The Newport-Mesa Unified School District has set up web cams around district construction sites say residents can watch the progress of building projects funded by their Measure F bond.
Clearly, Newport-Mesa officials weren't told by Santa Ana Councilwoman Claudia Alvarez that such technology isn't available.
This came over the transom yesterday evening from Assemblyman Van Tran's office:
Assemblyman Van Tran Commits To Donating Salary Increase To Charity
“I believe the people of California elected me to the Assembly with a salary already set.”
(GARDEN GROVE)- Today Assemblyman Van Tran pledged to return his mandatory salary increase to local charities and criticized the Citizens Compensation Commission for recommending such an increase in a time of overwhelming budget deficits.
Continue reading "Van Tran Will Donate Pay Hike To Charity" »
Today's top stories from behind the Orange Curtain:
Credit Crunch Hits County Investment Pool -- OCR
Treasurer-Tax Collector Chriss Street discounts securities on small portion of county's portfolio.
Nielsen's Plea Deal -- OC Weekly
OC political activist to admit to lewd acts with boys
Santa Ana Removes Anti-Gang Commissioner -- OCR and LAT
Commissioner Thomas Gordon disputes a councilman's claim that he shouted at him during a recent meeting.
DeVore Keeping Pay Boost -- DP
Assemblyman Chuck DeVore said he won’t turn down a pay hike despite state budget problems some say could lead to service cuts.
Costa Mesa Mayor Says He'll Endorse Ron Paul -- DP
Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor announced he would officially endorse the candidacy of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, a congressman from Texas.
Frank Mickadeit: Acting Sheriff Too Loyal For Her Own Good -- OCR
Galisky's school of hard knocks
Faculty Accepts Drake's Answers -- DP
UCI’s faculty is satisfied with Chancellor Michael Drake’s explanation for why he fired, hired and rehired the law school’s founding dean.
OC Lags In Job Growth -- DP
Orange County had the lowest job growth this year of any major urban area in California and may soon be mired in a nationwide recession, a group of business leaders said Tuesday at a forum at the Island Hotel.
Canyon Residents Report More Deer In Canyons -- OCR
Residents report an abundance of deer in the canyons, causing car versus deer problems
Immigrants Sue Over Citizenship Delays -- OCR
The lawsuit, which includes plaintiffs from Orange County, was filed after citizenship applications were delayed over FBI name checks.
St. Jude Medical Center Will Expand -- OCR
The Fullerton City Council tonight approves $125 million proposal to add office building, parking structure.
Gordon Dillow: A Toast To Recycled Sewage -- OCR
Water that once had been sewage tastes great, actually.
Lake Forest Elects Mark Tettemer As Mayor -- OCR
The one-year term will begin on Jan. 1.
Webcams Offer Glimpse Of Newport-Mesa Construction -- OCR
Parents and others can see progress of Measure F projects at several schools.
OC Lenders In Subprime Market Disappearing -- OCR
Irvine's Option One Mortgage is latest casualty.
Couple Pumped Up On Natural Gas Cars -- OCR
Fullerton pair installs home fueling system; spend an average $1 per gallon.
'Mr. OCC' Leaving Orange Coast College -- OCR
Jim Carnett to retire after 36-year career.
Clinic Has Fielded 10,000 Visits This Year -- OCR
One patient has been treated for diabetes, arthritis and high blood pressure for nearly a decade.
White House Collector To Make Yorba Linda Visit -- OCR
Barry Landau has amassed millions of pieces of memorabilia through his long association with the White House.
NB Council Says No To Trail Because Of Concerns -- DP
The Costa Mesa City Council voted 3-2 to abandon a proposal that would construct a multipurpose trail in a flood channel throughout Costa Mesa during a meeting Tuesday night.
On November 18, 2007, the Orange County Sanitation District Board of Directors passed Ordinance No. OCSD-23, which raises their meeting stipend from $170 to $212.50. This a whopping 25% increase. The vote tally was 14-8-3. Anaheim Councilman Harry Sidhu was one of the eight who voted no.
I do not know when was the last time sanitation directors voted to give themselves a pay raise, but a 25% increase seems unreasonable to most members of the public, especially to the voters when they are enduring a spike in their fees.
As reported today by Total Buzz, Shirley Grindle, the self-proclaimed watchdog of campaign finances filed a complaint with the California Attorney General and the Orange County D.A. against Trung Nguyen based on her rationale of "fairness."
I want to get this straight: Janet opened an illegal bank account, asked donors with business before the County of Orange to give "anonymously", and over the contribution limits to that account. When she told that such an account was illegal, waited at least 50 days to refund the money, after the OCBlogsphere intensified their pressure.
On the other hand, Trung inadvertently accepted checks from candidate-controlled committees, none of which were over the limits, and refunded the money within seven days, which is in accordance to the law.
While I am confident that nothing will come of this complaint, I fail to see the connection nor do I see the "fairness Shirley Grindle is looking for.
Firing of Thomas Gordon from Santa Ana's Early Prevention and Intervention Commission has been an especially shabby episode, and one that reflects extremely poorly on Councilman Sal Tinajero's character.
For starter's there's Tinajero's contention that Gordon yelled at him at a Traffic Commission meeting. Santa Ana activist George Collins recorded that meeting, and posted an audio clip of what he states is the portion of the meeting where Gordon supposedly yelled at him.
You can listen to it here.
If that's yelling, then Sal Tinajero is a human radar.
Then there's the truly shabby manner in which Tinajero went about this business. I spoke with a friend and Santa Ana resident who said he had no doubt that the very last thing the city clerk did on Friday was to slip Tinajero's request to fire Gordon into the agenda.
Tinajero let Gordon know the hammer was falling by leaving him a voicemail a couple of hours before the Monday evening council meeting -- which Gordon didn't hear until later. The only reason Gordon knew prior to that was because a friend spotted the agenda item Friday night and told him. We're it not for that, it's entirely possible the council could have voted Gordon off EPIC, and he wouldn't have known until after the fact.
No class.
The conservative California Republican Assembly (CRA) came out with their legislative rankings for 2007 a few days ago. You can see the rankings at: http://www.californiarepublicanassembly.com/pdfs/CRALegislativeScorecard2007.pdf
According to the CRA, eight lawmakers received percent 100 scores on the 18 bills recorded. On the other end of the scale, 61 of 120 lawmakers received “perfect” zeroes. Once again, the Orange County delegation was strong, with seven of 13 lawmakers representing all or parts of Orange County scoring 90 or better.
Congratulations to the top scoring lawmakers.
2007 |
2006 |
2005 | |
DeVore |
100 |
100 |
94 |
Duvall |
100 |
||
Walters |
100 |
100 |
94 |
Silva |
95 |
||
Wyland |
95 |
76 |
94 |
Huff |
90 |
100 |
100 |
Ackerman |
90 |
71 |
89 |
Tran |
84 |
76 |
89 |
Spitzer |
83 |
53 |
89 |
Harman |
79 |
47 |
89 |
Correa |
32 |
||
Solorio |
0 |
||
Mendoza |
0 |
All the best,
Chuck DeVore
State Assemblyman, 70th District
For comparative purposes, the scores from previous years are shown when applicable.
This just came over the transom from the Tom Harman for Senate campaign:
Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman Endorses Re-election of Tom Harman
Huntington Beach, CA - One week after officially kicking-off his re-election efforts, Senator Tom Harman announced today that he has received the endorsement of Republican Leader Dick Ackerman.
Continue reading "SD35 Watch: Ackerman Endorses Harman For Re-Election" »
Last night I read Art Pedroza's post about that evening's Santa Ana City Council meeting, where they deliberated the fate of EPIC Commissioner Thomas Gordon and Councilwoman Michele Martinez's proposal for broadcasting council meetings; and this morning I called the Santa Ana City Clerk's office to verify the roll call vote on those items.
I really am astounded at the contempt Santa Ana councilmembers -- with the bright exception of Michele Martinez -- apparently hold their constituents.
Continue reading "Santa Ana Council Votes For Closed Government" »
Jon Fleischman posted yesterday on FlashReport about last week's 60AD Republican candidate forum in the beautiful City of Orange. Red County/San Bernadino also wrote up the debate.
The buzz, such as it is, coming out of the debate focuses not so much on the candidates as on the peculiar nature of candidate Curt Hagman's entourage. Per FlashReport:
Well, at this function, in the sleepy City of Orange, I was definitely taken aback to come into the Council Chambers only to find four rather intimidating gentlemen, all in dark suits with short, cropped hair, standing "at the ready" in various strategic locations around the room. There was quite a buzz going on as I spoke with some of my friends who where there, wondering aloud who there were... I first checked to see if they were required security -- sometimes public facilities will require a private security company to be contracted in order to approve use of a facility. Nope.
So, I inquired of one of them (the big dude on the right in this very bad photo from my LG Chocolate cell phone) if they were here with any candidate. He told me that he was there with Curt Hagman, and said he was with some company (I don't remember the acronym, but it sounded very clandestine). Hmmm. I thought to myself -- I know that Curt, a really nice guy, is from neighboring San Bernardino County. Maybe they just do things differently. Then I remembered with Curt does for a living (which never came up at the debate, by the way).
I did take the opportunity to ask Curt if he knew who they were. He said, "They are my friends. They support my campaign."
You can read Jon's entire post here.
"Friends"? "Supporters"? Come on. Reminds me of that Jon Lovitz character on SNL - yeah, that's the ticket! Can't Hagman just come out and say, "They're my security detail. I'm a bail bondsman. Capiche?"? That's certainly rings more authentic than the cagily pretending they're actually campaign supporters -- unless dark suits and ear pieces are standard issue to Hagman campaign volunteers.
