Yes, it’s true. My wife and I get to vote twice next month. In fact everyone living in the (CUSD) Capistrano Unified School Districts 2nd and 5th Districts are being asked to decide if we should recall our current representatives in a Special election on June 24th.
Let me begin by stating I strongly support the RECALL of the CUSD Board Members. To say that the prior Board mismanaged taxpayer funds would be a major understatement. Two years ago we elected three new members onto this 7 member Governing Board. We need a School Board majority who can practice fiscal management at a time when the governor has proposed major cuts in education funding. Now is the time to take action!
Ballot Question. “Shall Marlene Draper be recalled (removed) from the office of Governing Board Member-Trustee Area 2 ?” Vote YES or NO.
Ballot question. “Shall Sheila Benecke be recalled (removed) form the office of Governing Board Member-Trustee Area 5 ?” Vote YES or NO
“If more voters mark “YES” than “NO” on the first part of the recall question(s), the Governing Board Member(s) will be removed from office. If more votes mark “NO” than “YES,” the Governing Board Member(s) will remain in office.
If a Governing Board Member is recalled, the candidate who receives the most votes for that trustee area will be elected as the new Governing Board Member. That person can be sworn in as the Governing Board Member once the results of the election are certified.
The respective candidates found on my Ballot are Sue Palazzo for area #2 and three choices for Area #5. They are: former State Assemblymember Ken Maddox, retired teacher Gary V Miller (who did not pay for a candidate statement) and Laguna Niguel resident/entrepreneur Makam Subbarao whose candidate statement mentions his having a PhD in health sciences.
My recommendation for this office is Ken Maddox.
Having only one recall candidate choice for the area #2 I am recommending candidate Sue Palazzo. According to her bio she has a Masters Degree in Elementary Education and claims to have been an educator in our public schools for the past 33 years.
Juice readers. As always your comments are welcome. As stated by Art you can sign on to post your thoughts without using your real name.
Larry,
I am curious. Who do you think has the best health care proposal? Me, or Diane Harkey. I know you have endorsed Diane, so I may be setting myself up for slaughter here. But, I will take the risk. I think my proposal is the best of any candidate bar none.
Best regards,
Andy
Health
1. What is your plan to cover the uninsured in California? Does this plan include covering all undocumented immigrants?
First off, the solution to California’s medically uninsured lies in the private sector, and not another state or federal program.
By way of background, there are three primary categories of people in California who do not have insurance. There are those who are healthy and choose to forgo insurance. There are those who are between jobs and have given up coverage, and there are those who cannot afford it. The answer for all three lies in greatly expanded Health Savings Accounts.
A Health Savings Account works just like an IRA and provides a pretax savings vehicle to accumulate money to cover medical costs. Currently, to have a deductible medical insurance premium you have to itemize your taxes and even then you only get to deduct what exceeds 7.5% of your adjusted gross income. Or, your premiums can be deductible if you are self-employed or are fortunate enough to work for an employer who has adopted a Sec. 125 plan. I think every American, legal or otherwise, should be able to pay their health insurance premiums with pre-tax dollars regardless of who they work for.
Congress has taken a good step in the right direction with the creation of “HSA Accounts.” However, these have too many restrictions and do not go nearly far enough to be considered a solution.
I envision accounts that have no contribution limits that can receive contributions from an employer or an individual, and can be used pay the medical costs for friends, family, sponsored immigrant relations, or anyone. The entire contribution would be a page one deduction on an individuals tax return and would generate a credit for social security taxes so that contributions have all of the benefits of a Sec. 125 plan.
The adoption of such a plan would diminish the numbers of un-insured Californians as follows:
Healthy Individuals-Tax deductibility would give healthy individuals an economic incentive to contribute to a plan knowing that they can buy a high deductible or catastrophic policy that would leave the bulk of their contribution to grow tax free to cover future medical needs, or personal enjoyment later in life.
Workers Between Jobs-Participation in a health insurance plan would be at the individual level and the medical savings account will allow families to accumulate funds to cover insurance premiums between jobs without portability issues.
Poor People-Obviously a tax deduction is meaningless to a poor person who does not pay taxes. My plan allows for an employer to contribute to a HSA for an employee as part of a salary package, but goes further in that it makes a legitimate tax deduction for people who come to the aid of a “needy family.” Because government programs typically are like a leaky hose with only pennies on the tax dollar actually going to help the truly needy, my plan eliminates the middleman so that 100% of aid to the needy goes to cover medical expenses without the fraud element of government programs. More money going directly to aid the poor and less fraud will result in dramatically more help for those in society who are truly in need.
This system would not discriminate based on legal status of the individual.
Brother Andy.
Why would I slaughter a brother? Nice effort to send your political message to the blogosphere when this post is about a school board RECALL.
I will read your comments in their entirety and consider a post as we get closer to Nov.
the Capo recall vote is a waste of money according to my sources. Is there not going to be an election for the very same post in November?
Thanks Larry. This recall is long overdue.
According to my sources, based on their voting records and legal violations just the last five months, it would be much more expensive to keep recall targets Benecke and Draper on the Board — even if the general election is next November. But regardless, the cost of the recall is now a moot issue since it will not be paid whether we vote for the recall or not.
33,000 voters decided it was worth it to exercise their constitutional right of recall. Benecke and Draper had their chance to step aside gracefully and save the cost, but chose not to even in the face of proven offenses so egregious, numerous elected officials, three of their board colleagues and even their own political party publicly condemned them.
So make the best of it and get these corrupt incumbent spendthrifts out while we can.
Correction: I meant to say the recall cost issue is moot because it WILL be paid whether we vote for the recall or not.
It is sad that we have to take these costly measures to remove those whom the voters previously elected. Based on the unbelievable expenditure priorities set by the former CUSD Board for their administration building perhaps we need to initiate Term Limits for these elected officials. While School Board Members may be on the lower rungs of the political ladder and do not receive the same oversight as other elected officials, it is sad that a few, who have been in office for what seems like decades, feel that their actions are above our scrutiny. For those not familiar with this Board they spent $52 million dollars for a new HQ and built a new high school next to the Orange County Dump off Ortega Highway at a cost of $140 million.
Larry, term limits only got us this game of musical chairs. Having a candidate be willing to start at the bottom and stay there is a good thing.
If they had to drag the whole board at CUSD out and stone them (and we had to pay $4 a stone) then it needs to be done. They should have a thorough housecleaning. the layoffs this year are due to incompetence, not the governors budget.
Oh and your health savings accounts are another ponzi scheme like deregulation designed to allow someone to scam the suckers out of their hard earned dollars. We’ve had about enough of your Republican “solutions,” I’m paying $4 a gallon for both milk and gas so you all can just kiss my
I will be in SJC to work at a poll for the recall.
Twice in one month, 4 times this year. Its almost a profession.