many times when forcing a special election in lieu of appointment would be appropriate, but it simply is not the case here.  Agran’s agenda is not an adequate reason to force a special election.

Pursuant to Education Code Section 5091(c), petition proponents must gather signatures from registered voters within the Irvine Unified School District equivalent to 1.5% of the number of registered voters at the last election for school board. There were 109,490.  In other words, they must submit 1,643 valid signatures of registered voters by tomorrow’s legal deadline to the OC Superintendent of Schools at the OC Department of Education.  (Our information indicates the proponents have been gathering signatures for about two weeks now.)

People who have signed the petition but now wish to withdraw their signature should contact the OC Department of Education at 714-966-4000 or the OC Registrar of Voters at 714-567-7600, as those two agencies are responsible for the administration of the election and the ministerial acts involving the petition, including the verification of petition signatures.

Dan Chmielewski at The Liberal OC and we here at OC Political don’t agree on much, but we agree with Chmielewski on this issue, as he has written in opposition to the petition drive: 

IUSD has progressives, moderates and conservatives on the Board; they work well together with a minimum of politics to advance education in Irvine so that the teachers, administrators, students and parents have the education possible considering the low state funding we get regularly.

So whoever is behind this petition drive really isn’t pro-education in Irvine; a special election six months in advance of a regular election is a waste of money. At least have the backbone to stand up and identify yourselves as being behind the effort. This is a shame to Glasky. His family donates countless hours to the schools and the community so he clearly understands the issues our district faces and his legal background is an asset to the district.

Simply put; if you’re in Irvine and you’re pro-education, don’t sign the petition.

The entire IUSD petition web site states quite simply:

Irvine Unified School District
Petition for Special Election

The Voters, Not the Politicians, Should Decide who Represents the Students and Taxpayers.

INSTRUCTIONS: Please click on the button to download the petition. You can collect up to six signatures on each petition, but be sure that just one person collects the signatures on any given sheet and fully completes the bottom portion. Signers and collectors both need to be registered voters. Signers need to be voters in the Irvine Unified School District (collectors can be registered anywhere in CA).

Have petitions to be picked up?

Call or text us at (949) 214-4250 or email us info@iusdpetition.com and we will have a volunteer get them from you.

Irvine Matters, the Agran-Krom newsletter, sent this message out to their email list:

Irvine Matters

Dear Friends,

We’re writing to you because of your opposition to Site A for Irvine’s next High School — Site A is adjacent to a toxic landfill and 1,000 yards from the rapidly growing Musick Jail.

Given the role the Irvine Unified School District Board will play in determining the future High School site, we wanted to make you aware that a petition drive is currently underway to require a special election to fill the Irvine School Board seat previously held by Gavin Huntley-Fenner.

Disregarding the democratic process, the School Board quickly appointed someone to fill the seat in an attempt to foreclose any opportunity for Irvine voters to have a say in who represents them on the Irvine Unified School Board. Incredibly, the man they appointed has already gone on record in support of Site A! In fact, he’s been quoted as saying, “Nothing I have seen so far, has led me to believe that Site A is not a qualified, acceptable, preferable site.”

To download petitions, go to: www.iusdpetition.com.

Those who sign must be registered voters and live within the Irvine Unified School District boundaries. As circulator of the petition, you must fill in the information at the bottom of the petition, including your own signature.

To ensure that signature gathering procedures are followed,
please read the instructions on the petition carefully, and be sure the completed petition is turned in BY DECEMBER 20th the “old fashioned way” — either picked-up from you by an authorized person in the petition drive or mailed (snail mail!) to the petition proponent: Stephen Buxbaum, 4666 Sierra Tree Lane, Irvine, CA 92612.

Petition drive organizers will collect your completed petitions if you e-mail them at info@iusdpetition.com or text to 949-214-4250.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Petitions cannot be scanned, copied or sent electronically to be considered valid.

If you believe your views on where to site Irvine’s next High School are not being effectively represented by the School Board, we encourage you to sign and circulate the petition.

Valid signatures must be gathered and turned in by December 20th to ensure that deadlines are met for submitting signatures to the Orange County Superintendent of Schools.

Time is short. If you think the School Board seat should be filled by special election, please get your family members, friends and neighbors to sign this petition over the next week.

Like you, we have been frustrated by the seeming lack of concern the Irvine Unified School District Board has demonstrated with respect to the serious health and safety issues associated with their proposed Site A for Irvine’s next High School. At a time when issues of elevated levels of toxins at Malibu High School are a major news story here in Southern California, (LINK: http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news%2Flocal%2Flos_angeles&id=9335630), officials for the Irvine Unified School District seem determined to build on a site adjacent to a capped toxic landfill and just 1,000 yards from the rapidly expanding Musick Jail site.

Only with a special election will voters have a choice in who represents them. Remember, time is short. If you want your interests represented, help gather the signatures needed by December 20th.

If you have questions about the petition drive, you can e-mail the organizers at info@iusdpetition.com.

Posted in Irvine, Irvine Unified School District | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

AD-55 & AD-74: Assembly Candidates Ascend to Mayorships

Posted by Chris Nguyen on December 4, 2013

Yorba Linda Mayor Craig Young

Yorba Linda Mayor
Craig Young

Huntington Beach Mayor Matt Harper

Huntington Beach Mayor
Matt Harper

In a handy tool for their State Assembly campaigns, AD-55 Candidate Craig Young became Mayor of Yorba Linda last night and AD-74 Candidate Matt Harper became Mayor of Huntington Beach on Monday night.

Being mayor during the same year as an Assembly candidacy lends itself to a few helpful advantages:

  • “Mayor” is stronger than “Councilman” as a ballot designation.  Many voters do not realize that most California mayors are effectively the chair of the city council; these voters instead think of executive mayors, like the types in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, New York City, and Chicago.  (For the political scientists out there, many California voters believe they live in a city with a “strong mayor-council” system when in reality, most California cities have “council-manager” systems.)
  • Mayors tend to get more press coverage than councilmembers, as reporters are more likely to quote a mayor than a councilmember.
  • Mayors get more of the spotlight at community events.  Rather than asking five or seven councilmembers to speak at an event, most organizers will simply ask the mayor to speak.  After all, people attending a community event would generally prefer to hear a speech from one politician rather than speeches from about a half-dozen politicians.

At this point in the AD-55 race, Young’s opponents for the Republican nomination are Diamond Bar Councilwoman Ling-Ling Chang and Walnut Valley Unified School Board Member Phillip Chen.  Chang will not be mayor during her Assembly bid, as Carol Herrera became Mayor of Diamond Bar last night.  AD-55 Incumbent Curt Hagman is termed out.  You can find previous OC Political posts on the AD-55 race here.

Mayor Harper is the only elected official to have thrown his hat in the AD-74 ring as of this morning.  His two opponents for the Republican nomination are 2010 Laguna Beach City Council Candidate Emanuel Patrascu, whose day job is as District Director for State Assemblyman Travis Allen, and 2012 Santa Ana City Council Candidate Karina Onofre, whose day job is split between working for H&R Block and as a Field Representative for State Senator Bob Huff.  AD-74 Incumbent Allan Mansoor is running for Orange County Supervisor.  You can find previous OC Political posts on the AD-74 race here.

Posted in 55th Assembly District, 74th Assembly District, Huntington Beach, Yorba Linda | 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 »

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 »

Live from RSCCD on PLA Discussion Procedure in Relation to the Brown Act; RSCCD Board Officer Selection

Posted by Chris Nguyen on November 12, 2013

RSCCDI’m live at the RSCCD Board meeting to cover Item 6.6 on their agenda. For background on this item, see my post earlier tonight on this. Basically, the RSCCD Board was discussing in closed session efforts to impose a PLA on all work done from Measure Q, the $198,000,000 bond passed in 2012 in the western half of the district (Santa Ana and very small portions of Garden Grove and Anaheim). Item 6.6 forces the PLA to be discussed in open session.

(5:42 PM): Trustee Claudia Alvarez says RSCCD wants to follow the law. She says many districts negotiate PLAs in closed session. She says the reason to negotiate a PLA in closed session is for the district’s strategic advantage. She says there is no cover-up effort because they’ve brought Item 6.6 in open session.

(5:43 PM): Trustee John Hanna says these PLA negotiations should no longer be discussed substantively in closed session. Hanna says he agrees with Alvarez. He says the Chancellor should negotiate privately, so the RSCCD Board can examine the negotiation product in open session.

(5:46 PM): Trustee Larry Labrado wants the Board Executive Committee (not just the Board President) to be able to privately confer with the Chancellor on the PLA. The Executive Committee consists of 3 of the 7 trustees: the President, Vice President, and Secretary.

(5:47 PM): Alvarez says there’s nothing wrong with each trustee being updated by the Chancellor on the PLA negotiations.

(5:48 PM): Hanna wants Item 6.6 to be amended to have Board to “continue its practice of refraining” from discussing the PLA negotiations.

(5:49 PM): Trustee Phil Yarbrough disputes that this is RSCCD’s practice, hence the need for Item 6.6.

(5:50 PM): Hanna says it is the practice. He hopes to get an Attorney General opinion that they can negotiate PLAs in closed session.

(5:52 PM): Yarbrough says amending the practice going forth like Item 6.6 is good because PLAs should be discussed in open session like the Brown Act requires.

(5:53 PM): Chancellor Raul Rodriguez warns that the Alvarez proposal could violate the Brown Act’s serial meeting rules.

(5:54 PM): Board President Arianna Barrios says there are four conflicting opinions, including the Chancellor’s and Craig Alexander’s. She is concerned that RSCCD would lose in an Attorney General’s opinion, so that’s one of the reasons she agendized Item 6.6.

(5:56 PM): The Hanna Amendment is passed unanimously.

(5:57 PM): I note that neither Trustee Jose Solorio nor Nelida Yanez has uttered a word in the debate.

(5:58 PM): Item 6.6 is approved unanimously.

(5:59 PM): Hanna says he will nominate Alvarez for Clerk. Yarbrough seconds.

Solorio says he would like to be President. (I would note this would enable him to be RSCCD President during his candidacy for the hotly contested 34th Senate District race in 2014 against Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen.)

Labrado says he would like to be Vice President.

(6:05 PM): Ironically, RSCCD staff are now doing a presentation on projects that were funded by Measure E, which was the $337,000,000 bond passed in 2002 in all of RSCCD (Santa Ana, Orange, Villa Park, Anaheim Hills, and small portions of Garden Grove). The presentation noted numerous projects that were over budget and behind schedule. Measure E projects are already subject to a PLA. (The PLA discussion related to Item 6.6 from tonight’s meeting were involving Measure Q, the 2012 bond for $198,000,000 in western RSCCD: Santa Ana and small portions of Garden Grove and Anaheim.)

(6:15 PM): I’m done with this live blog. It’ll be interesting going forward in future meetings, with their pledge to not discuss PLA negotiations in private. We’ll be keeping a close eye on the developments with the PLA, which will mandate only unionized labor working on Measure Q projects. The other union demands will also be included in the PLA, but obviously those are still being negotiated; OC Political will reveal those as soon as we know what they are. RSCCD President-designate Solorio will likely have his hands full when the PLA terms go public.

Posted in Rancho Santiago Community College District | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Rancho Santiago Community College District Board Accused of Violating Brown Act in Negotiating PLAs; Jose Solorio Accused of Leading Violation Effort

Posted by Chris Nguyen on November 12, 2013

RSCCDThe Rancho Santiago Community College District (RSCCD) Board of Trustees has been accused of violating the Brown Act by negotiating PLA terms in closed session. (For those unfamiliar, PLAs are Project Labor Agreements, which basically require union labor terms on the projects in question, including requiring unionized labor to be employed by private contractors who are hired to work on the project.)

Conservative Trustee Phil Yarbrough has accused the liberal-dominated RSCCD Board of violating the Brown Act by negoiating PLAs in closed session. Yarbrough has retained attorney Craig Alexander (an affiliate attorney of the Pacific Justice Institute and an OC Political blogger), who sent this seven-page letter admonishing the district and demanding it comply with the Brown Act, the state’s government transparency law, by discussing the PLA in open session in front of the public.

In an apparent reaction to the letter, the RSCCD agenda for tonight’s meeting includes Item 6.6, which is entitled, “Discussion of Community and Student Workforce Project Agreement Negotiations with Los Angeles-Orange County Building and Construction Trades Council/Craft Unions/Carpenters Union” on the agenda. (“Community and Student Workforce Project Agreement Negotiations” is the RSCCD euphemism for “PLA negotiations”). The staff recommendation is: “It is recommended that the board formally agree to refrain from any discussion of negotiations on the Community and Student Workforce Project Agreement in closed session unless or until more conclusive information is provided to clarify the legality of such discussions in closed session per the Brown Act.” In other words, the RSCCD is no longer certain that its previous actions in discussing the PLA negotiations were legal.

Kevin Dayton has dissected the RSCCD PLA issue at the Flash Report.

OC Political has received emails from various groups on this issue pointing to Jose Solorio as the leader of this closed session PLA effort. The Associated Builders and Contractors had the most concise email on this issue, which was sent over yesterday:

Help Stop Jose Solorio From Illegally Hiding His $29 Million Taxpayer Give-Away To Special Interests

Help stop RSCCD Trustee Jose Solorio from illegally hiding his $29 million taxpayer give-away to special interests!  It is being voted on TOMORROW, TUESDAY 11/12/2013 at 4pm.

It seems the Rancho Santiago Community College District (RSCCD) Board of Trustees has been violating California’s open meeting laws (also known as “The Brown Act”) by negotiating a discriminatory union agreement on their nearly $200 million dollar Measure Q bond passed by voters in November 2012. No mention of this wasteful special interest deal was of course ever made when selling this to the citizens – and now the public is being purposefully kept out of the debate.
Help Stop Jose Solorio From Illegally Hiding His $29 Million Taxpayer Give-Away To Special Interests
If that isn’t bad enough, they might vote tomorrow night to CONTINUE ILLEGALLY HIDING THIS FROM THE PUBLIC!

The PLA is Item 6.6 on the agenda and the last two pages of the document include an error-riddled memo from the Chancellor trying to pretend that “It is a common practice for…public agencies to discuss PLA negotiations in closed session.”

We need you to do the following:
Attend the meeting tomorrow. TUESDAY November 12th at 4:00pm at the RSCCD District Offices located at 2323 North Broadway, Board Room #107 Santa Ana, CA 92706. We need you to bring management, workers, and apprentices and tell the RSCCD Trustees to bring this deal out into the light of day!

These discriminatory union deals are traditionally called Project Labor Agreements or PLA’s, but in another effort to disguise this waste from the public, RSCCD went so far as to call the agreement a “Community and Student Workforce Project Agreement.”  Join us tomorrow night and help stop this ongoing deception!

If it is such a good idea to waste $29 million dollars of our teachers and students education dollars just to over-pay for construction, then why is Jose Solorio trying to cover this deal up?

Posted in Rancho Santiago Community College District | Tagged: , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Lake Forest Council Must Fill Vacancy from Herzog Resignation by December 14

Posted by Chris Nguyen on October 17, 2013

100px-LakeForestCitySealAt the Tuesday, October 15,  Lake Forest City Council meeting, Councilman Peter Herzog unexpectedly announced his resignation effective immediately.  Unfortunately, the video from that meeting has not yet gone online.  A Councilman since 1994, Herzog issued a scathing letter of resignation that blasted the Council majority.

Emami has covered Herzog several times here at OC Political, including Herzog’s vote against allowing a Sizzler to have an American flag mural on its outer wall (the majority prevailed over Herzog’s dissent) and Herzog’s vote against allowing invocations at City Council meetings (the majority again prevailed over Herzog’s dissent).  You can also see Emami’s extensive coverage of Herzog’s arrest and conviction of a misdemeanor earlier this year. It does seem strange the Herzog is resigning now rather than when he was convicted.

It seems rather odd to resign in protest of a Council majority since the vacancy will permit the Council to appoint an ally. Presumably, American flag murals and meeting invocations are about to strengthen their majority on the Lake Forest City Council.

Government Code Section 36512(b) governs how to fill the vacancy:

If a vacancy occurs in an elective office provided for in this chapter, the council shall, within 60 days from the commencement of the vacancy, either fill the vacancy by appointment or call a special election to fill the vacancy. The special election shall be held on the next regularly established election date not less than 114 days from the call of the special election. A person appointed or elected to fill a vacancy holds office for the unexpired term of the former incumbent.

Consequently, the City Council has 60 days to either fill the vacancy or else trigger a special election.  Should the Council choose to fill the vacancy by appointment, they must do so no later than Saturday, December 14.  After the October 15 meeting, only November 5, November 19, and December 3 are dates of regularly scheduled meetings of the Lake Forest City Council.

If the Council wishes to appoint a Councilmember and avert a special meeting, they will likely need to agree on an application procedure on November 5, release the application, give adequate time for potential councilmembers to submit their applications, and then interview the applicants presumably on December 3.  December 3 is also the date in which the council will decide who will be Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem for 2014.

If the Council decides to go to a special election, they must call the special election within 114 days.  Theoretically, if the Council met on Saturday, December 14 (the last day of the 60-day period), they could issue the call for a date before Monday, April 7, 2014.   Elections Code Section 1100 mandates that all elections in California occur on a Tuesday, so this would allow for an election as late as Tuesday, April 1.  Should the Council call the special election during its regular December 3 meeting, the election could be held as late as Tuesday, March

Posted in Lake Forest | Tagged: | 2 Comments »

California Republican Party Adopts County-Centric Endorsement Procedure for Primary Elections

Posted by Chris Nguyen on October 6, 2013

CAGOPThis morning, delegates at the California Republican Party (CRP) Convention in Anaheim voted to adopt the County-centric endorsement procedure for primary elections proposed by Mike Spence and Deborah Wilder, with the adoption of amendments incorporating portions of the Adam Abrahms procedure.  (See the original proposals in OC Political’s Friday report on the convention.)  These endorsement procedures apply to partisan offices (i.e. federal and state offices, but not local offices).

Under the new rules, for races for the U.S. House of Representatives, the State Senate, and the State Assembly, any Republican who is the sole Republican on the ballot is automatically endorsed by the California Republican Party, but if there is more than one Republican on the ballot, the following will apply:

  1. With at least five days’ notice, a meeting will be held with all Republican candidates in the affected race will appear before a County Central Committee, and that County Central Committee will vote to endorse a candidate by a 2/3 vote.
  2. If each County Central Committee that has at least 5% of the registered Republicans who can vote on a race endorses the same candidate, then the State Board of Directors may be a 2/3 vote endorse that candidate on behalf of the California Republican Party.  Any one County Central Committee that has at least 5% of the registered Republicans who can vote on the race may issue a veto by making an explicit 2/3 vote of “No Endorsement” in that race.

At the urging of Board of Equalization Member George Runner, the above procedure was applied to Board of Equalization endorsements except the endorsement votes from County Central Committees representing 95% of registered Republicans in the BOE district (instead of County Central Committee that has at least 5% of the registered Republicans who can vote on that race since in vast BOE districts, there are numerous County Central Committee that do not have at least 5% of the registered Republicans since there are dozens of counties in many BOE seats).

Jon Fleischman’s proposal to adopt a fusion of CRP delegates and County Central Committee members vote on endorsing statewide candidates was tabled.

In other convention news, Tony Krvaric of San Diego was re-elected to a two-year term as Vice Chair for the South Region (Orange, San Diego, and Imperial Counties).  Adam Abrahms of Santa Monica was re-elected as Vice Chair for Los Angeles County, and Adele Harrison of Temecula was re-elected Vice Chair for the Inland Empire (Riverside, San Bernardino, Inyo, and Mono Counties), .

Aaron Ginn of San Francisco defeated Liz Kolstad of Fresno for the Associate Representative position, also a two-year term. This position is unique among Board of Director positions, as only the Associate Delegates can vote for this position.  All other positions are elected by the regular Delegates.  (For those less familiar with the state party structure, Associate Delegates are effectively alternates to the voting members.  While there are specific formulas for the number of Delegates that can exist, there is no limit on the number of Associate Delegates.)

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

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