Around Town In South County….

It has been a interesting few days. I have been devouring the daily editions of the Register to get a sense of what is going on with the various campaigns while hanging out in Facebook too. If it was not for Facebook and the periodic reach outs I have done, I would be as much in the dark.

Now that the sample ballots and the absentee ballots have arrived, every one seems to realize that there is an election going on. The signs have been up for while. The first signs up were the ones from the Children First Team. I had not seen anyone until this past week-end, when signs from Beth Krom all of a sudden cropped up along with folks who were running for the Moulton Niguel Water District. I have found curious, though, that somehow Ellen Addonzio’s name has been brandished around town as a candidate for the Water District. She is the “A” in the ABC team being pushed by the Committee to Reform CUSD. I also saw one sign from Anna Bryson on the corner of Crown Valley and Niguel.

As I have noted the battle of signs, I have also noted how the Register has been quiet by in large. The Register, interestingly enough, has come out in opposition to Measure H. Measure H is the measure that mandates that the Trustees are actually voted by the local trustee areas and not elected district wide. Despite the silence in the mainstream press, I have seen how busy the CUSD Reform have been, though. It was simply interesting how the only main campaign theme the Board has had has been “to stop the Union Takeover”.

I have come out in support of the recall because I have see the ravages of the divisive policies the current Board has pursued. The current Board took office with support of the CUEA, the teachers’ Union. Yet, I find it quite extra ordinary that I visited their Website, all I saw was Union this, Union that. It dismissed the Children First Organization as a stooge of the Unions and literally defamed Fran Sdao. The attacks were even more savage on the Children First candidates. It noted that Lynn Hatton was in the “Education Business”. It noted how Gary Pritchard was a failed Senate Candidate and how he was “liberal” and his wife wrote for the Daily Kos and Huffington Post. It dismissed Saam Alikani as an 18 Year Old Kit. It called John Alpay an Opportunist..and so on!!! As I continued to dig around to understand their mentality, I ran across Capo Kids First on Facebook. They came out with another attack on Gary Pritchard regarding his precinct walk with teachers. This is what it read:

Capo Kids First! If anyone doubts that the union isn’t driving this effort to replace the board with the wild eyed ‘progressives’. Our Union friend, Mr. Pritchard (Mr. no on Prop 8), went on a precinct walk with his child’s elementary school teachers.

(I guess the teachers at his school support gay marriage? which would create an i…nteresting indoctrination issue for elementary school)

I was trying to understand what does support for Proposition 8 have to do with the issue of what the Board has done to the Schools. Proposition 8 has been found to be unconstitutional and is working its’ way through the Courts. All humans have a right to live and to civil rights. Gays and Lesbians are human beings like any other of God’s Creations. I have to wonder whether they understand that all human beings are valued.

As I got to know these guys through their Facebook page, I ran across this:

Capo Kids First! I’ve wandered back into the blogsphere over at OC Register and I am just dumbfounded by the inane arguments that are made by a very select few union folks… The level of disrespect that they show to the intelligence of the public is shameful. Just shameful.
September 30 at 10:07pm

I also then saw this:

Capo  Kids First! Our friends at the union are at it again…. False and Misleading statements rule the day!

Let us review:
…
“Save Millions in Election Costs” – Really? I’ve asked them to support their numbers… and they can’t. Some of their editorials are stating that they will not have to spend so much of THEIR money getting their candidates elected… so, maybe there is some truth… that they can influence the election with less money if they get this inane scheme through.

“Establish Local Control” – this one is a ‘hoot’. So, taking away 6 of our 7 votes in our LOCAL district is ‘Establishing’ local control? Also, a VAST MAJORITY of the kids will be attending schools outside of their trustee ‘area’ if this scheme passes… thus there will be zero local control by the voters and the parents… wow… Seems inverse to me?

“Eliminate the influence of Outside Special Interests” – Sure… by enhancing the one INSIDE special interest… the CUEA. Duh. Here is the rub, the union is the only special interest in our little corner of OC that gets a financial boost by their ‘investments’ in our elections… the problem is that they have not gotten a good ROI (return on investment) in the last few cycles, because the voters have soundly rejected their platform. IF they get their scheme through, they will only have to reach half the voters… they get the same amount from the teachers dues, so this means that their ‘investment’ is doubly spendy… Double it up if you can!

I am not even going to go into the ‘wasteful spending’ issue… as there is not enough room on facebook to deal with all the wrong ‘facts’ that they have spewed all over the place…

You just cannot trust anything they put out…

The only logical choice is NO.

No on the Recall,
No on H, and
No on the union backed candidates…

Their right to express their views are absolutely guaranteed under the First Amendment. However, their comments about a sense of disrespect is rather interesting. They are also entitled to their opinion, but not their facts. The record of the current President showing an utter disdain is well known. I have yet to see any indication, for instance, about the documentations in caporecall2010.org that clearly goes to the heart of what the current Board did to support their friends. Although the latest The apparent power grab they have had has been quite disheartening to say the least.

As I have been assessing their campaign, I find their assertion to be “conservative” to be a bit off the mark. Conservatives, by their very nature, want to “Conserve”. This means that as one conserves, one begins to build for the long term. This is what Barry Goldwater talked about in his classic “the Conscious of the Conservative”:

“…The root difference between the Conservatives and the Liberals of today is that Conservatives take account of the whole man, while the Liberals tend to look only at the material side of man’s nature. The Conservative believes that man is, in part, an economic, an animal creature; but that he is also a spiritual creature with spiritual needs and spiritual desires. What is more, these needs and desires reflect the superior side of man’s nature, and thus take precedence over his economic wants. Conservatism therefore looks upon the enhancement of man’s spiritual nature as the primary concern of political philosophy. Liberals, on the other hand, – in the name of “concern for “human beings” — regard the satisfaction of economic wants as the dominant mission of society…” Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conscience_of_a_Conservative , retrieved 10/6/2010.

The current conservative crowd seems to forget some of the lessons of the father of Modern Conservatism. It seems as if they are quite dismissive of the electorate and the most important constituency they were supposed to be advocates for: The Children. I see nothing in what I have reviewed that shows what this is all about. I also find it strange how they toute the support of the California Republican Party and the California Republican Assembly. I have to wonder what their support has to do with kids.

There are, of course, other elections going on too. There is quite a race in the 70th Assembly District between Melissa Fox and Don Wagner. Don Wagner’s apparent conflict of interest was of special note especially as the scandal in Bell Broke. She is continuing to run an aggressive campaign and has a number of Get-Out-The-Vote initiatives. Beyond that, there is of course the 48th Congressional District election. The first write-up I actually saw about it was on the Register that noted how John Campbell was quiet and avoiding Beth Krom. It also noted how Campbell was favored and simply did not have time for even the Register Editorial Board. Beth Krom is running all out. There is not a day that there are events throughout the District. I have not even seen a John Campbell sign in South County. I have to wonder whether he is that confident or not.

I continue to be fascinated by some of the local elections too.   The race in Laguna Hills, for instance, is quite vibrant especially in light of the recent controversy over the payotus to the City Manager.

As I continue my journey “Around Town” all I know is this: It is going to be quite a ride…..