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Yorba Linda Police and Politics: A commentary

Posted by Brenda Higgins on July 22, 2012

Disclaimer, I was a candidate for Yorba Linda City Council in 2010. I ran against John Anderson, Tom Lindsey and Jan Horton. I was endorsed by Councilman Jim Winder. I have many personal friends who are employed by the Brea Police Department, by virtue of my residency in Yorba Linda for more than 36 years. I have many professional relationships with employees of the Orange County Sheriff Department by virtue of my job as an attorney who spends a great deal of time in Orange County Superior Court. I supported Sheriff Sandra Hutchens in her bid for reelection. I am a recently elected member of the OC Republican Central Committee, representing the 55th district. I am not a candidate for any public office at this time. I feel compelled to make this exhaustive disclosure because of the ubiquitous misinformation and spin that has characterized the recent police contract controversy.

My recent blog post on OCPolitical, in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, July 18, 2012, was following the vote of the Majority 3 of the Yorba Linda City Council to award the contract to the OSCD for the next five years, to begin in May 2013. I have written about a dozen blogs on this subject, posted here on OC Political. I attended five candidate forums during the 2010 election in which this subject was discussed. I have reviewed the recent Ralph Anderson Reports, the “matrix”that compared the bids, the bids themselves and watched or attended the meetings in November, April and July in which the police contract issue was “on the agenda”. This is in quotes because the issue of actual notice of the ramifications of the discussion in November remains an open issue.

If you came to this blog to find ratification of your position, whatever that is, you look in vain. I have said before I am an equal opportunity offender. I am appalled by the behavior of almost everyone who has been outspoken on this issue. The advocates on every side have been disrespectful to each other, to the agencies, to the process of government and to the agencies involved and the men and women in uniform who serve us. Shame on all of us for allowing decorum and civility in our town to suffer this final and undignified death in our midst.

Sheriff Hutchens and The OCSD

There has been propaganda and commentary insinuating unethical behavior on the part of the Sheriff and/or the Sheriffs union. I have no empirical information to substantiate any of the allegations and have seen none provided by the opponents of the contract with the Sheriff. The scare tactics are prolific and these boogy-man type allegations and sound bytes presume the ignorance of our citizenry. There is no reason to resort to fabrication and embellishment, and this seems to be standard procedure in this fight. There is no evidence to support the allegations of any wrong doing on the part of the Sheriff. I am in possession of no information, nor have I met any actual witnesses to the alleged canvassing and campaigning allegedly done by the Sheriff and their union.

There was, at the meeting on Tuesday, an Officer Dominguez, who apparently is a representative of the Sheriff Union. He spoke and gave John Anderson the “thumbs up” and said that anyone who “puts bad guys behind bars is all aces in my book”, presumably referring to Mr. Anderson’s job as a Deputy Prosecutor. If Officer Dominguez was there to address any issues of the alleged conflict of interest, he accomplished nothing except to shoot himself in the proverbial foot. His adoration for Mr. Anderson being right out front, his lack of residency in Yorba Linda also fairly apparent in that he did not state his name and length of residency as speakers traditionally do. Whether or not there has been active canvassing and campaigning, my question is what is his “dog in this fight”. If the process is to be fair and objective, there should be no outside participation. All of this is also very curious in the face of John Anderson’s MEASURE Y, the ethics ordinance that was passed in 2010. The guts of that measure, as promoted by John Anderson were to stop special, and outside interests, or an AGENCY THAT HAD A CONTRACT with the city, from financially supporting a candidate. Well maybe not direct cash contributions from the union itself, but the presence of its members, leaders, and any number of personal and $99 checks to Mr. Anderson’s campaign or those of his two flunkies, would be appropriate under the provisions of Measure Y.

So, maybe being an effective lawyer and prosecutor is not only about putting bad guys behind bars, but crafting laws that appear to accomplish transparency and due process, while preserving access to your friends. If so, Mr. Anderson certainly is “all aces”.

I am in possession of no evidence that there is a personal relationship or professional advantage existing between the Majority 3 and Sheriff Hutchens. The rhetoric hurled at her seems to be just that. My knowledge of her is this. She was comfortably retired from a long term career in law enforcement in Los Angeles County. Her husband was also retired from law enforcement, they resided in LA County. After the melt down and criminal investigation that tarnished the OCSD, Sandra Hutchens, through a long and arduous process, was granted the job. Why she chose to take on this mammoth undertaking, and interrupt an otherwise peaceful and earned retirement, does not make much sense to ordinary people. Leaders who have the call of leadership, Public servants who have the call to public service, answer it. Perhaps there is no other explanation. She has undertaken a job that not many people would have wanted. My impression is that she has cleaned house, implemented new programs and procedures to make sure that the utmost in ethics and accountability occur in her department, and restored public faith in an agency that had lost it.

I get that people in Yorba Linda do not like outsiders. It is interesting that this is the platform and ideal that got the Majority 3 elected, but to disparage the personal and public reputation of the Sheriff agency or it’s leader without substantiation is uncalled for. The union is a different story, but still without substantiation, smoke and not fire, the rhetoric and scare tactics ought to be toned down significantly.

Brea Police and Actual Notice

Tom Lindsey articulately, and with pained honesty, set forth his concerns on Tuesday night about the manner in which this has proceeded. There has been very little due process in the process. I do know that the city staff has been tormented with this struggle and the veritable race to complete these reports, in the face of enormous emotion from the electeds and the citizens.

There was no actual notice to Brea PD or the citizens of Yorba Linda that there would be a vote in November 2011 to terminate the policing contract. There was no actual notice to the bidding agencies or to the citizens that there would be a vote to accept the Sheriff’s bid at the April 2012 meeting. That is the vote that was taken close to 3 am. “Actual” notice, as opposed to the proverbial writing on the wall. Feel free to peruse my previous blogs on this issue prior to the April vote, to some of us, it was NO surprise.

John Anderson was elected in 2006, six years ago. Since that time, he has consistently maintained that he was in favor of replacing Brea PD with OCSD. This was no hidden agenda, it has always appeared to me, to be a primary and fundamental goal of his candidacy. He has never at anytime that I have observed him in public, hidden his disdain for Brea PD and their contract with the city of Yorba Linda. Many residents and officers of Brea PD expressed to me during the 2010 campaign, their awareness of this.

My question then is, what have the city managers, electeds, and higher ups in the Police Department in Brea done to prepare for this? I was disappointed to say the least to see the presentation at the April meeting. It was lack luster in the kindest analysis. The proposed contract price was millions more than the others. There was an eleventh hour attempt to decrease the price, that was disregarded by the Majority 3 as too little too late. There was a flyer distributed in the city of Brea to residents when the offer to further reduce the price was sent, to express displeasure that Brea should subsidize Yorba Linda law enforcement. That was precisely the argument for replacing Brea PD in Yorba Linda that we were subsidizing them. It’s like fighting over space in the life boats while leaving the Titanic. Everybody can row together or we can all sink. The lack of coordination, the lack of cohesiveness, the lack of team effort, after a 42 year contract is astonishing. Everyone should have seen this coming like a train, and EARLY efforts to strengthen the relationship and spirit of working together should have been undertaken. The impression that came from Brea’s presentation in April was that they had already lost.

There is no way to quantify institutional knowledge. Starting over with new staff is a concept that is repeatedly and utterly lost on this Majority 3 council. They have consistently replaced each and every city official and contracted provider that they desired to do away with, and have replaced them with individuals or entities that appear to be beholden to them or at least Mr. Anderson, from lower level officials to the stated hit list positions from Anderson’s campaigns, included but not limited to the City Manager, (replaced 3 times during his tenure), the City Attorney and firm, and now the policing agency.

This probably won’t be the end of the world as the Brea PD supporters make it out to be. It will most certainly not be the extensive cost savings that the Majority 3 and the Sheriff advocates make it out to be. It was not in anyway properly noticed. It was not communicated to the citizens in a manner calculated to provide notice of the issue and right to participate, but it was, to those who know or should have known what’s going on at City Hall……100% predictable.

Recall of John Anderson

Really?!? Really. Of all the dumb things that the hyper-energetic politicos in Yorba Linda have come up with, this is the dumbest.

John Anderson, the “all aces” prosecutor who spends all day putting bad guys behind bars, then takes off his cape and trapses over to City Council Chambers to make the “hard call” on things like immigration and fiscal responsibility. To the uninformed voter, he’s the guy they pick off the list to vote for first. No one is against prosecuting bad guys and putting them behind bars. Even when the uninformed voter looks a little farther, they find he’s married for 30-something years to the same lovely wife, successful kids, church attender and Republican. Recall this guy? It will require a LOT of education on subtle issues that are not only hard to explain but hard to sell. He voted to reduce the city’s police contract expenditure by several million dollars. How do you sell “recall” on those factors. He was the top vote getter in 2010, this was his second term.

He is rude, condescending, manipulative and underhanded. There is no evidence he acted illegally, unethically, immorally in moving toward awarding the police contract to OCSD. A lot of people don’t like it, but a lot of people do. He disregarded appropriate public discourse and due process that should be part of an open and transparent government, but it does not appear he broke any rule or law or acted unethically. He was not nice, and probably over agressive in pursuing his agenda.

This is the type of rhetoric that backfires on his critics. They grab at thin allegations, and it works to discredit them and not him. For example, there have been allegation that he is biased against women. That may be true, but his personal behavior toward me has always been professional. We oppose each other and disagree on almost every issue facing the city, but he greets me with a hello and shakes my hand every time. My impression is that he may not like women being present in his forum, but if so that’s a personal feeling, not substantiated by his behavior. He directed biting comments my way during the candidate forum, as he did toward Jan Horton. Is that because we are women or because we were opposing candidates? We were the only ones directly opposing him and his positions. To extrapolate that into prejudice or bias against women is simply silly and insulting to the process of vetting viable candidates. It is not a supportable allegation and makes those propounding it lack credibility. Those who oppose Anderson repeatedly fall into this trap. They read into his behavior, he baits them, they fall for it, crying foul, and upon further examination, there are no facts only subtle inferences. They wind up looking like histrionic sore losers. These feelings and intuitions, the between the lines interpretations, lack real substance and do not a successful recall make.

There is a simple, cost effective way to eliminate the influential stranglehold that Anderson has over the council. STOP the re-election of his cohorts, Schwing and Rikel, and prevent any additional crony of his to obtain Jim Winders’(termed-out) seat. Without his yes-men of the Majority 3 behind him, he would be reduced to the one vote he is accorded as an elected councilmember, and would be forced to be persuasive and compromise like the rest of them.

The effort, resources and funds currently behind the recall, if redirected and put behind viable candidates, would accomplish the same goal of disarming him. The effect of the recall is to take resources, money and manpower away from creating an effective campaign against Rikel and Schwing. It again, appears to me, that the opposition has been “played” by Anderson. He’s got them angered and running in multiple directions, the recall against him is destined to fail, and without strong opposition, Rikel and Schwing sail quietly back into their seats. The classic bait and switch. Watch closely, Anderson and Schwing do it at EVERY meeting. Wake up, you’ve been played again.

I am an idealist. I think the process works, and good people do the right thing….once they find the courage and motivation to do it. In the current city council, all activities are driven by the Majority 3, and their opponents. In my opinion, even the opponents of the Majority 3 are firmly in their pocket as they are skillfully played and their misguided anger continues to get the best of them. This ridiculous status quo exists because we, the citizens allow it. The lack of citizen involvement because of the high conflict and animosity, is precisely the reason it rages on. If you are not willing to put a candidates sign in your yard, or write a check or voice your thoughts, or attend a meeting or become informed and form an opinion, because you fear retribution of one side or the other, then you can point fingers at the small percentage of involved parties mentioned here, but the bottom line is, you are the problem. Citizens sit home quietly while these personal agendas are carried out. So long as that continues, so will the status quo. It is currently John Anderson’s city, we just live here.

Posted in Yorba Linda | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments »

Yorba Linda Has a New Police Service

Posted by Brenda Higgins on July 18, 2012

Yorba Linda City Council held a meeting to review and vote upon the contract with Orange County Sheriff this evening, Tuesday July 17, 2012. The meeting was fairly predictable both in the vote, the alignments and the participants.

Clearly the city anticipated a large turn out and had overflow seating in City Hall, in the event the Council Chambers could not house everyone. It was however, not a substantial overflow crowd.

The public was provided with a time for comments and the commentary as well as the crowd, were unusually well behaved. The only commentor I felt I could firmly get behind, was my friend Jeff Winter. He praised each and every one of the Council members for their participation and dedication to this community, and thanked them for it. Ed Rakochy praised the majority 3 who have voted to end the policing contract with Brea and begin a new relationship with OCSD, and called them “courageous”. Tony D’Amico stated that having the OCSD policing Yorba Linda was the “next best thing” to having our own police department. Julia Lawson put the majority 3 “on notice” that a variety of legal remedies were being sought against them including complaint to the office of the District Attorney and convening a Grand Jury if necessary, stemming from alleged Brown Act violations. Greg Gillaspy asserted that Council should have spent more time doing research and consulting with sources like OC Watchdog. Jan Horton fired off a plethora of facts, figures and details, as well as restating her offense that Nancy Rikel provided email addresses to ‘Protect Yorba Linda’, an organization supportive of the OCSD contract being implemented in Yorba Linda.

At the close of public comment, Jim Winder reminded the audience and Sheriff Hutchens of his many years of service with Brea PD, in which he managed the contract with Yorba Linda for more than 11 years. He asked some fairly simple questions and had some difficulty getting responsive answers. He expressed concern about “transparency” which really amounted to the repeated complaint of some of the commentors, that there was a serious lack of specificity in the contract. There was discussion of the hiring process and timing of that, which seems obviously unanswerable without resolution of whether the contract was actually being granted or not. The more troubling discussion came when Winder questioned the Sheriff about unfunded pension liability. The bottom line of that discussion was this, Anderson, Protect Yorba Linda and other proponents of the contact with OCSD continue to state that the OSCD and the contract with Yorba Linda has “no unfunded pension liability”. The Sheriff in an uncharacteristically unpolished fashion, repeated her non-responsive answer several times, essentially that there is no ADDITIONAL cost added for unfunded pension liability. In essence, Mr. Winder was looking for what is the PERCENTAGE of the payments under this contract are attributed to the unfunded pension liability, the answer finally came from one of the support staff at the meeting with the Sheriff, which was that it’s about 20%. Mr. Winder also commented that he had been involved in the implementation of the Brea PD substation at Arroyo Park, indicating that it is sorely inadequate for the purposes that the Sheriff’s proposal indicates it will utilize that facility for.

Mr. Winder’s displeasure with the process and inevitable outcome was apparent.

Mr. Anderson only posed a few questions in his portion of the discussion. These were contrived and were really questions to the Sheriff representatives about the Brea PD proposal. Mr. Anderson is a litigator but apparently is not aware of the “lacks foundation” objection. In the kangaroo court manner in which this has proceeded, Brea was excluded from participation in this meeting.

Four more weeks is all that Tom Lindsey advocated in a pre-written statement that he read. I generally am not a fan of speech reading, but this was very nicely stated. In an equivocal and dignified manner, which is atypical of any presentation at a Yorba Linda City Council meeting. He set forth the facts and the timeline which effectively and politely pointed out the magnitude of the problems with how this has all transpired. Mr. Anderson’s later proclamation of transparency rang hollow after Mr. Lindsey’s calm and polite articulation of the facts.

Nancy Rikel’s irrelevant, rhetorical comments, were typical of Councilwoman Rikel, not typical of citizen Nancy Rikel when she was a regular at the podium. Polished and articulate, she said essentially nothing, except that she will vote predictably with the majority

Mr. Anderson, in characteristic fashion, begins condescending and snide, drawing a predictable reaction from someone in the crowd. Mark Schwing, in their usual good-cop/bad-cop routine, stated that it had been such a nice evening of civility that someone should not ruin it now. He did berate Brea PD in a variety of ways, while he said he meant no disrespect to Brea PD. He mentioned the recall effort against him and noted there were “numerous” (?) Political blogs and facebook pages directed at him.

　

Mr. Schwing (who technically is the current mayor, but only because he and his two buddies decided it would be neat to step over Jim Winder when it was his turn to be mayor) rambled off some more statistics and his spin on them, selling his view that it’s “time” to get this contract signed.

The rhetoric that has erupted on both sides of this issue have been outrageous, often inaccurate and unnecessarily angry and combative in its tone. From the looks of the crowd in attendance tonight, the propaganda has been pushed forward by the usual participants, along the usual us and them lines. An Officer Dominguez was present and spoke, he did not mention whether he was a resident of Yorba Linda, but it was confirmed that he was with the Sheriff union and represented to the council, when questioned, that none of the efforts by Protect Yorba Linda were funded or orchestrated by the union. It was effectively raised as a real concern by Mr. Lindsey that the implementation of the OCSD service would introduce a large union influence in Yorba Linda that we have previously been fortunate to avoid.

Just as the rest of the evening, the end was entirely predictable and no surprises, no acquiescing, no thoughtful consideration of the other side of the argument and no indication that time and/or restraint and research may reveal evidence to change anyone’s mind. In a vote taken at 12:21 am, Wednesday morning, the majority 3, Anderson, Schwing and Rikel voting for the immediate signing of the police contract with the OCSD.  Winder and Lindsey voting against.  Lindsey’s motion to table the vote for 4 weeks was run over and ignored.

The implementation of the contract is uncertain and not set forth in the contract. The contract with Brea officially ends in May 2013.

Posted in 55th Assembly District, State Assembly, Yorba Linda | Tagged: , , , , | 1 Comment »

Police Conflict Brewing in Brea

Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on June 25, 2012

In a story that looks like it could have come from The Maury Povich Show, a conflict appears to be brewing between the Brea Police Department and the Orange County Sheriffs Department.

H/T to reader Allen Wilson who sent me this flyer that is apparently being passed around at supermarkets in the City of Brea:

Clearly the Orange County Sheriffs Department already has the upper hand with the decision being made by the Yorba Linda City Council to give them the contract. This is actually a wise tactical move to ensure that enough pressure is applied in Brea to stamp out any threat to the contract.

Brea Councilmembers are obviously going to be worried about their own city in an election year and will unlikely push the issue further for fear of losing votes in November. The political season is upon us and decisions are often weighed carefully by consultants on what impact it will have on voters.

With the Brea PD going up against the OCSD though it should make for an interesting November election both on Yorba Linda and Brea.

Posted in Brea, Yorba Linda | 1 Comment »

Yorba Linda Police Contract: The Latest

Posted by Brenda Higgins on April 29, 2012

There is a facebook page promoting a recall effort of the 3 council members who voted last week to terminate the 42 year relationship between the Brea Police Department and the Orange County Sherrif.  I have at other posts on OC Political, expressed what I know and my thoughts about how this vote to terminate the contract with Brea PD came about, so I will try not belaver those things further.  However, the debate rages on, with not uncommon alignments.  There is still the Pro-Brea PD facebook page I mentioned earlier, which now invites its readers to visit the Recall page.  While the Recall page gained pretty a pretty rapidly expanding fan base in the first few hours it was up, it’s growth and popularity seems to have sputtered.

Two of the three who made this decision, (again from prior posts on OC Political, note that these three are the majority controlling vote on every issue, systematically vote together and annihilate any opposition)  are up for election in November. 

Schwing and Rikel have made it public that they will seek re-election, in November 2012.  That is only 7 months from now, and in a Presidential election year, voter turnout should be high.   Even before their vote on the Police contract last week, they both were touting their accomplishments as “fiscal conservatives” in seeking a competitive bid process for the police services. The writing has been on that wall for years now.  Mr. Anderson and his cohorts have made their agenda to replace Brea PD with OC Sheriff no secret.  Also not surprising in the “competitive” bid process, Anaheim PD, cheaper than Brea, closer than the Sheriff, already staffed and housed in close proximinty to Yorba Linda, received no votes.  Competitive bid process indeed.

John Anderson, the third vote on awarding the contract to the Sheriff, was just elected to his second term in November 2010.  He was the top vote getter in that race, just 18 months ago.

I am hearing rumors of a referendum in the works, but have seen no actual information, website, literature or anyone claiming responsibility.

I can not imagine where a Recall effort will go. The voters in Yorba Linda, as in many local political climates, have a fairly short attention span. While this is a shocking development to many, there are those who are as enthusiastically bidding Brea PD farewell.  The usual political actives in town have been very vocal and involved, attending and speaking at every meeting, but those usual disgruntled few, do not a Recall make.  There is also no bank roll for any of this Recall/Referendum effort as we have seen in other successful local recalls.

My disclaimer is this, I lost in that November 2010 election to John Anderson.  I have a tremendous dislike for his politics, what has seemed like a clearly personal agenda on every issue, and the thug politics tactics employed by his supporters.  During that campaign I was daily contacted by residents who vowed their vote but for a variety of reasons would not in any way publicly disclose support of someone other than Anderson.  The reasons ranged from being an employee in the same County department as Anderson, needing a variance or permit, or road work in their neighborhood, to having a client or customer who was a member of the YLRRR, being afraid of losing a contract or funding from the city, the list goes on.  The agressive retribution of this group has been well known. 

John Anderson was however, elected by a clear margin and in this situation with the police contract vote, I see no evidence of wrongoding, nothing illegal or unethical in the maner in which this vote came about.  I think it was inappropriate, somewhat underhanded, and am sad that Brea Police were not treated as a team member and efforts made to improve the relationship, service and shared economics.  It is also amazing to me that 3 elected officials in the course of one 5 hour meeting can award a five year, $10 million contract, but there is no evidence that any legal bar exists to prevent it. This self serving behavior and tactics have been par for the course with John Anderson’s cohorts and any candidates of the YLRRR, but Recall? 

At the time of the 2010 election in spite of the ample evidence that this was the manner in which these council members would continue to, and had done business in this city, Anderson was re-elected.  Since he and his companions have dominated the council, the city has been through 4 city managers, rewritten a long standing contract and replaced the city attorneys,  (Again, no secret that Anderson intended to and did replace the prior law firm with one of his choosing) and in general they have micromanaged and criticized every city department and/or contract that was in place when they came to power.  A wholesale effort to replace anyone and everyone who was not “one-of-us” was undertaken.  We as a city, elected and re-elected them. 

To me, a recall effort only furthers the dissention and distrust that currently exists in and with our city government.   The inflammatory histrionics that necessarily come with a recall effort are going to be much like scratching an open wound.  I won’t support any recall.  I don’t like this council, but we have the government we elected.  Sore losers are neither effective or persuasive and responding to thug politics with more thug politics is disrespectful to the process, and something we should be working to avoid and not encourage.

The contract with Brea PD does not end until May 2013.  There will have to be determinations about transistions and logistics.  I am eager to see how these things pan out and watch as the Sheriff attempts to implement their very enthusiastic and overly ambitious proposals, including setting up a whole new station while saving the city over a million dollars each year over the next 5 years. 

If the costs are amortized over the life of the contract, then who bears the  actual start up costs?   The simple answer would be the County.  As a resident of Yorba Linda, I am also a resident of the county right? So, I pick up the tab either way.  It just seems that now, when there’s an overrun, my neighbors in the farther corners of the county are going to help me pick up the tab.  I sure appreciate that.

I also wish that all the Sheriff fans would stop talking about all the impressive special forces and technology the Sheriff will bring to Yorba Linda.  Please carefully read the proposal, most of those impressive services we already had access to.  Nothing new, not a bonus, we already were getting them as county residents. 

I understand there is another city staff report in the works, presumably related to implementation and transition.  I have not been able to get the links on the city website to work, but the information,  the staff report when it’s done and an agenda for the upcoming meeting are always found there on the city website.  The next Council meeting is Tuesday evening May 1, in the City Council Chambers.  Public Comment on non-agenda items is generally first.  If you have something to say to your elected officials, you should get there early and plan on staying for the duration.  It is not uncommon for these meetings to go well past midnight.  This issue of the police contract has garnered a good deal of public input.  Pretty much all of it ignored, but if you want to exercise your right to say something, it is there for you to exercise.

Be clear on the fact that in November, there are 3 seats open on the Yorba Linda  city council.  Anderson is safe.  Shwing and Rikel are incumbents running again, but could be replaced.  Winder is termed out, so his seat is open.  If we follow the trend of blindly re-electing incumbents, we will have the same exact council we have now, the 3 who control and 2 who should just stay home because their vote and their presence does not matter.  Imagine this, we could also elect 3 independent thinkers, unalligned with any political action committee and citizens might then have an atual voice with the goings on in our city.   If you were one of the majority of the supporters of Brea PD who attended the meeting last Thursday, you know what it is like to be ignored.  Vote and support independent candidates who are not owned by YLRRR, this seems the only viable option at this point, but whether residents will actually stand up and speak up remains to be seen.

Posted in Yorba Linda | Tagged: , , , , , , | 11 Comments »

If only I were the wagering type…

Posted by Brenda Higgins on April 25, 2012

Not good news for fans of the Brea Police Department. 

In a not surprising alignment, Winder-Lindsey voted in favor of renewing with Brea PD, Anderson-Schwing-Rikel voted to begin a new contract with OCSD.  If anyone reading this is surprised by this result, I have some ocean front property in Arizona I’d love to speak to you about. 

Many things were not considered in the evaluation of the bids.  The overall sensibility seems the most overlooked.  A new station is needed, new squad cars, new equipment, guns radios, phones, desks, copy machines for any agency that replaces Brea PD …..and the OSCD per their proposal is going to staff up and set up all of this at a reduced cost, saving the city of Yorba Linda $1 Million dollars each year, $5 Million over the life of their contract.  That is more than $80,000.00 per month, less than the department who has been providing this service for 42 years, and they are fully equipped and staffed up.  That’s fantastic, and the county officials who developed this bid and business model should really be consulting in private industry because in this economy, we could all use some advice on how to do that kind of magic. .

Anaheim was never realistically in the running, which is sad, because they had a great presentation, and a sensible, believable bid.   They impressed with their availability of services, special teams and technology, as well as their knowledge and shared geography with Yorba Linda.  I can not imagine why it was never proposed that Anaheim be awarded a partial contract for East Yorba Linda.  The response time for Brea PD to East Yorba Linda has been an ongoing complaint.  There are many occasions that Brea and Anaheim jurisdiction and enforcement overlap, why not apportion service geographically?  The Anaheim station on Wier Canyon road is not realistically a good match  for the West side of Yorba Linda given the long, so why not split it? This was not considered.  A wholesale replacement of the entire contract was the only consideration.  No kind of holistic approach, reworking or restructuring the relationship with Brea was undertaken.  I assume, as many residents do, that it is because the contract was destined to go to OCSD.  The public opinion on keeping the contract with Brea seems, as with many issues, to have been largely ignored by the 3 majority council.  

I am saddened and at the same time inspired that 50 residents had the wherewithal to stay till the 3am vote,  God bless them for their stamina, but I’m surprised they thought that their opinion mattered. 

I wish I had different news to report.  I wish I had written this blog a week, a month, a year ago, because I could have. (or even 6 years ago, Brea, who was passing out the Koolaid then?)  No  surprise of any kind here.  Democracy  and due process have died a slow painful death in Yorba Linda.  Every resident has the option to be active, get involved, and vote in the next election. Each time I see this Kangaroo court convene I hope that this is the time that the mainstream residents in Yorba Linda become aware of the situation at City Hall and the utter dominance of one special interest group by virtue of their ownership of three seats.  Nothing will change, the status quo will easily be maintained if the voting public continues to show apathy and fear of the YLRRR, which was so pervasive  in the 2010 election.

Posted in Yorba Linda | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Final Thoughts on Police Contract Hearing

Posted by Brenda Higgins on April 24, 2012

The public hearing is tonight, Tuesday April 24, 2012.  I have tried to stay up to speed on the varying positions and share information that has been available to me.  I have encouraged residents to be present if they have an opinion, and it is entirely possible that this issue will likely be voted upon by the Council and finalized tonight.

In the recent discussions of this issue many residents expressed dislike of Brea Police and support for anyone else.  This was usually due to an incident or interaction with an on duty officer. Residents on the East side complain of excessive response time.  Residents have complained about rise in crime in Yorba Linda in recent years, as well as over zealous traffic enforcement.

I have read that 20% of the Brea Police force resides in Yorba Linda.  I am acquainted with a few of them, and the uncertainty of this situation has definitely had an impact on those families, as will a termination of the contract. 

Since 2006, and since the last renewal of the Brea contract, there has been ample evidence that the current council members have had a desire to explore other options.  Although there has been complaint of the lack of actual notice to the public of the Notice of Termination vote on November 1, certainly Brea Police have had time and opportunity to impress the community that they desire to continue policing. I have no idea if there were concerted Public Relations effort in the past years,  the point I am making is that even if the notice of the issue voted on in November was not technically appropriate, the fact that we had a council seated who desired to terminate this relationship has not in any way been a secret. 

I am aware that there are law enforcement personnel, who are residents, who support the bid of Anaheim Police.  It has been argued that Anaheim is only interested in increasing the efficiency of service to Anaheim.  I not in possession of any evidence to support that contention that Anaheim does not have the best interests of Yorba Linda residents in mind in submitting their bid.  I have heard arguments that Anaheim is not capable of expanding to handle the extra work load and that they are over burdened now.  I have not seen any evidence to support that.

The Sheriff bid has vociferous supporters.  I have expressed my concern related to the bid and my perception of it’s incompleteness and a few instances of Pollyanish approach to the costs and constraints of setting up a station in Yorba Linda.  It has been alleged by some residents that the OCSD is “Corrupt”, there is no evidence to support that claim.   In fact, the evidence is to the contrary.  When Sheriff Sandra Hutchens assumed her current role in that agency, it was in the wake of tremendous controversy and scandal.  In hearing the Sheriff herself discuss this during her recent campaign, she indicated that there were enormous changes to the department after she took the helm, a large scale restructuring, not to mention to large job of restoring public faith in the troubled agency. There is no evidence to suggest ongoing ethical challenges in the department and to saddle the current Sheriff with the sins of her predecessors seems inherently unfair.

In short, these are all public agencies, flawed, but doing their job in the context in which they are currently employed.  I continue to be concerned at the rhetoric and spin applied to advocate the different agencies, and while I understand the enthusiasm of the public, there should be no fear or concern if your team doesn’t win this ball game. 

Further, given what I have seen on some of the web pages promoting one agency or another, the tendency to misrepresent the content of the bids is unfortunately high.  I encourage the concerned residents to go to the city website, where you can view all the pertinent documents as well as the side by side comparison.

Residents are entitled to voice their opinions and concerns this evening.  I would encourage all residents in attendance, regardless of what side you are on and who you like/don’t like or agree/don’t agree with, remember that our City Council Members are elected officials.  They are seated because the majority of voters in our city supported and elected them.  They each serve for nominal financial compensation and usually at a significant personal cost and investment of time.  For that reason, they are entitled to courtesy.  The hearing process is part of our constitutional guarantees of due process of law, and as such the process itself is worthy of our courtesy and respect.

Finally, all three of the agencies in the bidding process are fine and competent law enforcement agencies.  Regardless of anyone’s opinion of how they stack up, the bottom line is that the representatives there tonight, represent the men and women who put on a uniform and put their lives on the line each day so that you and I don’t have to.  Please express opinions in a manner that is respectful of this office.

I for one, would love to see the rhetoric toned down significantly and a dramatic turn in the politics as usual in Yorba Linda.  We are a close community of residents all significantly invested in preserving our way of life.  We can certainly accomplish this best by being respectful of each other, respectful of the process and those involved in it.

Posted in Yorba Linda | Tagged: | 1 Comment »

Yorba Linda Police Contract Update

Posted by Brenda Higgins on April 23, 2012

Door Hanger distributed on Saturday

This was sent ot me by a Yorba Linda resident who received it this weekend.  I had been advised by several different people, that OC Sheriff’s were canvasing Yorba Linda this weekend, and that they were distributing literature and talking to citizens.  I did not see them or receive anything on my door from any group or agency.   I was given  the specific impression that the Sheriff Union  the would be a noticeable presence with their efforts this weekend.  I have not been able to confirm that this occurred. The only indication I have received of any literature being distributed this weekend is this one.  This is NOT from any Pro-OCSD group or the Sheriff union.  YorbaLindaPolice.com is a pro-Brea PD site.  I have no information about who was distributing these, but clearly it was not the Sheriff Union. 

 

<!–

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Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.
Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs
 

The bids are in for Yorba Linda police services and based on analysis and input from dozens to hundreds:
Please email Yorba Linda City Council and staff to tell them “YES” to support a new police contract and “YES” to making the change to the
Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

IMPORTANT – PLEASE TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION  NOW:
Email the Yorba Linda City Council TODAY and convey your support for the Sheriff’s Department: Take a stand for a better Yorba Linda and Orange County. Tell them every Orange County citizen deserves the most comprehensive services at the best price!
 
Important points:
  • Comprehensive services second to none
  • Highest value for the taxpayer dollar
  • Full service police station in Yorba Linda
  • 120 years of service to the citizens of Orange County
  • Yorba Linda owns all equipment purchased
 
 
 
 OR
 
Go online at HERE to read the proposals before the April 24th City Council Meeting.

The Orange County Sheriff Department’s offer could save taxpayers valuable dollars annually — better price and better service. View the OCSD proposal HERE.

 
 
The Yorba Linda City Council is holding a special meeting at 6 p.m. on April 24 to hear presentations from the three agencies. We need every AOCDS supporter to attend the meeting and speak in favor of the Sheriff’s Department proposal. We are anticipating a packed house and we want to make sure our voice is heard.
 
Unfortunately, certain Yorba Linda City Council members along with a small Anti-Sheriff Department faction have spent the last several months badmouthing the Sheriff’s Department. We’ve had enough. We will not stand idly by and let politicians malign the find work our men and women do for our communities.
 
THE MEETING
When: Tuesday, April 24, 2012
 
 
Time: Doors open at 5:15 pm. Get there early. The city of Yorba Linda is anticipating an overflow crowd and we want to make sure the Sheriff’s Department is well represented inside the community center. Please be prepared to be there for at least a few hours. Bring your family and anyone else who can help us support the City Council majority. We will be providing more information as we get closer to the meeting date.
 
Thank you for your valuable support. See you on the 24th!
 
Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs
Having trouble reading this email? View it in your browser. Not interested anymore? Unsubscribe now.

--- This is the correspondence apparently from the Sheriff’s union.  This does not mention any effort to canvas the city during the weekend, only encouraging members to be present at the meeting and to contact City Council members.  It was provided to me by a resident, not anyone froom the OCSD or their union.

I have not receieved any information that anyone is soliciting public support for or on behalf of Anaheim PD. 

It has also been communicated to me that the City is loging the communications, emails and letters, received from residents and keeping some sort of count of the number of supporters for each agrency.  You can contact any of the Council Members at the email listed on the Sheriff correspondence above, or the City Manager, Steve Rudometkin at srudometkin@yorba-linda.org with your views on the contract for police services.

To be clear, there is no indication whether the Council will make a determination and award the five year contract to one of these agencies on Tuesday.  There is NO other opportunity for the public to be heard, no other hearing is scheduled.  There is NO vote of the public on this, the Council has full authority to vote and determine this issue on Tuesday evening.   

 

Posted in Yorba Linda | Leave a Comment »

Showdown with the Sheriff

Posted by Brenda Higgins on April 22, 2012

I posted last week “Policing Yorba Linda” related to the ongoing bidding process for the contract to provide Law Enforcement services to the city of Yorba Linda. This issue is close to resolution as there is a public meeting Tuesday, April 24, 2012 at the Yorba Linda Community Center, 4501 Casa Loma Ave.. I am in receipt of email correspondence from the Sheriff’s Union, encouraging union members to be there at 5:15 because a capacity crowd is expected.

Residents have confirmed that there were doorhangers left on Yorba Linda homes on Saturday. I have no information or confirmation who was dropping these off or whether there were Sheriff deputies, uniformed or plain clothes, canvasing in Yorba Linda on Saturday.

Citizens should be aware of this plan for Union members to be present on Tuesday evening, there is no indication that citizens of Yorba Linda will be given priority seating, it seems that a first-come-first-seated will be observed as with other public City Council meetings. Each agency submitting bids will be permitted to provide a presentation. My understanding is that these presentations will be 45 minutes in length.

This is the only formal presentation and discussion of the competing bids that is scheduled. It is not determined or known whether a vote of the council will occur on Tuesday evening. Residents with any concern or interest in the topic should be present.

I have requested that supporters of any of these proposals to forward information to me. There has been a high degree of interest in the “Policing Yorba Linda” post, and I am happy to share all information supporting any of the proposals here. I have overwhelmingly received information from those clearly in support of maintaining Brea Police, but I requested information from those in support of the Sheriff or Anaheim proposal. Other than anecdotal dislike of Brea Police Department, I have received no data in support of the other proposals. I will provide the information here, that I have obtained in my own review.

Bids and expert analysis

The November 1, 2011 Council meeting in which the Brea Police department was given formal Notice of Termination, in which the Council triggered the Termination process contained in the current contract, agenda and staff report for that November 1, 2011 council meeting are contained here.

The complaint of residents who attended that meeting was that the presence of the Sheriff at that meeting with a power point presentation appeared to be contrived, and not properly noticed to the citizens of the city who may have a high level of concern for this issue, and that the Notice of Termination to Brea PD was also prematurely given in that the agenda item gave the impression that the topic was for open for discussion as to timing process and not actually being voted on that evening.

Now, formal bids have been received, from Brea Police, Anaheim Police, and Orange County Sheriff, and are available for public review on the city website here.

The city has obtained a side by side comparison, and apples to apples comparison. It is here, posted on Thursday April 19, 2012, in the form of a comparison Matrix and a narrative report.

The alleged cost savings of a contract with OCSD (Sheriff)

Reviews and discussions of the bids, as well as a review of the matrix and narrative, show that the alleged $1million savings is not exactly accurate when all start up costs and differences are taken into consideration. The actual savings is about $60,000. The Matrix and Narrative also shows a diminished staffing in nearly every area when the OCSD is compared to Brea and Anaheim. Also noteworthy and difficult to quantify is that Brea and Anaheim are already actively enforcing North Orange County and presumably aware of the unique needs of this community. The Sheriff proposal to cut staffing in nearly every area, while undertaking to police a new area that they have no experience with, should raise some concern. It will be important to hear from Brea and Anaheim, why they chose not to reduce staffing, and from the Sheriff to justify why it is appropriate. (See FTE comparisons and discussions in Ralph Anderson narrative)

Additionally, the Sheriff proposal devotes a great deal of marketing effort and praise for multiple special units and technology under their jurisdiction. (See Sections ix – xiv, Proposal)

When viewed in the comparison study, (Ralph Anderson narrative above) it is clear that most of these special units are available regardless of whether the city contracts with OCSD or not. (Paragraph 19, page 15, Community Wide Services)

The Dispatch center of the OCSD is at the Loma Ridge communications center, which is staffed by 44 dispatchers and handles 2500 calls per day. Anaheim and Brea dispatch from their local stations and handle only the city(ies) in their jurisdiction. This is not cited or addressed as a big issue in the comparison, but the uniqueness of the community of Yorba Linda, the idiosyncratic nature of the streets, street names and rural areas, is something that should be considered in evaluating the ability to respond and effectiveness of communication with citizen callers. The persons staffing the Brea Police Department dispatch, have great familiarity with the community and overall map of Yorba Linda which certainly has an impact on response time and effective response. This seems not to have been quantified.

Distance and response time is included in an empirical fashion with distance only from the Anaheim and Brea stations to the Yorba Linda city limits. Notable is the asserted .5 mile from the Anaheim Hills station to Yorba Linda, it should be noted that the closest city limit to that station is an exclusively retail and commercial area of the city, reaching a residential area is considerably farther, but probably the same or closer than the approximate 3 miles from the Brea Station.

A dramatic difference in the Anaheim and Brea proposals is the existence of a permanent station location. It is difficult to see an apples-to-apples comparison when OCSD is proposing a portable or leased building, neither of which is yet in existence. In my opinion, the information and literature that has been propagated by the supporters of a contract with OSCD on this issue of a “Police Station” is highly misleading. (Protect Yorba Linda, site address is below) The verbiage on that site speaks for itself, and is not completely accurate and thorough as to what is required and proposed by OCSD.

Not included in the Sheriff proposal or the side-by-side comparison is any analysis of the existing contracts of cities contracting with the Sheriff.

The city of Stanton has incurred a $1.7 million increase in its policing costs since 2008, under its arrangement with OCSD.

Dana Point, also contracted with the OCSD, reported a $890,000 increase in law enforcement costs while contracted with OCSD. (Page 4 of this report).

Unfunded pension liability is an ongoing issue for the Sheriff and the County of Orange, as set forth in this County memo, and the possibility of looking to contract cities is being explored.

Analysis of the unfunded liability for the OCSD is estimated at $1.7 Billion.

One of the arguments offered by the proponents of a contract between YL and OCSD is that there will be no financial implication of any unfunded pension liability. This memo and actuarial evaluation seems to suggest differently. There may be no direct provisional ramification in the proposal for contract with Yorba Linda, but in contracting with any agency or individual, the overall financial health and liabilities should be a consideration. The majority 3 council members continue to assert this is a purely fiscal and financial issue, they ought then, to be questioning why all potential issues have not been covered and addressed. This is not a consideration or factor in the OCSD bid, or in the Matrix comparison. The matrix comparison, while very helpful, does not provide any analysis of issues not directly contained in the contract, i.e. non-direct costs, overall financial and organizational health of each entity, and any esoteric efficiency problems due to lack of locally experienced personnel.

Who’s on First

The supporters of the maintenance of a contract with Brea Police can be found at YorbaLindaPolice.com. They have on their site, a list of citizens who support keeping the Brea Police.

There is also a Facebook page, it is not clear to me whether these are the same people of group as the website above, but clearly on the same side in supporting an ongoing relationship with Brea PD.

On that Facebook page, there is the usual ongoing vitriolic exchange, with the usual alignments and alliances. There are also (as usual) repeated anonymous posters who may very well be duplicates of the named posters, but the contention goes on, on this page and on the OC Register site, each time this issue comes up.

In my prior post, “Policing Yorba Linda” one of these prolific commenters chastised me for asserting the relationship between the majority 3 council (Rikel, Schwing and Anderson) and the YLRRR, and the Protect Yorba Linda Group.

The “Protect” site, discusses and clearly endorses the actions of the 3 majority council members. Interestingly, the “Protect” site has a contact page that you can log in as a supporter of a contract with the Sheriff. However, there is no list of who has included themselves in this organization or supports it.

The YLRRR site is here.

On the YLRRR site they provide links to the “Protect” site (Pro-Sheriff), but not to the Yorba Linda Police site (Pro Brea PD).  YLRRR continues to align with the 3 majority that they helped elect, the same 3 which are favorably promoted on the “Protect” site.   The YLRRR has been similarly elusive as to it’s membership and supporters, just like the “Protect” site, have never made public any membership, management or supporter list. Earl Carbonne has asserted, in a post on the “Keep Police” page that he is the current Chairman of the YLRRR, and asserts a variety of oppositions to Brea PD, attempts to factually support the efforts of the Sheriff, while also asserting that there is no “financial” relationship of the YLRRR with any supporters of the Sheriff contract.

This semantical wrangling reminds me of the 2010 campaign wherein, after an expensive and ugly series of hit pieces and robo calls against candidate Jan Horton, Mayor John Anderson, in carefully chosen words stated that “I did not write that piece”. He and Tom Lindsey struggled to choose words that distanced them from the smear campaign.  I do not believe anyone “claimed” responsibility for the hate mail, but it was delivered on the same day and with the same bulk mail permit, in the same size and style, as the piece from YLRRR supporting Anderson and Lindsey.

My comments in the prior “Policing” post continue to fit the overall circumstance, I don’t know who is the puppet and who pulls the strings, but the relationship is unmistakable.

Disclaimer:

It was suggested by a commenter on the “Policing” blog post that I should provide a ‘disclaimer’ that I am a candidate on the June 2012 ballot for the Republican Central Committee.  I don’t see the relationship, and my candidacy has been mentioned on OC Political several times, BUT I am happy to engage in self promotion whenever necessary.

I was a candidate for Yorba Linda City Council in 2010. I do not have a close personal, professional or familial relationship with anyone on the current or past council. I would not support or endorse any of them for re-election. I continue to be disappointed at the degeneration of civility and objectivity in Yorba Linda politics.

I am happy to blog further on information, data or articles in support of Anaheim or Sheriff proposals, in the event anyone wishes to provide it to me.

Posted in Yorba Linda | Tagged: , , , | 3 Comments »

Policing Yorba Linda

Posted by Brenda Higgins on April 15, 2012

Where we’re at now

For more than 40 years the city of Yorba Linda has been policed by the Brea Police Department. The current contract with Brea PD ends in June 2012.  In November 2011,  the Yorba Linda City Council gave Brea PD a Notice of Termination.

There is currently an ongoing bidding process to renegotiate to continue with Brea, or replace their contract with a contract with the Orange County Sheriff or Anaheim Police Department. Competitive bids have been received from each of the three agencies and can be viewed on the city website.

The “Keep Police in Yorba Linda” is essentially the pro-BreaPD group. They have a facebook page and a website, look for Yorba Linda Police.com. The Pro-Sheriff group is Protect Yorba Linda. They are essentially the YLRRR, the group behind Councilmembers, Anderson, Rikel and Schwing.  They have a website and their members have been as active and vociferous as usual on the OC Register website and “Keep Police in Yorba Linda”  facebook page.

How’d we get here

In 2006, a group of Yorba Linda citizens, concerned about redevelopment and a pending plan for a new Town Center organized to elect council members supportive of their efforts, and to pass low growth measures. Since that time the YLRRR has expanded it’s agenda and influence. This group has dominated the last 4 elections, having 7 out of 8 of their candidates elected. They continue to control the current council with 3 of the Councilmembers voting consistently together on their agenda. After the 2010 election they believed they would have virtual ownership of 4 of the 5 council seats, but Tom Lindsey (who seemed not to notice the retribution this group affected upon prior dissidents Jan Horton and Hank Weeda) has shown himself to exercise his own judgment on the council even after accepting the support of YLRRR in the 2010 election.

John Anderson, one of the first candidates supported by this group, and one of it’s founders in 2006, has made no secret of his desire to oust the Brea PD. In 2009, in an effort to move forward with that agenda, a feasibility study was conducted. During this period, the council pursued a plethora of feasibility studies on a variety of issues, spending into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.  The police study was upwards of $50k.  The police services study essentially found that the replacement of the Brea PD was NOT FEASIBLE nor cost effective. Specifically considered in that investigation was the implementation of protection by the Orange County Sheriff.   The most cost efficient option, as opined by the expert retained by the anti-Brea PD Councilmembers, was to maintain the arrangement with Brea.  This conculsion was based upon the millions of dollars it would cost to staff up, and acquire equipment for any new organization to police Yorba Linda.  Depending upon the means of the gearing up, the opinion of the costs of starting up with a new agency ranged from $16-30 million.

In spite of that 2009 recommendation, On November 1, 2011 the council voted to issue the Notice of Termination to Brea PD. The item on the agenda for that November meeting was #11, “Potential Future Options”. Sheriff Sandra Hutchens was in attendance at that meeting, prepared with a power point presentation. The public attendees of that meeting have repeatedly used the word “shocked” to describe their response to the vote to terminate the 40 year Brea PD contract and the presence of the Sheriff with her presentation.  No part of the agenda indicated that the Sheriff would be providing a presentation.  Whether the vague description of the agenda item was intended to mislead the public, the fact is that it did.

What’s gonna happen next

On April 24, 2012, at 6:00 pm at the Yorba Linda Community Center will be a public meeting. The three agencies will give presentations, then the floor will be open for public comment.

Whether or not the council will vote on the proposals that night is not known. Again with the ambiguity. The Brea police contract expires in June.

There has been some debate about whether Councilman Jim Winder should or will vote on this, as he is retired from Brea PD. The answer is, who cares. Jim could stay home from every meeting from now until his term runs out, his vote is irrelevant. The YLRRR owns this council and the 3 will vote together.

It is hard to guess, but it will not go to Anaheim. They should stay home with Jim and Tom, they are not even realistically in the running. This council has been courting the Sheriff for some time. It is possible, I think unlikely, but possible, that if there is enough of a public outcry that the council votes to keep Brea. This council has a history of this kind of exacerbated game playing, i.e. create a side show, a fire, and then save the situation so that they can cry from their soap box about how they saved the situation from the fire. Political grandsstanding and publicity whoring has become a specialty of this group.

Up until the mandated annexation of unincorporated areas of Yorba Linda in 1994, many neighborhoods in Yorba Linda were policed by the Orange County Sheriff. No one anywhere has discussed this. I lived in one of those areas for 13 years. The service was abhorrent. They were slow, non-responsive and not in any way interested in the remote area of Yorba Linda. The funny thing about the rhetoric and alleged “information” provided on the “Protect” (YLRRR) web site, is that they indicate that if we retain the service of the Sheriff, Yorba Linda will be provided with a police station and ownership of the police cars, all at a cost savings of $1 million dollars per year. Yes, Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus, and Obamacare will cure the national deficit as well.

I am sure they will be serving Kool-Aid at the April 24 meeting, if you beleive that adding and staffing up a new agency will save the city money, drink up.

Posted in Yorba Linda | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 22 Comments »

NOCCC’s Meet the Candidates Night: Central Committee, City Councils (Yorba Linda, Placentia, Fullerton, Anaheim), 3rd Supervisorial District, CD-45

Posted by Chris Nguyen on April 13, 2012

North Orange County Conservative CoalitionThe North Orange County Conservative Coalition held a meet the candidates night last night in Anaheim Hills.  By my quick crowd estimate, I believe 75-100 people were present.

Desare’ Ferraro organized the meeting which was guest emceed by Orange County Register writer Brian Calle.  Calle also brought the students from the “Mass Media Ethics” course he teaches at Cal State Fullerton.

Deborah Pauly and John Webb were crowd pleasers.  Todd Spitzer sent a video camera to film Pauly.

I was shocked to see John Leos speak.

Here’s a run down of the remarks by various candidates (please note that I am paraphrasing what the candidates said; I haven’t run a fact-check on the numerical data several of them asserted; also, I was attempting to write as fast as candidates spoke, so apologies to any candidates for incorrect transcriptions; please feel free to comment below with corrections).

Central Committee

Oddly, candidates for the Republican Party Central Committee did not get a chance to speak.  They were only introduced by Calle, stood as a group at the front, and then sat back down.

The Central Committee candidates present were:

55th District

  • Jim Domen
  • Desare’ Ferraro
  • Connie Lanzisera
  • Robert Lauten
  • Brenda McCune (our OC Political blogger)
  • Dennis R. White

65th District

  • Greg Sebourn
  • Pat Shuff

68th District

  • James Brownfield
  • Deborah Pauly
  • Nick Wilson

There was a 12th candidate present, but I did not catch the candidate’s name, and the candidate failed to sign in on the NOCCC’s candidate sign-in sheet.

Yorba Linda City Council

After the Central Committee mass introduction, the first speakers were candidate for the Yorba Linda City Council.

Incumbent Councilwoman Nancy Rikel spoke first.  She spoke of her successful efforts on Measure B (any major zoning change that exceeds housing densities in Yorba Linda’s current zoning and/or General Plan must be approved by a majority vote), her battles against eminent domain, and her efforts to pass an ethics measure.  In response to a question from the audience, she described the process to determine Yorba Linda’s police contract.

Candidate Jim Domen spoke second.  He spoke of his co-founding of NOCCC.  He also described how he became President of his homeowners association.  He felt it was analogous to government: before his presidency, the HOA kept raising dues, similarly to the government raising taxes; during his presidency, he opposed raising dues and used his business experience to cut spending, as government should cut spending instead of raising taxes.  He also spoke of his background as a Yorba Linda native and his international business and economics education.  In response to a question from the audience, he stated that he supported doing price comparisons between different police agencies in determining the Yorba Linda police contract.

Placentia City Council

Incumbent Councilman Jeremy Yamaguchi (currently serving as Mayor) made a joke about his council service giving him gray hair (he’s 23), and then spoke of his record fighting for fiscally conservative policies, protection of private property, reduction of business regulations, and holding the line against unions.  He noted his battle against a strange proposal to regulate Placentia garage sales and against borrowing money for a parking structure for the Placentia train station for a train that doesn’t yet exist.  In response to a question from the audience, he stated the only Councilmember to not vote for forming an Economic Development Commission was Connie Underhill, who he noted had been on the Placentia City Council for nearly his entire life.

Fullerton Recall Candidates

Greg Sebourn, who is running in the race to replace Don Bankhead, spoke of the illegal water fee that spiked residents water bills by 10%, which went to the general fund.  He stated that 80% of the general fund goes to employee pensions, salaries, and benefits.

Barry Levinson, who is running in the race to replace Pat McKinley, spoke of how ill-prepared recall targets Bankhead, McKinley, and Dick Jones seem at meetings; it seems to him that the trio don’t even read their council agendas before showing up to meetings.  He spoke of a Stanford study that found Fullerton’s unfunded pension liability is $500 million.  He spoke of Fullerton being targetted by a dozen lawsuits that could cost the city $100 million, thanks to McKinley (police chief until shortly before he ran for Council) and the Fullerton Police Department.  He noted those two figures totaled $600 million, while Fullerton’s general fund is $65 million.

Rick Alvarez, who is running in the race to replace Don Bankhead, spoke of his family’s immigrant background.  He said he is running as a uniter not a divider.  He also noted he is a Planning Commissioner and Traffic Commissioner.

Anaheim City Council

Brian Chuchua spoke of his opposition to the plan to permit the GardenWalk Hotel to retain $158 million (80%) of the transient occupancy tax (TOT) the hotel collects while the City does not allow any other hotel to do the same.  He stated the transient occupancy tax is 43% of Anaheim’s general fund.  He said he was removed as an Anaheim Chamber Ambassador due to this position on this issue.  In response to a question from the audience, he said he is opposed to the high-speed rail project.

I was shocked by who spoke next.

John Leos opened with, “Talk about walking into the lion’s den.”  He noted that his family immigrated to Anaheim 100 years ago.  He graduated from Canyon High School (author’s note: Emami and I are also Canyon grads), which is literally a block away from the site of the NOCCC meeting.  He stated he is a labor union member, and labor is very divided on the $158 million GardenWalk Hotel TOT plan, but that Leos himself opposed the plan.

Third District Supervisor

While being filmed by a representative of the Todd Spitzer campaign, Deborah Pauly spoke to the NOCCC.  She stated the Board of Supervisors needs “at least one limited government fiscal conservative who represents the people.”  She then noted the cameraman, stared straight into the camera and declared her opponent to be a “retread, big government, special interest career politician.”  She pointed to Spitzer’s brochure which has the word integrity right under his picture and stated his consultant believed Spitzer has an intergrity problem.  She stated Spitzer waves around a flyer showing he got an “A” rating from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association during his tenure in the Assembly, but she stated Spitzer sent a $1000 check to to get their endorsement, but the check was refused, as the HJTA “cannot be bought.”  She then showed a letter from HJTA endorsing her, not Spitzer, for the Third Supervisorial District seat.  She noted in December 2001 that Spitzer not only voted for 3%@50, but he actually made the motion to pass 3%@50 during his previous stint as Supervisor.  She disputed his statements that no one understood the costs of 3%@50 at the time, as she pointed to a November 2001 actuarial report that was in the Board of Supervisors agenda that she stated warned about the costs of implementing 3%@50.

In response to a question from the audience about the well-known video of her speaking in Yorba Linda, Pauly said she was not speaking about “peaceful moderate Muslims” but of two specific men from the Muslim brotherhood, including Malik Ali.

In response to a question from the audience, she noted that Supervisors John Moorlach and Shawn Nelson had not endorsed either candidate in the Third Supervisorial District and that Supervisors Pat Bates and Janet Nguyen endorsed Spitzer because “apparently, they like money.”

In response to a bizarre question from the audience about the Republican Party equalizing funding for candidates to stop multimillionaire candidates (author’s note: I think the audience member mistakenly thought the $1 million Spitzer warchest was Spitzer’s personal wealth rather than the fact that Spitzer raised all of that money and is not independently wealthy), Pauly stated Scott Baugh was “falling all over” himself to endorse Spitzer.  Pauly noted that voters don’t like the feeling of being purchased in an election.  She praised the Stop Special Interest Money Now ballot initiative.

In response to a question from the audience, Pauly stated she has not decided on Laura’s Law, as there needs to be a balance between helping people with great need and the potential to abuse the law with false mental health allegations.

Spitzer’s cameraman spoke next, stating he’s a volunteer.  He spoke of Spitzer helping his family on a crime issue.  He stated that he (the cameraman not Spitzer) is a Coptic Christian and that the Muslim Brotherhood is in Egypt not the United States.  He stated Spitzer was speaking at the Mission Viejo Tea Party on Monday (a Tea Party Patriot organizer in the audience shouted out it was a false tea party) and invited NOCCC to attend.  The cameraman also invited the audience to attend Spitzer’s open house on Tuesday.

In response to a question from the audience, the cameraman could not confirm or deny if Spitzer would serve a full four-year term.

In response to a question from the audience, the cameraman stated Spitzer was not present due to a scheduling conflict with a long-scheduled open coffee in Irvine.

45th Congressional District

John Webb spoke of his goal of changing the tax structure, restraining the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and supporting energy independence to ensure “no more wars for oil.”

In response to a question from the audience, Webb said he is personally opposed to the California Air Resources Board, calling it a bad idea from the 1960s when “we smoked dope.”  He, however, stated he was for states’ rights, implying Congress should not interfere with CARB.

In response to a question from the audience, Webb stated that if elected, he would be the sole member of Congress from Orange County who has combat experience.  He cited his military record, his record as a robbery/homicide detective, and his business record.  He stated President Barack Obama has committed impeachable offenses.

In response to a question from the audience, he stated the differences between himself and incumbent Congressman John Campbell is that Campbell voted fro TARP, Cash for Clunkers, and Sarbanes-Oxley expansion while Webb would have voted against those actions.  Webb also stated Campbell was one of only two Congressmen to vote against the STOCK Act.  Webb also said he heard a rumor that Campbell introduced legislation to control the type of bait used in Montana.

In response to a question from the audience, Webb said he would do not just town hall meetings but would go to voters’ homes.

In response to a question from the audience, Webb said he would fly on commercial airlines between Washington, DC and Orange County if elected, very likely on Southwest Airlines.

U.S. Senate

Robert Lauten spoke about wanting to revive the Glass-Steagall Act, to declare U.S. debt fictional, to implement a Hamiltonian economic system, and wanting to abolish the Federal Reserve.  He also accused “State Treasurer Richard Citron” of causing the 1994 Orange County bankruptcy (author’s note: for the record, it was County Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert Citron).

The audience looked at Lauten like he was completely nuts.

Wrap Up

All of the above was done in 90 minutes.  The program was slated for 60 minutes and was running on schedule until the Third Supervisorial District and 45th Congressional District ran over time and took up nearly half the program.

(Disclaimer related to Fullerton recall section above: In the interest of full disclosure, I should note my day job is working in the Fullerton office of Assemblyman Chris Norby, who served on the Fullerton City Council from 1984-2002.  One of my co-workers in the office is Fullerton City Councilman Bruce Whitaker, who was elected in 2010 and is not a target of the recall.)

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