Dear Friends,   Almost every election I am asked about the judges on the ballot. Often I do not have a recommendation one way or the other. On this ballot you are going to find a long list of justices of the courts you are being asked to either approve with a yes vote or disapprove with a no vote. Let me give you some background about the elections for the California judicial system that might also help understand the old axiom “Elections have consequences.”   California’s State Judicial System   In California’s state judicial system (not Federal Court where the judges have lifetime appointments) there are basically three levels of judges. The first level is the Superior Court sometimes known as a “trial judge”. This is the judge you might meet if you have to file a lawsuit or “go to court” for any reason. You would be in a courtroom with only one judge who makes all of the decisions (or oversees the jury who makes many decisions at a trial). The other two categories of judges are actually “justices” who sit on the California Supreme Court or an intermediate Court of Appeals.   Superior Court Judicial Elections Superior Court judges are either elected to a six year term or appointed by the Governor and then stand for election at the next primary election (normally in June). An attorney who wishes to challenge a judge or run for an open seat (due to a judge passing away or who has retired) will become a candidate for that position. Sometimes there are several candidates for that one seat. If there are more than two candidates running and no one candidate gets 50% plus one vote, the top two vote getters have a run off election in November’s general election. This year in June in Orange County there were several Superior Court elections and only one of them resulted in a run off election. In that election attorney Peggy Huang is one of the top two vote getters and I highly recommend you vote for Peggy (https://www.peggyhuang.com/).    California Supreme Court and Court of Appeal Retention “Elections” When there is an opening on a Court of Appeal or the California Supreme Court, the sitting Governor appoints a person (often a Superior Court judge or a law school professor) and he or she is confirmed by the California Commission on Judicial Appointments. The justice then will stand for a “retention” election at the next general election (November of that year) and all justices stand for a “retention” election every twelve years. At this election the voters are asked if they wish to retain a justice (by voting yes) or to not retain a justice (by voting no). There is no opposition candidate running for that appeals court seat. Most often these justices are “retained” by yes votes of greater than 90% or even 95% of the votes cast. Most often if you ask a voter why they voted yes, they would have no idea why or what the justices’ rulings have been. It is rare that a justice of the Supreme Court or Court of Appeals is ousted in this fashion. They normally retire or die in office. But it has happened before. In 1986 Governor George Deukmejian and many, many business interests and conservative elected officials grew tired of what is often called the Rose Bird Court (named for then Chief Justice Rose Bird). This court was famous for issuing what many people believe were poorly reasoned and even emotional decisions that hurt individual liberties and business interests. The governor and the others organized (and raised funds for) a campaign to convince voters to vote “no” to oust several of the most liberal justices on the Supreme Court. They were successful and all of the three justices involved were ousted at the November 1986 general election.  What happened after that? Governor Deukmejian then appointed new justices including then new Chief Justice Malcom Lewis who served until 1996 when he retired.     Today’s Situation  Fast forward to today, there is no campaign to oust any sitting Supreme Court or Court of Appeal justice. Therefore it is highly unlikely that by just word of mouth enough No votes would occur to oust any sitting justice today. But even if that did happen, who would appoint a new set of justices to the Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal? Governor Gavin Newsom! The last thing I would want to do is allow Gavin Newsom to have the opportunity to reshape the California Courts so dramatically and so much more to the left.    So what is the answer to make changes in the California judicial system – better Governors and legislators being elected! Thus to the point that elections have consequences! Do you like the current United States Supreme Court after President Trump and the then Republican U.S. Senate appointed and confirmed three much more conservative justices? Well that was the result of many, many years of conservatives electing U.S. Senators and a President that in turn appointed conservative justices.    Can that happen in California? Yes but it is going to take many years to reverse the course of our state’s electoral politics. Basically re-educating the average voter why voting “liberal” is not going to get you a good result including a better state judicial system (unless you are a committed progressive liberal, then you are quite happy with the current state of affairs in California and welcome conservatives to move to Texas and Florida).    There is no “quick fix” to the problem of years of voters voting into office progressive and aggressive politicians like Gavin Newsom. And I firmly believe it is the voters, not the elected politicians, who are most at fault for the outcomes of electing these types of people – high taxes, regulations, high government fees, employers fleeing the state, etc., etc. The power is in the voters hands to make this change and it is our responsibility as conservatives to educate them on why that is a better choice.        Blessings!

Each election I post my “Craig’s PICs” voter recommendations. For those interested, here they are:

Over my career I have worked with several non-union construction groups. With each organization the message to elected officials has been essentially the same, “If you restrict 80% of the construction workforce from working on your projects, your costs will go up.” It is obvious to anyone who has taken Economics 101. Unfortunately, this message was ignored by Republican Midway City Sanitary District Director Chi Charlie Nguyen. The Project Labor Agreement that Nguyen and his colleagues passed in 2021 has now come back to cost Midway City Sanitation District taxpayers over $2.5 million dollars – and that is just for ONE project!

Midway City Sanitary District does not post its agenda packets (including staff reports for agenda items) on its website. So information is limited, but it appears that last April, all 5 Midway City Sanitation District Directors voted to approve a Project Workforce Agreement (PWA) with Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council for their District Addition, Solar and Remodel Project. (https://www.midwaycitysanitarydistrict.com/files/a5114e8c1/04-20-2021_agenda.pdf)

In September 2021, the Midway City Sanitary District (MCSD) began accepting bids to build additions to the Midway City Sanitary District offices and a remodel of the Midway City Sanitary District offices. The original bid deadline was September 14, 2021, with an estimate of $2,800,000.

On October 5, 2021 the board rejected all bids. The board voted to advertise for bids again on December 7, 2021. Director Tyler Diep expressed concern that the the qualifications were too restrictive and they wouldn’t get enough bids. (https://www.midwaycitysanitarydistrict.com/files/b434a88f8/12-07-2021_minutes.pdf).

Diep was correct. After several more rounds of bidding, the estimate is now $4,650,000 and the bids that actually came in were even higher than that! The following six (6) Bids were received:

1. $5,401,240.00
2. $5,499,483.00
3. $5,607,231.00
4. $5,656,235.41
5. $6,745,218.74
6. $7,210,000.00

So if the initial bid estimate was $2.8 million and the MCSD accepted the lowest bid now available, the PLA will have cost the district $2,601,240 (about $2.6 million.)

If the MCSD accepts the highest bid of $7.21 million, then the PLA will have cost taxpayers over $4.4 million.

Sadly, this isn’t the first time Chi Charlie Nguyen has refused to defend taxpayers. Last year Councilman Chi Charlie Nguyen made a motion to approve a ballot measure keeping a 1% sale tax rate hike artificially high for another TEN YEARS! Thankfully, he failed to get enough votes. (https://voiceofoc.org/2020/08/westminster-council-again-fails-to-act-on-sales-tax-measure-as-financial-crisis-looms/.)

“But why should we hold Chi Charlie Nguyen responsible if all 5 Directors voted for the wasteful, discriminatory Project Labor Agreement?” you might ask.

To me, the answer is simple. You expect liberal politicians like Sergio Contreras or Andrew Nguyen to overspend and waste taxpayer money. It is part of their political philosophy. Tyler Diep has already come out as a PLA supporter in cities like Anaheim and Garden Grove. Mark Nguyen did not vote for the PLA because he was appointed to the Board of Directors on September 7, 2021 to fill the vacancy left by Director Margie Rice who passed away on July 25, 2021. 

You do not expect taxpayer rip-offs and overspending from Republicans like Chi Charlie Nguyen.

Unfortunately, Midway City Sanitary District voters can’t hold Nguyen accountable until November 2024. However voters in the City of Westminster will only have to wait a little over 100 days to hold Chi Charlie Nguyen accountable for his special interest deal that wasted over $2.5 million taxpayer dollars.

With rising inflation and gas prices, Chi Charlie Nguyen’s waste of our tax money could not come at a worse time for taxpayers. And who knows how much waste he will be responsible for when the final inflated contract is awarded.

Starting Monday, May 9, 2022, voters will start seeing their ballots in the mail. While “election day” is June 7, 2022, the vast majority of voters will likely vote early via the U.S. Mail, a secure dropbox, an early voting center or by taking their ballots to the Registrar of Voters office in Santa Ana, CA.

For those interested in my voter recommendations you can access them here:

I hope you find them helpful. I also recommend you check out Robyn Nordell’s voter web site at https://robynnordell.com/county/orange/ At this site you can find Robyn’s recommendations, mine and some other friends. We don’t always agree but we love that!

Whenever I look at this photograph it reminds me that Freedom is not Free – as we celebrate Memorial Day this year let us never forget the men and women who “gave their last measure of devotion” by laying down their lives so that we could live in freedom.  We should all enjoy our BBQ, going to the beach or park or whatever you like to do (even in this strange COVID-19 situation we find ourselves in) on a holiday weekend.  But we should always remember those who fought and died to allow us that freedom and liberty – and never take those liberties for granted.

On Memorial Day I always remember my Great Uncle Peter Powell who died a year or so after the end of World War I – from complications of mustard gas he suffered in the trenches of France. Because of that I was never able to meet him.  But I honor him and look forward to the day I will meet him.  On that day I will say “Thank you Uncle Peter”.

For those of you who are too young to remember this photo – it was taken on June 6, 1044 – D-Day when the allies landed on the beaches of Normandy, France to liberate Europe and topple Nazi Germany.

These voter guides came over the wire from the Lincoln Club and Atlas PAC…

Atlas PAC:

March Primary Election Voter Guide February 26, 2020

National

President – Donald Trump Vice President – Mike Pence

U.S. Congress

California, 4th CD – Tom McClintock California, 8th CD – Tim Donnelly California, 14th CD – Devin Nunes California, 25th CD – Mike Garcia California, 28th CD – Eric Early California, 39th CD – Young Kim California, 45th CD – Don Sedgwick California, 48th CD – Michelle Steel California, 49th CD – Brian Maryott  California, 50th CD – Carl DeMaio Ohio, 4th CD – Jim Jordan New York, 21st CD – Elise Stefanik

California

State Senate CA State Senate, SD 28 – Melissa Melendez CA State Senate, SD 33 – Ling Ling Chang CA State Senate, SD 37 – John Moorlach

State Assembly

CA State Assembly, 42nd AD – Andrew Kotyuk CA State Assembly, 55th AD – Phillip Chen CA State Assembly, 68th AD – Steven Choi CA State Assembly, 72nd AD – Janet Nguyen CA State Assembly, 73rd AD – Laurie Davies CA State Assembly, 74th AD – Diane Dixon

Ballot Propositions

Proposition 13 – NO

Orange County

Orange County Board of Supervisors, District 1 – Andrew Do Orange County Board of Supervisors, District 3 – Don Wagner Orange County Board of Education, Area 1 – Jim Palmer Orange County Board of Education, Area 3 – Ken Williams Orange County Board of Education, Area 1 – Tim Shaw Measures B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N – NO

About Atlas PAC Atlas is an organization made up of business, political, and community professionals who share a passion for free enterprise, limited government, reduced government regulatory burdens, low taxation, and individual liberty. Atlas furthers its ideals by funding candidates and causes who aggressively advocate the values of Atlas.