POST UPDATE: I JUST SPOKE WITH CHRIS NORBY AND HE’S DEFINITELY NOT RUNNING FOR CONGRESS. FURTHERMORE, HE WOULD ENDORSE SHAWN NELSON OVER GARY MILLER.
Tomorrow the new redistricting lines for Congress will be released by the Citizens Redistricting Commission. If the lines hold and my hunch about Ed Royce moving next door into the 48th District is correct, then those of us in the 40th Congressional District could soon have an opening for a new U.S. Congressman.
I spoke with both State Assemblymen Chris Norby and Supervisor Shawn Nelson about all the “ifs” today and they are both considering that job.
If that happens, then we would have a whole new set of “ifs.” For example, who would run for Supervisor or State Assembly? If Bruce Whitaker ran for State Assembly and won then who would run for Council? And if…well, you see where this thing is going.
According to our old Friend, Allan Bartlett (who apparently has had his posting priviledges at Red County restored), our Assemblyman Chris Norby has hired a new chief of staff to replace his old one. The new guy is named Bryan Lanza, who may count as his main claim to fame resigning from Abel Maldonado’s staff when the latter RINO went along with a big Demo tax deal.
Now, I’ve never heard of a government employee of any kind resigning on a matter of principle, so if it’s true, good for him.
Way out here at the end of Screech Owl Road the silence is almost absolute – only occasionally ruptured by the stray thump of Marine helicopters in the distance. It gives a man time to think in peace and quiet, and I’ve been thinking about Chris Norby ever since his post the other day about the possibility of a stake in the heart of Redevelopment.
I started watching Norby’s political career in Fullerton back in the early 80s. During his days on the City Council he was effectively marginalized by the various majorities who saw Norby as an annoyance and an irritant. His 18 years saw almost no accomplishment at all; ditto his seven years as a County Supervisor, years in which his colleagues saddled you Orange Countians with a massive unfunded pension liability.
The gods were certainly kind to Norby when they presented him with an unforseen chance to extend his professional political career in the form of an open mike and an open Mike’s mouth. Still, what the gods giveth with one hand… 2010 saw a big Democratic majority and an opportunity to pass a budget with a mere 50%+1 of the Legislature. Total irrelevance for an OC Republican, right?
Well, maybe not. For those sly gods also finally presented Norby with an opportunity to be a Capitol player via a monstrous budget deficit and a Democratic governor who actually seems sincere in willing to dismantle Redevelopment – as well as to divert special taxes away from make-work, feel-good programs like the First Five scam.
Governor Brown will have to fight the entrenched Redevelopment lobby that has tentacles wrapped around members of both parties, and a budget proposal that goes after it may well need to be supported by Republicans, too. And when it comes to pulling the plug on Redevelopment nobody has a better record than Norby. A Brown-Norby alliance? Relevance at last? Who knows?
Better late than never.
Redevelopment agencies capture 12% of all property taxes statewide-that’s $6 billion annually diverted from school districts, counties and municipal police and fire protection. The funds are largely spent subsidizing private development projects whose promoters acquire land under threat of eminent domain, while 20% pays for low income housing projects.
The government should not be in the business of subsidizing private developers, nor of building housing projects. That’s the job of the private sector. This money needs to be restored to pay for infrastructure and services. Public money should build classrooms, not Costcos.
The agencies cannot be closed, however, until their nearly $100 billion indebtedness is paid off, but a phase-out over time could start, and long-evaded sunset clauses enforced.
While the legislature requires me to be in Sacramento on a weekly basis through June, I’ll keep regular district office hours every Friday. Visit or call 714-672-4734. I’m there for you.
Who will win the war? Follow the money.
The GOP Initiatives Endorsement Committee met this past Saturday to debate whether it should recommend to the State GOP to endorse Proposition 22.
Watch and see what happened during the questions and answer period. The proponents for Yes on 22 focused their argument on misdirected “local control,” and the fear that if it doesn’t pass Arnold Schwarzenegger will raid the cities’ Redevelopment funds and give them away to the schools. Hooray! The only problem is that by the time this is voted on Arnold will about as lame a duck as Daffy, and probably already reading the script for Terminator 5.
Did the most vocal Yes on 22 proponent, Jon Fleischman (hot dog alert @ 3:18), really think the voting members in the room would be dumb enough to buy that “Arnold will cook up a bad budget” line? Well, they did – the vote was 9 Ayes and 8 Noes. However, good news came on Sunday when the recommendation of the Initiatives Committee was tossed out by the GOP party who gave a thumbs down to the Prop 22 proponents.
Check out Chuck Devore, one of the few non-repuglicans in office. He gets it.
And yes, I really do have to wonder if Fleischman was on the Yes on 22 payroll. The Howard Jarvis group was no doubt bought off by the purchase of a slate mailer.
Last week the LA Times released an in-depth analysis of LAUSD teacher performance data which shows a wide variance in teacher quality that can greatly detract from a child’s education.
The analysis angered the teachers unions, who have spent decades lobbying to hide teacher performance data from the public in order to protect bad teachers. As retribution for the LA Times’ disclosure of public information, the unions are attempting to organize a boycott of the newspaper.
State Assemblyman Chris Norby, who was a teacher himself for 17 years, sent out an email blast encouraging these disclosures and asking the public to pay attention to this story.
“Shielding poor-performing teachers hurt both the kids and the teacher. Recognizing and emulating high performers will help us all,” wrote Norby. He also highlighted another major find in the report: the discovery that the educational disparity between teachers within a given school is much greater than disparities between schools, suggesting that education can best be encouraged by holding teachers more accountable, rather than just pouring money into under-performing schools.
Perhaps someone will attempt disclosure and analysis of teacher performance in Fullerton school districts, although the unions would probably fight it every step of the way. For the good of the children, of course. What we really need are school boards and state legislators who will fight union efforts to coddle bad teachers.
Bruce Whitaker has officially filed papers for the 2-year city council seat previously held by Supervisor Shawn Nelson.
The two-race situation has generated plenty of speculation as to which candidates will face each other for the separate seats. With Bruce being one of the strongest contenders, this action may solidify the choices of other candidates.
Whitaker has already received the endorsements of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Assemblyman Chris Norby, Congressman Ed Royce and Supervisor Shawn Nelson.
Bruce’s campaign is having a kickoff party this weekend. Contact the campaign at ElectBruceWhitaker@live.com for details.
The north part of Orange County has a notorious lack of parks and open space. And while the County of Orange spends millions on its park system annually, including vast tracts of parkland in south county, and even on the Harbor Patrol in the wealthy enclave of Newport Beach, us taxpayers up north get almost nothing. We have Craig Park and Clark Park which total about 130 acres; meanwhile the County controls around 60,000 acres of park and open space counting the new Irvine Company “gift.” Now that’s just wrong.
Former 4th District Supervisor Chris Norby kept talking about this unfairness, but he never actually accomplished anything to fix the inequity. Norby’s successor Shawn Nelson also made this topic a campaign issue. Will he be able to succeed where his predecessor tapped out? Let’s hope so. The opportunity for additional parkland, and even bike trails in utility rights-of-way are there. It may not be easy, but some of us voters expect elected folks to do the hard stuff.
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Over at the Orange Juice Blog, Art Pedroza has posted a fun story about our Assemblyman Norby getting the business from his colleagues on the occasion of his maiden bill reaching the Assembly floor.
The bill was about removing fund raising limits for elected special district members. The bill passed.