Orange County Fair Update

Here is an update from Jim Porterfield, of “Stop Government Greed,” regarding the ongoing shenanigans of the greedy Orange County Fair Board:

I want to personally thank each of you for your support and concern regarding the OC fair board. Though I had to re-focus on my work, I have still pursued this issue with a vengeance, and luckily things are starting to move in the right direction.

Here is a brief update and request for you to “spread the word” one more time:

In June, the OC fair board reduced the amount of concert ticket freebies from 26 to 10. The meals were left unchanged. The fair admissions were reduced in some areas but increased in others. So, at minimum, one would think that there would be a significant number of the best concert tickets now available for you and me. One would think. But this is not actually the case. What the fair board did was restrict the other 16 seats (each) only for their appointees to be able to purchase. Clever, huh.

In the last month, I have spoken to too many government organizations regarding this. It is interesting that the CDFA, Governor Schwarzennegger’s office, and the Attorney General were all not interested to pursue this at all. But I did find a friend in our local district attorney, Tony Rackauckus.

Read the above attachments! Basically, Rackauckas is forcing the OC Fair Board to rescind their vote of June, let the public speak, then re-vote on this issue at their upcoming meeting next Thursday, August 28th.

The FPPC is planning on revising the laws that have allowed the Fair Board’s to do this for so long. They were supposed to revise the law in their August 14th meeting, but it has been postponed until September 11th.  I am confident that the law will be much more restrictive. But I never rely on hope of luck in these situations if avoidable. So there is something I am going to ask of you.

Before asking though, I want you all to know that in the month of July me and a few associates were able to get more than 900 letters off to Sacramento. Since then, the mail has dried up as we had to refocus back on our jobs for awhile. And this is a concern.

Two things that would sincerely help to put us in the best position possible and truly have influence on how the new California law is written is if you would take the time to go to www.stopgovgreed.com, print out the three form letters and give them to anyone you feel comfortable asking for support. Of course, personal letters are better, but quantity (of the form letter) at this point is better than nothing.

Second (Randy make special note) if you would like to show up at the upcoming local fair board meeting, that would be fantastic. It is at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, August 28th, in the Memorial Gardens at the fairgrounds (88 Fair Dr, Costa Mesa, 92626). This subject will more than likely not come up in the first 1/2 hour to hour, so if you are not at the meeting exactly at 10:00 a.m. it is not a huge issue. And if you want, you will have an opportunity to address (or speak directly too) these nine wonderful board members before they cast their new votes on all of the ticket issues. Usually each persons comments are limited to three minutes.

Thank you once again for your time and interest. If for some reason you are swamped and just can’t help out at all this second, I’d appreciate it if you would forward this to anyone you think might be interested.

Sincerely,

Jim Porterfield

Stop Government Greed