The raising of the sales tax, under the bogus “temporary taxes” scam will not work anymore-we ALL know there is no such thing as a 5 year “temporary tax”, it would be 7 if Arnolds tax scam passed. The “temporary bridge tolls” on the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges-started in 1936 and 1937 are still here today, 75 years later-that is one hell of along “temporary tax”.

I know Royalty is stumping for Spitzer. He and his so-called OC Taxpayer’s Association supported Proposition 1A back in May 2009 that would have extended our sales, vehicle and other various taxes for 2 years. So I don’t trust him or his organization any farther than I could throw them. How can you call yourself an advocate for the taxpayer and support a tax extension in the same breath?

No excuses or fingerpointing accepted. Spitzer supported paying street cops with a GED as their entry education standard as much if not more than family practice medical doctors and letting them retire as early as 50 with full pay or nearly full pay for the rest of their natural lives. He and the others made a HUGE mistake that put the entire state underwater. That is totally unforgiveable. None of them, to include Spitzer, would ever get my vote.

Spitzer might market himself as a ‘watchdog’ when he runs for office. I don’t buy it.

In fact, 167 Orange County elected officials in nearly every OC City voted for 3% at 50 between 200 and 2006. None of the 12 OC Sheriff patrolled contract city councils objected to 3% at 50 (12 contract cities).

Reed Royalty, of OC Tax, recently released this statement: “In 2001, OCERS’s (Orange County Retirement System)actuarial studies inaccurately made the system appear to be 104% funded. Elected officials relied on that information when they granted public employee pensions.”

Spitzer is leading the charge to fix the system. Spitzer has contributed $5,000 to qualify the “Stop Special Interests Now” Initiative, has led the charge for pension reform as a member of the Association of California Cities, OC Pension Reform Task Force and is supporting 401(k) style plans for all county employees.

No one–including Spitzer’s opponent–voiced any objection to 3% at 50 when it was agendized on December 4, 2001. OCERS actuarial was published a year before that on November 2, 2000 and no one objected to its findings during that entire year.

You are correct; there is plenty of blame to go around. Spitzer has not run from the issue and is committed to providing leadership and solutions.

I doubt that the public will ever learn all the facts about the fallout between Spitzer and the OCDA. To this day I remain neutral. I trust neither.

I agree with you about Buff who was reported to be the fiance of DA Rackauhaus. How did she rise to become the Assistant Public Administrator/Guardian in the first place under Williams earning well above $100k with an AA degree and a reported prior work history of being a dental assistant and a lifeguard? And then after getting ousted as the Assistant PA/G the CURRENT board of supes unfroze the $95k salaried volunteer coordinator job specificially for Buff (an at-will employee)without announcing the job to the general public or allowing open competition for the position. IMO none of that passes the stink test. I question whether it is even legal for the County to unfreeze a job during a hiring lockdown and literally hand it to an ‘at-will’ employee who was removed from another County office without letting the general public compete for it. If there’s no law against that practice there certainly should be.

Due to his ‘yea’ vote on the 3%@50 pension formula for public safety Spitzer would never get my vote for public office. But it’s not fair to jump all over Spitzer without trashing the rest of them. Supervisors Pat Bates and Bill Campbell were serving in the CA Assembly in 1999 when SB 400 was approved opening up the floodgate doors for cities and counties throughout California to approve the 3%@50 formula. Both Campbell and Bates voted ‘yea’ for the pension spike. Yet I never hear the ones who trash Spitzer bring it up when Campbell or Bates run for office. And what about Assemblyman Jim Silva who also voted to approve the 3%@50 when he sat on the board of supes with Spitzer? He deserves equal scorn.

Good luck to you as Campaign Manager. No easy job there.

You can read about the scandal today in the Voice of OC about John Williams, the former Public Guardian, and Peggy Buff, the former Assistant Public Guardian, who were fired from that office (Buff was demoted and shipped to another County Department after she was caught in a management position with increased pension benefits and a county vehicle at taxpayer expense).

Kang’s arguments are old news. She admitted to the Voice of OC that she assisted in the orchestration of a William’s press release when he was involved in the cover-up after she initially told reporters she had nothing to do with it. Buff, by the way, at that time just happened to be the fiance of the District Attorney.

We expect a lot of shenanigans from Kang during this campaign who is struggling to hold on to her power off after the Mike Carona scandal. It is old news and has been completely rebutted by the press showing that Williams was fired by the Board of Supervisors and in Buff’s case, demoted.

Spitzer, then an Assistant DA, was let go because the DA’s Office (through Kang)was involved in a cover-up of corruption by William’s taking over deceased person’s estates (the TAPOUT case) in order to get the court administrative fees so he could off-set his budget losses from bloated salaries and pension spiking.

Spitzer has an unblemished reputation of uncovering and stopping corruption at all levels of government which is why Kang is so set-out on stopping Spitzer. Spitzer stopped the Brea-Olinda grade scandal as a school board trustee; took on Governor Schwarzenegger and got water dropping helicoptors deployed when the Cal Fire said there were none available for Orange County; exposed the County Housing and Rehabilitation Program corruption as a County Supervisor; and exposed Cal Trans holding of unneeded parcels and exposed the California Department of Corrections for failing to monitor parolees while a state legislator.

Spitzer is a watch-dog, plain and simple and has proved it time and time again.

Your coverage of him through the years has revealed a politician not for the people, but for only himself and those deep pockets that support him.

What about the other claims made about Mr. Spitzer by Kang-Schroeder???

Those are some pretty nasty allegations.