Recall opponents step forward

A couple of my recent columns drew interesting responses from individuals currently and formerly active on the Yorba Linda political scene.

Two weeks ago I again opposed recalling City Council members Allen Castellano, Ken Ryan, Keri Wilson and Jim Winder. But I recommended anti-recall leaders abandon the anonymity they claimed was needed to prevent attacks from recall proponents.

An e-mail from city Traffic Commissioner Lee Snyder noted that he was uncomfortable supporting a group that wished to remain anonymous. “If I had the guts to put my name on their Web site, they should let us know who ‘they’ are,” Snyder sagely suggested.

I also received an e-mail from Chris Puentes, who said the anti-recall group wasn’t trying to be secretive, but “the behavior seen from many of the recall folks…has been pretty rude and nasty. It’s not difficult to understand why some folks would not want to subject themselves to the harassment and meanness that many…recall people have exhibited.”

Puentes identified the other anti-recall leaders: Debra Ann Afarian, Vince Hambright, Mark Mallars, Carey Puentes, Valerie Renz, Scott Russie and Eve Tibbs.

He said the group hired professional political campaign treasurer Betty Presley of Rancho Santa Margarita because members are “ignorant of the many reporting requirements of a political campaign. We’re not politicos, we’re just trying to do the right thing.”

We can expect the war of words between the pro- and anti- recall groups--including the school-yard chants of who’s nasty and who’s not--to heat up as the summer progresses.

Also, a column earlier this month describing six municipal ballot measures prior to the Right-to-Vote initiative brought an e-mail from former Mayor Anton “Doug” Groot.

Groot, a key low-density leader who served on the council from 1976 to 1980 and the Planning Commission for the previous five years, tactfully noted that I missed two advisory measures the council placed on the June 1978 ballot.

One measure asked voters if a future election should determine if the council should be elected from districts. It passed 4,192 to 3,807, but Groot said an election wasn’t held because three sitting council members realized they lived in the same proposed district.

The other measure asked voters if the council should schedule an election for a general obligation bond issue to purchase the Nixon Park property. It failed 4,927 to 3,310.

Groot might not be familiar to some residents today because he’s not among the handful of former mayors who allow their names to be trotted out at each election by developers and political consultants to appear on mailers supporting selected candidates and causes.

Instead, he happily divides his time between homes in Placentia and Rancho Cugamunga. Interestingly, Groot said he spent $700 on his victorious ’76 campaign, but about $10,000 four years later, when he lost re-election by 14 votes.

A FINAL NOTE

Occasionally, I receive requests for copies of back columns. Since only the past few newspaper issues can be found on the Yorba Linda Star Web site, and my columns are not otherwise archived, I’ve started posting them at http://jimdrummond.blogspot.com.

Please note that I do not blog on the site. It’s merely a free and easy way to post past columns. Perhaps some readers will want to check up on my many failed predictions.

Measure B to work out like Prop. 13

Does anybody remember the pre-election gloom and doom forecasts before the passage of Proposition 13, the much-needed property tax limitation measure on the 1978 state ballot?

We were told that the public schools would be forced to fire thousands of teachers, double class sizes and eliminate vital programs, and that cities, counties and other tax-supported agencies would lay off workers and reduce essential police and fire services.

Of course, the pessimistic predictions proved to be wrong. And countless senior citizens, fixed-income families and average-wage residents remained in their homes, saved from ever-escalating taxes due to inordinate increases in the assessed values of their properties.

(Yorba Lindans didn’t pay a city property tax back in 1978, but property-based revenues supported various school, water and library districts, as well as a dozen county agencies.)

Similarly, the dire prophesies made in frequent mailings, telephone calls and cable television ads by the professional political consultants who ran the expensive campaign against Measure B, the citizen-sponsored Right-to-Vote on Land-Use Amendments initiative, won’t come true.

Don’t expect a bunch of special elections over the next few months or years if developers want to exceed the housing densities currently prescribed in city planning documents, as claimed in flyers funded by big bucks from building industry and real estate groups.

Do expect, however, that developers will design projects with densities within Yorba Linda’s historic guidelines, so they won’t have to face voters. The occasional density increase will be scheduled for a regular election or for a developer-paid special ballot.

And don’t expect Measure B to derail the new Yorba Linda High School, as suggested by a frequently aired cable TV commercial. Do expect YLHS to open Fall 2008 as planned.

Also, don’t expect City Council members to reduce police and fire funding to pay for special elections, which developers said would cost millions of dollars, as claimed in several “voter guide” endorsements purchased by the well-funded No on B committee.

Finally, don’t expect Measure B to curtail commercial development downtown--or anywhere else in the city. Do expect the Town Center Blue Ribbon Committee to propose restaurants and new businesses on commercial property without worrying about holding an election.

But residents can expect various deep-pocket groups to challenge Measure B in court. The Building Industry Association already tried to keep the initiative off the June 6 ballot, and they’ll probably be back with more legal arguments against its provisions.

A FINAL NOTE

Frequently and properly, City Council members use their positions at the dais to ask residents to support worthy causes and charities, from the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life to the activities of the Boys and Girls Club of Placentia-Yorba Linda.

I suggest that incumbents and challengers seeking council, school trustee and water district positions on the Nov. 7 ballot pledge the money they’d normally use to buy endorsements on the so-called “voter guides” or “slate mailers” to local charitable organizations.

Candidates who spend from $200 to $1,000 for each endorsement on these silly mailings aren’t fooling anyone. I’ll give special recognition in this column to candidates willing to take such sensible action.

Record spending on Measure B

The biggest story for Yorba Linda residents from the June 6 vote isn’t the narrow victory for Measure B, the citizen-sponsored Right-to-Vote on Land-Use Amendments initiative.

Actually, the most significant aspect of the election is that so many Yorba Lindans kept an eye on the ball or, in this case, the money behind the misleading No on B campaign.

Outside-the-city forces opposed to the Right-to-Vote initiative set a new, all-time Yorba Linda election record by raising the largest amount of cash in the shortest period of time.

The Laguna Hills-based No on B committee collected $168,500 in just 10 days from May 23 to June 1. By contrast, the grassroots Yorba Linda Residents for Responsible Redevelopment group took five months to raise $18,829.

None of the No money came from Yorba Linda. The 13 deep-pocket donations included $75,000 from a California Association of Realtors political action committee, $30,000 from the Building Industry Association of Southern California and $25,000 each from the California Building Industry Association and the National Association of Home Builders.

The money paid for at least nine different full-color brochures mailed to voters, 17 endorsements on voter guides (costing $10,210), a big cable television advertising buy, Yorba Linda Star ads, recorded and live telephone calls and dozens of street signs.

Again by contrast, YLRRR’s 74 donations for 2006 included just two from outside the city. The contributions were mostly in the $100 range, with only three exceeding $1,000.

Their money paid for two small black-and-white flyers mailed to voters, four paid endorsements on voter guides (costing $2,700), several Star ads and dozens of signs.

(Full financial details won’t be available until July 31, when reports for the first six months of 2006 are due from candidate committees and ballot measure groups.)

Building industry groups are expected to return to the courts to challenge the initiative, but even if they win, the June 6 results will have a significant impact on future Yorba Linda elections, including the upcoming Nov. 7 contest for two City Council positions.

For too many years, incumbents and challengers recruited by incumbents have run expensive council campaigns, partly financed by donations from developers and other individuals and businesses whose profits depend on decisions by council members.

Maybe the money from these mostly outside-the-city special interests will become an albatross around the necks of candidates who solicit this type of support. And maybe voters will favor candidates who accept only small contributions from city residents.

Such a development should appeal to all Yorba Lindans, no matter their opinions on Measure B.

A FINAL NOTE

I remain firmly opposed to recalling council members Allen Castellano, Ken Ryan, Keri Wilson and Jim Winder. Although they’ve made some major mistakes, they needn’t be removed from office before their terms expire this November and in 2008.

But I hope the Stop YL Recall leaders will identify themselves. They’ve e-mailed me that they wish to remain anonymous to prevent attacks by “recall proponents who seem to lack all semblance of courtesy.”

Only the group’s treasurer--a Betty Presley of Rancho Santa Margarita--is named on a form filed with the City Clerk’s office. The local organizers should also step forward.

Need cash for bills? Launch a voters' guide

Looking for a profitable business to run from your Yorba Linda home?

Need extra cash for your mortgage payment, the kids’ college fund or to buy gas for your SUV or Hummer?

Forget about stuffing envelopes, transcribing doctors’ medical tapes or selling on e-Bay.

Just launch a new voters’ guide or, as they’re known in the trade, a slate mailer. You’ll rake in thousands of dollars from individual candidates and ballot measure groups hoping your paid endorsements of their causes will impress gullible voters.

All you need is an impressive-sounding group name, a reliable local print shop and an attitude that there’s money to be made from selling endorsements to the highest bidder.

You can model your guide after the many mailers you received prior to this past Tuesday’s balloting. If you’ve already tossed them in the trash, you can count on receiving an even larger number of samples before the November election.

Sure, some notable names already are taken by those selling endorsements, such as Parents’ Ballot Guide; Family, Faith and Freedom Association; Coalition for Senior Citizen Security; COPS Voter Guide; National Tax Limitation Committee; California Taxpayers Alliance; Orange County Property Rights Coalition; and Team California.

But the possibilities are endless. How about Police Officers, Firefighters, Teachers and Health Care Workers for More Services, Lower Taxes, Controlled Growth and Property Rights Protection in an Illegal Immigrant-free & Child-safe Environment Voting Guide?

And don’t worry about competition in a saturated marketplace. Campaign managers will pay for sound-bite-type messages on as many mailers as their clients can afford.

You don’t even have to worry about checking the accuracy of statements you’ll be paid to print in your mailer. You’re trading space for cash, not providing a genuine service to voters.

Of course, plan two versions of your guide, one to mail to Republicans and another for Democrats. Candidates for City Council, school trustee, water district and the numerous judicial and county offices will pay to appear in both, thus increasing your profit margin.

Just include a picture of Ronald Reagan--preferably on horseback--on the Republican guide and a photograph of a youthful John F. Kennedy on the mailer aimed at Democrats.

How much money can you make?

In 2002, Keri Wilson bought several council endorsements, paying $200 to Parents’ Ballot Guide, $400 to Voter Information Guide and $1,000 to California Voter Guide.

In the same election, former three-term Councilman Mark Schwing paid from $100 to $814 for endorsements on 12 different guides, spending a total of $5,664.

Multiply similar dollar figures by hundreds of campaigns at the federal, state and local levels, subtract printing and postage costs, and you’ve tucked away a tidy sum of cash.

A FINAL NOTE

In my March 16 column, I asked, “Can two longtime Lions Club buddies seeking the same state Assembly seat run positive campaigns focusing on the issues? Or will they resort to the negative attack mailers so often used by candidates fighting for voter approval in hotly contested party primaries?”

Sadly, the race was politics as usual: both Mayor Mike Duvall and Brea Councilman Marty Simonoff sent out mailers--campaign managers call them “comparison pieces”-- which mischaracterized each other’s positions on several issues.

Local ballot measures generally fare well

Residents will decide the fate of Yorba Linda’s seventh municipal ballot measure in 39 years when they cast votes Tuesday on Measure B, the citizen-sponsored Right-to-Vote on Land-Use Amendments initiative.

And, for the third time in city history, local voters will help decide whether or not to send a sitting City Council member to higher office.

All but one of the previous six ballot measures won voter approval, including the 1967 incorporation decision, which drew 2,601 Yorba Lindans to the polls. Cityhood won with a 1,963 to 638 tally.

After the city’s original five councilmen were removed from office in the 1970 and 1972 elections, voters approved the 1972 low-density General Plan by a 2,317 to 1,902 vote. In a 1986 advisory ballot, residents recommended that council draft an ordinance banning “safe and sane” fireworks by an 8,651 to 4,207 vote. Council enacted the new law soon after the election.

When a council majority ignored a 1992 advisory vote for a two-term council limit, which passed overwhelmingly 17,604 to 4,817, term-limit proponents worked for a binding ballot measure four years later.

The 1996 election featured two competing ordinances, one for a two-term limit and the other for a three-term limit. Both won, but the “yes” vote was higher for the three-term limit, 15,087 to 6,906, so it became law. The two-term limit vote was 13,008 to 8,517.

The lone ballot defeat was on a measure that would have stopped the Imperial Highway widening project in 1998, with 7,337 voting for the initiative to stop the improvements and 12,596 voting against the initiative and for the widening.

If Mayor Mike Duvall tops Marty Simonoff for the Republican nomination in the 72^nd District state Assembly contest, he’s virtually guaranteed a November general election victory, due to the district’s heavy Republican registration.

The only other sitting council members to seek higher office were Barbara Kiley, who placed third to Dick Ackerman and Chris Norby in a 1995 special election to fill a state Assembly vacancy, and John Gullixson, who lost a 2000 Superior Court judge race to Marc Kelly.

Gullixson also lost the Republican nomination for a Congressional seat to Bill Dannemeyer in 1988, but that was before Gullixson’s tumultuous 1990-2002 council years.

A FINAL NOTE

Forty-eight high-achieving eighth grade graduates are among 122 Yorba Linda students expected to participate in next year’s International Baccalaureate program at Valencia High School. The school’s total IB enrollment is 282.

Students can earn university credit for IB classes and qualify for an internationally recognized diploma after completing the rigorous four-year course-of-study. IB students also can enroll in 21 Advanced Placement courses offered on the Tiger campus.

Val Tech expects 30 Yorba Linda students next year out of a total 111. The technology program offers specialized courses for students preparing for careers in science, technology, engineering, business, computer science, arts and communications.

The magnet Gifted and Talented Education Program at Kraemer Middle School enrolled 162 seventh and eighth grade students this year, including 68 from Yorba Linda.

GATE and other honors-level Kraemer students are eligible to enroll in seven “bridge” classes on the Valencia campus, including Algebra Honors, Biology Honors, Computer Applications, Drama, French, Geometry and Japanese.