Your August local media reporting & comments: Who’s running for Council???
August 15, 2012 in Uncategorized By: Dave Emerson
(Wed., 8/15/2012 update:)Today and tomorrow look to be very interesting days in Los Alamitos’ local media, so I’m bringing this month’s local media post to the front so you can report & comment on & put up links to the different local media as they report on the race for two Los Alamitos City Council seats, as well as responses in today’s News Enterprise to last week’s reports on last week’s non-meeting–details immediately below.)
First, your potential candidate list as of early Wednesday morning:
POTENTIAL CANDIDATE LIST
Decline to State (1)
R. Craig Sabo
CANDIDATE LIST
Demi Devaney (Not Yet Qualified)
Green Avenue
Richard Murphy
11712 Paseo Bonita
Dean Grose
Walnut Street
Ken Stephens
Howard Ave.
By the end of the day, we should have all candidates finalized and know who “Decline to State” is, whether Decline actually files or not. If you find out before I do, please post it in a coment below. Now on to last week’s news & comments. . . .
(8/8/2012, Los Alamitos) This morning’s News Enterprise had a very interesting page 1 article discussing Monday’s non-Council meeting and related issues. Nice to see more hard news in our only local print weekly newspaper!
If you missed it, click here for the updated online version, “Council Members push for another look at trash contract proceedings,” with Mayor Edgar’s interesting statement:
“This is continued harassment of staff and the wasting of taxpayer’s money. This political grandstanding provides no benefit to the community and this type of behavior is outrageous and I won’t condone or reinforce Warren’s actions. There was nothing else on the agenda that the council could have acted upon. It was a completely futile exercise.”
I’m thinking some of our readers may want to comment on that. . . or may have found something else of interest to Los Alamitos area residents in any media, local or national, print, online, or broadcast.
If you found it interesting, put up a link with a brief summary if you want, or just describe it in the “topic.”
We plan to resume putting this post up or updating it every Wednesday, so this is the place for things you haven’t posted yet or you note over the next 7 days.
Please briefly describe what caught your eye before commenting–don’t assume everyone’s read it.
If you’re commenting on something in the News Enterprise, you might also want to click here to go to their excelent new website where you can now also post online. Cut, paste, and get two posts for the effort of one! Click here for the News Enterprise Home page, NewsEnterprise.net.
Thanks for sharing!
Mr. Edgar, as was so exquisitely stated long ago, “The lady doth protest too much, me thinks,”. Meaning of course, that the more one exclaims, the more probable the words carry little veracity. The facts bear out that the council majority, including yourself, initiated the process down this road. And now you are suffering the unintended, and perhaps embarrassing, consequences at a time when your personal ambitions may be affected. It might be more politically effective to see it through to it’s logical conclusion
Edgar should have hitched a ride aboard the Mars rover.
He could set up his own little kingdom with the Martians. One does have to wonder in his mind what planet he thinks he is on. In his world it’s OK to spend $4,700 of our tax dollars on a friend/attorney to go after Council member Kusumoto only to drop it, without even settling it. Edgar spent $4,700 which doesn’t include staff time, city council time, Kusumoto attorney time, etc.
I would like to remind the mayor his position is ceremonial, appointed by his two puppets and not by the residents. He better sit down while reading this,because I am going to tell him that he is just like every other council member. He has no magical mayor powers
Why is it OK to set the standard and then not follow the standard you set up? Is this one of those things that only pertain to everybody else? Get real!
Yes Curly, Larry and Poe this IS a fine mess you have gotten yourselves into.
.
Here are some facts and data that can be substantiated by reviewing City records:
Cost of the trash lawsuit: $ 423,990; and consists of the following:
Payments to Colantuono & Levin: $ 170,914
Settlement with CITIZENS on the 1090 Corruption Anti-SLAPP: $ 33,302
Settlement with CITIZENS on the Writ of Mandate granted by Judge Banks: $ 215,000
Payment to Steven Baric, of Baric, Tran & Minesinger: $ 4,774
Kusumoto’s legal defense fees paid by the City: $ 0
Cost of Kusumoto’s Agenda Item regarding Municipal Code Violation: $ 640 (all estimated at this time)
City Attorney Fee (assume 1 hour): $ 400
City Clerk Cost (salaried position): $ 0
Department Secretary Cost: $ 40 (assumes that 2 hours were expended and the rate is $20 hour)
Cost to officially notice the meeting: $ 200 (newspaper, publically posting, etc)
Harassment of City Staff:
I personally apologized to the City Manager for being tenacious and firm on this matter. There were some moments when I was less than professional, and I recognize that this is unacceptable and have profusely offered my apology.
I have not had any interaction with the City Attorney since she would not answer my phone calls.
I did not coordinate or discuss this matter with the Department Secretary other than to address her questions regarding the scheduling of the meeting. If I was perceived as harassing, then I offer my apologies too.
- Council Member Warren Kusumoto
Warren,
Thank you for taking the time to lay out the facts, in more detail. They serve to further delineate how the council majority has been implicit in negatively impacting normal city operations. For you to exhibit a bit of emotion is not something to apologize for. On the contrary, I believe it shows how much you care, and that you are willing to go the distance to address an issue that needs to be fully vetted in an open forum.
Warren,
no need to say you are sorry for doing your job. I am thrilled that we have an honest, and transparent council member on our city council.
Everyone who has known you in the past and supported you with the most votes on your first run for public office, salute you for representing us with Truth, Trust and Transparency.
You just keep shining that light in the right direction.
As for staff, lets just call it job security.
Congratulations ladies!
Our “local” Women’s US Olympic Water Polo Team from the JFTB pool have brought Olympic gold to Los Alamitos!
Style and hard work all the way. Way to go ladies, a job well done. You have done yourselves proud.
With the way you have been treated up there, there is no way you should have to apologize at all. The majority has been running wild, with nobody to hold them accountable. Keep puttin their feet to the fire. Everyone loves a bon fire…
Van Tran Joins Travis Allen Campaign as Senior Advisor
HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA – Today, the Travis Allen for Assembly campaign announced that former Assemblyman Van Tran will join the campaign’s leadership team as a Senior Advisor. Tran represented the 68th Assembly District from 2004 to 2010, and served on the Garden Grove City Council from 2000 to 2004. For decades, Tran has been a strong political force in Orange County and is especially well known and respected in the Vietnamese community, having made history as the first Vietnamese-American elected to any state legislature in the nation. Currently, Tran is a Partner in the law firm of Baric and Tran in Irvine.
“Travis Allen brings a perspective that is sorely needed in Sacramento. He’s a business owner, creating Orange County jobs,” commented Tran. “What’s more, Travis has an Economics background, and as a Certified Financial Planner, Travis has an impressive record helping families plan for their financial futures and helping seniors protect their savings.”
“For most of the last decade, I represented a majority of what is now the 72nd Assembly District,” Tran continued. “And not only do I truly believe that Travis Allen is the best pick for Orange County voters, but I believe his campaign is poised for victory. I am very happy to join the Allen Team.”
After a Primary where his opponent was forced to spend more than twice as much just to qualify for the same run-off, Travis Allen’s campaign sits ready to implement the same kind of campaign that got him to this point.
“Today, I am honored to have Van Tran join my campaign team. With this addition my campaign takes a major step forward,” added Travis Allen. “We are going to aggressively communicate with voters throughout the District. With Van’s experience in the Assembly and on the City Council, along with his expertise of reaching out to voters in the Asian-American community, we are adding a huge component that makes us that much stronger.”
Travis Allen is a Certified Financial Planner and the owner of the Orange County-based Wealth Strategies Group. A lifelong Republican, Travis has previously been a Member of the Lincoln Club of Orange County, the Hispanic 100, and the Orange County New Majority. Travis has lived in Huntington Beach for the past two decades.
Contact: Emanuel Patrascu, 949-436-6158
I am planning to post all Los Alamitos Council Candidate’s ballot statement. Please have your favorite candidate/s use the “contact us” link above to e-mail their ballot statement, if they filed one. It will be posted without editing or comment.