Brough/Harper Co-author Rehab Home Bill

AB 838 INTRODUCED IN STATE ASSEMBLY
As mentioned by Costa Mesa Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer at a recent Costa Mesa City Council meeting, Assemblymen William Brough of the 73rd District and Matthew Harper of the 74th District have co-authored a bill, AB 838, which will modify Section 1505 of the State Health And Safety Code relating to recovery houses.  You can read the bill and the Legislative Counsel's Digest HERE.

WHAT DOES IT DO?
I spent some time on Tuesday chatting with members of the staff of both assemblymen at their local field offices and in Sacramento, trying to get a clear picture of what this bill is supposed to accomplish.  I think the aforementioned Legislative Counsel's Digest provides you with a good, concise description.

TIGHTENS UP EXISTING LAW
Basically, it changes the California Community Care Facilities Act by adding a new section to the law to more tightly define certain group homes and, as a result, allow local jurisdictions to enforce the new laws - a misdemeanor.

ANOTHER TOOL
If passed, this would provide one more hammer in the tool box of cities like Costa Mesa - which, according to reports, has more than 25% of rehab homes in Orange County - with which to control the proliferation of such facilities.

RIGHEIMER TO LOBBY SACRAMENTO
It is our understanding, based on what Righeimer said at that council meeting, that he will be traveling to Sacramento early next month to talk with folks about this bill.  Right now the bill is in the Human Services sub-committee, but has not been scheduled to be heard yet.  We presume Righeimer will be attempting to influence other Assembly members to move forward with this bill.

I-405 Toll Lanes A "Dangerous, Slippery Slope"

KIM AND HARPER ANNOUNCE AB 1459
This morning - on a bright, sunny morning, in a parking lot on the haunches of the I-405 Freeway in Costa Mesa - Fullerton Assemblywoman Young Kim, Huntington Beach Assemblyman Matt Harper and several members of the 405 Freeway Cities Coalition held a press conference to announce the introduction of Assembly Bill 1459, co-authored by Kim and Harper.

 WOULD REQUIRE A 2/3 VOTE OF RESIDENTS
The bill, if passed, would hamstring the efforts of CalTrans to turn segments of major Orange County highways into toll roads by requiring a 2/3 vote of Orange County voters before ANY "toll facilities" could be constructed or implemented on any public highway in Orange County.  "Toll Facility" is described as, "a toll road, toll bridge, toll lane, or any other facility on a public highway within boundaries of the County of Orange for which a toll is to be charged, and includes the entire length of the portion of the public highway that is subject to the toll".  It also includes a high-occupancy toll lane.

MANY ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT
In addition to Kim and Harper, those present included Costa Mesa Rookie Mayor Steve Mensinger and Councilwoman Katrina Foley; Huntington Beach Mayor Jill Hardy; Westminster Councilwoman Diana Carey; Seal Beach Councilman Gary Miller; Fountain Valley Councilman Mark McCurdy and Rossmoor Community Services District Director Ron Casey.  There were also representatives of the Transportation Corridor Agency (TCA) present to observe.  It is the extension of the San Joaquin Toll Road that got this whole thing going in the first place.  Their organization will make a presentation at the Costa Mesa City Council meeting tonight.

THE MEDIA
The event was covered by ABC, NBC, PBS SoCal, Radio Station KFI, The Daily Pilot and a couple bloggers - Vern Nelson from The Orange Juice Blog and me.

HARPER LAUNCHED, THEN HANDED OFF TO CAREY
Harper kicked the event off by making introductions and a short speech.  He then handed the baton to Carey, who provided some background on this issue and emphasized the need for the proposed widening of the I-405 through the corridor cities - Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, Westminster, Seal Beach and Los Alamitos - in which $1.3 billion of Measure M2 funds are proposed for this project.  She stressed the lanes should be FREE lanes, including any High Occupancy Lanes.

MILLER NEXT UP...
Next Miller, the Seal Beach councilman and member of the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) Board, spoke.  He also stressed the need to NOT build Toll Lanes.

KIM CARRIED THE BALL

Next up was Young Kim, who described this attempt to hijack the freeway expansion for use as a toll facility as a "dangerous, slippery slope".  She said "We cannot allow Caltrans to force toll lanes down our throats."  She emphasized that it should be the decision of the residents of Orange County, not the state bureaucrats in Sacramento".  She stated that, "the Orange County Transportation Authority has twice voted to reject toll lanes of the I-405, yet Caltrans continues to try and march forward."  She painted a picture of such toll lanes being created throughout the state if this initiative by Caltrans is not successfully opposed.

NO VISIBLE STATEWIDE DEMOCRAT SUPPORT

I heard the speeches and agree with the idea, but worry about the ability of Kim and Harper to get this bill passed in a greedy, tax-oriented Democrat-dominated legislature.  For example, while there were local elected Democrats at this press conference, there were NO state-wide elected Democrats present.  This does not bode well for the possibility of this bill passing.  I hope they can convince some Democrats in the Assembly and/or the Senate to hop on board with this bill, or I fear it will follow the same path that most bills introduced by Republicans recently have taken - straight into the toilet.  I guess we'll see.  Stay tuned...

Toll Road Prohibition Presser Tomorrow Relocated(Amended)*

ANTI-TOLL ROAD PRESS CONFERENCE RELOCATED
The press conference called by Fullerton Assemblywoman Young Kim scheduled for 8:45 a.m. tomorrow, Tuesday, March 3, 2015 has been relocated.

NEW VENUE NEAR HARPER'S OFFICE
The new venue is the parking lot of 1503 South Coast Drive, which, coincidentally, is the building where new Assemblyman Matt Harper has his local office.  His name shows up nowhere on any of the announcements, so I wonder if he's actually on board with Kim's plan, and if not, why not?  Just wondering why "our" Assemblyman is not all over this?  And, why didn't HE initiate it?  * Late Monday the announcement was changed to include Harper's name.  Apparently he is a co-sponsor of the bill and WILL be in attendance at the press conference.

LOOK FOR HOOTERS...
Here's the announcement of the change in venue.  You'll notice in the map below that it's near Hooters, for those of you who might be hungry.  Hope it doesn't rain...  (Click on the image to enlarge)

Raucous Feet To The Fire Forum Last Night

NOT QUITE DAYTIME TELEVISION, BUT...
Well, we were promised a "television talk show" style format by the host, Barbara Venezia, but none of us expected it to be a Jerry Springer Show!

AN HOUR OF CONFRONTATION
The abbreviated program - 60 minutes instead of the advertised 90 - was marked by some pretty aggressive interrogation by the journalists on the stage and some equally aggressive verbal sparring among the participants, too.  There were no fist-fights or chair-throwing, but the exchanges between
candidates became strident many times.

ALL CANDIDATES ATTENDED
All the candidates for the 74th Assembly seat being vacated by Allan Mansoor attended this forum - apparently the first time all five have been at the same venue.  Three Republican men - Newport Beach City Councilman Keith Curry, Huntington Beach Mayor Matthew Harper and Emanuel Patrascu who works for Assemblyman Travis Allen - were joined by two Democrat women - Educator Anila Ali and recent convert from the Republican Party, businesswoman Karina Onofre.

THE INTERROGATORS
The interrogators for the evening - Daily Pilot Editor John Canalis, Orange County Register columnist and Republican activist Jack Wu, Voice of OC Editor-in-Chief Norberto Santana, Jr. and Daily Pilot City Editor Alicia Lopez - came prepared and didn't let the candidates off easy with their questions.  Venezia, as moderator, kept the ball rolling.

SMALLER CROWD
The "crowd" was less than hoped for - somewhere around 100 people rattled around in a room prepped for at least double that number.  Still, the crowd of partisans and other interested parties was attentive and, at times, quite vocal.

GOOD MEDIA COVERAGE
The event was covered by reporters for the Daily Pilot, Orange County Register and The Voice of OC, plus Costa Mesa Television was on hand to record the event for future viewing on the public access channels of all cities covered by the Assembly District.

 Jill Cowan (Daily Pilot), Scott Martindale (OC Register), Brad Zint (Daily Pilot)

FACES IN THE CROWD
As I looked around the room I saw Costa Mesa City Council candidates Harold Weitzberg, Lee Ramos and Tony Capitelli, plus Mayor Pro Tem Steve Mensinger and Sanitary District Director Arlene Schafer, too.  And, Police Chief Tom Gazsi also made an appearance.  Late in the program Mansoor and his lovely and VERY pregnant wife arrived.  He is scheduled to attend the forum for the 2nd District Supervisorial seat being vacated by termed-out John Moorlach on April 28th - about the time she is due to deliver their first child.  A highlight of the evening for me was a chat with the grande dame of local politics, Marian Bergeson.

CURRY AT THE TOP
I thought Curry came off as the most composed, professional  candidate on the stage.  The former Newport Beach mayor, a seasoned pro, knows how to answer the questions briskly and when to keep quiet.  The rest of the more junior candidates had trouble with that part, frequently talking over one another, making it very difficult to sort answers from the noise.

DEMOCRAT WOMEN AT THE BOTTOM
The two Democrat women, in my view, finished 4th and 5th if the evening was to be graded. Ali, a teacher from Irvine with no political experience, clearly articulated her answers, but didn't have enough of them.  Onofre was much more frenetic with her answers and, while attractive and engaging, lost much of the crowd when she complained about not receiving respect from "elderly" members of the audience.  Neither of them have raised any significant funds for their campaigns.

CAMPAIGN DOLLARS
While on that subject, Curry has accumulated the biggest war chest - somewhere around $250,000, including money he loaned to his campaign.  Harper was quite nebulous about his funds - he said somewhere between $30,000 and
$50,000.  Patrascu said he had $100,000 on hand.

OOPS - KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE!
Ali also shot herself in the foot late in the meeting when she spoke in glowing terms about Barack Obama.  Muffled boos were heard throughout the room.  It's important to understand one's audience in these situations.

CROSS-TALK CONFUSING
Because of the free-form, talking-over-each-other format it was difficult to understand the answers to many of the questions.  During a very unusual exchange we did learn that Onofre is both Pro-choice and Pro-life!  Yeah, nobody I spoke with later could figure that one out, either.  Nick Gerda of the Voice of OC was first up with coverage of the event, HERE.  His summary will help you with specific answers gleaned from his front-row seat.  HERE is Brad Zint's Daily Pilot coverage, posted online at 11:30 Friday.

NOBODY HAS A PLAN
When asked how each would deal with the Sacramento politics, which is tilted extremely to the Democratic Party side on issues, none of the candidates had good answers - even the Democrats.  We know the Republicans will have a tough go of it - Mansoor's lackluster tour has demonstrated that for us.

WITHOUT FACTS IT'S A "STYLE" ISSUE
Quite honestly, because so few of the candidates were able to offer concrete, specific answers to tough questions we were left to form judgments about their qualifications by the WAY they navigated through answers.  Again, in my mind's eye, Curry came out ahead of the pack, with Harper a distant second, followed by Parascu.  There seemed to be very little enthusiasm from the crowd for the two Democrat women.  A couple people muttered "None of the above" as they made their way out of the room.

ONE DOWN - MANY TO COME...
So, that's one forum under our belts.  On to the next one on April 28th - same time, same place.  Costa Mesa City Council Candidate Forums will be scheduled once the field is locked-in.  The Feet To The Fire Forum for that group will be held on September 18th on the campus of Orange Coast College.  More on that one as the day draws near.

Feet To The Fire Forum Tonight

NOW IS THE TIME!
This is the chance for you to see all the candidates for the 74th Assembly seat being vacated by Allan Mansoor grilled by a panel of local journalists!

ASSEMBLY CANDIDATES INTERROGATED
Tonight, Thursday,  at the Costa Mesa Community Center, 1845 Park Avenue (Lions Park), Barbara Venezia and her band of interrogators will put on a show for us all.  Doors open at 6:30 and the program runs from 7:00 - 8:30.  That's still plenty of time for us old folks to get home to bed early.  To learn more click HERE. See you there.