Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/dave-ellis/)
An election that would have cost less than $200,000 may now cost millions because Newport Beach City Council members created a 10-pound document aimed at frustrating opponents of a housing development, writes former Mayor Keith Curry, who is calling on the new council to avoid these costs by rescinding approvals for the Museum Tower project.
Will transparency prevail in Newport Beach or will it be blocked by political operatives maneuvering behind the scene?
Newport Beach Councilman Keith Curry writes that its time for his city to enact campaign finance reform and calls out his colleagues and local political consultant David Ellis declaring he’ll push for a lobbyist registry to help citizens what interests are influencing council votes.
Monthly meeting features skirmishes on citizens oversight committee, California attorney general representation and fairground’s equestrian center.
The decision was based largely on evidence that the rides are cruel to elephants. The board also established a citizens committee to examine the past effort to sell the fairground.
The state attorney general’s office dropped the Fair Board as a client in 2009 during the ultimately unsuccessful attempt to sell the fairground.
Taxpayers have spent more than $600,000 since the state attorney
general stopped acting as Fair Board’s legal counsel during the
attempt to privatize the fairgrounds.
Board subcommittee continues to negotiate a long-term deal with
the swap meet operator two months after lease termination was
initiated.
In what some see as an act of political retribution, the Orange
County Fair Board Thursday terminated the lease of swap meet
operator Jeff Teller.
Decision follows a raucous meeting that includes tough questions
from new board members and accusations from activists.