July 3rd, 2009, 3:00 am by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer
 The first-ever recall in Laguna Woods Village’s 40-something-year history may head to court next week - before it’s even held, before ballots are even mailed, cast or counted.
And the company originally chosen to conduct said recall election? Gone with the wind, amid a swirl of wild rumors (though we promise to dispel them by the end of this column).
This $121,000-or-so exercise in direct democracy came about after rebellious director Mike Curtis got fed up with how some fellow board members handle the community’s finances - and how they, in his opinion, kowtow to property manager Professional Community Management.
Curtis is blazing mad about the $5.4 million of seniors’ money that PCM spent on employee incentives, which were a mystery to many for the better part of a decade. After Curtis failed to get traction with his board colleagues re: trying to recoup money from PCM (and as assessments were slated to rise another 4 percent), his troops sprang to action, gathered some 400 signatures and forced a vote on the fate of four United board members - Lloyd Foster, Linda Wilson, Marty Rubin and Gail McNutly. (United is one of LWV’s homeowners associations.)
BALLOTS STINK?
“Surreal” might be a good word to describe the meeting last week where directors facing recall helped choose the ballot for their recall.
Curtis, and his lawyer, have problems with this ballot. ”It is my opinion that the ballot does not comply with California law,” said Curtis’s attorney, Peter Nitschke. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Elections • Homeowner associations • Justice | Comments Off
July 3rd, 2009, 3:00 am by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer
Here, in full, is what TrueBallot sent us at The Watchdog in response to our question, “Why’d you leave?!”
TrueBallot statement about why we are not administering the Laguna Woods recall election, for the Orange County Register:
TrueBallot is a fifteen year-old Election Administration company with over 150 clients throughout the United States in a variety of sectors including labor unions, pension funds, religious organizations, and the public sector, in addition to Homeowner’s Associations. We provide the most transparent, secure, neutral, and data rich election services available.
After discussion with Laguna Woods/United Mutual, we were unable to agree on certain contractual provisions. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
July 3rd, 2009, 3:00 am by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer
Here, in full, is what the attorneys at Laguna Woods Village sent us at The Watchdog explaining why TrueBallot will no longer be conducting the recall election:
Statement from United Laguna Hills Mutual Legal Counsel
Why isn’t TrueBallot acting as the election service/inspector of election for the
upcoming recall?
There are a few reasons why United and TrueBallot are not working together on the
recall materials. After threats of litigation against United and TrueBallot by the recall
proponents, TrueBallot and United both had their own legitimate concerns about
protection under their existing contractual relationship. Litigation by the recall Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Uncategorized | Post a Comment »
July 2nd, 2009, 3:00 am by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer
 That dripping sound you hear? Money leaking from South Coast Water District’s coffers.
The state slapped South Coast with a $204,000 fine Wednesday, punishment for pumping brine so salty into the ocean that it violated discharge permits.
Saltier than ocean water?! Indeed. That brine was what was left after transforming distasteful groundwater into guzzle-ready drinking water. (Read about that here.)
Folks at South Coast are bummed - not just because of the fine’s large size (the district can afford it), but because it bodes ill for the future of recycled water there.
South Coast hoped to double the amount of drinking water it pumps from the ground - to 20 percent of its supply - but that will be impossible as things stand.
“We’re disappointed,” said general manager Mike Dunbar.
The district will likely appeal, said district counsel Betty Burnett.
With the state facing a tremendous water crisis, it seems like a bad time to be discouraging the search for new sources of H20, ya? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Public health • Public safety • Public works • Special districts • State government • Water | 16 Comments »
July 1st, 2009, 12:45 pm by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer
 There’s been much back-and-forth over mandatory spay-neuter - where the law decrees that a pooch’s reproductive tract must be disabled.
Does it cut down on the number of strays being put down in animals shelters? Or doesn’t it?
The debate is particularly relevant now, as the Snip-the-Roamers bill progresses in the California Legislature (it has just more two stops before reaching the governor’s desk). More popularly known as Senate Bill 250 - The Pet Responsibilty Act - it would target “irresponsible pet owners” by requiring that animals with a tendency to roam be spayed or neutered, supporters say. Opponents, however, say mandatory spay-neuter never works to reduce pet overpopulation, and is a part of an extremist plot to ultimately outlaw dogs as pets.
We asked Lisa Carter, executive director of the Santa Cruz Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, to provide statistics on that county’s experience with mandatory-spay neuter. The answer to “Does it work?” seems to be an unqualified “yes.”
“In Santa Cruz County,” she writes, “we no longer euthanize for space.”
Be still my beating heart. That’s astounding, at a time when our cash-starved state plans to halve the number of days stray pets are held at shelters before being euthanized (from six days to three, to save $25 million.)
We’ll note here that Snip-the-Roamers’ supporters say it’s not a mandatory spay-neuter law, because it targets just those that get picked up roaming around. That said, please click below to read Carter’s detailed account of the Santa Cruz experiment. (And I will race you to the Orange County animal shelter to grab that adorable spaniel! Click on the picture above for more info). Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
July 1st, 2009, 3:00 am by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer
 Ergun Bakall - the man who flew on a Metropolitan Water District of Southern California airplane rather than drive 80 miles to a flip-switching ceremony (and whose true residence has long been a matter of debate) - resigned his seat on the powerful Met board, effective today.
Bakall represented the Municipal Water District of Orange County at Met, and has resigned from MWDOC as well, effective Thursday. He has been on the board for seven years (barely a blink of the eye in Water World, where many directors are on the boards for decades).
Bakall doesn’t actually live in Orange County right now, and his residence was an issue in the November election, when challenger Glenn Acosta put Bakall’s picture on a milk carton.
While Bakall is registered to vote in Orange County, his address is listed in some official-type places as La Quinta - where the Met plane picked him up. La Quinta is in Riverside County.
Bakall rented a place in Irvine, and the La Quinta manse was his retirement home, he told us last fall. But Bakall’s lease on his Irvine place ran out this month, and now he is without an Orange County home.
Bakall was going to look for another place, but informed officials of his intention to resign Monday, and followed up with a letter on Tuesday (which you can read below).
“We appreciate Director Bakall’s years of service,” said MWDOC general manager Kevin Hunt.
WHY DOES LONG ARM OF THE LAW STRIKE NATIVO, BUT NOT ERGUN?
The whole situation prompted attorney and Flash Report blogger James Lacy to comment on how similar Bakall’s situation might be to that of Nativo Lopez, who was charged last week with four felonies for registering to vote in Los Angeles, while actually living in Orange County with his family. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Uncategorized | 14 Comments »
June 30th, 2009, 3:00 pm by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer
The plight of fired federal air marshal Robert MacLean - and the impact a decision in his case could have on all federal whistleblowers - has caught the attention of our dear colleagues at The Washington Post.
Can’t be a bad thing for MacLean, who has had to move in with his parents in Ladera Ranch (with his wife and two children) after being unable to find a job.
We’ve chronicled how MacLean was fired from his cop-in-the-sky job after letting the world know about an ill-conceived plan to remove federal air marshals from long distance flights in 2003 - just as there was a suicide hijacking alert. (It was to save money on hotel bills.)
An administrative court ruling last week, saying that he is not protected by federal whistleblower laws because he revealed “sensitive security information” - is seen by some as the death knell for would-be whistleblowers everywhere.
You can read the Post columnist’s take on the MacLean decision by clicking here.
Posted in: Federal spending • Justice • Public safety • Transportation | Post a Comment »
June 30th, 2009, 1:10 pm by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer
 The Snip-the-Roamers bill got the thumbs up this morning from the California Assembly’s Committee on Business and Professions - which means it is just two steps away from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk.
Senate Bill 250, The Pet Responsibility Act, was approved 6-3, reports Judie Mancuso, the Orange County force behind the bill. (Snip-the-Roamers was approved by the state Senate earlier this month.)
Mancuso is “Elated!” she said. “Elated that we’re about to make change in our great state at how we look at excess animals, housing, killing and warehousing them. It’s time to make change.”
It’s been a rather intense time for folks on either side of the issue. Activists are in uber high gear, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Animal welfare • Money • State government | 5 Comments »
June 30th, 2009, 3:00 am by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer
 It was a highly controversial and emotional campaign back in 2004, but California voters said yes! to Proposition 71, which allows Golden State scientists to do stem cell research with human embryos, and pumps $3 billion of public money into the effort to boot.
Since then,$700 million has been distributed for stem cell research, and another $900 million in private money has been raised. (Nearly $53 million has poured into UC Irvine, and its Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center is building a $67 million research institute on campus.)
But The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) - created by Prop. 71 to regulate the research and dole out that $3 billion - is not adequately protecting taxpayers’ interests or serving its own ambitious goals, a state watchdog panel concluded in a report released Friday.
“Although Proposition 71 passed with almost 60 percent of the vote, skepticism continues to surface Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Money • Public health • Public works • State government • Taxes | 6 Comments »
June 29th, 2009, 4:00 am by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer
 The Snip-the-Roamers bill may live or die this week - like so many of the stray beasties in California’s animal shelters.
Snip-the-Roamers - otherwise known as Senate Bill 250, The Pet Responsibility Act - was approved by the state Senate earlier this month, and heads to the Assembly’s Committee on Business and Professions Tuesday - and if it passes, it’s very close to the governor’s desk.
Activists on both sides of the issue are in uber high gear, swamping lawmakers with phone calls and emails in the hope that things might go their way.
We’ll let you decide what’s what with all that.
Meantime, if you feel passion on the issue, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
|
|
You can follow this blog: on 
