Mainero and Smoller: Response to Wagner

Community Opinion
By |

Supervisor Don Wagner quibbles with typos and minor details, but fails to acknowledge the big picture about race relations and the Covid-19 crisis. Wagner refuses to address the fact the Board of Supervisors rejected the call to put a discussion of the renaming of John Wayne Airport, an avowed White Supremacist, on the agenda of its July 14 meeting or before voters. Just like Trump, Wagner fails to take responsibility for the County’s failed response to the Covid-19 crisis, which is why virus cases and deaths in Orange County have, since late May and early June, spiraled out of control. The County needs leadership, not political gamesmanship.

Mainero and Smoller: The GOP is Self-Destructing

Community Opinion
By |

The Chapman professors—one conservative, one progressive—argue that Donald Trump is proudly taking the national and local GOP over a cliff. The president’s exploitation of America’s racial divide and rejection of science is being emulated by Orange County Republican electeds,  to their political peril.

Smoller and Moodian: It’s Time to Rename John Wayne Airport

Community Opinion
By |

John Wayne’s white supremacist views came to light again when a 1971 interview he did with Playboy magazine went viral in early 2019. As symbols of racial intolerance are taken down across the country, the time has come to rename our airport and remove Wayne’s statue. The actor does not represent our diverse, cosmopolitan community.

Smoller: Phasing in The Voter’s Choice Act

Community Opinion
By |

Chapman University Professor Fred Smoller writes that county supervisors should consider phasing in the implementation of the Voters Choice Act, possibly creating a more politically palatable product in places like Orange County, where the board of supervisors has rejected implementation.