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SD-34 Watch: Orange County Democrats Runs Away from Obamacare but Politicizes CalOptima

Posted by Allen Wilson on February 25, 2014

DPOC

Today, Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen releases statement in response to the Democratic Party of Orange County Chairman Henry Vadermeir for politicizing an important issue:

“It is sad that the Democratic Party would attempt to politicize an issue that is so important to so many local people in need of quality health care.

It’s curious that their alleged interest in the program appears in the middle of a political campaign and clearly shows they don’t understand the issues important to the 34th Senate District.

What’s worse is that the local Democratic operatives who issued this release are either ignorant of the facts or purposefully distorted the facts surrounding CalOptima.

They falsely stated that Supervisor Nguyen is the Chair of CalOptima, got the number of CalOptima patients wrong, inaccurately stated that the audit will take years to complete, and conveniently left out the fact that the audit was a routine, standard audit not caused by any one person’s actions.

Supervisor Nguyen stands by her actions to reform CalOptima because they were necessary to ensure transparency, accountability and quality services for the county’s most vulnerable population”

Orange County Democrats are conveniently running away from Obamacare and will do anything to politicize an issue such as CalOptima.

Orange County Democratic Party Chairman should be ashamed of himself!

Posted in 34th Senate District, Democrat Central Committee, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Orange County, Santa Ana, State Senate | Tagged: , , , | 4 Comments »

Mission Viejo’s Public Records Retention Policy, Or Lack Thereof, Needs Review

Posted by Greg Woodard on December 17, 2013

The Public Records Act, along with the Brown Act, are the two most important state statutes that are supposed to provide open and transparent government from local city councils, boards, and other agencies.  Mission Viejo needs to review its document retention policy to determine whether it is being as transparent as possible.

On October 24, 2013, Mission Viejo resident Larry Gilbert made a simple Public Records Act request for all communications between Dennis Wilberg, the Mission Viejo City Manager, and the city managers of Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente regarding Gilbert and the Community Common Sense newspaper from August 1, 2013 to the date of the request.  Gilbert knew Wilberg had sent an email on September 12, 2013 to the San Juan Capistrano City Manager referencing Gilbert and Common Sense because he had received a copy of it from a friend.  However, even though Gilbert made the request just over 40 days after Wilberg sent the email, the City responded that it had no documents responsive to Gilbert’s request.  At the December 2, 2013 City Council meeting, when pressed by Gilbert about his request, Wilberg stated that he had deleted the email so it was no longer available for production.

Given the proliferation of email accounts among local elected officials and staff, the issue of email retention has become increasingly important.  In late 2011/early 2012, an Anaheim Planning Director told staff, under the threat of disciplinary action, to delete old documents and electronic files.  Earlier this year, a Modesto attorney sued to stop the city from automatically deleting emails that were more than 30 days old.  Open-government advocates are alarmed at the short duration that some local agencies keep emails before purging them.

As these and other cases demonstrate, cities and other local agencies struggle to balance the need for public transparency with the need to maintain their records in an efficient manner.  While state law does not state how long emails should be retained, it does require many records be maintained for two years.  Moreover, many open-government advocates assert that purging after 30 days is neither required by law, nor in the spirit of guaranteeing the most open and transparent government possible.

I asked all five Mission Viejo council members to provide me with the city’s document retention policy, as well as whether the city had done any analysis of the cost of keeping emails longer than 30 days.  I only received a response from two council members.  Rhonda Reardon stated, “we need to take a good hard look at our email retention policy.  The questions you raised are good questions and will be the basis for our discussion on our communication retention policy in 2014.”  Cathy Schlicht stated that she not aware of any city-wide purge system in place for emails, and that when she was assigned her email account she was told never to delete emails.  Schlicht said that she only deletes the non-city addressed emails from various organizations and some staff emails on items such personal holiday greetings, out of office responses, as well as the City’s newsletters.  Schlicht keeps all official communications between herself and staff, as well as email exchanges between council members and the public, and between council members themselves.  Schlicht maintains that she has her emails back to 2008 when she was elected to the City Council.

It appears that there is a disconnect between what Schlicht was told (never to delete emails) and what Wilberg did (delete an email within 40 days of receiving it).  It is this type of disconnect that raises the real possibility that important (or incriminating) documents are being deleted, and that is why Mission Viejo, as well as all other Orange County cities, needs to review its public document retention policies and ensure that its efforts err on the side of the public and open government.

Posted in Mission Viejo, Orange County | Tagged: , , , , | 3 Comments »

Campaign Finance Database Is Coming Soon

Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on November 27, 2013

I have completed the 2012 Campaign Finance Database and it will go up as a series on the blog starting next week. As a way to give our readers a taste of what they will get starting next week I am going to post the methodology behind the research today:

Methodology

Assignment

Clients have requested original research be conducted, and databases created for the 2012 election cycle[1] contributions to candidates who ran for County Offices, City Offices, School Districts, and Special Districts. Completed research may be found in the later parts of this document which was created from research beginning January 4th 2013 and ending November 18th 2013.

County Offices

  • County office research includes candidates who ran for Orange County Board of Supervisors and Orange County Board of Education.
  • The elections of Orange County Assessor, Auditor-Controller, Clerk-Recorder, District Attorney, Public Administrator, Sheriff-Coroner, Superintendent of Schools, and Treasurer-Tax Collector are not included in this database due to these elections taking place in 2014.
  • The “Form 460”[2] documents for each candidate running for these offices was acquired from the Orange County Registrar of Voters.
  • Once “Form 460” documents were acquired, the data from “Schedule A-Monetary Contributions Received”[3] was transferred to a Microsoft Excel database.
  • Once in the Excel database, each contribution was classified into a specific category for a candidate running for the office; Individuals, Unions, Businesses, Trade Associations, and Political Groups.
  • Once this data sort was finalized, Excel was used to calculate the total amount of money donated to that candidate in each category.
  • These steps were repeated for each candidate.
  • For purposes of this analysis, businesses are defined as a company that conducts any type of business.  Trade associations are defined as an organization that is founded and/or funded by businesses that operate in a specific business sector. Unions are defined as organizations of employees both in the private and public sector that are formed to advance the interests of their members. Individuals are defined as any individual person or couple. Political groups are defined as a Political Action Committee (PAC) which operates for political purposes (i.e. Political parties, candidate controlled committees, etc.)
  • This data once set, was then sent into chart format as well using a function in Microsoft Excel to show contributions (by category) in a pie chart to give a better visual depiction of where money came from for each candidate.
  • Finally, data from Excel was transferred into the later section of this document.

City Offices

  • City office research includes candidates that ran for City Councils, City Treasurers, City Clerks, and City Attorneys.
  • Certain races that did not take place in 2012 will not appear in this database.
  • The “Form 460” documents for each candidate running in these offices was acquired from the City Clerks of each individual city being researched.
  • Once “Form 460” documents were acquired, the data from “Schedule A-Monetary Contributions Received” was transferred to an Excel database.
  • Once in the Excel database, each contribution was classified into a specific category for a candidate running for the office: Individuals, Unions, Businesses, Trade Associations, and Political Groups.
  • Once this data sort was finalized, Excel was used to calculate the total amount of money donated to each candidates in each category.
  • These steps were repeated for each candidate.
  • For purposes of this analysis, businesses are defined as a company that conducts any type of business.  Trade associations are defined as an organization that is founded and/or funded by businesses that operate in a specific business sector. Unions are defined as organizations of employees both in the private and public sector that are formed to advance the interests of their members. Individuals are defined as any individual person or couple. Political groups are defined as a Political Action Committee (PAC) that operates for political purposes (i.e. Political parties, candidate controlled committees, etc.)
  • This data once set, was then sent into chart format as well using a function in Microsoft Excel to show contributions (by category) in a pie chart to give a better visual depiction of where money came from for each candidate.
  • Finally, data from Excel was transferred into this document.

School Districts

  • School District research included candidates who ran for Community College District, Union High School District, Unified School District, and Elementary School District.
  • Certain races that did not take place in 2012 will not appear in this database.
  • The “Form 460” documents for each candidate running in these offices was acquired from the Orange County Registrar of Voters.
  • Once “Form 460” documents were acquired, the data from “Schedule A-Monetary Contributions Received” was transferred to an Excel database.
  • Once in the Excel database, each contribution was classified into a specific category for a candidate running for the office: Individuals, Unions, Businesses, Trade Associations, and Political Groups.
  • Once this data sort was finalized, Excel was used to calculate the total amount of money donated to each candidates in each category.
  • These steps were repeated for each candidate.
  • For purposes of this analysis, businesses are defined as a company that conducts any type of business.  Trade associations are defined as an organization that is founded and/or funded by businesses that operate in a specific business sector. Unions are defined as organizations of employees both in the private and public sector that are formed to advance the interests of their members. Individuals are defined as any individual person or couple. Political groups are defined as a Political Action Committee (PAC) that operates for political purposes (i.e. Political parties, candidate controlled committees, etc.)
  • This data once set, was then sent into chart format as well using a function in Microsoft Excel to show contributions (by category) in a pie chart to give a better visual depiction of where money came from for each candidate.
  • Finally, data from Excel was transferred into this document.

Special Districts

  • Special District research includes candidates who ran for Community Services District, Water District, Sanitary District, Sewer District, Recreation/Park District, and Library District.
  • Certain races that did not take place in 2012 will not appear in this database.
  • The “Form 460” documents for each candidate running in these offices was acquired from the Orange County Registrar of Voters.
  • Once “Form 460” documents were acquired, the data from “Schedule A-Monetary Contributions Received” was transferred to an Excel database.
  • Once in the Excel database, each contribution was classified into a specific category for a candidate running for the office: Individuals, Unions, Businesses, Trade Associations, and Political Groups.
  • Once this data sort was finalized, Excel was used to calculate the total amount of money donated to each candidates in each category.
  • These steps were repeated for each candidate.
  • For purposes of this analysis, businesses are defined as a company that conducts any type of business.  Trade associations are defined as an organization that is founded and/or funded by businesses that operate in a specific business sector. Unions are defined as organizations of employees both in the private and public sector that are formed to advance the interests of their members. Individuals are defined as any individual person or couple. Political groups are defined as a Political Action Committee (PAC) that operates for political purposes (i.e. Political parties, candidate controlled committees, etc.)
  • This data once set, was then sent into chart format as well using a function in Microsoft Excel to show contributions (by category) in a pie chart to give a better visual depiction of where money came from for each candidate.
  • Finally, data from Excel was transferred into this document.

Variables & Other Issues

  • No other websites such as [http://www.followthemoney.org/] [http://www.opensecrets.org/] provide data as it relates to local campaign finance, as most data derived in research is from the California Secretary of State. This means that no other database exists which would provide a comparison for the data in this report.
  • The total amount of campaign contributions may appear slightly lower than might be expected, due to the amount of money that is spent on behalf of candidates through Independent Expenditures (I.E. s). This database consists only of money contributed directly to candidates.
  • Some candidates may have loaned money to their campaigns, which is also not included in this report.
  • Another variable is that reported numbers can change as candidates may amend original campaign finance reports and submit revised reports. All data in this report is accurate as of the day research was completed.

The accuracy of this database is heavily dependent on candidates/campaign treasurers accurately reporting data. Campaign data incorrectly reported due to human error is impossible to detect. Poor penmanship is another factor that causes transcription issues with this type of research.

 

[1] Includes all contributions reported by candidates running for local office on their “Form 460’s” which were turned in reporting contributions received from January 1st 2012 through December 31st 2012”

[2] “Form 460” is the official form as set by the Fair Political Practices Commission used by candidates running for office to report their campaign finance activity.

[3] This part of the “Form 460” includes information on who each contribution came from and what amount they donated to each campaign.

Posted in Campaign Finance, Orange County | Leave a Comment »

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 »

OC Clerk-Recorder Hugh Nguyen Fundraiser, Thursday, October 3

Posted by Newsletter Reprint on September 24, 2013

This came over the wire from the Hugh Nguyen for Clerk-Recorder 2014 campaign…

Hugh Nguyen

Posted in Orange County | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Tilt Heads: Chris Hansen and Orange County-Centric Campaign Consultant

Posted by Allen Wilson on September 16, 2013

When a story has a twist it makes many tilt their heads as questions start to evolve especially when it involve FPPC civil matters.

The Fair Political Practices Commission is a state watchdog campaign finance reporting agency created in 1974 due to passage of Proposition 9 by the California voters, which the initiative was known as the Political Reform Act (PRA).

CAMPAIGN-FINANCE-2

Last week, the Sacramento Bee reported that Chris Hansen settled a $50,000 fine with the FPPC due to failure to properly disclose the source of funding behind the ballot measure to force a public vote on the City of Sacramento arena subsidy.  The arena was to be used for the basketball team Sacramento Kings.

Chris Hansen is hedge fund manger who had desired to relocate the Sacramento Kings to Seattle, which never came to fruition.

The FPPC’s detailed 6 page report to the Commissioners gives a lengthy background information regarding the $50,000 settlement with Chris Hansen, but also mentions the names of Brandon Powers and Lysa Ray as the other two defendants agreeing to the fine.

Brandon Powers is an Orange County-centric campaign political consultant and Lysa Ray is an Orange County-based campaign treasurer.

Brandon Powers is the President-CEO of Powers Communications who managed campaigns for Diamond Bar Councilmembers Ling-Ling Chang and Steve Tye in 2009 and the unsuccessful campaign for GOP Attorney General candidate John Eastman in 2010.

Lysa Ray is the owner of Lysa Ray Campaign Services since 1991, which Ms. Ray has provided campaign finance reporting services for Jordan Brandman School Board in 2010, Larry Dick for State Assembly in 2008, Lorri Galloway for Orange County Supervisor in 2010, Harry Sidhu for State Senate in 2008, currently campaign treasurer for GOP Assembly candidate Diamond Bar Councilwoman Ling-Ling Chang.

What is so intriguing, immediately after the Sacramento Bee article went to print, Mr. Hansen gave his account with regards to the proposed FPPC settlement and what really happened of the events from May 15th NBA vote regarding the relocation of the Sacramento Kings and up to the FPPC fine.

The heads start to tilt as Mr. Hansen asserts:

At this time, a broad-based political committee had not yet been established, and I neither directed nor authorized Loeb & Loeb to make this expenditure on my behalf. During this entire process, I never spoke with, emailed, met, or had any correspondence with GoCo, Brandon Powers, STOP or Taxpayers for Safer Neighborhoods.  

Whoa!

According to the FPPC’s September 9th memo explains Mr. Powers role that could have put Mr. Hansen in the dark with regards to the signature gathering efforts:

…August 9, 2013, a representative for GOCO said political consultant Brandon Powers approached GOCO in order to hire GOCO to provide signature gathering services in Sacramento…

Mr. Hansen admits his error in judgment in the midst of the raw emotions from the get-go beginning on May 15th and never made any political contributions in his life:

Finally, although  I’ve never made any political donations or contributions in my life prior to this (including contributions to PAC’s), with the benefit of hindsight I also should not have relied solely on Loeb’s expertise and discretion in handling this matter and clearly should have asked more questions earlier in the process.

The FPPC role with regards to the Chris Hansen matter has been instrumental in enforcing the Political Reform Act to ensure campaign finance reporting are done in a transparent manner, because it is in the public interest regarding any issue much like the controversial Sacramento arena.

The next time any candidate or campaign committee desires to get themselves in the political mud it is best to get reputable campaign consultant and treasurer that knows what he or she is doing before getting a phone call from the FPPC that would amount to a tilt head.

Posted in 55th Assembly District, California, Orange County, State Assembly | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Unite OC Candidate Boot Camp

Posted by Newsletter Reprint on August 30, 2013

Unite OC is hosting a “Candidate Boot Camp that will take place over 6 days between October 7th and December 16th. Custom Campaigns has been invited as one of the guest instructors for this program and is looking forward to this opportunity.

Here is the information for the events:

UniteOC_Conservative_Candid

Posted in Orange County | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

55th AD Watch: Phillip Chen announces candidacy for State Assembly

Posted by Allen Wilson on July 29, 2013

OC Political just received this Press Release from Phillip Chen for Assembly Campaign:

Phillip Chen Reports $334,000 Raised, with $319,00 Cash on Hand for Assembly Campaign

Yorba Linda, CA – – Republican School Board Member Phillip Chen is reporting $334,000 raised through June 30, and $319,000 cash on hand in his newly formed Assembly committee. Chen, a member of the Walnut Valley Unified School Board, is running in the 55th Assembly district currently represented by Assemblyman Curt Hagman, who is not running for reelection due to term limits.

“I am deeply honored and grateful for the overwhelming support I am receiving from the community,” Chen said. “Our district is fortunate to be represented by Assemblyman Hagman and I look forward to continuing the standard he has set.”

Phillip Chen is a small business owner and USC Professor who was the top vote-getter in the Walnut Valley Unified School District Board election in November of 2011. He is a top advisor on health care issues to Supervisor Mike Antonovich and a reserve Deputy Sheriff for the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department.

“The legislature needs to focus on the important things that impact our quality of life: improving schools, keeping us safe and healthy and creating an environment that will allow our businesses to grow,” Chen stated. “Our local businesses face many threats, from mandates imposed by the President’s healthcare initiative to onerous state regulations to high fees and taxes. I believe my experience in education, law enforcement, business and on health issues will help me take the lead in the legislature on the issues that are most crucial to our district.”

Commenting on the impressive fundraising efforts, Chen consultant Dave Gilliard, stated, “Early fundraising ability is important to candidates. Most insiders use the initial fundraising numbers as a tool to gauge a candidate’s viability and local support. This fundraising number will show Phillip has both the support in the community and the resources to fully fund a victorious campaign.”

Phillip’s prior experience includes being appointed by Governor Pete Wilson to serve in the Governor’s Office of Criminal Justice Planning, where he worked on legislation involving foster care, gang prevention, drug awareness, and mental health.

Phillip is a Doctoral Candidate at USC, he has a Master’s in Public Administration from USC and holds a B.A. in Communications from Cal State Fullerton. In addition, Phillip currently teaches Public Administration as an Adjunct Professor at USC.

Posted in 55th Assembly District, Brea, La Habra, Orange County, Placentia, State Assembly, Yorba Linda | Tagged: , , | 1 Comment »

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