SPECIAL DISTRICT RACES

YEAH, I'M BACK AGAIN...
Yes, there are more races we should address as the 2020 campaign season has now launched - and who really knows what THAT means?  I sure don't!  Are we going to have candidate forums? Are we going to have Zoom debates?  Are we just going to close our eyes and stab at our ballots, then mail them in? Will President Trump emasculate the United States Postal Service so our votes won't make it to the Registrar?  Anyhow, there are more races to be discussed and I'm going to give you my take, early in the season, for whatever it's worth.  HERE is a link to the page on the OC Registrar of Voters web page that gives you some info on each of the following candidates.

COSTA MESA SANITARY DISTRICT
As most know, the Costa Mesa Sanitary District was extorted, just as the City of Costa Mesa and many other municipal entities were, into voting by district.  That required creating districts, then staggering the elections for those districts.  And, of course, the district boundaries are similar, but not the same, as the City boundaries or those of other districts that operate within Costa Mesa.  Yeah, confusion reigns.  This time around the CMSD has two seats being contested.  I'll address each of those individually.

DIVISION 2
This seat, is currently held by long, long time incumbent JAMES FERRYMAN, a man with a very long history of service to our community, including his tour as one of the strong leaders of the CMSD.  He would be my choice, hands down, if I could vote in this race.  He is challenged by BRETT ECKLES, a man with a youth sports orientation and a strong allegiance to the former political regime led by Jim Righeimer and Steve Mensinger.  Two years ago he ran against Andrea Marr for the 2nd District City Council seat and was soundly trounced by her.  I suspect that was because she brought such strong academic and leadership credentials to the race AND he carried the baggage of that previous administration.  He has not lost that baggage and Jim Ferryman has too much experience and leadership to be tossed aside.  Jim Ferryman is far and away the best choice.

DIVISION 4
In this race we have a similar situation.  ART PERRY is a long time community leader and educator.  His experience on the CMSD board has contributed to it being one of the most highly-regarded special districts in Orange County, if not the state.  Under the leadership of men like Art Perry and Jim Ferryman the CMSD has shown just how well such an organization can be run - with efficiency and fiscal responsibility.  Art Perry would be my guy in this race.  He is challenged by MICHELLE FIGUEREDO-WILSON, a woman with zero municipal experience.  She also challenged for a seat on the City Council two years ago, and, despite serious support from the OC GOP hierarchy, was soundly whipped by young newcomer Manuel Chavez.  She gained only 709 votes in that election.  She brings nothing to the table - to academic credentials nor demonstrated leadership experience.  She is a constant complainer via the social media sites and is closely allied with the above-mentioned Righeimer/Mensinger cabal.  Nope.. Art Perry's experience and long-time dedication to our community make him the easy choice in this race.

MESA WATER DISTRICT
It's interesting that, although there are three seats up for grabs, only one will be contested.  The seats held by incumbents FRED BOCKMILLER and MARICE DE PASAQUALE will not be contested - nobody stepped up to challenge them.  However, the Division 2 seat held by incumbent JAMES R. FISLER is being contested.  He is being challenged by newcomer, but home-town boy, ADAM C. ERETH, a member of the iconic Perry clan in town.  He brings an exceptional academic and work background to this race and will be a very refreshing replacement for the onerous Righeimer/Mensinger sycophant, Fisler.  I've watched Fisler over the years and have come away singularly unimpressed with his tours on various commissions and committees.  He's a politician who brings no expertise to any assignment.  I expect this will be a tough race - Fisler is well-connected in that part of town - but Ereth brings a special new kind of energy to this race and would certainly be a breath of fresh air on that board.  If I could vote in this race Adam Ereth would be my guy.

MUNICIPAL WATER DISTRICT OF ORANGE COUNTY (MWDOC)
There are several seats on this board being contested this time around, but only one with a local connection.

DIVISION 4
This race will be hotly-contested by an interesting mix of people.  There are two people about which I know absolutely nothing about - CHRISTOPHER GANIERE and DANA M. REED.  They apparently have no prior public service experience and will not get my vote.

Mesa Water District manager STACY LYNNE TAYLOR  has a strong Public Relations background at Mesa Water.  I've met her and don't dislike her, but I will not consider her because there is a much stronger candidate on the ballot and she is one more member of the Mesa Water power-hungry hierarchy trying to spread it's tentacles throughout the regional water management infrastructure.

Next is re-tread and termed out Costa Mesa Councilman ALLAN MANSOOR - a guy looking for another public trough to which he can belly-up.  Right up front, I am NOT a Mansoor fan.  Although he is a multi-term councilman, his times on the council were "distinguished" only by his anti-immigrant positions - he wanted to turn every Costa Mesa police officer into an ICE officer, for example.  He was named as an honorary "Minuteman" by the anti-immigrant leader, Jim Gilchrist, for goodness sake!  He has no record of accomplishment here - only divisiveness - or in the California State Assembly seat he held before returning to local politics.  He has been a willing pawn for the local OC GOP power brokers and brings nothing - no demonstrated leadership at any level, no strong academic credentials, no technical expertise, zero - to this particular race.  I strongly suspect that the only thing he knows about water is when he admiringly goes "ooohhh" as he watches it swirl around the toilet bowl when he flushes it.  The last time he ran for public office was two years ago when he ran, as a seated councilman and former mayor,  for the District 5 council seat.  He was crushed by newcomer Arlis Reynolds - making it clear that his neighbors knew him and rejected his brand of politics.  I suspect that will happen in this race, too.

Which brings us to the final person on the ballot - my friend and neighbor, KARL SECKEL.  Notwithstanding the fact that he lives in my neighborhood and I've gotten to know him over the past several years, as an old resume-reader for decades I can tell you that he brings a nearly perfect background for this job.  He has worked for MWDOC for nearly 4 decades and has an outstanding academic, technical and management background for this assignment.  He will retire the end of this year and his presence on this board will provide an extraordinary level of continuity of technical and professional leadership.  He is endorsed by the incumbent, Joan Finnegan.  This is an easy call for me -   Karl Seckel will enthusiastically get my vote.

SCHOOL BOARD?
Maybe next time.  I know nothing about any of the candidates except one.  So, I'll try to do my homework and get back to you - maybe I'll actually read Steve Smith's blog! :-)

This Election Is Too Important To Be Silent

WELL, I'M BACK... KINDA
Eighteen months ago, in the wake of my wife's retirement and my previously-mentioned health issues, I retired this blog.  At that time I presumed the restoration of my health and our anticipated travel would preclude me from giving enough attention to issues in Costa Mesa to justify the time it takes to produce this content.

THIS MAY BE A "ONE-OFF"... WE'LL SEE
Instead, although I throttled-back my meeting attendance to almost nil and paid a reduced amount of attention,  I didn't stop watching completely and I burped out frequent Facebook posts with my observations.  However, times have changed a little, to the point where I think it's important for me to comment here on our upcoming elections.  I don't know what the future holds for the blog - or for me, for that matter - but I may post things here on a very reduced schedule, so stay tuned.  And now, about this election...

LOST CIVILITY
I've lived in Costa Mesa for more than 45 years - 46, if you count the short time I rented a little studio apartment just off 19th Street in the mid-60's.  I've written about all things political in our city for more than a fifteen years, both in local newspapers and here on my blog.  I have never seen such a contentious, divisive political season in all my years as a Costa Mesan, and I'm concerned that our city might not recover from the wounds being inflicted in this campaign.  Civility is a lost art in our town these days.

BIGGEST ELECTION CHANGE
For the first time in it's 65 year history Costa Mesa voters will select council members by district, launching a potential "Balkanization" of our town, pitting one district's interests against others.  This was predicted several times from the dais by Jim Righeimer - the man who eventually orchestrated this mess.  And, for the first time, the mayor of our city will be directly elected by the voters instead of being chosen by council members from among their peers.  The only advantage of having a directly-elected mayor is that an incumbent can't be ousted by a capricious, petulant, agenda-driven majority in the future.  It will take another vote of the people to cast aside a mayor in the future.

THE GENIS FACTION

Since the campaigning began in earnest this summer two clear factions have emerged.  One, which includes current mayor Sandra Genis, current council member and former mayor Allan Mansoor (running for the District 5 seat), unknown newcomer Michelle Figueredo-Wilson (running for the District 4 seat) and Brett Eckles (running for the District 3 seat), appears to be largely funded by developer interests and other friends of termed-out councilman Jim Righeimer and former mayor Steve Mensinger - who was soundly defeated in his run for re-election two years ago in a statement by the voters that they'd had enough of their pro-developer schemes.

THE FOLEY FACTION

The other faction is led by former mayor Katrina Foley and includes outstanding candidates Arlis Reynolds (District 5), Andrea Marr (District 3) and Manuel Chavez (District 4).  More about this team later...

TACTICS
The Genis faction has chosen a very vicious, back-stabbing, divisive tack, spewing lies and other fabrications to cast a shadow on Foley, in particular, but also includes attacks on the others in her faction.  This has fractured old friendships throughout the city and may have done long term damaged to the very fabric of our city.  The Foley faction, meanwhile, has focused on presenting their qualifications for office, citing their strong education credentials, career successes and previous public service, instead of rolling around in the political mud with their opponents.

OUTLIERS
Steve Chan (District 4) and Rebecca Trahan (District 5) are outliers and bring little for the voters to consider, but both tilt strongly toward the Genis faction, which could complicate the votes in their districts.

MANSOOR AS ATTACK DOG
In this most unpleasant campaign season Mansoor, a divisive councilman throughout his career with two years left on his at-large term, has chosen to attack Foley with lies and deceit rather than actually taking on Reynolds for the District 5 seat.  Clearly, he knows he has nothing to lose, since he will be sitting on the dais the first week of December when the results are certified no matter which way this campaign goes.  Perhaps he's contemplating a run for mayor in 2020 and figures he can fool the voters, again - who knows?

LIES, LIES AND MORE LIES
Similarly, Genis - also with two years remaining on her at-large seat -  will still be sitting on the dais even if she loses the mayor's race to Foley, who will be out without a seat once the music stops unless she prevails on November 6th.  The Genis team has chosen to unleash a blistering social media (perhaps "anti-social" is more appropriate) attack on Foley, spreading lies and falsehoods to all who would read them.  Foley, on the other hand, has taken the high road, remaining focused on guiding her team of volunteers in positive actions - meet-and-greets, letter-writing, knocking on doors, placement of signs throughout the city - instead of engaging the opposition in combat on those sites.

WHAT HAPPENED TO GENIS?
Genis has a long and, until recently, illustrious political career in Costa Mesa. She's a former mayor, with service on the council dating back 30 years.  No one can question her contributions to our city, both as a council member and as a private citizen.  However, more than a year ago she changed and that change manifested itself most clearly in her unwarranted, unexplained and unceremonious ousting of Foley as mayor a year ago - despite the fact that she, herself, nominated Foley for that slot - and having herself placed in that job by a 3-2 vote.  Mansoor and Righeimer joined her in that vote.  Previously viewed as an intelligent, independent thinker, with only the good of the city guiding her moves on the council, she has shifted her focus and aligned herself with the developer-oriented folks who seem eager to pave over every single square foot of earth in our city.  These are the very folks who, only a short time ago, vilified, ridiculed and chided her mercilessly and attempted to sabotage her last campaign - straight out of the OC GOP playbook that we saw in action in the 48th District Primary combat between Scott Baugh and Dana Rohrabacher.   It's difficult to see how the city benefits from this new alliance, since the voters spoke overwhelmingly two years ago that they'd had enough of that kind of governance.

OUR BALLOTS ARE IN THE MAIL
My wife and I mailed our completed ballots off to the Registrar of Voters last Wednesday and they included our votes for Foley.  This time around we get no vote for our council district, Number 6 - that will wait until 2020.  If we could have, we would have also voted for Arlis Reynolds - a hometown woman with an M.I.T. engineering degree, a successful career and strong community volunteer history, including currently serving as the Vice Chair of the Parks and Recreation Commission; Andrea Marr - a Naval Academy graduate with five years of service in the United States Navy where she led sailors in hostile waters and has shown a strong volunteer spirit, serving on two important committees, since moving to our city 6 years ago; and Manuel Chavez, another home-grown product of our schools and a UCI graduate who, despite his youth, has been heavily involved in his community since a child.  Nobody has a better feel for residents of the district and the needs of District 4 than Manuel Chavez.

FIXING THIS WILL REQUIRE STRONG LEADERSHIP
My concern is how this city comes together after this campaign.  How will those campaign combatants reconcile their differences, resolve the bad feelings generated over the past couple months and find ways to work together for the good of all our residents?  We've seen this campaign fracture old alliances and friendships.  How do those get repaired?  In my view, that will take strong leadership - something Katrina Foley has clearly demonstrated throughout her political and volunteer career, and especially during her year as mayor, when she guided the prioritization of issues for the future of our city.  Genis has not shown leadership since ousting Foley.  Quite the contrary - Genis has allowed others - Righeimer and Mansoor -  to guide the ship during her recent mayoral tenure.

IT'S IN THE HANDS OF THE VOTERS...
The future of our city is in the hands of the voters, who will cast their ballots in the most important election since the formation of this city.  I hope they do it with care.  I hope they will select Katrina Foley, Arlis Reynolds, Andrea Marr and Manuel Chavez to lead our city into the future.

EVERY SINGLE VOTE COUNTS

In recent elections we've had races decided by fewer than 50 votes, so it's very important that every registered voter take the time to exercise this responsibility.  PLEASE VOTE!