Mission Viejo Buzz - 09/15/12

The Buzz

SOC912 is presenting a candidate forum on Fri., Sept. 21, 6:30 p.m., Christian Mission Church, 27812 Forbes Road, Laguna Niguel. Candidates include Cathy Schlicht and Ed Sachs for Mission Viejo City Council, Andrew Blount, Bill Hunt and Dr., Raghu Mathur for Laguna Hills City Council and Jim Gardner, Dwight Robinson and Adam Nick for Lake Forest City Council. For information, contact Steve Magdziak, (949) 874-1258, steve@volantiscorp.com

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Rasmussen announced the latest presidential polling numbers, with Romney at 47 percent and Obama at 46 percent. The three-day tracking poll was posted on Sun., Sept. 16. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/us/general_election_romney_vs_obama-1171.html

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Summary of Jerry Brown’s tax initiative, Prop 30: vote NO. Political analyst Dr. Barbara Stone writes, “PROPOSITION 30 is Governor Brown’s four-year sales tax increase of ¼ cent and seven-year income tax increase of 1% to 3% on high income tax payers. Since we already have a 1% surtax on anyone making over $1 million, this would make the top rate in California 13.3%. All the money would go into the state general fund. The measure should be considered in conjunction with Proposition 38; even if they both pass, only the one with the highest vote will take effect. The current state budget is built on the assumption this one will pass.

There are major problems with this measure. It affects the top 1 per cent of filers, who already pay 40% of the state’s Personal Income Tax. These people make most of their money from investments and businesses, not wages and salaries. The fact that the state already depends on them so much is what is leading to the wild swings in state income in bad times. Furthermore, these people can and do move out of state; Tiger Wood doesn’t live here anymore. It is short sighted, stupid policy aimed at solving a very short-term fiscal problem.”

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City administrator Keith Rattay gained prominence during the Easelgate fiasco of several years ago. Rattay got tangled in his own web about who built hundreds of easels for a city festival and how much they cost. After a watchdog photographed the trashed easels on city property, Rattay tried to convince the public that volunteers had built them. Not so. Public records showed city contractor Jamie Clark built all of them. A blog reader recently inquired why no one had followed up on leads about Rattay’s other activities. Here’s the original complaint about Rattay, which was emailed to this blog: “ … Jamey Clark Inc. also goes by the name Complete Detail. Someone should look into how many times Rattay sent them to work on his church in Irvine on the city’s dime. What about a past city contractor, C+D Electric, doing work on Rattay’s home?” Other allegations surfaced about city maintenance funds being used for parties and festivals, and the practice of falsifying billing records. It is true, watchdogs didn’t follow Rattay’s money trail to Irvine.

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There are not enough watchdogs to investigate all of City Hall’s shenanigans. As an additional obstacle, City Manager Dennis Wilberg effectively put a gag order on Saddleback Valley News. That’s why SVN editor Freda Freeman stopped publishing letters to the editor that had anything to do with city politics. Instead of investigative reporting, SVN only aids Wilberg with puff pieces and weekly photos of Dave Leckness, Frank Ury and other pro-government mouthpieces. The OC Register’s cub reporter assigned to Mission Viejo does not write anything unfavorable about City Hall, as per Wilberg’s orders. This blog captured Wilberg’s emails to Freeman and OCR personnel when he demanded they cease publishing negative news. With City Hall’s full-page ads at stake, the newspapers complied.

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Idea on creating jobs from a blog reader: when dealing with customer service or technical support, if a company’s representative is difficult to understand, ask their location. If is Bangladesh or any other foreign place, ask to speak with a supervisor in the United States. Imagine the economic difference it would make if corporations transferred their customer service and technical support departments back to this country because of popular demand.

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Mission Viejo Tea Party Patriots are endorsing and supporting the Oct. 7 rally, “Wake Up America.” Republicans, Tea Partiers and other conservatives are uniting to present speakers and live music: Dennis Prager, Bill Whittle, Stephen K. Bannon, Mark Meckler, Alfonzo Rachel and rock band Madison Rising, at the West L.A. Federal Building, 11000 Wilshire Blvd, West L.A., 90024, http://www.WakeUpAmerica2012,com