Vet This Candidate
by Larry Gilbert

The July 27 OC Register reports that Mission Viejo councilman Frank Ury is throwing his hat into the ring to replace Pat Bates in the 5th District of the County Board of Supervisors. Anticipating this move by Mr. Ury, I recently posted an article about his being rejected for OC GOP endorsement in last year's city council race based on his opposing all three GOP endorsed candidates by his funding a PAC calling for their defeat.

While I plan to keep most of my powder dry, let me share one of the many reasons why he should not be elected to this position. Unless you have been out of the country, everyone is monitoring our out-of-control public sector benefits, be it excessive pensions or other taxpayer-funded benefits. With Ury’s re-election and his refusal to vote YES on rejecting health care for this part-time job, we were told that said perk would be approximately $250,000 for each of three candidates should they serve for 12 years. Trish Kelley, who is also in her last 4-year term, voted YES to give up that self-serving benefit. The city council vote was 4-1.

Whoever tells you that we have a majority of conservatives serving on our city council needs to do a better job of vetting candidates before simply rewarding our friends with an endorsement. I will withhold my voter recommendation pending the final field as we get closer to the election. During that time I will be adding other issues relating to the track record of Mr. Ury. One disadvantage of being an elected official is your voting record that follows you over your entire career.

In addition I plan to interview and/or evaluate the other candidates later this year.