Duvall could be an independent voice
Let Duvall be Duvall.
That’s the message voters should send to Sacramento along with Mike Duvall, the first Yorba Linda City Council member ever elected to higher political office.
Thirty-nine-year resident Duvall will take the oath Monday in the state Capitol building as Assemblyman for the 72nd District, which includes western and central Yorba Linda.
On the floor with Duvall during the ceremonies will be his wife, Susan; her parents will watch from the gallery as other family and friends gather in Duvall’s new office suite.
Duvall could be a reform-minded force in the state legislature, unless party strategists, campaign managers and professional political consultants tame his natural instinct to make sure taxpayers aren’t fleeced in the day-to-day conduct of government business.
One of Duvall’s key assets is his genial personality, developed during many successful years in insurance sales and two terms as president of the local Chamber of Commerce.
He’s widely viewed as the most open and approachable of the current council members, despite his recent decision to limit speakers addressing the council to only three minutes.
And Duvall is unusually candid in media interviews. He told this columnist that his six years of council service helped increase his Old Town insurance company business and that he had to use his position as mayor earlier this year to convince a colleague to quiet his frequent outbursts during council’s closed-door sessions.
At first, Duvall was an unpopular presence on the county Sanitation District and Transportation Authority boards, but his questions about many business-as-usual procedures led him to gain a modest following among some of his fellow directors.
Duvall used his expert knowledge of insurance rules and sales commissions to save taxpayers quite a bit of money in what were previously routine transactions, and he’s built a reputation for his work to return public service pensions to sustainable levels.
If Duvall finds his way through the thicket of high-priced lobbyists and special interests, including those who gave thousands of dollars to help him win the GOP nomination in June and the actual Assembly position earlier this month, he’ll stand out from the usual partisan crowd and merit serious consideration for future elected or appointed positions.
That’ll be especially true if Duvall follows his own ethical standards and continues the pattern of frank talk and inquisitiveness that he’s exhibited at the city and county levels.
Unfortunately, timing might put the area’s state Senate seat out of Duvall’s reach when he’s term-limited out of the Assembly in 2012. Bob Margett’s final term ends in 2008, and Bob Huff, who represents eastern Yorba Linda in the Assembly, will probably run.
A FINAL NOTE
The former Main Street headquarters of the dismissed Old Town Yorba Linda Partners developer team might morph into a new, high-quality restaurant--“the type of place that many in town are asking for,” according to Greg Brown, who was an OTYLP principal.
Brown, who assumed ownership of the former Fazzare Jewelry store after developers dissolved their partnership, says plans for a new two-story structure “with a beautiful façade and interior” were drawn up by Howard Parsell, a Main Street-based architect.
The proposal will reach the Planning Commission in January, Brown notes. Since the commissioners took only one evening to approve new zoning rules for the entire Town Center in November 2005, this small project should be accepted in about six minutes.
That’s the message voters should send to Sacramento along with Mike Duvall, the first Yorba Linda City Council member ever elected to higher political office.
Thirty-nine-year resident Duvall will take the oath Monday in the state Capitol building as Assemblyman for the 72nd District, which includes western and central Yorba Linda.
On the floor with Duvall during the ceremonies will be his wife, Susan; her parents will watch from the gallery as other family and friends gather in Duvall’s new office suite.
Duvall could be a reform-minded force in the state legislature, unless party strategists, campaign managers and professional political consultants tame his natural instinct to make sure taxpayers aren’t fleeced in the day-to-day conduct of government business.
One of Duvall’s key assets is his genial personality, developed during many successful years in insurance sales and two terms as president of the local Chamber of Commerce.
He’s widely viewed as the most open and approachable of the current council members, despite his recent decision to limit speakers addressing the council to only three minutes.
And Duvall is unusually candid in media interviews. He told this columnist that his six years of council service helped increase his Old Town insurance company business and that he had to use his position as mayor earlier this year to convince a colleague to quiet his frequent outbursts during council’s closed-door sessions.
At first, Duvall was an unpopular presence on the county Sanitation District and Transportation Authority boards, but his questions about many business-as-usual procedures led him to gain a modest following among some of his fellow directors.
Duvall used his expert knowledge of insurance rules and sales commissions to save taxpayers quite a bit of money in what were previously routine transactions, and he’s built a reputation for his work to return public service pensions to sustainable levels.
If Duvall finds his way through the thicket of high-priced lobbyists and special interests, including those who gave thousands of dollars to help him win the GOP nomination in June and the actual Assembly position earlier this month, he’ll stand out from the usual partisan crowd and merit serious consideration for future elected or appointed positions.
That’ll be especially true if Duvall follows his own ethical standards and continues the pattern of frank talk and inquisitiveness that he’s exhibited at the city and county levels.
Unfortunately, timing might put the area’s state Senate seat out of Duvall’s reach when he’s term-limited out of the Assembly in 2012. Bob Margett’s final term ends in 2008, and Bob Huff, who represents eastern Yorba Linda in the Assembly, will probably run.
A FINAL NOTE
The former Main Street headquarters of the dismissed Old Town Yorba Linda Partners developer team might morph into a new, high-quality restaurant--“the type of place that many in town are asking for,” according to Greg Brown, who was an OTYLP principal.
Brown, who assumed ownership of the former Fazzare Jewelry store after developers dissolved their partnership, says plans for a new two-story structure “with a beautiful façade and interior” were drawn up by Howard Parsell, a Main Street-based architect.
The proposal will reach the Planning Commission in January, Brown notes. Since the commissioners took only one evening to approve new zoning rules for the entire Town Center in November 2005, this small project should be accepted in about six minutes.
posted by Jim Drummond at 12:00 AM
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