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It’s the same question I, and many other progressive Democrats, get so frequently about why we’ve supported conservative Mayor Tom Tait for two terms. The question comes from folks who don’t really understand what’s going on in Anaheim.
So let’s start here: There is no left or right in this town. There is no Republican or Democrat in this town. Rather, as Tom explained to me once, there are those who enter politics to help the people, and those who enter politics to help themselves (and their funders.) And like any such sweeping statement, this one is about 75% true, which means, good enough to work with.
The first thing you need to remember is that the story of Anaheim, for most of the past two decades, has been a story of ROBBERY. Insatiable special interests, led and typified by Disney but by no means confined to them, became expert here at draining the public treasury through a series of bought-and-paid for mayors and councilmembers of BOTH Parties, to the tune of billions of dollars, while managing to convince just enough of the voting public that they were doing us a favor.
“A lot of these things are not a natural, normal thing for any city to do.” – Tait to the LA Times.
And one side-effect of this was to bring together public servants from the left and right who were NOT on the take. We’ve found that the traits that distinguish “left” from “right” in normal politics can seem much less important, as discussions and compromises over the allocation of our public resources can happen at leisure and in a civil manner, AFTER honest left and right have united to make sure those resources still exist!
We were BARELY able to achieve our People’s Majority in 2016 – again, honest representatives of both left and right who put the interests of our city and its people over that of big money. We would NEVER have been able to manage that victory without the highly popular reform of District Elections – and voters should never forget how hard the Establishment fought, how much of our money they wasted, to put off the day that we could have District Elections.
The People’s Majority still hangs by a thread – by one vote – and that is one reason we desperately need Cynthia in the Mayor’s seat. We know that Sidhu is on the Establishment’s side, and nobody can really say where Aitken stands, as she is apparently still learning about this town and has no record to point to. But we do know for sure that Cynthia Ward is on the People’s side, and has been for years.
And, in great contrast to her rivals, Cynthia can proudly point to…
A Lifetime of Service to Anaheim.
At last Dec 21’s “Longest Night” Homeless Memorial Day event, Anaheim Cemetery
In between making a living at her area of expertise – historian and archivist – along with her husband’s technical writing for a major corporation – Cynthia has for years used her spare time in various volunteer capacities serving her beloved town. For example:
- Served as President, Vice-President, at-large director and member of the Anaheim Historical Society since 2000, identifying and preserving historic structures and recording oral history programs.
- With the “Cemetery Angels,” successfully listed the 1867 Anaheim Cemetery as a County Historic Site.
- As a member of the OC Cemetery Board, put a lot of time into helping make the OC Veterans’ Cemetery a reality in Irvine.
- Served on the Anaheim Arts Council 2007-9, riasing funds for grants and scholarships and organizing the Children’s Art Festival.
- Curator of the Mother Colony Household, 2005-8.
- Helped with the Anaheim General Plan, 2003-4.
And there’s just the everyday things she never talks about, that only her friends and family know. Like Mayor Tait, she is the kind of Christian who doesn’t believe in bragging about all the good she does. Try to visit her in the early evening, and she’ll be out with her husband and two corgis picking up all the trash in her neighborhood. Very few of us know that she regularly comes to our barrio of Anna Drive with art & school supplies for the local kids. (Ashleigh FINALLY made an appearance here for the holidays, and made a photo op of it – Yesenia getting her over here was like pulling teeth.)
Personally I think that her greatest service to Anaheim so far has been the lawsuits by her taxpayer advocate group CATER (Coalition of Anaheim Taxpayers for Economic Responsibility.) These suits were SUCCESSFUL, resulted in Cynthia getting documents that were being illegally withheld from her by the government, documents that showed that the corruption in our city was even worse than any of us had previously imagined, put the final nail in the coffin of the Council majority’s mystifying attempt to give away the Angels’ parking lot to billionaire Arte Moreno for 66 years, and earned Cynthia the bitter enmity of the Establishment here. I’ll be writing a lot more about these suits in the months to come.
I will also be writing about Cynthia’s ideas for dealing with the Homelessness crisis, her ideas on Police Accountability and Oversight, and her plan to bring Disney back to the table with the City in a spirit of Mutual Respect. But I’ll wrap up today with a typical contribution from Cynthia, from just last Thursday:
Defeating the Lincoln Widening Last Thursday.
Readers of this blog (and not many more Anaheim residents) know that for three years Anaheim Public Works (in order to qualify for a $20 million OCTA grant) has been trying to get a terrible project approved known as the Lincoln Widening, and not going about it in a very straightforward honest way. This would have entailed widening Lincoln near Harbor by razing the beloved front porch of St Boniface Church where so many special photographs get taken every day, getting rid of Visser’s Florist and other neighboring businesses on the north side, and cutting down a LOT of Anaheim High School’s beautiful front lawn, just so the Lincoln traffic could go faster and closer.
It made no sense. But as of Thursday evening three out of five of the Anaheim Union High School District members were ready to vote to approve this folly. Nine of us showed up to speak against it, and one of the most eloquent speakers was our next Mayor, Cynthia Ward (a speech you can hear below.) Together we managed to change the minds of the trustees so that what was going to be a 3-2 vote in favor of this terrible project became UNANIMOUS AGAINST.
Later some of us asked, “Where was Ashleigh? Where was Harry? Where was any other candidate for Mayor?”
And we laughed. It was a rhetorical question.
*Cynthia is a good one. We sense her engagement in the process and her desire to find acceptable answers to tough questions. She is not a know it all, but rather someone that lived long enough to have a rational opinion. We don’t always agree with the Cynthia, but we certainly respect her interests and opinions……
Born In Anaheim,Cynthia Ward is The ONLY Candidate, for whom battle the ‘Status Quo’ and Won..Cynthia Ward is the ONLY Candidate,For Whom Will Continue The ‘Hands On’ approach to the city’s business that, Mayor Tom Tait has demonstrated these past 8 years, Cynthia Ward is a true leader and an advocate for the People of Anaheim.
Perhaps I can’t claim to know CW as closely as the writers here, but to the degree I do, all their praise is certainly justified and more, but to a degree, it is also selfish.
While relatively many in Anaheim care about “doorstep” problems in their immediate environment,(and fill the podium every meeting) that is orders of MAGNITUDE smaller than FULL SPECTRUM, 24 HR responsibility for the magnitude and diversity of difficulties CONTINUING to burden Anaheim, with neither districting nor the new balance on the dias showing to be a panacea.
Anaheim is NOT a “strong Mayor” city (look it up) and curing the “Cynthia Ward shortage” in the Mayor’s office WITHOUT curing the “shortage OF Cynthia Wards” CITYWIDE ignores the amount and proportion of her life already given to her broad degree of concern and love for the City and the additional amount yet available, and is not fair or reasonable for her, or a fair expectation.
Cynthia went through the personal and financial difficulty of SUING THE CITY over something that was wrong – where were the other 350,000 residents?
There certainly may exist resources and support unknown to me, but this is what I see, with what I can see. Recognizing somebody ELSE as a problem’s solution is a one sided view that requires no effort or investment. Do we really need to learn how many golden eggs remain in the goose?
Very true she wouldn’t be a “strong mayor.” That’s why she will need James and Jose re-elected, and hopefully someone decent in District 6 though I don’t know who if Pettibone doesn’t run.
Well, let’s try again, since “strong Mayor” was apparently the only part of my post not ignored. Perhaps return and read the rest ? And since I am only supplying needed (though possibly myopic ) counterpoint the person who really needs to weigh in is CW herself.
Anaheim and most of its residents seem to have little time for or interest in the larger elements (budget, debt,planning, management structure) of the City’s course through time , and so almost every significant issue of the last decade has been the resulting “doorstep problem” symptoms of that inattention. How then, does it help take one of the few people who already contributes the amount of their life that CW does to understanding and intelligently contributing on ( only the one or two WORST that time allows each meeting) larger scale items , then doubling, tripling, quadrupling their responsibility to the ENTIRE AGENDA, plus Public representation of the City , PLUS all the usual unexpected crises, etc. How thin can anyone be spread and what will result?
And please, spare me the reflexive noise of ‘Oh, but there’s (City Staff, Council Support,,,etc)” All that exists now and is no panacea. Yes, it is obvious that someone who actively cares this much about the City is better than another corporate tool or a politically connected unknown, but
“Oh, look ! The slipper fits! I found our savior! That was easy ! What’s for lunch ?”
is not a plan either. Without MANY MORE “Cynthia Wards” across the city, is it fair to put the entire expectation and responsibility on ONE in the 7th floor ? And even if it’s to tell me to shut up and sit down, (which I will now do anyway I’m done here) I feel her perspective (absent from the article) is needed.
She’s running for office now, BB. I doubt that she’ll feel as free to engage in loose banter on these topics.
Speaking only for myself, I’m not ignoring your post. I agree that Anaheim needs many more people like Cynthia in the city to make a dent in solving its problems. But you’re arguing in the one place online that has held that position for years. Maybe you need to evangelize among the unconverted. (Which is not an attempt to tell you to go away — far from it — just not to get upset when all we can do at what you’re saying is nod.)
I wasn’t ignoring the rest of your comment Big Box, I just kind of agree with it so there’s not much to say.
Nobody is or should be counting on one elected official to solve all their problems. And did you think WE made her run? No, it was HER call – because there was nobody else worth voting for.
For personal reasons I have still not filed for a Committee with the City Clerk, nor have I sent a press release actually announcing my run, although my heart and soul and family are all in. Some have opined that the recent polling which seems to indicate support from Mayor Tait should be reason enough to run. But anyone who thinks the only consideration is who will back me and where will the money come from is missing the bigger picture, and I pray those with that mindset never run for office.
When I pull this trigger it will be with the intent to be a SERVANT to over 350,000 people trusting me to make their lives better, or at least not screw it up worse. Add the over-20M visitors a year trusting us to keep them safe and show them a good time, and this is an enormous responsibility that should not be taken lightly, or done just because a whole lot of folks think I would be good at this. I am looking at all of the downsides, and impacts to the satellite issues that surround Anaheim. It is irresponsible to do anything less if we view public service for the greater good and not our own ego or hunger for power. Anaheim drives a lot of voters and issues that impact other seemingly unrelated items and we have to look at those things too. First, do no harm. Right?
I am honored and humbled by the outpouring of support, which has been far beyond anything I expected, and encouragement has come from very surprising corners! When I am assured my presence can assist, and not create even more challenges, I will make that announcement official. Thank you for having my back while I conduct my due diligence. I promise to do the same for public spending, which has been sorely lacking in too many areas, leading us to the civic animosity that spills over into blog posts. A lot of that stops when we feel like our leaders have really looked at the issues, and even if we don’t agree with their decisions we understand they are trying to do right by the community. Let’s start that process by examining how we decide to even RUN for office.
Big Box is right, we do need more community engagement. But I believe Anaheim DOES have MANY good people who see the opportunity to be the better version of ourselves we know the City has the potential to be. Residents have simply lacked a central effort to gather and equip them on a more citywide scale beyond feeding info to staff to implement (or not.)
Sometimes the enormity of our community and its unmet needs is so overwhelming that residents feel like we’ve been lost out at sea, without any land to swim toward, no visible markers to aim for. Soldiers march off to war behind the banner of their General, King (or Warrior Queen) and that banner helps them see where they are going even if they can’t see the leader or the head of the line anymore. Anaheim needs a banner raised high, and when we do that I believe people WILL join in for the betterment of the community we all love. I know that sounds hokey, but talk to me for 5 minutes and you understand I really am this sappy, and passionate, about my hometown.
Big Box is also right, that our Charter does not allow for a “strong Mayor” government. That means the Mayor gets a gavel, not a magic wand. The one bit of authority the Charter offers to the Mayor aside from the rest of the Council is to be the primary spokesperson for the City. The Mayor has the ability to be the Cheerleader in Chief, for lack of a better phrase. I have been cheering for, working for, and sometimes fighting for, the better side of Anaheim I have loved for years, without a title, and often with my own resources, or without any. All this does is hand me a microphone and press corps.
VERN SAYS: “Nobody is or should be counting on one elected official to solve all their problems. And did you think WE made her run? No, it was HER call – because there was nobody else worth voting for.”
Let’s face it, NOBODY “makes” me do ANYTHING. But I am not running “because there was nobody else worth voting for.”
Vern, I want to run because I believe at this time, and in this set of circumstances, I am the one person who best understands the complexities of our finances, how City Hall works (REALLY works, behind the scenes and not just the veneer of respectability we show to the public) and how the establishment power structure has been successful in diverting resources from where we know it needs to be.
My years of research as an “activist,” or taxpayer advocate, taught me where our money comes from, and how to maximize that. I know where it goes to, and where it is often not used to its greatest potential, and where it SHOULD go, to improve our community. I also have a unique view of the city, having lived in 5 of the 6 Council Districts, and an understanding of how Anaheim is really a series of small neighborhood villages tied together by a central government, and each of the Council members will have different needs to deliver to their own Districts, with the Mayor needing to juggle and collaborate to bring those various needs together.
I have also been involved long enough to have the “institutional memory” that knows the players and personalities, having sometimes served on “the other side of the fence” before facts were made known to change my mind about my views. And important to a leader, the years have painfully taught me how to set aside my pride and admit when I was wrong and need to change my direction. Some of the worst things that have happened in this town were the result of leadership sticking to a bad plan long after facts show it was a bad plan because they don’t know how to reverse themselves after they tie their egos and pride to a project. That is dangerous to the health of a city.
In short, I truly believe, if the last pieces of my due diligence research pan out, that the time is right for me to step up and use that knowledge to be the cheerleader Anaheim needs in a Mayor right now, knowing how to fit those pieces together to make our vision a reality. That is not an indictment of any other candidate, and if you support me only because “there was nobody else worth voting for” then please reconsider. I want only supporters that think I will do a good job. I won’t want to be anybody’s default position.
Thank you all for your kind words, an announcement will be made shortly. I am sorry to keep you all hanging. When we (I am not doing this alone) do this we need to be “ALL IN,” without doubt or reservation, and that means knowing what the worst case scenario might be, knowing we can live with that outcome, and being made fearless by that knowledge.
Yeah.
That’s what I meant.
You need to learn to write less succinctly, Vern. 😉
As I believe you know, if I want to retain my seat on the state and local Democratic bodies I can’t support you so long as there is even the weakest, screwiest, least-appetizing possible Dem in the race. But I’m under no obligation to oppose you. I may be under an obligation to oppose other Republicans, though; we’ll see how things shake out. My estimation of you continues to exist in the archives of this here site, and based on the opinion of the CDP when they admonished me for my support of Brian Chuchua against Sean Panahi I don’t believe that I’m under any obligation to scrub it.
As a friend, I hope that you will make the right decision for *you and your husband*, first and foremost. (If they want to admonism me for *that*, fine.)
Thank you. As the guy who was in the trenches with me when few others had my back, I appreciate it.
See, I can do brief.
I have been very impressed with Ashliegh. She certainly has the “pedigree”.
I think one of the things a CW for mayor would bring is a BROAD voice for different parts of Anaheim. We love the activism of the Anna drive folks but, they are but a sliver of the city. There are DOZENS of Uesina Roja’s out there, albeit without a bullhorn.
I am afraid we are simply going with the devil we know sometimes…….
Good Luck and may GOD help anyone who makes the fateful decision to run for office.
“I have been very impressed with Ashliegh. She certainly has the “pedigree”.”
If by that you mean her father is a big shot Democrat, then, yes. However, the very last thing we need is somebody who knows nothing about how municipal government works.
From 2010 through 2016 huge decisions in Anaheim were being taken behind closed doors by councilmembers and senior staff who were taking their marching orders directly from a lobbyist’s office.
What does Ashleigh have to say about that? All I’ve read is two dimensional claptrap. Sort of like Lorri Galloway with a debutante veneer.
Oh, WE are the ones with the Pedigree!
(And Ivanka, of course.)
From today’s OCRegister, here are some results of those closed door decisions-
https://www.ocregister.com/2018/01/23/ca-city-finances-many-are-broke-and-not-telling-you-about-it/
https://www.ocregister.com/2018/01/23/how-broke-is-your-city/
Also californiapolicycenter.org has articles surveying (with older data) all CA Cities and Counties for fiscal health.
The problem with Anaheim using bankruptcy is that it would likely require a liquidation of its real property assets. Sometimes I think that that is exactly what the rich vultures in the city want to see. They win either way.
As an Anaheim resident, I am excited to hear that Cynthia is running for mayor! She has my full support!
Thank you.
*The NADA….is a big force and hopefully Cynthia can get a demur from them. Disney and Arte are both “no brainers”….you have to pay those pipers. As a representative of the people….the concept is to have an idea, thought or direction that you want to take the City and have “the people” support those ideas over your opponents whoever and whatever they are ….even if someone has the exact same thoughts. Then it becomes a track record and beauty contest….the likeability factor comes into play. To draw a comparison, had Hillary not had such negatives……she would be President today. The main thing is to immediately debunk in the harshest terms any lies or misrepresentations by your opponents. And if the Press will not listen…..you take your pals and their signs and get out to the street corners that will be most effective. “Old tyme Hockey….Eddie Shore!”
You missed my point. Minced my words. I appreciate your disagreement.
I meant to say WOW. An educated women, with a POWERFUL resume, impecable credentials, an impressive “face of Anahiem”, powerful political connections (despite your pipe dreams, Anaheim has LITTLE to do with the problems plauging Anna Drive).
Meanwhile, in Ms. Ward, see a dedicated citizen who amounts to little more than a stay at home mom, gladfly, and appears incredibly devisive.
Go ahead, I truly meant it when I did want to see her chewed up and spit out. Which is EXACTLY what’s about to happen.
Again good luck to Cynthyia, may she do what thinks is best for her and her family.
Little more than a stay at home mom?
You do understand that makes you look like a wild asshole, right?
You have to admit that that’s pretty funny, though!
AND gladfly!
I’m on Aiken’s mailing list. Nothing but sloganeering.
Educated? Maybe. POWERFUL resume? Um, she’s not running for President of the OC Bar. Impeccable credentials? What would that be – zero experience in municipal government?
Yeah, her dad’s a player in local Dem politics. So what?
She was Jerry Brown’s appointment to the OC Fair Board. As such, she was a welcome corrective – one of FOUR welcome correctives – to the corruption of Dave Ellis, who eventually threw up his hands and left early.
Apart from that, she was somebody’s appointment to Anaheim’s Community Services Board. My wife has been learning painfully how little that Board does.
Yeah, the same Fair Board that paid $100,000 for that dumb monument to ag workers and then paid another $200,000 to fix it? The same Ashleigh who was quoted bragging about the triumph?
Hmm.
Cynthia filed today at City Hall .. and .. we’re off!
I’ll have a piece within the month at the latest, on “The Accomplishments of CATER.” Because the biggest thing her critics will criticize her for is something she is and should be proud of, that was a great public service to Anaheim.
This whole article picks and chooses facts. If you go through the full scope of what happened one there giveaways to other people/corporations other than those listed.
The interesting thing is even with the giveaways Anaheim is a hard sell.
Attacking one corporation but not others, or one team but not the other proves the bias of the author. Ironically, the author (Vern) is arguing against his own point by leaving out the fact that the Sameuli’s also got a giveaway by building their outdoor patio/bar. Companies have been leaving Anaheim en-masse to Irvine and other parts of the county. There is no corporate base within Anaheim. With no corporate base, the only one left standing are the low paying jobs that Disney provides.
How about enacting policies that make Anaheim friendly to businesses and some positivity about how Anaheim will rebuild its corporate base and lure higher paying employers to its commercial and industrial buildings? Without that, Anaheim will just deteriorate further and become another washed out Los Angeles suburb.
Cynthia Ward, you have my vote.