Mission Viejo’s 4th of July TEA Party
Posted by Larry Gilbert on OrangeJuiceBlog.com

Yesterday marked the third 2009 anti-tax TEA Party organized by the local Saddleback Republican Assembly, SRA, a chartered unit of the statewide CRA.

At this event they added two new petitions which one of the event organizers informed me would be sent to our elected officials in Washington, DC. The title of one states “Reject Universal Health Care.” The brief text reads “We reject medical decisions being made by government bureaucrats, and we demand to keep our own insurance and protect the privacy of medical data. We strongly oppose socialized, government-run, universal healthcare.”

The second petition is entitled: “We, the undersigned, Oppose the Cap and Trade Initiative!” Its text reads: “This national energy [tax] is likely to be the biggest tax in American history. Remember, it isn’t just about energy, it’s about American jobs!”

Having spent a few hours in one of the two booths I noticed voters from as far away as Fallbrook to Fullerton signing in support of these protest documents. A third petition, getting favorable citywide support, was the RECALL of councilman Lance MacLean that I will address at the end of this post.

Some angry taxpayers arrived hours prior to the 7 p.m. start time carrying homemade signs with a wide list of anti-tax and government waste grievances.

As a former president of this SRA unit I was asked to address the gathering which, at that time, totaled around 100 citizens.

As a member of the California chapter of “Americans for Prosperity” I opened with a brief remark on our delivering around 20,000 petitions to Sacramento last year protesting any tax increase. I then mentioned the colonial activists in Boston who triggered the push back to taxation proposed by Great Britain’s Prime Minister Grenville over 200 years ago.

We shall continue in the footsteps of the Loyal Nine, who later became known as the “Sons of Liberty”, to carry our message to every elected official who promotes oppressive tax policies and loss of our freedoms.

My closing comment was based on our Nov 5, 2002 Sample Ballot where I quoted from Mission Viejo council candidate Lance MacLean’s text, read by our 50,000 registered voters, which read in part: “Oppose all tax increases or special assessments.” As I paused the crowd began to applaud.

 Note: Based on his “thank you” notes to those of us who campaigned for him we were snookered. Then I provided the rest of the story as I read from the 2004 Ballot where Lance (and council member Trish Kelley) promoted a TOT tax increase called Measure K.

Anyone following the financial status of Orange County cities have read of program and staff reductions due to the recessions while at the same time we hear Lance MacLean and councilman Frank Ury boasting about how much money we have in our reserves. If that be true then perhaps Mr. MacLean can justify his closing Argument in Favor of Measure K which read. “we urge you to approve a 10% TOT rate by voting “YES”.

When questioned, Lance replies: “I didn’t promote a tax increase. We were only giving the voters an opportunity to decide if they wish to tax themselves.”  This action is but one of the grievances listed on the Petition for his removal by the RECALL process.

As I departed prior to the fireworks and SRA booth closing I do not have a count of the signatures on any of the petitions.

As one of the 50 plus signers of the RECALL application I want to be fully transparent in writing about this volunteer activity.