Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on April 2, 2013
4:31 PM– They are going to have a ballot to decide the top 5 choices to advance for further discussion. Anybody with 3 votes advances if I understood correctly.
4:33 PM– They are voting.
4:36 PM– The following advance Renee Ramirez, Hieu Nguyen, Bruce Peotter, Chris Norby, and Dick Ackerman.
4:39 PM– We are now going to vote on a top 3.
4:40 PM– They are voting.
4:41 PM– The results are in and the top 3 are Hieu Nguyen, Chris Norby, and Bruce Peotter.
4:43 PM– They are now discussing the procedure of appointing this today versus going forward.
4:45 PM– They are looking into the top 2 now to advance.
4:48 PM– They are now voting.
4:50 PM– The top 2 are Hieu Nguyen and Bruce Peotter.
4:51 PM– A motion is on the table to appoint Hieu Nguyen to the position and it was approved 4-1.
4:53 PM– Hieu Nguyen is the next OC Clerk-Recorder.
Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on April 2, 2013
We are now starting the meeting at 9:06 AM.
9:07 AM- Jack Enda came up to speak on behalf of Hieu Nguyen during the public comment portion of the meeting. He spoke of his experiences working for Gary Granville alongside Hieu.
9:08 AM- Darlene Bloom also stood up to speak on behalf of Hieu Nguyen. She was the Clerk-Recorder briefly during the transition period after Gary Granville passed away and before Tom Daly took over.
9:11 AM- Supervisor Nelson stated that first interview should take place at 9:10 AM. He suggested an opening statement for each applicant, questions and then a closing statement by each applicant.
9:13 AM- They are currently deciding on who will ask certain questions that were prepared by the 4th Supervisorial District staff.
Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on April 1, 2013
Now that we have had some April Fools Day fun on to the real business for the day. Here is a post that has no pranks or jokes in it.
Tomorrow evening we will likely have a new Orange County Clerk-Recorder in place after what I am sure will be a lengthy and intriguing deliberation by the Orange County Board of Supervisors. I will be in attendance live blogging all of the interviews for our readers and giving my take on what is happening. be here with us at OC Political at 9:00 AM to follow along.
To explain how it will be formatted I will start with a post that details the opening of the meeting. After my original post I will have a separate post for every single interview up until the end of the meeting. After the interviews are done I will have a separate post for the deliberation and appointment. With any luck I might even get an interview with the individual who gets nominated. My suggestion to readers in order to be able to follow along live is to click on each post as it goes up and hit refresh to get a live update on what is going on with that interview.
We have had some of the best coverage of the Orange County Clerk-Recorder saga over the past few weeks often being the blog to breaks stories on this subject. Let’s take a moment to recap the process from the beginning.
Due to the length of the post I am cutting it off here. Click the link to view the rest of it. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on March 26, 2013
Update 11:28 PM– Corrections made for brief synopsis of Chris Norby & Larry Bales.
This just in from the Orange County Board of Supervisors website. We now have access to resumes and schedules for the interview process. I initially posted a list of OC Clerk-Recorder candidate bios along with statistics and occupations. Yesterday it appears staff at the County decided to take it a step further by posting each applicants resume among other things into a packet that is preparing us all for the epic meeting on Tuesday April 2nd.
In case you were wondering I will be down at the County of Orange on the day of interviews providing our readers with a live blog of every single interview from start to finish. After that hold onto your hats for a live blog of deliberations leading up to the new OC Clerk-Recorder getting selected. Stay tuned for a potential interview with the new OC Clerk-Recorder in our new audio post format if I can snag them after the meeting.
Here is the schedule for Tuesday April 2nd:
9:00 AM-9:10 AM Opening of Meeting
9:10 AM-9:40 AM Larry Bales
9:45 AM-10:15 AM Chris Norby
10:20 AM-10:50 AM Hieu Nguyen
10:55 AM-11:25 AM Richard Ackerman
11:30 AM-12:00 PM Bruce Peotter
12:00 PM-1:00 PM Lunch
1:00 PM-1:30 PM Harry Sidhu
1:35 PM-2:05 PM Michael J. Fox
2:10 PM-2:40 PM Steven Madoff
2:45 PM-3:15 PM Steven Rosansky
3:20 PM-3:50 PM Roy Reynolds
3:55 PM-4:25 PM Renee Ramirez
4:25 PM-TBA Deliberation & Selection
Here is a list of candidates in interview order with a link to their packet that they submitted to the OC Board of Supervisors. My thoughts after the links.
This was an interesting read to go through all of these applications, cover letters, and resumes in order to figure out how these applicants are angling themselves for the position. Here area few items from the different resumes that stood out.
Larry Bales– He works for used to work for the County of Orange for over 30 years in the office of the Orange County Assessor.
Chris Norby– He puts OC Supervisor as his position as opposed to CA AssemblymanHe lists OC Supervisor as his previous employment with Orange County and mentions that he heard about the job from a County employee/friend. I find it interesting that he listed Supervisor Shawn Nelson (1 of the 5 votes) as another one of his references.
Hieu Nguyen– Other than Renee Ramirez he appears to be the only individual other than Renee Ramirez who has experience working in the OC Clerk-Recorders office. He also heard of the position from a County employee/friend. The one think I liked about his packet was that he included letters of reference from supporters including the very well-known businessman Dale Dykema.
Dick Ackerman– He says that he learned of the job through Newspaper/Magazine and has a number of references he lists including OCGOP Chairman Scott Baugh, CRP Chairman Jim Brulte, OC Supervisor (Ret) Bill Campbell, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff, and Assembly Republican Leader Connie Conway.
Bruce Peotter– As I have stated before he is one of my personal favorites for this position along with Hieu Nguyen. I must admit though that I was surprised with his experience in the office of Public Administrator/Guardian that he applied for Clerk-Recorder instead. His resume/cover letter was the cleanest out of all applicants in terms of formatting and shows that he is extremely qualified for this position.
Harry Sidhu– This one will be tough as long as Shawn Nelson is still a Supervisor next week. In his cover letter he focuses on his private sector experience. In his resume he includes not only his Anaheim City Council experience but also his background as a mechanical engineer, real estate broker, and a business owner.
Michael J. Fox– I was totally hoping to read a filmography on this one but alas my dream was crushed. He learned about the position through Newspaper/Magazine and has a long list of cases he sites as being involved in that shows his background in law is solid.
Steven Madoff– He along with many others in the list learned about the position through Newspaper/Magazine. He is on my list of the most interesting applicants to sit down and have lunch with based on the stories he must have from his years of working for Paramount.
Steven Rosansky– Something is off with this application as he used a totally different application than everybody else that applied for the position. In terms of his cover letter and resume nothing specifically stood out to me other than his experience in Newport Beach as a Councilman, real estate broker, and business owner.
Roy Reynolds– He also states that he learned about the job through Newspaper/Magazine. He included an article that he wrote in the OC Register that referred to his firm conducting polling on behalf of the Costa Mesa Taxpayers Association. Apparently he does his political consulting business as a separate entity from his personal rapid transit consulting which I was unaware of.
Renee Ramirez– In my opinion she went from being the frontrunner to a longshot in a matter of months. She does mention her current occupation as being in the office of OC Clerk-Recorder. She has been employed at the office of the OC Clerk-Recorder since 1991 if I am reading her resume correctly. 2 of her most notable references include former Santa Ana City Manager/Police Chief Paul Walters and Yorba Linda Water Board Member Phil Hawkins.
Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on March 22, 2013
I was working on a database of the part affiliation of all Orange County local elected officials. Finally, I have completed the project with all of the special districts and county seats being added. I also fixed some errors in the previous versions (here, here, and here) and have combined the database into one post.
We have added a button on the menu bar for our readers to always be able to access this database and use it for whatever research/political needs that they may have. Due to the length of th epost you are going to have to click the below link to read the rest of the post.
Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on March 18, 2013
Thanks to Orange Juice blogger Vern Nelson for the idea of grouping the finalists by number of nominees.
Five nominations:
Hieu Nguyen, Santa Ana Republican, 45 years old
Bruce Peotter, Irvine Republican, 54 years old
Renee Ramirez, Orange Republican, 40 years old
Four nominations:
Dick Ackerman (Moorlach, Spitzer, Nelson, Bates), Irvine Republican, 70 years old
Chris Norby (Nguyen, Spitzer, Nelson, Bates), Fullerton Republican, 63 years old
Three nominations:
Larry Bales (Spitzer, Nelson, Bates), Tustin Republican, 70 years old
Steve Rosansky (Moorlach, Spitzer, Bates), Newport Beach Republican, 53 years old
Two nominations:
Michael J. Fox (Nguyen, Spitzer), Lake Forest Democrat, 60 years old
Steven Madoff (Moorlach, Bates), Huntington Beach Democrat, 60 years old
Roy Reynolds (Nguyen, Spitzer), Fountain Valley Republican, 65 years old
Harry Sidhu (Nguyen, Bates), Anaheim Republican, 55 years old
How successful Supervisors’ finalist nominations were:
Nelson: 6 of 6 (100%)
Spitzer: 9 of 10 (90%)
Bates: 9 of 10 (90%)
Nguyen: 7 of 8 (87.5%)
Moorlach: 6 of 10 (60%)
Here they are listed with their occupations:
Dick Ackerman (attorney, former state senator and assemblyman)
Larry Bales (FDIC settlement agent)
Michael J. Fox (attorney)
Steve Madoff (consultant, former executive vice president of Paramount Pictures)
Hieu Nguyen (assistant clerk of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, former OC chief deputy recorder)
Chris Norby (retired teacher, former state assemblyman and county supervisor)
Bruce Peotter (attorney, former assistant public administrator/public guardian)
Renee Ramirez (assistant clerk-recorder)
Roy Reynolds (personal rapid transit consultant)
Steve Rosansky (real estate company president, former Newport Beach councilman and mayor)
Harry Sidhu (business owner, former Anaheim councilman)
I have finally taken the time to do a bit of research on each of the remaining applicants and am going to provide those bios for our readers:
Hieu Nguyen– Hieu Nguyen along with Bruce Peotter is one of my personal two favorites for this appointment. The great thing about Hieu is that he has experience working in the OC Clerk-Recorders office (before Daly) and knows the way things operate from the inside. Nguyen ran for the seat in 2010 (I voted for him) and lost in a landslide the size of which I have not seen very often. He must have gotten some bad campaign advice because that was ugly. He currently works for the County and would be an excellent choice for the position.
Bruce Peotter– I like Bruce a lot and think that he would be an excellent choice for this position. He has experience working in County Government and was the best chance Republicans have ever had to beat Tom Daly. He is currently an attorney and you can click the link if you want to read more info about his law firm.
He first ran for office in 1998 when he ran for the open Orange County Assessor seat where he ended up coming I fourth place. He ran for office again in 2002 against Tom Daly for the vacant Orange County Clerk-Recorder seat where he finished in the top two thus advancing to the run-off against then Anaheim Mayor Tom Daly. In the run-off he came up a bit short losing the seat to the Democrat Daly who held it for ten years.
Larry Bales– I don’t know much about Larry Bales but must admit that I am surprised to see that he applied for this position. My thought was that he would try to wait out Webster Guillory for Assessor. I say this because he has run for Assessor three times. In 1998 when he first ran for the seat it was an open seat, Webster Guillory won for the first time and Larry Bales came in fifth place. In 2002 he tried for a second time and lost again. This time he came in second place, but only two candidates were on the ballot. He ran a third time in 2006 for what I think might have been just to do it out of spite (maybe?) and the result was no different, unless you consider that he did worse and came in third place.
Renee Ramirez– She is the acting Orange County Clerk-Recorder and has the advantage over all other applicants because if she gets chosen she holds the position and if nobody can get to three votes she is the de facto incumbent. She has gotten a lot of negative press lately from our friends over at the “Voice of OC” who are looking into a contract that previous OC Clerk-Recorder Tom Daly gave to Current Anaheim Councilmember Jordan Brandman (he was not a Councilmember at the time of the contract).
Ramirez was not involved in the handling of any contracts handed out to Brandman, however, according to the articles I read she apparently claims to have cleared all of the data that was attached to Brandman including hard drive, e-mails, etc… I do find it a bit ironic that the current keeper of County records destroyed County records. This could very well cost her the appointment in my opinion.
You can read the two voice of OC articles by clicking here for the first one or here for the second one.
If destroying any data or records is standard policy for this department the OC Board of Supervisors should take a long look at revising this flawed policy.
Michael J. Fox– I was extremely sad when I learned that this was not the Michael J. Fox that could take me “Back to the Future” with him. He is an attorney based in Irvine that appears to specialize in business and real estate matters. Here is some biographical information from his law firm website:
Michael J. Fox has a diverse background in addition to private practice. Mr. Fox previously served as in-house counsel to H.K. Realty, J.K Properties and their subsidiaries, entities that owned and managed over 16,000 apartment units in the greater Los Angeles area. Mr. Fox later served as Vice President and Associate Counsel for Fidelity National Title and as an Associate for the firm of Pite Duncan, LLP.
Mr. Fox has hands on real estate and business transactional experience with the negotiation and preparation of real estate purchase and sale agreements, formation and maintenance of corporations, limited liability companies, joint ventures and partnerships. He is proficient in all aspects of real estate transactions and knows how to avoid the pitfalls that can arise during the various phases of a transaction including the due diligence period, analysis, negotiations and preparation of contracts, financing, zoning, permits, title matters and escrow issues. Having litigated numerous cases that evolved from transactional errors, Mr. Fox has assisted clients avoid potential pitfalls and successfully complete both residential and commercial purchase, sale and section 1031 real estate transactions.
Feel free to browse his website if you want to see more.
Roy Reynolds– I met Roy at. California Republican Assembly endorsing convention last year and believe he is a member of the Fountain Valley Republican Assembly. The business card he gave me was for a polling company that he owns and through some research I found out at he is also an advocate for a personal rapid transit system which I understand very little about. If you want to learn more about PRST feel free to do so by clicking here.
Roy also wrote an article on another Orange County blog advocating for the outsourcing of the OC Clerk-Recorder position and he pushed for the Supes to strongly consider going that direction. I like the thought he had from the cost saving perspective but think that he is way off. When voters were presented the opportunity to make the OC Public Administrator an appointed position through Measure A in June 2012 it was rejected by the voters with over 60% of the opposition.
I support saving money, but something can be said for the will of the electorate on any issue.
Steven Madoff– This guy totally got screwed by Bernie Madoff who tarnished the last name of all people named Madoff. All joking aside he is quite qualified for this position with a lot of business experience. His background with Paramount Pictures actually intrigues me and I would rank him as the applicant I would most want to have lunch with. I found an article about him on Billboard that gave a lot more information about specifics on his occupation.
Steve Rosansky– He was a member of the Newport Beach City Council up until this last election where he did not run. In a slight amount of irony he was appointed to the Newport Beach City Council in 2003. He ran for re-election in 2004 and 2008 winning both times. Again, I do find it Interesting that he was appointed to the City Council and now seeks the appointment to Clerk-Recorder.
Harry Sidhu– former Anaheim Councilman who first tried running in 2002 but fell a bit short coming in fourth place (top two win) he ran again in 2004 and was successful in winning one of the two available slots along with Lori Galloway who also won. They were both re-elected in 2008 to their respective seats on the City Council.
Sidhu has tried to get to higher office in the past and has not had the best of luck. In 2008 he took on State Assemblywoman Mimi Walters in what turned into an extremely nasty race (I remember getting the mailers). Walter ended up defeating Sidhu by a wide margin of 74% to 26%. He tried again in 2010 to move on to higher office by making a run at the 4th Supervisorial District which was vacated by Chris Norby. He and Shawn Nelson bloodied each other during this crowded campaign and Nelson ended up winning both in the special primary and the special run-off. The run-off results were not very close, primarily because Nelson was able to run as the incumbent in the run-off, Nelson won 63% to 37%. His history with Shawn Nelson will make for an interesting interview.
Chris Norby– Norby has had a rough year after losing the 65th Assembly seat to Democrat Sharon Quirk-Silva. I will start from the beginning of his career. He was Elected to the Fullerton City Council in 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, and 2000 and served as Mayor in 1991, 1996, 1997.
He ran for the 72nd Assembly District in the 1995 special election but ended up coming in second place to rival Dick Ackerman. If you want to know more about this race take a look at the next bio (Dick Ackerman). Since Ackerman won I wanted to post the election links under his bio.
Norby was not done though as he won a seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors (4th District) in 2002 and won re-election in 2006. The 2002 election was particularly interesting because Norby upset sitting Supervisor Cynthia Coad. I found an article about the upset that had an ironic quote from Supervisor Todd Spitzer who at the time was about to leave the Board of Supervisors.
The Norby career continued when he won a special election to the 72nd Assembly District in 2009 after a scandal drove the incumbent Assemblyman to resign (Hey Mike Duvall, how are you doing!). He easily won re-election in 2010. After the redistricting for the 2010 Census took place Norby was hit by a perfect storm that drove him out of office and Democrats into a 2/3 majority in the Assembly.
Dick Ackerman– His political career first began when he ran for and won a seat on the Fullerton City Council in 1980. He was re-elected to the Fullerton Council in 1984 and 1988. Twice during his tenure he served as Mayor of Fullerton (1982, 1986).
Ackerman then ran for the State Assembly in the 1995 special election against three opponents including bitter rival Chris Norby who is also applying for the OC Clerk-Recorder position. Ironically when running for the position he was the California Teachers Association endorsed candidate which I found odd. Ackerman finished in first place, Norby in second, Democrat Shirley Hafner came in third, and Republican Yorba Linda Mayor Barbara Kiley came in last place. Due to nobody garnering 50% of the vote, the top Republican and top Democrat advanced to a run-off election. Ackerman easily won in the run-off election and actually gave the Republicans a majority in the Assembly. He won re-election to the 72nd Assembly District in 1996 and 1998.
After his Assembly tenure came to an end he jumped into the State Senate by winning an election for the 33rd Senate District seat (previously held by John Lewis) in 2000 and won re-election in 2004. If I recall correctly he was the Senate Republican Leader in 2004 and held it to almost the end of his second term.
In 2002 he did lose an election for California State Attorney General where he lost to incumbent Attorney General Bill Lockyer.
Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on March 5, 2013
Today I have the distinct honor of blogging a huge event in Orange County. The first major step in appointing the new Orange County Clerk-Recorder takes place today. The OC Board of Supervisors is going to select those candidates that advance for an interview during their meeting that will begin shortly.
Each Supervisor can pick up to 20 people for an interview, although, I highly doubt any one Supervisor will appoint that many people. Rumor has it that Shawn Nelson always pushes the meetings to finish quickly, so this might end quickly.
Shawn Nelson is already pushing the meeting to go really fast and has shut down a local gadfly from talking off topic on agenda item number 2. The item was on tracking bracelets for people and the speaker continued to wander off topic. This is a good sign that the meeting will be pushed very quickly. Read the rest of this entry »
In the wake of a scathing OC Grand Jury report against Supervisor Janet Nguyen for her take over of CalOptima, other county supervisors are openly suggesting further changes to this $1.5 billion healthcare plan for the poor.
The Voice of OC’s Norbeto Santana recently interviewed supervisors Todd Spitzer, Shawn Nelson and John Moorlach for their reactions. Senator Lou Correa also offered his willingness to make legislative change to CalOptima.
Todd Spitzer gets to work as Supervisor, picks staff
(Santa Ana, CA) – Todd Spitzer, elected to serve as the next Orange County Supervisor from the Third District, was sworn in on January 7 and immediately began focusing on critical issues such as ending homelessness in Orange County and addressing problems with Irvine’s Great Park. Click here for a link to the Orange County Register’s story on Spitzer’s swearing-in. Click here to read Supervisor Spitzer’s remarks.
Spitzer also announced his team, chosen to assist him in improving Orange County’s economy, ensuring public safety and bringing additional reforms to the county’s pension system.
Spitzer sworn in by his wife, Judge Jamie Spitzer, joined by son, Justin
and daughter, Lauren (not pictured)
Click here for more information about Supervisor Spitzer’s staff.
A history of controversy in the Great Park, but a bright future
Supervisor Spitzer recently spoke before the Irvine City Council. Click here to view his remarks.
Ending homelessness in Orange County
(Santa Ana, CA) On January 15, members of the Orange County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to purchase property for the purposes of creating a year-round shelter for the homeless in North County. The location of the property is at 301 S. State College Blvd., in Fullerton and adjacent to north Anaheim. This item is part of the county’s board-approved ten-year plan to end homelessness and takes steps to create a year-round homeless shelter.
Supervisor Shawn Nelson led the project, which is based in the Fourth District. For more than a year, Supervisor Nelson and staff worked with Fullerton officials and community members to identify a site location and work through logistical concerns. Supervisor Spitzer praised Supervisor Nelson’s leadership in bringing this important issue forward.
“This is such an important step forward for Orange County as we find ways to help our homeless get back on their feet, and find treatment solutions for those affected by mental illness or drug and alcohol addiction,” said Supervisor Todd Spitzer in support of the purchase.
“But it’s also critical to be aware that our action today is just a first step and that the people of Fullerton still have opportunities for public input at the city level through public hearings on this project,” Spitzer also said.
Currently, two part time shelters are available under the county’s seasonal Armory Emergency Shelter Program. Access to these shelters is limited to the winter season and to specific nighttime hours.
Spitzer also highlighted the upcoming survey of the county’s homeless population and committed that he and his staff would participate in the event.
Openings for boards and commissions to be announced
(Santa Ana, CA) Next issue, openings for appointments to local boards and commissions from the Third District will be announced. Supervisor Spitzer has called for a transparent and open process for applications.
A list of boards and commissions with available positions will be provided.
Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on November 14, 2012
Chris Nguyen did a great job putting together a local database of all party affiliations for candidates running for local office. I thought that I would take the time to expand on his post and show a database of all Orange County Councilmembers (Also OC Board of Supervisors) that will be serving on City Councils starting next month and what party they are affiliated with.
Please note that a couple of races could potentially change based on a close finish and not all votes being counted. This post will be added to our website in a permanent tab that we will be creating at the top of the site.
choice for this position. He has experience working in County Government and was the best chance Republicans have ever had to beat Tom Daly.
the last name of all people named Madoff. All joking aside he is quite qualified for this position with a lot of business experience. His background with Paramount Pictures actually intrigues me and I would rank him as the applicant I would most want to have lunch with. I found an 
714.834.3330
OC Political 