Measure D
The biggest countywide issue on the Nov. 8 special election ballot was Measure D, a 10% sales-tax diversion from the sheriff and district attorney to the Fire Authority.
It was resoundingly rejected. Seventy-three percent of OC voters said “no.”
When Measure D qualified last spring, many within county government feared voters’ high regard for firefighters would translate into automatic approval this revenue raid.
The voters knew better.
The board was under enormous pressure from the Fire Authority union and many within the county staff to agree to a “compromise” of a 5% giveaway to keep it off the ballot. That way, we wouldn’t lose the full 10%.
I opposed any giveaway, preferring to fight for these funds and trust the voters’ judgment. That trust paid off.
Many feared a divisive and costly campaign pitting cities served by the Fire Authority against cities with their own fire departments. The race was costly,more than $1.5 million total spent by both sides. But the result was a landslide. Measure D lost in every one of OC’s 34 cities.
Measure D did the worst in Villa Park and Fullerton, where it garnered only a 20% and 23% “yes” vote. Perhaps my high profile in the campaign had some influence in my own hometown!
Chris Norby
Orange County Supervisor
Fourth District
Measure D was roundly defeated in one of the biggest landslide elections involving a countywide ballot measure in Orange County history.
Measures B, C and E, placed on the ballot by the Board of Supervisors in order to offer voters more than one yes-or-no choice in reordering public-safety funding, also were defeated.
I believe Orange County voters have clearly stated that they want the supervisors to make the allocation decision for Proposition 172 funds. I appreciate their trust and confidence. I will seriously scrutinize the use of these funds.
The fight over Measure D was unpleasant. But I am confident that despite heated campaign rhetoric to the contrary the Orange County public safety community will continue to work together to keep us safe from harm.
The men and women who protect us from crime and from fire deserve our respect, our thanks and our support. I know their commitment to protect the public supersedes any election campaign, no matter how bitterly fought.
Bill Campbell
Third District
Terror, Iraq
Terrorists attacked American interests on Sept. 11, 2001, not Democratic or Republican interests. That said, the vast majority of Americans, as well as people worldwide, believed the war on terror was the right course of action to pursue.
But something terribly wrong happened on our way to capturing Osama Bin Laden (remember him?) and his band of international thugs. President Bush morphed the war on terror into a full-scale invasion of Iraq. In doing so, he split this nation, and world leaders, into two camps.
It’s not surprising the president recently started blaming congressional Democrats for his problems in Iraq, nor is it surprising that GOP senators, like highly decorated Vietnam War veteran Chuck Hagel, have begun distancing themselves from the White House.
Most Americans, even those elected to Congress, can tell the difference between right and wrong, fact and fiction.
Denny Freidenrich
First Strategies LLC
Laguna Beach
