I need to post....its been to long

So I have sat down a number of times to post, but fall short on doing it!

Tonight is different....I am putting something on regardless!!

So the past elections...

Congrats to Mimi Walters on her victory for Senate District #33...her campaign was awesome and really hit perfect with the voters. 73% voted for her, to me...pretty amazing. She will be presenting Orange in Sacramento, and I am sure she will do great things!

Congrats to Jeff Miller for his win in the 71st Assembly District and to Curt Hagman on his win the 60 Assembly District. These two men will both be covering Orange and I am positive they will do us all proud!

Ok so thats it for now!

A great song by "the Right Brothers"

Community Foundation Games!!

This morning was the Orange Community Foundation Games (track meet). This year had over 1200 kids registered to take part in the games. I was there for a good part of the day and I must say this was a total blast. The kids were great and giving their best and what was amazing was that the crowds cheered loud for the winners of all races, but something really special was how much louder they cheered for the kids that struggled to just finish.

Now the heat today as in the past couple of years was playing havoc on the kids, and I will tell you that I was burning up. My head is nice and sun burnt to prove it!

Also today was the 3rd square off of our very on Orange Police and Firefighters in the 4x100 relay. The Firefighters won bragging rights for another year!

A special thanks again to the Orange Community Foundation and to Lisa Blanc for all her hard work again this year!

Endorsing Mimi Walters for the 33rd State Senate District

Over the last couple of days I have been asked by a number of people some very good questions about the 33rd State Senate race. This is of course the Senate District that covers the City of Orange, and is in the primary mode between Mimi Walters (Assemblywoman 73-AD) and Harry Sidhu (City of Anaheim - Councilman).

I am very interested in this race as well as a couple of Assembly races for a simple reason, they affect us all in the City of Orange, with our representation in Sacramento. Also, with the current trend of the State budget and the attacks on business and the citizens, the threats of new or expanding taxes it is so important that we all pay very close attention to the elected officials of the State.

With all that said, I have endorsed Mimi Walters for the 33rd State Senate. Mimi has a great history which starts with her service to the community of Laguna Niguel as a City Councilmember and Mayor in the 90's and then in 2004 she was elected to the State Assembly. Mimi has been involved heavily in a fight to protect property homeowners from the abuse of eminent domain and is a fiscal conservative.

While I am sure that the other candidate is a good man and has a lot to offer, my choice for the Senate in these times of budget and tax issues is Mimi Walters.


If you would like to learn more about Mimi Walters and her campaign please visit her website at http://www.mimiwalters.com/home/

Thats it folks, soon I will be blogging about the Assembly races in Districts 60th and 71st!

It's official....I'm running for Re-Election!!!!

This evening we had a very well attended fundraiser that was hosted by Roger and Kathy Hobbs in there building on Chapman Avenue.

The group that was there included current and past elected officials, business owners and of course residents of Orange.

Todd Spitzer gave a few remarks and then introduced me to say a few words to the crowd.

After talking about a few items, it was time to make an announcement and here it is:

"Ladies and gentlemen, I was elected to the Orange City Council in 2004 and its now time to look at the upcoming election and with great joy. I made a number of promises in the past and happily report we have accomplished those goals. So with that, I love serving the City of Orange and its residents and businesses, I truly enjoy the ability to make change and challenge the status quo. I want to serve you, my neighbors for another 4 years....I am running for re-election for the Orange City Council, I am running to continue the job you elected me to do"!

With that, its official, I am a candidate for the Orange City Council....Wish me luck and I can use your help with the campaign!

proposed changes coming to Theo Lacy Jail in Orange

In the City of Orange, near the Block shopping center we have a county jail. For years it has been a problem and in 1995 when they expanded the City of Orange went to court to stop the Sheriffs Department.

Fast forward to today, the jail again is looking at major changes. What are the changes, well, the Sheriff wants to bring in the hardcore professional prisoners from state prisons. This is not only not wanted but in my opinion is extremely dangerous to the residents of Orange.

Why is it dangerous...well, the sheriff also wants to create a work program and when these professional prisoners are release on probation they will be released right into Orange to victimize residents within our city. Also the type of prisoner the jail will hold will not be the low level offender any longer. These are truly the bad guys, the ones that have been in the system and locked away for some time.

Please join me and call Sheriff Jack Anderson at (714) 647-7000, and tell him your against this!

OC Sanitation District rates to INCREASE!!!

Over the past few weeks at the OC Sanitation District we (Board of Directors) have been having a lot of debate over a rate increase to your rates. The item came up for an official vote last month to put forward the item to a full hearing for the approval of the increase. I voted NO (1 of 2 no votes of a 25 member board), I was against the rate the increase from the moment it was mentioned and for numerous reason. But I think the numbr #1 reason is that its basically 10% a year for the next 5 years....AMAZING!

So the other night we had the official meeting to vote on the increase. We had almost a complete board present with only 2 members missing the meeting. After a couple of hours of the public telling the board it was wrong, excess, mismanagement and so on and so on we had a chance to finally discuss this amongst the board.

In the end, a motion was made for approval and it was immediately voted on. The vote came and was 16 in Favor...6 against...and 1 Abstain. IT FAILS...however the 1 director that abstained was the Director that represents the City of La Habra, and she was aware that it failed and immediately asked to "change" her vote.

We went through another vote of the item (yes, its legal) and the item passed 17 in favor...6 against.

I voted NO on this increase, it is excessive and to have automatic 10% increases for the 5 years just burns me worng. The others that voted NO are Bill Dalton (Garden Grove), Joy Neugenbauer (Mid Way City Sanitation Distirct), Constine Underhill (Placentia), Harry Sidhu (Anaheim), Don Blankhead (Fullerton), and Me Jon Dumitru (Orange).

So here is what is happening, currently your sewer rate is 182 a month by the end of the increase period (2012) it will be 294 a month and I am sure there will be another vote shortly there after to raise it again! Of course if I am still on this board, I will again fight for the taxpayers of Orange County and try to defeat such increases!