Candidate for
Board Member; Orange County Water District; Division 2

I am running for this office to eliminate the director compensation abuse by the incumbent and other directors, provide public oversight of the District's operations and expenditures, and promote term limits for directors of the district and other water districts.

My primary campaign issue is Directors compensation abuse. In the eight years the incumbent has been in office the meeting compensation for Directors have increased from $150 a meeting to $221.12 a meeting. In addition the number of compensated meetings has increased from 6 per month to 10 per month. These increases have increased the maximum allowable monthly compensation by 136% over the eight year period. The Directors also implemented an automatic compensation increase of up to 5% per year for future years! They have to vote to NOT TAKE the stipend increase every year! The incumbent has charged the District for the maximum allowable meeting per month for most of the months he has been on the Board.

The second campaign issue is the lack of oversight of the District's operations and expenditures especially Director's expenditures. The Little Hoover Commission, a bipartisan, independent state body that promotes efficiency and effectiveness in state programs stated "that independent special districts (such a as the Orange County Water District) often lack the kind of oversight and citizen involvement necessary to promote their efficient operation and evolution. And without robust mechanisms of public accountability, inefficiency can become routine and the occasional scandal inevitable." This lack of oversight has allowed the incumbent to spend thousands of dollars on travel in spite of the fact that when he initially ran for the Board he pledged to "Eliminate the tens of thousands wasted on travel by directors."

The third campaign issue is term limits. The incumbent campaigned on the enactment of term limits for directors when he first ran for the Board. Now after eight years and two terms he is seeking a third term. I would campaign for the District as well as all water districts to throughout the County to limit directors to two terms or eight years in office. Most County water district directors run unopposed and stay in office for many years. Term limits would insure that no one can make what is supposed to be their "giving back to their community" a free wheeling income generating opportunity!