Candidate for
Council Member; City of Buena Park

Most people know that, for years, I said I was not going seek reelection to a third term on the Buena Park City Council. Until recently, that was still my intent. But things changed, primarily the economy. Two to three years ago, our city's reserves approached $24,000,000, an amount that had steadily grown, even in some lean years, due to the thoughtful and conservative approach the Council took on the city's finances. In fact, we had sufficient reserves to, for a couple of years, run a slight deficit budget by making up the difference from the reserves, which we looked at as our "rainy day" fund. However, no "rainy day" fund could have stood up to the current economy. The City's recently passed two-year budget is about $5,500,000 in the red each year, so the short answer to "Why are you running?": As the only incumbent eligible for reelection (because of term limits), it would be irresponsible of me and unfair to the people of Buena Park to hand off such a budget crisis to a new, inexperienced council majority. My 40 years with the City, 32 years as a Police Officer and 8 years on the City Council, give me qualifications unique among the Council candidates to get the City through this fiscal crisis.