Mission Viejo Buzz - 11/19/11

The Buzz

Mission Viejo residents are circulating the petition to Stop AB 131. Circulators have 90 days to gather 550,000 valid signatures as a statewide referendum, and leaders of the effort believe they’ll succeed in qualifying it for the ballot. It takes approximately 700,000 signatures to net 550,000 valid ones. If passed by voters in the Nov. 2012 election, it would reverse the Dream Act, signed by Gov. Moobeam to give illegal aliens free tuition.

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As an update on other petitions, proponents of the effort to undo the recently redrawn California State Senate boundaries say they collected more than 700,000 signatures. The deadline to submit signatures was last week, and the petition drive appears to be successful. When a redistricting committee was chosen last year to redraw the lines, the alleged purpose was to make the new districts more geographically compact. Instead, the result became worse – the committee gerrymandered the gerrymandering.

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The agenda for the Nov. 21 Mission Viejo City Council meeting is again light. A noteworthy item is No. 9, Ordinance Repealing the Requirement that City Contractors Use the E-Verify Program (“Lawful Hiring Compliance”). Such verification – enabling employers to determine that prospective workers are legally eligible – will become illegal on Jan. 1, thanks to a law signed by Gov. Moonbeam. On the Nov. 21 council consent calendar are more whopping amounts from the check register: $3,071,531.93 for the week of Oct. 28 and $862,965.93 for the week of Nov. 4.

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Still in closed session is the contract for Assistant City Manager Keith Rattay, which will be discussed by council members again on Nov.21. The first question residents should ask is why the matter isn’t brought out into the open so the public can comment. Rattay wants a clause whereby he cannot be fired for misconduct, and that’s ridiculous.

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RealClearPolitics.com gives frequent updates on a variety of presidential tracking polls, http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/us/republican_presidential_nomination-1452.html . As of this writing, the Fox News poll is the most recent: Gingrich (23 percent), Romney (22 percent), Cain (15 percent), Paul (8 percent), Perry (7 percent), Bachmann (6 percent), Huntsman (3 percent) and Santorum (2 percent).

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Members of the California Republican Assembly convened on Nov. 19 in Los Angeles to finish revising bylaws. CRA’s convention in April was disrupted by approximately 50 members to the point delegates couldn’t complete the revisions. The Nov. 19 meeting was a mild one, with 20 to 30 delegates dissenting on many of the votes.

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During CRA’s April convention, “paper clubs” weren’t allowed to seat delegates because they couldn’t demonstrate they met requirements as legitimate units. The “presidents” and other supporters of the disallowed units subsequently formed their own statewide organization. In Orange County, Lake Forest resident Scott Voigts became president of such a unit, which he named California Republicans of Orange County – CROC. Those who left with Voigts can become California Republicans of Orange County – Promoters of the Split – CROCPOTS.