The Teachers Association of Long Beach (TALB), a local extension of the California Teachers Association, lost one of two remaining seats of support yesterday when retired Cerritos College associate dean John McGinnis defeated TALB-endorsed candidate Richard Lewis and three others in a special election held yesterday.
Voters in Downtown Long Beach went to the polls to fill the open seat in District 3 for the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) Board of Education left vacant after the September 1 resignation of Michael Shane Ellis. Michael Ellis resigned his position on August 6th, 2009 - according to this Press-Telegram report - after missing nearly three months of meetings and following a District Weekly report that there was a warrant out for Ellis' arrest following a probation violation.
Ellis was one of two board members that tended to support the controversial agenda of the local teachers union, the Teachers Association of Long Beach, or TALB. The other three LBUSD board members have exhibited significant independence in their direction of the school district. Yesterday’s election was viewed as primarily a defensive one for TALB to maintain at least two supportive seats on the board leading into the regular elections for both the City of Long Beach and the school district next April. Three of the five LBUSD seats, including this one, will be up for re-election in April.
School District 3 is one of the most diverse areas of Long Beach. It covers the following schools: Chavez Elementary School, Edison Elementary School, International Elementary School, Lee Elementary School, Lincoln Elementary School, Stevenson Elementary School, Whittier Elementary School, Franklin Classical Middle School, and Renaissance High School for the Arts. The five candidates, Richard Lewis, John McGinnis, Raymond Chavarria, Kate Conrath, and Pauline Gonzalez Stenberg, also displayed that diversity.
As election day approached, many in the district believed that the race would be a contest between TALB-endorsed candidate Lewis and GOP-backed candidate Gonzalez Stenberg, and both campaigns had active poll-watching efforts yesterday. However, when the first polling data released shortly after polls closed at 8 p.m., it was clear that McGinnis had been more successful at conducting an aggressive absentee ballot chase.
Based on purely absentee ballots, McGinnis led Lewis by a 35%-25% margin, with Conrath, Stenberg & Chavarria coming in at about 17%, 12% and 8%, respectively. As the counting of the 27 precincts progressed, the margin between McGinnis and Lewis shrunk, indicating that Lewis’ poll-watching & follow-up with supporters to get them to the polls had been somewhat successful. However, with the resultant polling showing that absentee ballots made up over 75% of the total ballots cast yesterday, the margin was too much to overcome, and McGinnis held on for a 34%-29% victory over Lewis.
Local politicos in Long Beach anticipate a rematch between board member elect McGinnis and Lewis in 3 months, and candidate filing for the April election is already open. Incumbent LBUSD Board President Mary Stanton & David Barton, TALB’s other ally on the board, are both expected to run for re-election. Stenberg has already indicated that she will not make a second attempt and was among those that quickly left messages for McGinnis to congratulate him on his victory. (McGinnis could not be reached for comment, but is expected to release a statement soon.)
The Teachers Association of Long Beach has enjoyed mixed support in recent years, stemming partially from its frequent challenge of popular Democratic candidates that haven’t always been willing to bless its platforms unconditionally. In December 2007, before filing for the open 54th Assembly District seat opened, the TALB executive board made an early decision to suspend its own rules and endorse Long Beach City Councilwoman Tonia Reyes Uranga over Vice-Mayor (and now Assemblymember) Bonnie Lowenthal, as well as both Republican candidates and the Libertarian candidate, without holding any interviews or discussion among its general membership.
The District 3 seat itself was occupied by now-Long Beach City Councilmember Suja Lowenthal when TALB recruited controversial teacher Michael Shane Ellis, who had been an outspoken board president at the Centinela Valley Secondary Teachers Association, another local branch of the California Teachers Association, to challenge Lowenthal. The resignation of Ellis and mutual endorsement of Richard Lewis by both TALB and the former school board member, Suja Lowenthal, as well as the Long Beach Chamber, another frequent challenger to the teachers association agenda) was noticed by some as a new commitment by the association to work better with the Long Beach political influentials.
Whether the upset election by John McGinnis puts a hold on this alleged alliance while the TALB leadership figures out its strategy for the April elections will be one frequent subject of discussion for the coffeehouses around Long Beach, where most of the city’s political strategies and local activism are energized.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Senator Oropeza Absent/Abstains from nearly One-Third of Legislative Voting in 2009
When voters weigh candidates for legislative office every two years, they make decisions based primarily on how they believe the candidates will vote on key issues. They review campaign brochures, position papers, websites, and talk to friends and co-workers within their networks.
However, South Bay constituents only have a 2 in 3 chance of their current state senator even casting a vote! The Sacramento Bee reported December 7th on the California legislators’ absence & abstention records, and Senator Jenny Oropeza, D-Long Beach, topped all 120 state legislators, missing 931 votes so far this session – about one-third of possible votes.
(from Sacbee.com):
“Oropeza said she missed most of those votes while caring for her mother, who lives alone in Southern California and became ill earlier this year."
“Oropeza said she herself came down with the flu at one point during the session, and she had planned a Mediterranean cruise for November, when the Senate typically is not in session. When the Senate was called backed to deal with water issues, Oropeza said she couldn't cancel without losing $6,000. And, anyway, she was already aboard her ship.”
‘"It's very important to be there for votes," Oropeza acknowledged, adding that she kept in contact with her staff and was prepared to do whatever it took to get to Sacramento if a bill hinged on her vote.”
One question that will be on South Bay voters’ minds is “What if I had experienced the same situations at my job? Would my job still pay me for basically missing a third of my work hours?”
[end of quote]
In the entitlement world that Oropeza lives in, along with the SEIU and the CTA, excuses for “reasonable absences” are supposed to be accepted on the backs of taxpayers. Legislators like Oropeza have worked in this entitlement world for most of their adult careers, either as elected officials or government worker.
In the private sector, we don’t get such luxury. We have what’s called “Personal Time-Off (PTO)”, and we are allotted a certain amount of paid hours each year, with an approved amount of carryover to the next calendar year. If we use more than we are allotted, the time becomes “unpaid leave”. With exceptions for bereavement & jury duty, the system encourages personal time management and personal responsibility.
The more important issue brought up by the Sacramento Bee article is the practice by legislators to “check in” at morning roll call, and then be absent for significant portions of the legislative day. The article continues:
“Oropeza was counted as present during roll call on days where she missed about half of the 931 votes, according to a Bee review of Senate daily journals. Her absences tended to come at the beginning or end of the week. In addition, her office said roll call often is taken early in the day and she would sometimes leave later to attend to her mother or official business.”
Again, voters in the South Bay need to ask themselves in 2010 whether they would receive similar privileged treatment at their place of employment. How would most businesses run if all their employees had to do was “check in” at the beginning of the day and be paid for a full day’s work?
It appears Senator Oropeza has been living in the entitlement world of Sacramento politics and only performing as a part-time legislator. She has shown what can be accomplished by legislators only participating one-third of the time.
Could this be an indirect endorsement by Senator Oropeza for the Part-Time Legislature Amendment? Are the pundits arguing how legislators need the hours allotted to full-time status going to reconcile Senator Oropeza’s “part-time” status?
What is certain is that South Bay voters need a state senator who is truly “present”, not just marked down as such, when the State Senate is in session. Senator Oropeza has not met that need, and South Bay voters will hopefully hold her & other legislators accountable next November.
However, South Bay constituents only have a 2 in 3 chance of their current state senator even casting a vote! The Sacramento Bee reported December 7th on the California legislators’ absence & abstention records, and Senator Jenny Oropeza, D-Long Beach, topped all 120 state legislators, missing 931 votes so far this session – about one-third of possible votes.
(from Sacbee.com):
“Oropeza said she missed most of those votes while caring for her mother, who lives alone in Southern California and became ill earlier this year."
“Oropeza said she herself came down with the flu at one point during the session, and she had planned a Mediterranean cruise for November, when the Senate typically is not in session. When the Senate was called backed to deal with water issues, Oropeza said she couldn't cancel without losing $6,000. And, anyway, she was already aboard her ship.”
‘"It's very important to be there for votes," Oropeza acknowledged, adding that she kept in contact with her staff and was prepared to do whatever it took to get to Sacramento if a bill hinged on her vote.”
One question that will be on South Bay voters’ minds is “What if I had experienced the same situations at my job? Would my job still pay me for basically missing a third of my work hours?”
[end of quote]
In the entitlement world that Oropeza lives in, along with the SEIU and the CTA, excuses for “reasonable absences” are supposed to be accepted on the backs of taxpayers. Legislators like Oropeza have worked in this entitlement world for most of their adult careers, either as elected officials or government worker.
In the private sector, we don’t get such luxury. We have what’s called “Personal Time-Off (PTO)”, and we are allotted a certain amount of paid hours each year, with an approved amount of carryover to the next calendar year. If we use more than we are allotted, the time becomes “unpaid leave”. With exceptions for bereavement & jury duty, the system encourages personal time management and personal responsibility.
The more important issue brought up by the Sacramento Bee article is the practice by legislators to “check in” at morning roll call, and then be absent for significant portions of the legislative day. The article continues:
“Oropeza was counted as present during roll call on days where she missed about half of the 931 votes, according to a Bee review of Senate daily journals. Her absences tended to come at the beginning or end of the week. In addition, her office said roll call often is taken early in the day and she would sometimes leave later to attend to her mother or official business.”
Again, voters in the South Bay need to ask themselves in 2010 whether they would receive similar privileged treatment at their place of employment. How would most businesses run if all their employees had to do was “check in” at the beginning of the day and be paid for a full day’s work?
It appears Senator Oropeza has been living in the entitlement world of Sacramento politics and only performing as a part-time legislator. She has shown what can be accomplished by legislators only participating one-third of the time.
Could this be an indirect endorsement by Senator Oropeza for the Part-Time Legislature Amendment? Are the pundits arguing how legislators need the hours allotted to full-time status going to reconcile Senator Oropeza’s “part-time” status?
What is certain is that South Bay voters need a state senator who is truly “present”, not just marked down as such, when the State Senate is in session. Senator Oropeza has not met that need, and South Bay voters will hopefully hold her & other legislators accountable next November.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Part-time Legislature Petition Drive nets 1400 signatures in Anaheim
Relaunching an improved version of their career politician-feared proposition, Citizens for California Reform teamed with KFI’s John & Ken Show yesterday afternoon for a petition drive at the Ayres Hotel Anaheim that resulted in nearly 1400 signatures toward its qualification for the November 2010 ballot. The Part-Time Citizen Legislature Proposition is a constitutional amendment that returns California to a citizen legislature. Petitions can be downloaded from the website www.reformcal.com.
Over 50 signed up as volunteers for the effort, and most of those making the pilgrimage to the Ayre Hotel took additional forms with them to collect more signatures. “The state’s experiment with a full-time legislature has failed and we need Citizen Legislators who are in touch with average voters and will provide real solutions to California’s problems,” says Gabriella Holt, President of Citizen’s for California Reform, the group spearheading the initiative drive.
Steve Maviglio, the campaign manager for the opposition, was reached by phone in Sacramento by the OC Register, calling the measure a "very bad idea."
"It would cause new problems and make the situation much worse," said Maviglio, executive director of Californians for an Effective Legislature. "It would give more power to the governor and to lobbyists who would know a lot more about how government works than some part-time elite that's still wondering where the restroom is inside the Capitol."
The title of Maviglio’s group may seem a bit misleading when you take a look at what the current Legislature has done in its recent sessions. Between the significant hikes to personal income taxes, taking of local revenues from municipalities & school districts, and the resultant 13% approval rating of the Legislature, the last word that comes to mind for the entity that Maviglio is defending is “Effective”. If by “effective”, he means the effective destruction of the California economy, the effective reduction of California’s education performance, and the effective emigration of income-tax payers from California, reducing state revenues by $16B a year, Maviglio could then make the case that the full-time performance of the legislators he is defending has been very “effective”.
According to CCR, the return to a part-time Citizen Legislature will help focus leadership in Sacramento on handling the basic functions of government – namely keeping the state in the black. The “professional” politicians in Sacramento are held captive to special interests, and are unable to make hard decisions to solve the state’s budget crisis.
In the interest of full disclosure, this Los Angeles County Editor was at the Anaheim signature gathering to help gather signatures, and fully supports this measure. The next largest state in our union, Texas, has one of the most aggressive part-time structures, and recent studies are showing that, despite the current nationwide economy, the economy of Texas is growing while the only metrics growing in California are the unemployment rate and the percentage of welfare recipients.
To learn more about Citizens for California Reform and the Citizen’s Legislature Project visit: www.ReformCal.com
Over 50 signed up as volunteers for the effort, and most of those making the pilgrimage to the Ayre Hotel took additional forms with them to collect more signatures. “The state’s experiment with a full-time legislature has failed and we need Citizen Legislators who are in touch with average voters and will provide real solutions to California’s problems,” says Gabriella Holt, President of Citizen’s for California Reform, the group spearheading the initiative drive.
Steve Maviglio, the campaign manager for the opposition, was reached by phone in Sacramento by the OC Register, calling the measure a "very bad idea."
"It would cause new problems and make the situation much worse," said Maviglio, executive director of Californians for an Effective Legislature. "It would give more power to the governor and to lobbyists who would know a lot more about how government works than some part-time elite that's still wondering where the restroom is inside the Capitol."
The title of Maviglio’s group may seem a bit misleading when you take a look at what the current Legislature has done in its recent sessions. Between the significant hikes to personal income taxes, taking of local revenues from municipalities & school districts, and the resultant 13% approval rating of the Legislature, the last word that comes to mind for the entity that Maviglio is defending is “Effective”. If by “effective”, he means the effective destruction of the California economy, the effective reduction of California’s education performance, and the effective emigration of income-tax payers from California, reducing state revenues by $16B a year, Maviglio could then make the case that the full-time performance of the legislators he is defending has been very “effective”.
According to CCR, the return to a part-time Citizen Legislature will help focus leadership in Sacramento on handling the basic functions of government – namely keeping the state in the black. The “professional” politicians in Sacramento are held captive to special interests, and are unable to make hard decisions to solve the state’s budget crisis.
In the interest of full disclosure, this Los Angeles County Editor was at the Anaheim signature gathering to help gather signatures, and fully supports this measure. The next largest state in our union, Texas, has one of the most aggressive part-time structures, and recent studies are showing that, despite the current nationwide economy, the economy of Texas is growing while the only metrics growing in California are the unemployment rate and the percentage of welfare recipients.
To learn more about Citizens for California Reform and the Citizen’s Legislature Project visit: www.ReformCal.com
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