Jim Righeimer ran for the Costa Mesa City Council in 2008, the year President Obama got elected. Righeimer lost by almost two thousand voted. He came in fourth, just behind Eric Bever, who did win, according to Smart Voter.
Less than a year later, the Costa Mesa City Council majority, which included Democrat Katrina Foley and Republican Wendy Leece, voted for the disastrous 3% at 50 pension plan for their firemen. They did this even as other cities were already going bankrupt trying to pay six figure pensions to retired employees in their fifties – bearing in mind the fact that these employees live to an average age of 82.
Foley won a seat on a school board last week and announced she would resign from the Costa Mesa City Council. And now Righeimer, who got the most votes last Tuesday, is in a position to run that Council, in conjunction with a Republican majority, which means he will pick Foley’s replacement.
What a difference two years makes. And it was the pension issue that vaulted Righeimer to the top.
Leece has attracted the support of many local Democrats, who appreciate her fight to save the O.C. Fairgrounds, but they have forgotten that she was once called the Rosie Avila of the Newport Mesa School Board. And her endorsements this year included that of Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor, who is widely despised by liberals.
In fact, while she no longer talks about immigration (and neither did Righeimer this year), this is what she wrote about it in 2006:
I am concerned three illegal alien sex offenders were recently found in Costa Mesa and that not all illegal aliens are deported after serving their jail time. I support Mayor Mansoor’s proposal to deport major felons and am the only candidate endorsed by the Mayor.
As recently as May of this year, Gustavo Arellano caught Leece in a lie with regard to Costa Mesa’s brutal police program against immigrants. Click here to read that post.
And yes, sure enough, Leece voted for Mansoor’s bogus “Rule of Law” ordinance, which was just more immigrant bashing, according to public radio news.
Bottom line – Leece is no liberal. She is and always has been an immigrant basher. Now she is also a union shill.
Republicans now loathe Leece for not only voting for 3% at 50, but also for voting for a new contract for Costa Mesa’s firemen, before the new Council Members could weigh in. Even her staunchest supporter, Supervisor John Moorlach, has ripped her publicly and discussed recalling her. Just like that, her political future is in doubt.
In the interim, Righeimer is now the alpha male on the Costa Mesa City Council. Mansoor will term out of the State Assembly in six years. State Senator Tom Harman terms out of his seat in two years. Righeimer will advance. He is smarter than Mansoor and has more support in his party than Harman. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher will eventually retire. Righeimer will be waiting for that opportunity.
And all of this because of the Council’s support for 3% at 50. Righeimer should thank the Costa Mesa Council Members who voted for it. However, now he has to deal with the structural budget deficit that they created. In two years you can bet that he and his allies will be bidding Leece a not very fond adios from the Costa Mesa City Council.
This Righeimer guy should have run for mayor there, just step in and run the city. Limit Genis to three minutes and ignore her.
From his website:
“But, in order to keep our city protected we must do more to fight gangs, graffiti and illegal immigration.”
Nice continuum that places day laborers, landscapers, hotel workers, etc in the same sentence as gangsters and taggers. All code words for Mexicans anyhow.
Such silly games. Buck ’em!
Too true Gabriel. And Leece agrees with him. They all suck as far as I am concerned. But apparently that is what Costa Mesa’s voters want. I am glad I live in Santa Ana instead.
I love Santa Ana. Just not its politicians.
*The big winner in Jim’s election to CM City Council….was for he beautiful family. Jim
has been through some tough stuff…..and this is a bit of redemption for the family.
Hopefully Jim will pace himself and do an honorable job of presenting the facts and
moving the agenda. It will be tough duty…..lots of political hacks and ideas that
match with no one……..so it will be challenging…to say the least. Especially in these
very tough economic times!
rw
What the f*ck???
What is going on on this blog?
Vern,
Perhaps you have not noticed but since Election Day I have been recapping the election results on a city by city basis. I already wrote about Irvine and Santa Ana, and Orange. Now I have posted about Costa Mesa. I think I already covered Anaheim too. Plenty to write about…
This is the most ignorant post I’ve seen on this blog in nearly a day. I’d have to sit here and debunk every sentence if I was even going to start (starting with the title – 31% over 28% a mandate?). But why bother? This is seeming like a real waste of time here.
It’s like if I suddenly sat down and decided I was gonna write a post trashing Claudia Alvarez or Sal Tinajero. But I wouldn’t because I don’t know enough about Santa Ana. It’s like that.
And I know about the Pulido stuff, but when did you all start working for Scott Baugh?
Really? What exactly is ignorant about it? I provided links to everything I wrote about, from election results to direct quotes.
Listen, you are acting like Leece is some hero. She is most certainly not. She is just as whack as Righeimer. Maybe worse as she is also a union shill.
I am no Righeimer supporter, but face the facts, he won and he got the most votes. Game over for the Leece faction.
It’s damn wearisome to repeat so often. We all know Wendy has been something of a nutjob (though not a hateful one) on various issues.
One of your more laughable lines is “Wendy is no liberal.” LOL! LMAO!
She has a lot of new supporters because she made a couple of brave and correct decisions last month, which were good for the fiscal health and public safety of Costa Mesa, and which made her a big target of the extremist Baugh/Righeimer/Moorlach contingent right before the election. (While interestingly, Monahan makes the same votes and they don’t say anything to him – GOP sexism anyone?) Her courage caused a lot of us liberals to rally to her defense – partly as she is a much lesser evil than Riggy. You don’t know the half of it. Especially since you evidently read none of my posts and no Pot Stirrer either.
Art, I’m not sure just where to start!
First, Righeimer has no “mandate” – he’s got about 31.5% of the votes cast to Wendy Leece’s 28.5% and his cheerleaders were so petrified of Chris McEvoy’s presence in the race that they were encouraging their people to bullet vote – just vote for Righeimer and not cast the other vote to which they were entitled. It’s logical to assume that those who were swayed by that idea – proposed and trumpeted loudly in the last two weeks before the election by one of your favorite people – The Mouth From Mesa North and Author of the CM Press! He became Righeimer’s biggest cheerleader in the last month or so. Leece and McEvoy have drawn more than half the votes cast.
Wendy Leece did what the voters of Costa Mesa elected her to do. It’s easy for you guys outside the city with no vested interest to thump your collective chests and pontificate about what she “should have done” when you’ve got nothing at stake. When Leece cast that vote Costa Mesa was in deep financial doo doo. That element was only part of a broader bargaining plan that saved the city a ton of money and helped balance that year’s budget. Those same “rotten” public servants, the firefighters, came back to the table last month and offered up – without any requirement that they do so – more than $600,000 in savings for the city to help with the budget problems.
Her “friend”, John Moorlach has now threatened to mount a recall against her because he and his fat cat buddies at the top of the OC GOP – Scott Baugh, Righeimer, etal – are peeved at her for voting to try to save our city from bankruptcy. If Baugh and Righeimer have their way they will push Costa Mesa to the brink on this to make our city the tip of the spear on state-wide pension reform. The only way that can happen is if, through bankruptcy, all contracts are thrown out, including the labor contracts. Again, this impetus is coming from outside Costa Mesa from people who care only about their political futures and not the well-being of our city. Leece voted the way the people of Costa Mesa – not the ideologues at the OC GOP – wanted. It there is a recall campaign against her it won’t be funded with Costa Mesa money – it will come from elsewhere, most likely the OC GOP and the Lincoln Club.
I’m disappointed in the positions you and Sean have taken against Leece. I understand your personal disappointment with the way your campaign turned out, but I fail to see how the vilification of Leece will help you get over it. If you both feel so strongly about this situation it would be helpful if you actually investigated the facts before spouting off. You, of course, are entitled to your opinions, but you and your readers would be better-served if they were informed opinions.
Just on the outside chance that Art or Sean will read the Pot Stirrer’s comment – a long shot – he has a policy of not mentioning the name of Martin Millard, the famed white supremacist who was behind all of Mansoor’s immigrant bashing. Pot Stirrer refers to him as the “Mouth From Mesa North.” Millard was one of the main voices encouraging Costa Mesans to “bullet vote” for Riggy and NOT vote for Wendy or McEvoy.
Sean and Art don’t know what sh*t they step into when they venture unguided into CM.
and it used to be such a nice quiet little town……..
That makes sense actually as Millard has always been with Righeimer and the OC GOP boys are now quite pissed at Leece.
As recently as March of this year Gustavo ripped Leece for her immigrant bashing. She has not changed those views. She has simply tucked them away, but they are still there, like a wart covered up with a band aid.
Vern,
You guys cannot run away from Leece’s record on immigration. But nice try. She is a hater and I would happily support a recall against her.
Potstirrer,
The fact remains, which none of you have disputed, that Leece voted for 3% at 50, year after the 2008 election, after we all knew that this pension package was a damn rip-off. That is unforgivable! She really has no excuse for that vote.
My campaign has NOTHING to do with this and it is really stupid for you to even bring that up. As I told Vern, I have been writing, ever since the election, about the results in each major OC City. The facts are the facts. Righeimer won. And Leece is now in very big trouble.
Baugh and Righeimer did not put Costa Mesa into bankruptcy. Leece did with that inane 3% at 50 vote. That is all on her and the others who voted for that.
Leece is in trouble? Leece is not in any trouble. She’s on the council for 4 more years. What are you talking about?
Righeimer won? Leece won too. Do you realize that? Didn’t you know there were two seats available?
And you know who also voted for the 3% blabla … Monahan, Bever and Mansoor! If you read any of my posts or Pot Stirrer’s posts, which you haven’t and won’t, you’ll see there was a lot more driving CM’s deficit than just that. And the deals that Wendy, Katrina and Monahan accepted last month were partial GIVEBACKS of that!
I wish Wendy still had Katrina at her side as a good influence, and McEvoy as well, but… as things stand now, she’s the most reasonable person Costa Mesa’s got. You guys really need to stop trashing her.
Think of this: Me and gericault, complete liberals and immigrant-lovers, now have her ear. And we are very persuasive. Now move on.
I am not condoning the actions of ANY of these people. Anyone who voted for 3% at 50, in the fall of 2009, was an idiot. By then we all knew it was a rip-off. There is no excuse.
Mansoor has flown the coop. Watch Monahan and Bever cling to Righeimer now that he has been elected. He is their only hope to make up for that stupid vote.
You can chew on Leece’s ear all you want – the fact remains that she is and always has been an immigrant basher. That won’t change on your account.
How you two can work with an immigrant basher is a real mystery to me.
Yeah, that always simplifies things for you. “Hater. Basher.”
She went along stupidly, as did everyone on the council except Katrina, with Mansoor’s “Rule of Law” BS. That is embarrassing. Some of these folks just fall for the “it’s just about illegal immigration” stuff, and they’re not really racist; some of them are. You really need to meet some of them. They are not all actually hateful. Wendy is not.
Riggy is more clever, more evil, and has said clearly that he supports all of that BS. So maybe at the least, you shouldn’t be weighing in on one side over the other, because you’re definitely picking the more hateful side.
Excuse me but I am not picking any sides. You are putting words in my mouth. I disagree with Righeimer and Leece when it comes to their immigrant bashing. I agree with Righeimer that Leece’s vote for 3% at 50 was incredibly stupid.
I don’t support any of these clowns. But the fact is that a majority of Costa Mesa’s voters picked Righeimer. Now the lot of you have to deal with it.
Why, by the way, did you wait so late to promote Chris McEvoy? And if you so enamored by Leece, why didn’t you promote her during the campaign? And why didn’t you bash Righeimer? It is too late now Vern. The milk has been spilled. There is no putting it back in the jug.
And no, I am not ready to overlook all of Leece’s long record of bashing immigrants. No way. She hasn’t changed at all, but she sure has you guys fooled.
Why, by the way, did you wait so late to promote Chris McEvoy? And if you so enamored by Leece, why didn’t you promote her during the campaign? And why didn’t you bash Righeimer?
WHAT???
I suggest you read a certain blog, known as the Orange Juice blog.
LOL! I don’t ignore your posts Vern but look at how much I flayed Amezcua during this campaign. And it worked. You have to keep after the bad guys. I know I am a far more prolific writer than you, and yes you are more the artisan than I, but repetition is important in these matters. If I had been after Righeimer there would have been a post up every other day.
Chris McEvoy a long haired Math teacher with no party affiliation, or backing, who made his own signs carried over ten precincts and narrowly trailed by less than twenty votes in eight others. True Riggy won. In some precincts he won big. Namely, Mesa Verde, on the Golf Course . That one he carried by a couple hundred votes. The rest of the “other” Costa Mesa, it was a much bigger “mixed” bag. Wendy only won four precincts.She managed to come in second over all consistently.
Riggy did well among absentees. Chris did better on election day. Sue Lester, who moved into the city one month before the election , carried 3,000 votes. Big pro marijuana candidate….some call her a spoiler. Any way you look at it…….a “mandate” it wasn’t.
But …….you guys are working some angle…..thought you might want some breakdowns.
At the end of the day, Chris lost. There is no consolation prize in politics. Righeimer got the most votes, period. He now will replace Foley with someone loyal to him. I hate to say it, but is game over for the rest of you, in Costa Mesa. That isn’t my fault. I am just reporting on your election results. It is too late to do anything now. In fact now you have to worry about a Leece recall. I think if that happens she is toast.
If you think Leece should be recalled then you probably think Bever and Monahan ought to be recalled too. Are they all toast? I think Righeimer is the one that ought to be recalled. Yes the city of Costa Mesa needs to look at cutting costs everywhere possible including pensions and pay! In every other way Righeimer is not good for the city.
Sadly Katrina Foley is leaving her post and I think what she is doing is wrong. She can hold both seats and in my opinion she has been good for the city council and cares about the residents of the city and it shows. Giving up her seat which gives Righeimer the new guy the right to assign it to someone who is not voted in is a huge tragedy. In my opinion he ought to give the seat to McEvoy since he was such a close runner up in the election.
Maybe she was asked not to give it up before the election as she was going to do just so that the seat could be assigned after the election. A lot of Costa Mesa residents would like to see McEvoy hold that seat. He actually cares about the residents of Costa Mesa and cares that the city make it through the hard times too.
Oh and Ditto what Potstirrer said……
I’m too tired to try and yell into your vortex…..
EWWW – yelling into their vortex! 🙂
Response via e-mail (from a moderate Costa Mesa Republican)
“Katrina would bitch-slap Art if she was in the same room.
Art doesn’t have a clue about the overall situation.”
Maybe so, but we all know, by now, that 3% at 50 is a damn rip-off. How could she vote for that?
No wonder she quit the Council and ran for a School Board instead. She jumped off a sinking ship.
” We are each entitled to our own set of opinions , but we are not entitled to our own set of facts” Daniel Moynihan
“But, in order to keep our city protected we must do more to fight gangs, graffiti and illegal immigration
I cannot believe that the above sentence would not be embraced by everyone. but no, people respond that stated goal is too much, that it is better in Santa Ana. wow…enjoy the third world people
Posted this again without calling Art a dirtyword….
http://www.ci.costa-mesa.ca.us/budget/FY08-09-Adopted-Budget.pdf
Eric R. Bever
Mayor
Allan R. Mansoor
Mayor Pro Tem
Linda W. Dixon
Council Member Katrina A. Foley
Council Member Wendy B. Leece
Council Member
“it should be noted that recent bargaining
agreements with all labors units increased the cost of
all City services. While the agreements were reached
pursuant to State law and at a mid-point with the
labor market consisting of neighboring communities,”
Man Date with Riggy?
Don’t Rohrabacher and Baugh have a sort of droit de seigneur on all the man dates with local wingnuts?
Righeimer should be recalled!!! He doesn’t care who in the city he hurts.