The Dutch are a great people, they are known for tulips, windmills,
dikes, Hans Brinker and his Magic Skates – a great seafaring nation,
always on the lookout for international trade and working their
various national associations to their advantage…at all times! The
Dutch also have something called the SAS, a famous military group like
the US Delta Force….that made big news several years ago storming
a train and killing a bunch of terrorists along with several citizens.
Collateral Damage, we suppose! The Dutch are determined, persistent
and very economical with their time. So, it is rather nice to have
a Chairman of the Board of Supervisors with these various talents.
The reality is that John Moorlach has let no grass grow under his
feet since assuming his position as 5th District Supervisor of Orange
County, California. He has aimed his power, prestige and energies
toward removing the Sheriff, taking away the audit authority of the
Sheriff’s Union, forming a Citizen’s Oversight Committee to watch
over the County Prison Facilities and taking away the prior vote
of the Board which raised the Pension Funds to the Sheriff’s Union.
Sometimes, one might get the idea…that Moorlach wants to be the
new Sheriff….in town!
Occasionally, the “People’s Choice” winner Moorlach has aimed his
great talents in the right direction. Moorlach put together a nice
agreement on the transfer of Santa Ana Heights to Newport Beach and
Costa Mesa. We applaud those efforts. Another good one was his
attempt to have the cities of Rossmoor, Seal Beach and Los Alamitos
joint venture into one “Master City”. The old folks at Rossmoor
weren’t quite ready for that act..so far! But Moorlach is intrepid!
It will be fun to watch how all these issues play out on our Long
Beach border in the future.
Moorlach further, is a fundamental “politician”. He knows the game,
the people and which square blocks to put his marbles in. When Chriss
Street – our current OC Treasurer got sucked in to buying bunches of
new stuff for his County Offices, – along with Moorlach and Supervisor
Pat Bates as well – we may add; Moorlach condemned the action..and then
went after his former pupil and mentee…and said his investment ideas
should be under review, due to Street’s Federal Indictment Inquiry that
regarded Fruehauf Trailer. Then Chriss revealed that his Structured
Investment Vehicles (Hedge Funds and Derivatives) has lost some value
and were on the Bond watch list. Moorlach intuitively struck first
and asked his fellow Board Members to restrict what Treasurer Street
might be able to do without oversight. A great political move…which
garnered…not even a second to his motion. Some say it was political
theatre at its best!
Even Moorlachs’ enemies suggest that: “You have to give the Devil..his
due!” Moorlach is intelligent, talented, connected, wily and energetic
– in the extreme! As home prices fall approximately 6 to 7 percent a
month and a “world credit crunch” starts to affect local government, we
are going to need the likes of John Moorlach..to be fast on their feet.
Public Pensions and even Public Employee wages may become unsustainable
and require severe cut-backs to Public services including letting out a
bunch of criminals from our jails…because we can’t afford to keep them
incarcerated. When this starts to affect Public Safety…we may all
look back and say…”Boy….those were the good old days!” One thing
is surely guaranteed: Homebuilding and expansion in the county…is
over for the time being! The projections are that lots of the big
developers are going to go into bankruptcy…so we wouldn’t be surprised.
The good news is that contributions to City, County and State Office
Holders will be reduced. This action will then support the efforts to
get small donors into the political act. Maybe elected politicians
and Public Employee’s so positioned ….will then finally realize that
the “little guy donors” are also pretty important in the process! Perhaps
those $250 dollar to $2500 buy-ins to political events will be reduced
some.
So, in the words of Pappy Winship: “Treat your friends nice going up
…because they will soon meet you on your way down!”
One more thing: The Dutch have great beer and food too!
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