March 2010

Pauly's Union-Manufactured Tsunami

Posted By CotoBlogzz 02-11-2010 | 09:00 AM

Villa Park, CA - Our quest to find out whether Orange County City Hall supports the Baugh Initiative has started to yield good fruit. The Baugh Initiative advanced by Orange County GOP’s Chairman Scott Baugh requires politicians to choose between the GOP or the the union.

We asked all council members of the 12 cities in Orange County outsourcing its public safety to the Orange County Sheriff's Department (OCSD), what their priorities were, what they thought of the Baugh Initiative and what they were doing to make sure that the money paid by their respective cities to the county for OCSD services were in fact being delivered and consistent with what the taxpayers wanted.

Villa Park's councilwoman Deborah Pauly was blunt: " I'd characterize it more like the “Baugh Ultimatum.” As an elected member of the Central Committee of the Republican Party of Orange County, who has missed only one meeting in three years, I heard Chairman Baugh’s speech first-hand in January and thought, “Well, it is about time.” It left no doubt as to the standard for the future.", she said in a virtual interview.

Councilwoman Pauly adds " The OC GOP -- and really the Republican Party, in general -- has been doing some serious soul-searching this past year, trying to figure out exactly when, where and how we got off the right path. More importantly, many of us are interested in how we can return the party to the conservative principles that make Republican ideas the RIGHT solutions for our cities, state and nation. The years of trying to "out-Democrat the Democrats" have proved fatal. Cozying up to the unions is part of the Democrat modus operandi."


Deborah Pauly, Villa Park Councilwoman		Wyane Quint - OC Sheriff's Union president		Scott R. Baugh Chairman - Republican Party of Orange Count

As to Villa Park's top three priorities, Councilwoman Pauly would like to :

1) further position our municipality, through sound budgetary practices and amassing a higher than average reserve fund, to weather the coming financial tsunami
2) Maintain property values and the high quality of life provided by a safe, well-maintained city, low crime rates, and small, flexible and responsive municipal government that pretty much just stays out of everyone’s hair
3) continue facilitating upgrades to our Towne Centre

Councilwoman Pauly's view of the union simulate an echo chamber in a Tea Party convention and similar to the ones expressed by high-ranking OCSD officials: "

"It’s the AOCDS' leadership that is the problem. The rank and file are hard working public servants who are not always well versed in the complexities of many political issues and therefore place trust in their leadership, leadership which has more interest in their own personal self preservation."

In councilwoman Pauly's view,

"Union pressure throughout the political process -- at all levels of government -- are what’s created the “coming fiscal tsunami” that all municipalities, school boards, counties and the state had better brace themselves to survive. At the state-level, union operatives are absolutely responsible for killing practically every money-saving initiative put forth. It all comes down to union leadership’s concerns about losing control and Democrats willingness to follow union “marching orders” regardless the long-term consequences. Rational thought rarely enters the equation and the idea of the “greater good” is not even a consideration."

Councilwoman Pauly then goes on to state what we we have found to be generally accepted:

1) In my mind, there is a big difference between the self-serving union leadership and the rank & file union membership (ie. classroom teachers, firefighters and law enforcement). The union leaders seem almost as out-of-touch as our congressional representatives in marbled halls of Washington D.C. They have misused their union dues to effect political outcomes that their members may not really appreciate.

2) Just because a candidate accepts campaign donations from a union, doesn’t mean they will always side with the union position. (I am a case in point.) However, it is the rare elected who can stand up to that pressure. At this point, we are in dire straights because the pendulum has swung too far to the left in representing union interests in our political process. It is time to play hard-ball, sever ties and negate any perception of partiality or the temptation to set aside basic conservative principles.

3) Just because a candidate does NOT accept union campaign donations, does not mean they are shutting the door to unions – their leaders or their members. Elected officials really should have their doors open to everyone they represent, because we need to hear all perspectives to form an intelligent decisions on policy matters. I certainly have had many emails, phone calls and face-to-face conversations with constituents who never donated to my campaign, or even supported me. Is their input any less valuable or important? Not in my book.

Councilwoman Pauly's bottom line? I am always concerned when too much political power is concentrated in any one entity, as is currently the case with public employee unions. I support any effort to put more power back into the hands of “The People.”

We still do not know whether councilwoman Pauly has a handle on whether the OSCS is delivering the services Joe the Taxpayer in Villa Park is paying for.

Most of Orange County City Hall does the mumbaugh - Dubbed the mumbaugh (rhymes with Mambo), like the Irish Riverdance, it consists of rapid leg movement, but in this case, at times covering ears, mouth and or eyes, most popular with the politicians throughout Orange County, triggered by what we have called the Baugh Initiative.

We asked (phone, fax, e-mai) all council members of the 12 cities in Orange County outsourcing its public safety to the Orange County Sheriff's Department (OCSD), what their priorities were, what they thought of the Baugh Initiative and what they were doing to make sure that the money paid by their respective cities to the county for OCSD services were in fact being delivered and consistent with what the taxpayers wanted.

Name	City	MumBaugh?	Comments
Neil Blais	RSM	Yes	Incumbent
James M. Thor	RSM	Yes	Incumbent
Gary Thompson	RSM	Yes	Incumbent
Jesse Petrilla	RSM	No


Frank Ury	Mission Viejo	No	Frank sent us references to published material - we have not studied yet
Lance MacLean	Mission Viejo	Yes	Incumbent
Cathy Schlicht	Mission Viejo	Yes	Incumbent
John Paul Ledesma	Mission Viejo	Yes	Incumbent
Patricia Kelley	Mission Viejo	Yes	Incumbent

Peter Herzog	Lake Forest	Yes	Incumbent
Richard T. Dixon	Lake Forest	Yes	Incumbent
Kathryn Mc Cullough	Lake Forest	Yes	Incumbent
Marcia Rudolph	Lake Forest	Yes	Incumbent
Mark Tettemer	Lake Forest	Yes	Incumbent

Dr. Londres Uso	San Juan Capistrano	Yes	Incumbent
Laura Freese	San Juan Capistrano	Yes	Incumbent
Sam Allevato	San Juan Capistrano	Yes	Incumbent
Thomas Hribar	San Juan Capistrano	Yes	Incumbent
Mark Nielsen	San Juan Capistrano	Yes	Incumbent

Lori Donchak	San Clemente	Yes	Incumbent
Joe Anderson	San Clemente	Yes	Incumbent
Jim Dahl	San Clemente	Yes	Incumbent
G. Wayne Eggleston	San Clemente	Yes	Incumbent
Bob Baker	San Clemente	Yes	Incumbent


Phillip B. Tsunoda	Aliso Viejo	Yes	Incumbent
Carmen Cave	Aliso Viejo	Yes	Incumbent
Greg Ficke	Aliso Viejo	Yes	Incumbent
Donald A. Garcia	Aliso Viejo	Yes	Incumbent
William “Bill” Phillips	Aliso Viejo	Yes	Incumbent

Randal Bressette	Laguna Hills	Yes	Incumbent
R. Craig Scott	Laguna Hills	Yes	Incumbent
Melody Carruth	Laguna Hills	Yes	Incumbent
L. Allan Songstad, Jr.	Laguna Hills	Yes	Incumbent
Joel Lautenschleger	Laguna Hills	Yes	Incumbent

Robert Ming	Laguna Nigel	Yes	Incumbent
Paul Glaab	Laguna Nigel	Yes	Incumbent
Joe Brown	Laguna Nigel	Yes	Incumbent
Gary Capata	Laguna Nigel	Yes	Incumbent
Linda Lindholm	Laguna Nigel	Yes	Incumbent


Steven H. Weinberg	Dana Point	Yes	Incumbent
Scott Schoeffel	Dana Point	Yes	Incumbent
Lara Anderson	Dana Point	Yes	Incumbent
Lisa A. Bartlett	Dana Point	Yes	Incumbent
Joel Bishop	Dana Point	Yes	Incumbent

Phillip B. Tsunoda	Aliso Viejo	Yes	Incumbent
Carmen Cave	Aliso Viejo	Yes	Incumbent
Greg Ficke	Aliso Viejo	Yes	Incumbent
Donald A. Garcia	Aliso Viejo	Yes	Incumbent
William “Bill” Phillips	Aliso Viejo	Yes	Incumbent

Cynthia Conners	Laguna Woods	Yes	Incumbent
Bob Ring	Laguna Woods	Yes	Incumbent
Marty Rhodes	Laguna Woods	Yes	Incumbent
Bert Hack	Laguna Woods	Yes	Incumbent
Milton Milt Robbins	Laguna Woods	Yes	Incumbent

Alexander A. Ethans	Stanton	???	Incumbent
Carol Warren	Stanton	???	Incumbent
Edward D. Royce	Stanton	???	Incumbent
Brian Donahue	Stanton	???	Incumbent
David J. Shawver	Stanton	???	Incumbent


Bill Mac Aloney	Villa Park	???	Incumbent
W. Richard Ulmer	Villa Park	???	Incumbent
Deborah Pauly	Villa Park	NO	Does not do mumbaugh
Brad Reese	Villa Park	???	Incumbent
James Rheins	Villa Park	???	Incumbent