At last week’s City Council meeting in Orange the Mayor, Tita Smith, took a former Planning Commissioner’s service in the military as an opportunity to deny him his spot back on the Commission. Mike Merino, a Republican and former candidate for City Council, vacated his post on the Planning Commission while serving our nation in the Navy at the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay. Upon Captain Merino’s return home was greeted by the news that he was no longer welcome to serve on the city’s Planning Commission. Mayor Tita Smith, a Democrat, blocked his appointment and offered little reasoning beyond saying she thinks he’s served on the Commission long enough. It’s absurd that the Mayor would suggest that it’s okay for Mr. Merino to serve his country on a military base that borders a Communist adversary and houses some of the world’s most violent terrorists, yet she doesn’t grant him the courtesy to return to a post he vacated to defend her way of life.

This is not the first time this issue has come up in Orange County, the Rancho Santa Margarita City Council sought to replace Councilman Jesse Petrilla, albeit… Read More