Changes coming to the Orange Juice blog team
Ready or not…here comes Tim Whitacre! I have invited Whitacre, the energetic OC GOP leader and Santa Ana civic activist to join our blog team – and he has accepted. Whether you admire him or despise him, I know that you will find his comments to be interesting and relevant to the OC political scene.
I have known Whitacre since the late 1990’s. I brought him onto the OC GOP Central Committee as an alternate, back when I was serving as the OC GOP Hispanic Outreach Director, and this year he returned the favor by helping me run for the same body. Whitacre is perhaps best known for coordinating the recall of Santa Ana School Board Member Nativo Lopez. Since then he has gained even more notoriety by running Lt. Bill Hunt’s campaign against OC Sheriff Mike Carona. Hunt and Whitacre almost forced Carona into a runoff.
Whitacre is currently embroiled in a lawsuit against the OC GOP due to the unethical actions of a handful of Caronistas on the OC GOP Executive and Endorsement Committees. I for one am eager to find out more about Whitacre’s upcoming activities, and now he will be sharing that information with our readers.
Whitacre recently told me that his comments had been censored on other local blog sites, which is what gave me the idea to bring him on board here at the Orange Juice. As our readers know, we don’t delete comments unless they are profane. Our blog team is very careful about this and we often seek each other’s counsel before deleting a post. We NEVER delete posts just because we disagree with the poster’s sentiments. Our only other rule is that members of our blog team must use their full names when posting. You, our readers, are of course welcome to post anonymously – but I hold our team to a higher standard. We stand by what we post – right or wrong – and as such we are accountable to our readers and to the public at large.
Our team will also add another education writer very soon, to complement Bernedette Medrano’s fine work. She has been very busy of late and has not been able to post much, which is a shame; this has led me and Claudio Gallegos to look for another education writer to enhance our efforts in that important area. We have someone in mind and I hope she will come aboard soon.
Thanks as always to all our readers for sharing their thoughts here at the Orange Juice. Please join me in welcoming Whitacre; he should be posting on our site within the next few days.
Art:
When Tim complains he’s been “censured” (I take it you mean “censored”) by other “local blogs,” I hope he’s not complaining about OC Blog.
Welcome aboard, Tim!
Jubal,
Thanks for the spelling correction – that one slipped by me.
You’ll have to ask Tim for details re his experiences on other blogs. I’m sure he will be forthcoming. I have never known him to duck any issues.
I hope he’ll be posting soon!
Excellent choice Art!
Tim will certainly be a great addition. I look forward to the healthy debate that I
Tim’s motto should be “Kool-aid: never drank it, never will.”
Hey, let’s make the blog’s motto “This is O-Juice, not Kool-aid!”
Welcome aboard Tim! We can use the extra voice. Get ready for some fireworks folks!
Art,
This is a wise choice. Although, Tim and I do not agree on most things, I think he will bring a good perspective regarding local politics. On this blog, Tim and I have had our differences but has addressed them in a cordial and respectful manner. I look forward to debating other issues affecting Santa Ana.
Welcome aboard Tim!
Great addition. Tim is a great inspiration. I like his Marine attitude in that Republican Party has sold out on every principle regained in the Reagan Revolution and he will give his life to stem the statist dominance in the party.
I chose another path when the party caved after taking control of the US House and Senate. I left the party and became a Libertarian. Perhaps joining with people like Tim would have been a better move. Time will tell.
That last post was by me, Andy. Learnig to post here. Sorry.
Here’s the latest news on Tim:
Thursday, June 29, 2006
New group calls for ethical government
Organization is formed in reaction to aftermath of campaigns by Carona and Rackauckas.
By PEGGY LOWE
The Orange County Register
A nonpartisan group of Orange County voters who say they are fed up with how the offices of sheriff and district attorney operate are forming an organization calling for ethical government.
Under the working name Orange County Citizens and Law Enforcement for Ethical Governance, the group organized as a reaction to Sheriff Mike Carona’s placing his political opponent on leave the day after the June 6 election.
“What Carona pulled and what’s gone on here these last few months has shown us that two things have to happen: Voters have to be reminded that they are the boss, and elected officials have to be reminded that they serve at our pleasure,” said Tim Whitacre, a leading county Republican who supported Carona opponent Lt. Bill Hunt, whose paid leave was extended Wednesday for another month.
Whitacre said the group has met weekly since the election and is made up of 15 to 20 people, Republicans and Democrats who are not just Hunt supporters. The formation of the group is also a reaction to District Attorney Tony Rackauckas’ reassignment of several employees who opposed him after his election several years ago, Whitacre said.
Mike Schroeder, an adviser to both Rackauckas and Carona, said the group “does appear to be a not particularly well-thought-through case of sour grapes.”
Calls and an e-mail to the Sheriff’s Department seeking comment weren’t returned.
Just hours after Carona won the primary with 50.9 percent of the vote, he placed opponent Hunt on paid administrative leave pending an investigation. Carona has said he wants an independent investigator to look at Hunt’s statements during the campaign that were clearly critical of Carona’s policy. As chief of police in San Clemente, Hunt must be publicly supportive of the sheriff, Carona says.
On Wednesday, the Sheriff’s Department asked County CEO Tom Mauk for an extension of Hunt’s paid leave for another month. County rules call for employee administrative leave to last 120 hours, or about three weeks, which would have placed Hunt’s deadline at about July 1.
Mauk said he approved Carona’s request, which was made to continue the investigation. Hunt was unaware of the extension when reached Wednesday afternoon, but said he didn’t want to comment. He is not involved with Whitacre’s group, he said. Whitacre also wants the group to help thaw the “chilling effect” Carona’s and Rackauckas’ actions had on their respective departments, he said.
“It’s about doing what’s right,” Whitacre said. “It’s about keeping an open, accessible door to anyone who wants to run for office, so they don’t have to go through the ring-kissing and coronation of a certain number of folks.”
Copyright 2006 The Orange County Register
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/homepage/article_1197102.php
Orange Juice continues to become one of the best blogs in Orange County. Keep up the good work!
Tim is a great choice and you have put together a diverse group. It would be nice to see a few more female bloggers though.
We did have a couple of other female bloggers in mind for Orange Juice, unfortunately due to other committments they were unable to join the blogpen. We have one in mind to cover education, particularly Santa Ana issues, but we don’t want to reveal names until we get confirmation on if they will join us. Trust me, the best is yet to come. For now lets welcome Tim Whitacre to Orange Juice!
Does this mean Orange Juice may be taking the direction of a “citizens watchdog group” status?
and not just a left/right political spat-blog?
Sac,
Yes – I hope so, but partisan politics will remain part of the mix. The goal is interesting news, dialogue and a few chismes…
I know who Tim Whitacre is but
who is this “Art Pedroza”
and what does he want?
The acronym for this new group is CLEEG. Which is a synonym for klieg.
Maybe it will shine a light on the corruption that has permeated two of our public safety agencies.
OOhhharahhh. Semper Fi. Go Bill Hunt. Recall Carona. Down with the OC GOP.
Revolt, Recount, Recall, Reform.
Did I say Semper Fi already? Welcome aboard!
Q. Pham — a fan and a friend
Ooops. I meant klieg is a homophone of CLEEG.
Sorry about that.