On Tuesday the Orange County Board of Supervisors voted down a proposed charter amendment that would have placed numerous new restrictions on campaigns for county office. The proposal included such outrageous provision as the creation of a new county commission (a mini-FPPC) to oversee campaign finance in Orange County.
The proposal even had a provision giving the authority to this commission to seize campaign funds if the candidate did not dot every "i" and cross every "t" in their disclosure documents. The money would go to the county’s General Fund. This is the arrogance of government at its best.
The major proponent of the measure was Shirley Grindle (pictured above), a self-proclaimed "watch dog" of county government. I call her a lobbyist (a profession she detests, a profession I think is noble) because she is one. In the past I have accused Shirley of being paid for her work on behalf of "the people". I have made a $1000 reward available for anyone who can prove she is paid. While no corroborating evidence has been provided that she is paid, there is none to prove that she isn’t either.
Luckily FR Publisher Jon Fleischman (pictured below) was at the Board meeting to explain that the further limiting of political speech is a bad idea and apparently his argument was persuasive. The board rejected Ms. Grindle’s proposal.
You can watch the debate and vote via this link.
February 6th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Victory for the 1st Amendment
February 6th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Wow! What an amazing technology of rebroadcasting a government meeting (this case being the Orange County Board of Supervisors) online with closed captioning for the hearing impaired that just threw me off.
Now, if the State Assembly and State Senate would integrate such technology on the California Channel like Orange County does, then we would have bring forth over One Million deaf and hard of impaired Californians into the democratic process.
Good job, Orange County!
Oh…Yes, good job Jon for making the case in speaking against the proposed measure.