OC Blog

How the OC Sanitation Directors Voted on their 25% Pay Raise

Since there is an interest in knowing exactly how each Directors on the Orange County Sanitation District voted on Ordinance No. OCSD-23, which increased their meeting stipend by 25%, here is the breakdown:

Anaheim: Harry Sidhu voted NO
Brea: Roy Moore voted YES
Buena Park: Patsy Marshall voted NO
Cypress: Phil Luebben voted YES
Fountain Valley: Larry Crandall voted YES
Fullerton: Don Bankhead voted NO
Garden Grove: Bill Dalton voted NO

Huntington Beach: Cathy Green voted YES
Irvine: Steven Choi voted YES
La Habra: Tom Beamish voted NO
La Palma: Mark Waldman voted YES
Los Alamitos: Ken Parker voted YES
Newport Beach: Don Webb voted YES

Orange: Jon Dumitru was ABSENCE
Placentia: Constance Underhill voted YES
Santa Ana: Sal Tinajero was ABSENCE
Seal Beach: Charles Antos voted NO
Stanton: Dave Shawver voted NO
Tustin: Doug Davert voted YES
Villa Park: Rich Freschi voted YES

Yorba Linda: Jim Winder voted NO
Costa Mesa Sanitary District: James Ferryman voted YES
Midway City Sanitary District: Joy Neugebauer voted YES
Irvine Ranch Water District: Darryl Miller was ABSENCE
County of Orange: Chris Norby voted YES

Why would Steven Choi, who is running for Assembly, vote for a 25% pay raise?  I cannot imagine that would look good on any mailer.  At least Harry Sidhu, who is also a candidate for state office, have some common sense and voted 'NO'.

Three Santa Ana Commissioners Resign In Wake Of Gordon's Defenestration

In the wake of the Santa Ana Council's saturnine defenestration of EPIC Commissioner and blogger Thomas Gordon, three more city commissioners -- all former or current members of the Orange Juice blogpen -- have resigned there positions.

Art Pedroza, Ryan Trabuco and Luis Rodriguez have all resigned -- Art and Ryan in protest, Luis partly so  but mainly due to time considerations.

The OC Register has more here.

I sympathize with the message they're trying to send to this banana republic council, but my advice would have been to stay and fight it out. If the council wants them gone, make them pull the trigger themselves.

Santa Ana Hits Light Rail Technology Barrier

Ex-city commissioner Thomas Gordon has this must-see post on the technologically-challenged City of Santa Ana's struggles with light rail.

Maybe Newport-Mesa Can Have A Word With Claudia Alvarez

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.

Van Tran Will Donate Pay Hike To Charity

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.

OC Sanitation Directors Raised Their Salary by 25%

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.

Sal Tinajero: No Class

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.

California Republican Assembly (CRA) 2007 legislative rankings

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, 70^th District

www.ChuckDeVore.com

For comparative purposes, the scores from previous years are shown when applicable.

 

Santa Ana Council Votes For Closed Government

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.

State Legislators Get Another Pay Hike; Wyland and Correa Turn It Down

When the state government is in the grip of an ongoing fiscal crisis that the state legislature has been unable to come to grips with, what is one to do?

Give them a pay raise!

According to the Sacramento Bee:

California's legislative salaries, already the nation's highest, will rise to $116,208 today for all but a handful of lawmakers who have declined the hike while the state fights a massive budget shortfall.

Thirteen legislators – four Senate and nine Assembly members – have asked the state controller to kill their $3,110-a-year raise.

And who are those 13 souls?: