Sources close to Santa Ana Chief of Police Paul Walters confirmed for me earlier today that Walters will not run for Orange County Sheriff in next years election.  My sources had told me several weeks ago in confidence that Chief Walters would most likely not seek the position of the county’s “top cop” but he was not ready to make it public yet.  Though Walters has not formally announced his intentions I was given the green light to share this.

Walters was a finalist to replace disgraced felon Mike Carona last year, however three members of the Board of Supervisors, led by John Moorlach, foolishly passed him over and played politics awarding the job to Sandra Hutchens, the darling of an influential group of rich south county Republican woman.  Clearly Walters, a true law enforcement professional, was the best choice as Hutchens first year in office has shown us.

According to my source Walters has decided to remain as Santa Ana’s Chief, a position he has held for over twenty years, because city officials and his officers really want him to stay.  With budget cuts being the story of the day Walters did not feel now would be the time to leave the department he cares so much about and folks at city hall are glad to keep him here. Read more…

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“Former Chief Deputy Recorder Hugh Nguyen, announced today that State Senator Mimi Walters and former State Senator Marian Bergeson have endorsed his campaign for Orange County Clerk Recorder,” according to a press release distributed by Nguyen’s campaign consultant, Scott Hart.

When former State Senator Dick Ackerman announced that he was backing Nguyen, I figured he would round up his friends to back him as well.  Nguyen’s campaign is off to a roaring start.  His opponent, termed out Supervisor Chris Norby, doesn’t even have a website up yet! Read more…

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Sometimes it takes awhile to get revenge.  I just found out that former GOP State Senate leader Dick Ackerman is finally going to get revenge on his old nemesis, Supervisor Chris Norby, by chairing the campaign of Hieu “Hugh” Nguyen, who is running against Norby for the O.C. Clerk-Recorder’s office.

Why the animus between Norby and Ackerman?  “The two Fullerton City Council colleagues ran against each other in the Primary for State Assembly in the early ’90s. Ackerman won and has held a grudge ever since; Norby remained on the City Council and was eventually elected to the Orange County Board of Supervisors where he is the only conservative,” according to the California Campaigns blog.

People better start taking Nguyen seriously!  Below is Nguyen’s press release regarding Ackerman’s decision to chair his campaign: Read more…

You would think that the Orange County Board of Supervisors would be interested in health care for women, considering that two of the Supervisors are women, but then you would be wrong.  I just received the press release below from Planned Parenthood alerting us to the fact that our useless Supervisors are not interested in supporting a breast health care program.

My sister in law’s only sister just died of breast cancer.  It is a major threat to all women. Click here to read more about this threat, as it pertains to young women.

This program would have been funded by tobacco settlement money.  It would have helped 400 uninsured women in Orange County.

Shame on our O.C. Supervisors - once again they have acted as partisan Talibani Republican hacks, not as non-partisan Supervisors.

Here is the full press release: Read more…

Busted!  I came across a legal posting in the O.C. Register today - announcing that the County of Orange is putting Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido’s auto shop, Ace Auto, up for sale due to delinquent taxes.  If Pulido does not pay his past due taxes, his property will be put up for sale on July 1, according to the legal notice, which you can read on the back of today’s Register Life section.

So I did a little digging and came up with the “Certificate of Delinquency of Personal Property Tax” that was issued to Pulido.  You can see it in the graphic above.  Below you can see a breakdown of the back taxes owed by Pulido. Read more…

You know those O.C. public employee pensions that are costing us a bundle?  The pension spike that the O.C. Supervisors are suing to overturn because it was retroactive?  Todd Spitzer voted for that when he was a Supervisor.  And now apparently he has his heart set on becoming our next O.C. District Attorney.  Uh oh!

Orange County’s biggest OC GOP shill, Matt “Jerbal” Cunningham, is predictably beating the drum for Spitzer already, even though he doesn’t plan to run until 2014.  Here is what Jerbal had to say about this in a recent post over at the Red Klownty blog:

Todd has made no secret of his plans to run for District Attorney when T-Rack retires in 2014, and according to his report he already has a huge fundraising advantage over any potential rivals: a cash-on-hand balance of $1,097,131.09. This mountain of campaign do-re-mi was “cleaned” from his Assembly campaign committee.

Once Tony Rackauckas is re-elected in 2010 and Senior Deputy District Attorney Todd Spitzer has a clearance to fund raise, he will have amassed an truly intimidating war-chest by the time 2014 rolls around. Read more…

UPDATE: One of our readers has launched a new O.C. lobbyist database.  Click here to check it out.

Lobbyists have had the run of Orange County for far too long.  In fact Orange County doesn’t even demand that they register with the County - and the public has no idea who these people are.

Contrast that with Los Angeles County, which has been forcing lobbyists to register since April of 1993!  Click here to see what that looks like.

Now take a look at some of the information that you can get from Los Angeles County but not Orange County:

Lobbyist Quarterly Reports: Read more…

“Orange County supervisors voted Tuesday to reinstate a health education contract with Planned Parenthood that they had suspended last month after a debate over abortion,” according to the O.C. Register.

But don’t celebrate just yet - the Talibani Republican Supervisors also rigged the grant process specifically to hurt Planned Parenthood in the future:

It also prevents any tobacco grant money from being spent on abortions, and says the grants can’t fund services provided in the same location where abortions are performed. Clinics that offer counseling and family planning services where abortion is discussed must account for the grant money separately to ensure none of the money can be spent on abortion counseling or referrals.

So why did the Supervisors reverse themselves?  Supervisor Janet Nguyen released a statement that indicated that “After conferring with County Counsel, we believe we face a risk of liability and costly litigation.” John Moorlach and Bill Campbell stubbornly voted against Planned Parenthood - again.

Here is Planned Parenthood’s official response to all of this: Read more…

Kudos to the O.C. Register for their latest investigative effort.  They have dug up startling information about how much money our O.C. firefighters are making, thanks in great part to the ridiculous pension spike that our previous O.C. Board of Supervisors approved.

That pension spike was approved by pro-union Republicans Jim Silva, Todd Spitzer, Cynthia Coad, Chuck Smith and Tom Wilson.  I helped Supervisor Chris Norby to unseat Coad.  Spitzer now works for O.C. District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, and is the presumed heir to T-Rack, and Silva got the support of most of the OC GOP machine when he later ran for the State Assembly.  Remember these names - these bad Republicans may yet bankrupt our county again.

Here are a few excerpts from the Register’s article:

Overtime costs at the Orange County Fire Authority hit $27.9 million last year, a 55 percent increase since 2003, an Orange County Register analysis of payroll records has found. Read more…

It is amazing how our Orange County Supervisors find new ways to waste our money.  I am excerpting below a press release I received from the Association of O.C. Deputy Sheriffs outlining how our supposedly conservative Supervisors have already rang up almost $2 million in legal fees for a case that didn’t even make it to trial:

The County of Orange’s legal bills for County Supervisor John Moorlach’s failing legal effort to significantly cut deputy sheriff pensions in Orange County have exceeded the $1.7 million mark, county records show. The County’s lawsuit was recently tossed out of court before even going to trial.

Kirkland & Ellis, the fourth outside law firm hired by the County to assist their 2 ½ year effort to declare Deputy Sheriff 3% at 50 pension benefits in Orange County  unconstitutional, rang up $383,000 in legal bills during January and February of this year,  bringing the County’s total legal costs through February 28 to $1,727,320.57. Read more…

Pity poor Matt “Jerbal” Cunningham.  Apparently his masters at Red County have locked him up in a cage and he can’t come out and play anymore.  However, that isn’t stopping him from taking shots at those of us who aren’t lining up to back John Lewis’ pet Democrat, Tom Daly for Supervisor Chris Norby’s seat.

Jerbal wrote a post today that elicited a prompt response from LIbertarian blogger Steven Greenhut, over at the O.C. Register’s Orange Punch blog.  Jerbal decided to wag his finger at those who backed Lou Correa, a Democrat, for the State Senate.

Jerbal wrote, “Although Sen. Lou Correa, despite a liberal voting record amassed during his time in the Assembly and state Senate, he has managed to acquire an admiring cheering section among OC libertarian/conservatives. It’s a curious affinity considering these self-appointed ideology cops are quick to criticize the real or perceived impurities in other people’s conservatism.”

And Greenhut replied: Read more…

“Anaheim City Councilman Harry Sidhu is running for county supervisor to replace Chris Norby, who will be termed out. Sidhu, a Republican who often champions his conservative views, voted for a large taxpayer subsidy for hotel developer earlier this week. So did Curt Pringle. Only Democrat Lorri Galloway voted against the subsidy,” according to Steven Greenhut over at the Orange Punch blog.

Greenhut added:

Sidhu said that “They are turning dirt into gold” — all through the wonders of subsidy, I suppose. So much for a belief in free markets. My prediction is this will hurt Sidhu in his run for office given that redevelopment issues loom large in the district. Read more…