Posted by Newsletter Reprint on April 21, 2012
This came over the wire from Assemblyman Wagner’s office last week…
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| April Newsletter
This Issue
Community updateThe Lake Forest Community Coffee EventI am pleased to report that over 85 residents attended my community town hall in the City of Read the rest of this entry » |
Posted in 68th Assembly District | Tagged: Don Wagner | 1 Comment »
Posted by Newsletter Reprint on April 21, 2012
This just came across the wire from the Hayden for Congress campaign:
46thGOP Congressional Candidate Jerry Hayden Signs the Spending Limit and Balanced Budget Pledge Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in 46th Congressional District | Tagged: Jerry Hayden | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Newsletter Reprint on April 21, 2012
This came across the wire from the Long Pham for Assembly campaign:
Proven Tax Fighter Long Pham Just What the Doctor Ordered for 72nd Assembly District Taxpayers
This tax day Orange County voters have a candidate with a proven record of fighting for lower taxes
(Fountain Valley, CA) – 72nd Assembly District GOP contender Dr. Long Pham continues to stand out as the proven conservative in a field of candidates for this Orange County seat. With his calls for renewing California’s commitment to limiting government and fostering economic growth to reduce burdensome regulations and taxes, Pham doesn’t just talk about it, he’s actually Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in 72nd Assembly District | Tagged: Long Pham | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Newsletter Reprint on April 21, 2012
This came over the wire from Assemblyman Chris Norby’s office on Wednesday…
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| Norby Notes
This Issue
Common-Sense DisciplineWhen does an innocent high school prank become a misdemeanor? When does childish horseplay become assault? When does a playground insult become a hate crime? When does a friend offering a classmate an aspirin for a headache become a drug offense? Read the rest of this entry » |
Posted in 65th Assembly District | Tagged: Chris Norby | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on April 20, 2012
In a huge sign of campaign momentum Todd Spitzer candidate for 3rd District Supervisor and Robert Hammond candidate for County Board of Education are participating in what is set to be a big precinct walk in Tustin tomorrow. (Full disclosure: Custom Campaigns is the consultant running the Hammond race and Todd Spitzer is an advertiser on this blog).
Volunteers will meet at 9:00 AM at the Starbucks located at 552 East First Street in Tustin, CA 92780. This is in the Vons shopping center near the corner of 1st and Newport.
It is always a major sign of momentum to get a large group of people out walking to support candidates running for offices, especially non-partisan ones. With tomorrow scheduled to be beautiful day according to weather reports this should be a great event.
Posted in 3rd Supervisorial District, Orange County Board of Education | Tagged: Robert Hammond, Todd Spitzer | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on April 20, 2012
H/T to Total Buzz for posting on their blog the story on California potentially forcing bloggers to reveal if they have received payments from political campaigns.
I am sure that this will open me up for attack in the comment section, but I feel the need to take a stance against the idea of blogger payment disclosure (full disclosure I am a blogger). “OC Political” does receive money from advertisers or in the case of a client that has retained us as consultants we will provide an advertisement as part of the contract. We do not attempt to hide our advertisers our clients (simply look to your left). The real problem here is the bigger issue of California and the amount of overregulation they impose.
We openly disclose who our consulting clients are when writing posts that may impact them or potential opponents that they may face in an election. The reason we do this is to maintain our credibility as a blog and to ensure that our readers are aware of any potential bias that we may have.
However, having California regulate blogger payments is simply an overburdensome regulation. We already are supposed to be tracking this in the form 460’s filled out by all candidates that disclose who they received campaign contributions from and what they spent campaign money on as well.
FlashReport author Jon Fleischman sums the problem up best in his quote to the Orange County Register blog:
How would the Fair Political Practices Commission handle anonymous blogs? Would advertising revenue fall under the regulated payments? How would the commission educate amateur bloggers?
As stated before, we here at “OC Political” believe in disclosing our financial interests in campaigns, but only for the purpose of maintaining our credibility. Other blogs can do whatever they want in terms of disclosure, but should they choose not to disclose a financial gain from supporting a candidate or opposing a candidate the end result should simply be a loss of credibility not an FPPC fine.
With much bigger issues at play in California than blogging I think this is simply another smoke screen to distract away from the real budgetary problems that California faces.
Posted in California, Uncategorized | Tagged: Jon Fleischman | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Chris Nguyen on April 20, 2012
Anaheim City School District Superintendent José Banda
The Seattle Times contacted OC Political informing us that Anaheim City School District Superintendent José Banda is one of three finalists for Superintendent of Seattle Public Schools. (It does appear that OC Political is the first California-based source other than ACSD with this news.)
On Monday, Banda will tour three schools in the 48,000-student Seattle Public Schools system, meet with the Seattle School Board, and interview with a focus group. On Tuesday, Banda will meet the Seattle news media at a press conference.
Another finalist, San Ramon Valley Unified School District Superintendent Steven Enoch will do the tour, meeting, and interview on Tuesday, with the press conference on Wednesday. The third finalist, Salem-Keizer Public Schools Superintendent Sandra Husk, will do the tour, meeting, and interview on Wednesday, with the press conference on Thursday.
The Seattle School Board plans to announce in early May who they’ve selected as Superintendent. The new Seattle Superintendent would then start on July 1.
Banda has been the Superintendent of ACSD since July 2008 when eight-year Superintendent Sandra Barry retired to donate one of her kidneys to her son. Banda was the Deputy Superintendent of the Oceanside Unified School District from 2005-2008 and the Superintendent of the Planada Elementary School District in Merced County from 2002-2005. He also served on the school board of the Salida Union School District in the 1990s.
Here’s an excerpt from the Seattle Times article:
Of the finalists, Banda comes from a district most unlike Seattle.
The Anaheim City School District is an elementary-school-only district of about 20,000 students. It’s an inner-city district, with students whose parents typically work at Disneyland or the hotels that surround the amusement park.
Eighty-six percent of the students are Latino, and about 60 percent are classified as English Language Learners. “It’s a pretty big challenge here,” said Peter Daniels, a district spokesman.
Student achievement has improved there during Banda’s four-year tenure: The district’s Academic Performance Index, a statewide measure of student achievement, has risen significantly under Banda, and several schools have surpassed the state’s benchmark score.
“We could all make excuses for why our students don’t achieve: They come from poverty; there’s not a sufficient grasp of the English language,” Banda said in an interview. But instead, he said, he instilled in staff members the idea that every student has potential.
Banda is a fluent Spanish speaker, the son of migrant workers. He touts his community involvement and serves on several local boards.
He is proud of shepherding through a $169 million construction measure in 2010 that addressed overcrowding, a problem that has plagued the district for years.
Banda has spent 30 years in the field of education, including as a high-school principal. Before Anaheim, he was superintendent of the Planada School District and deputy superintendent at Oceanside Unified School District, both in California.
In a statement posted on the Anaheim City School District web site yesterday, Banda stated:
Dear Anaheim City School District Friends:
I’m writing to inform you of an important development as I have been selected as one of three finalists for the superintendency of Seattle Public Schools. As a finalist, I will be in Seattle during the week of April 23 to meet with the School Board and the 25-member Community Focus Group, as well as tour several Seattle schools.
Seattle Public Schools distributed a press release on April 19 to the major media outlets in the Pacific Northwest region. I have been told that board members, principals, staff, parents and community leaders may receive a call from reporters. I felt it was important to share this news with you prior to the anticipated media coverage. Our Communications office is also anticipating local media coverage from the OC Register and community papers.
I wanted to personally share this with you because of the relationships we have built over the past four years. It is important to me to maintain the trust and support of our entire school community. I am proud of the work occurring here in Anaheim and credit my success in this highly-competitive search to what we have accomplished together here in the District.
Please know that I am honored to serve as Superintendent of Anaheim City School District. When I was presented with this possibility, I felt it was a professional and personal growth opportunity that I needed to pursue. I will continue to update you on the outcome of the selection process and look forward to our continued partnership to benefit the students of Anaheim.
José Banda, Superintendent
Here’s the press release from Seattle Public Schools: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Anaheim City School District | Tagged: Jose Banda, Salem-Keizer Public Schools, San Ramon Valley Unified School District, Sandra Barry, Sandra Husk, Seattle Public Schools, Steven Enoch | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Chris Nguyen on April 20, 2012
Excluding the Anaheim TOT mail (which has nothing to do with the June election), I received my second mailer of the primary election cycle yesterday. The first mailer was from Congressman Ed Royce on April 4. This one is from Todd Spitzer’s campaign for the Third Supervisorial District.
The exterior portion of the piece emphasizes Spitzer’s endorsements from various elected officials, particularly that of incumbent Third District Supervisor Bill Campbell. The interior portion emphasizes his previous job experience and has a “Growing Orange County’s Economy” section and a “Standing Up for Taxpayers” section.
The piece is 8.5″ x 11″ and becomes 8.5″ x 22″ when opened up. (Sorry about the split down the middle of the interior. My scanner was having trouble due to the large size of the Spitzer mailer.)
Click on the picture to view a larger version.
Posted in 3rd Supervisorial District, Mail | Tagged: Bill Campbell, Ed Royce, Todd Spitzer | 3 Comments »
Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on April 19, 2012
Now to one of the more controversial items on the ballot for this June in the Fullerton recall election. This race has been extremely vicious by both camps, and a lot is at stake with the Council majority up for grabs.
This race unlike other in this election is for 6 different things:
3 recalls
3 races to replace the recalled Councilmember (If recall passes)
The 3 Councilmembers up for recall include Don Bankead, Dick Jones, and Pat McKinley. Much question exists as to the real reason for the recall.
One side claims that the recall is because the Council has done a horrible job over the Kelly Thomas killing incident among other failures such as an alleged illegal water tax. The other side claims that Tony Bushala is simply trying to undo the results of the 2010 election and gain control of the Fullerton City Council.
The major factor at play here is that recalls once on the ballot never fail. This my prediction on the recall side of these races is:
All 3 Councilmembers Ousted
Unlike my other predictions the post does not stop with just that. A replacement must be made for each of the recalled Councilmembers.
The candidates running for the Don Bankhead seat include:
Rick Alvarez a Businessowner/Planning Commissioner who is a Republican. His appointment to the commission was actually by Don Bankhead.
Jane Rands a Systems Engineer and Green Party activist. She has run for quite a few offices in this area which will give her some name ID.
Greg Sebourn a Businessman/Educator and candidate for the Fullerton City Council in 2010. He is a Republican and the one mostly closely in line with the pro-recall folks.
Paula Williams a Public Employee and the only Democrat on the ballot for this seat.
The recall will pass but the elections for a replacement will likely come down to name ID and ballot designation. Greg Sebourn and Jane Rands will split the vote based on highest name ID leaving this seat to the candidate with the best ballot designation.
Looking at all the factors at play in this district I believe that the winner will be:
Rick Alvarez
The candidates running for the Dick Jones seat include:
Dorothy A. Birsic a Republican running with no ballot designation.
Glenn P. Georgieff an IT Specialist anda former Fullerton Library Trustee. He is a registered Democrat.
Matthew Hakim a Musician/Artist and registered Democrat.
Travis Kiger a Fullerton Planning Commissioner and the most closely in line with the pro-recall folks. He is a registered Republican.
Roberta J. Reid a student that is a DTS voter.
Once again this will likely come down to name ID and ballot designation. Travis Kiger has the best ballot designation out of all candidates in any of the 3 seats and he also has the highest name ID and the most comprehensive campaign being run. Nobody else has been actively in the mail, walking precincts, or putting up signs.
Looking at all the factors at play in this district I believe that the winner will be:
Travis Kiger
The candidates running for the Pat McKinley seat include:
Doug Chafee a Business Attorney and 2010 candidate for City Council. He is a registered Democrat and also a Fullerton Planning Commissioner.
Barry Levinson an Auditor/Parks Commissioner who is probably one of the most passionate people about local issues that I have ever seen. He is a registered Republican.
Sean Paden a Construction Attorney and a registered Republican.
Matthew Rowe an Aerospace Project Manager and a DTS voter.
This will be the closest of all 3 races. Barry Levinson has the best ballot designation in this race, however, we have already witnessed him and Doug Chafee on the ballot in 2010. Chafee has the highest name ID of any candidate in this race yet he and Sean Paden split votes based on ballot designation.
Looking at all the factors at play in this district and mostly based on 2010 results I believe that the winner will be:
Doug Chafee
Posted in Fullerton | Tagged: Barry Levinson, Dick Jones, Don Bankhead, Dorothy A. Birsic, Doug Chafee, Glenn P. Georgieff, Greg Sebourn, Jane Rands, Matthew Hakim, Matthew Rowe, Pat McKinley, Paula Williams, Rick Alvarez, Roberta J. Reid, Sean Paden, Travis Kiger | 40 Comments »
Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on April 19, 2012
This will be a fairly short post with more of an explanation than an analysis.
2 seats for the Orange Count Board of Education are contested this election. District 1 is an open seat and District 3 has an incumbent with a challenger.
Over the past couple of weeks I have been analysing each race in the June Primary and giving a prediction on these races. I am not going to do that for these races.
Custom Campaigns, the firm that is owned by myself, Chris Nguyen, and Erik Brown (The founders of this blog) is doing the consulting work for Robert Hammond in OCBE 1 and Dr. Ken Williams in OCBE 3. It would be unfair to the opponents in this race for us to analyze and pick at them on our blog. Especially since we have polling data in the Area 1 race it is important for us to focus on doing our job and not playing games on the blog.
I like both Robert Hammond and Dr. Ken Williams and hope that voters feel the same way but the opponents are not bad people and deserve the chance to run their races without having to worry about the opponents consultants bashing them on the blog they run.
My advice to voters is to look at the candidates by reading about them in the voter handbook and seeing what they say about their plans for the district. Take a look at candidate websites as well.
With that being said I am going to have to take a pass on making a prediction in either of these races.
Posted in Orange County Board of Education | 3 Comments »
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