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Re: Relaunch השקה
Arthur Christopher Schaper is a blogger, writer, and commentator on topics both timeless and timely; political, cultural, and eternal. A life-long Southern California resident, Arthur currently lives in Torrance. Follow his blogs at The State of the Union and As He Is, So Are We Ministries.
Hey everyone:
For the last couple of months in 2022, as I have worked with other states and their legislatures to stop LGBT perversion of all sorts, I have complained about the seeming lack of movement in the pro-family movement.
Election 2022, and the race for Torrance Treasurer has cashed in on some growing interest.
Five people are running for Treasurer this year, a position which was uncontested four years ago, with Dana Cortez running unopposed, presumably because she was doing such a great job?
Or because no one was paying attention.
Torrance residents are starting to pay attention to their city council and mayor. For the last eight years, the city of Torrance has suffered under unprecedentedly bad leadership. Pat Furey has been an embarrassment to this city.
He was taking campaign money from McCormick Ambulance, and then he was the deciding vote to kill the city's ambulance contract with Gerber. He was busted in campaign violations connected with the PAC working with McCormick Ambulance. His son, Patrick Furey (Jr.), has quite a dirty reputation, as he faced numerous campaign violations over his career. Thankfully, he was pushed out of the campaign consulting business in 2015 following the reports from the California Fair Political Practices Commission--and we got him off the Torrance traffic commission, to boot!
But what about the Treasurer position. Why so much interest now?
Dana Cortez, the incumbent, has been missing in action for the last four years. She got elected, and then she stopped doing her job. She refused to show up to work, issuing doctors' notes and other excuses why she wasn't coming to city council, and why she wasn't answering emails. When the city and the staff faced a budget crisis in 2018, they had to take unprecedented steps to divest power away from the current Treasurer position and give the key tasks to other civil servants in the finance department. The situation was so dire, because at the time Cortez was the only person who had access to the city's bank accounts to pay bills and manage investments.
Cortez put herself first, ignored the needs of the city, and harmed the residents. The funny thing is that I met her while going for a walk one afternoon in late 2017. She was very supportive of me, of all the things that I had been writing about and sharing with city residents. Of course, all her nice words don't make up for her dereliction of duty. It's quite an embarrassment that one of the key elected officials never bothered to show up for her work during her second four-year term on city council. Because she's elected, the voters have to fire her, just as they had hired her.
For the last four years, Deadbeat Dana Cortez has been collecting a paycheck and benefits, and doing no work. I connected with a group of people in the city who wanted to recall her. Unfortunately, such an effort required collecting a minimum of 10,000 signatures, and even then the voters would have to vote to fire her.
To add insult to interest, Cortez is running for re-election! How stupid does she think the voters are? This is really insulting!
But the insults don't stop there.
Let's consider who else is running for the Treasurer position:
1. Mike Griffiths, city councilman.
2. Tim Goodrich, former city councilman
3. Melissa Wright, Cultural Arts commissioner
4. Rick Marshall, former planning commissioner
Mike Griffiths is probably one of the most arrogant people on the city council today. He has routinely scolded residents in the city for not making purchases in brick-and-mortar stores in the city, which "deprives" the city of sales tax revenue. Since when does a resident owe the city the necessity of purchasing goods in a building as opposed to online? All of this condescension connects to his push to raise the sales tax. He and his colleagues for the past eight years should have been cutting costs and reducing spending when they had the chance. He refused to make the tough choices, and now he expects the already cash-strapped residents to pay more. It's outrageous!
The last straw for me was his attitude toward passage of a Resolution of No Confidence in pro-criminal LA County District Attorney George Gascon. When I spoke to him about this issue last year, he made nothing excuses, and he just shut me down about the whole proposal. I exposed his arrogant resistance to this very popular proposal last year--and he sure changed his tenue a few months afterwards when he joined with four of his colleagues to approve the resolution.
Mike Griffiths does not respect the will of the voters, he doesn't take the lead to build revenue, he wants to tax residents more, and he has the audacity to run for another office simply because he wanted to run for mayor, but could not compete against Cliff Numark or George Chen. Let's state the truth plainly: Griffiths wants to be treasurer so that he can position himself to run for mayor in four or eight years. This is not about serving the city. This is about serving himself. I don't like Mike.
Adding further insult, we have former Torrance city councilman Tim Goodrich running for the treasurer position. I mean ... really? This guy quit his job as city councilman last year because the demands of his job were too great for him, and he could not devote the time needed to the job. In other word, Tim Goodrich has the "Quittin' Cliff" syndrome.
Goodrich didn't even live in Torrance for the greater part of his life. He is a carpet-bagger from Buffalo, New York. Torrance is better than this.
Tim Goodrich also protested the troops but then (attempted to) cover up his unpatriotic record as he wrapped himself in the American Flag, all while pushing left-wing causes and raging against the country and the military. Really sickening, really insulting. Unfortunately, the voters didn't pay attention then.
Hopefully, they are paying attention now. He quit his job on the Torrance city council last year--LAST YEAR!--and now he is running for another position on the city council. Why should anyone believe that he will stick to his word and stay on the job? Why should anyone trust him on anything? This whole thing is a joke. Really, I am so tired of these social-climber politicians who leave office when the going gets tough, or the promotions get few and far between. There are many reasons why Torrance voters should say "No" to Tim Goodrich.
Then there's Melissa Wright. She has a long record of service in public and private efforts in the city, and she has plenty of accounting experience. She is not a quitter. I am grateful for her record of service. But she has two strikes against her, and one of them is quite insulting, too.
First, she is endorsed by "Creepy" Pat Furey, the retiring failed mayor of our city. He has been an absolute disgrace to the city of Torrance. Any candidate running for office should repudiate his endorsement, and she has not done that. The second problem is that she supports the tax increase, as do Griffiths and Goodrich. What is the matter with these people?! The residents, the business owners in this city are struggling enough as it is. Why make it worse? High gas prices, staggering inflation, sluggish business growth, all of this is weighing on the minds and wallets of Torrance voters. Enough is enough. The city leadership needs to take the necessary steps to cut taxes, cut spending, innovate public services, and streamline other costs in the city. There is no excuse for our elected leaders to keep passing the buck and putting the costs on We the People.
Melissa Wright is probably a "No" for city treasurer for anyone who finds Pat Furey disgusting, and for anyone who does not want a sales tax increase, too.
What about Rick Marshall? He has accounting and budgeting experience as an employee at UC Irvine. He has served on the city Water and Planning Commissions. He has stated clearly and unreservedly his opposition to any sales tax increase.
And he led the effort, as frustrated as it became, to recall Do-Nothing Deadbeat Dana Cortez. I wish Rick Marshall the best in his latest bid for office in the city of Torrance, but I am not sure he can pull this bid off. He has not served in any major capacity for the last two years. Furthermore, he has a strong following, but there are many people in the city who simply do not care for him.
What is the best path forward for the Treasurer position? Who should replace Dana Cortez?
This year, the voters in the city of Torrance will be selecting a new mayor.
Two candidates have emerged to run for the seat: Cliff Numark and Councilman George Chen.
One would think they both have considerable resumés, since both of them have served as city councilmembers, along with their long-standing reputations of service to the community.
However, there is one crucial, unmistakable difference between the two, and it makes all the difference whether the city residents should elect one or the other.
Consider this when looking all the mayors of Torrance, from the first election that the mayor's seat was elected at large by the voters:
Ken Miller
Jim Armstrong
Kathy Geisert
Dee Hardison
Dan Walker
Frank Scotto
Patrick Furey
What do all of these mayors have in common?
First, they were all sitting members of the city council when they ran mayor. Voters in Torrance have wanted mayors with some experience serving on city council.
No one really wants a neophyte for mayor who has to learn on the job. Working with colleagues before the public eye, considering the complexities of the city budget, the different relationships at work with the civil servants in city hall, and the political dynamics throughout the city require considerable knowledge and experience.
Moreover, the city is facing another set of hard times for the next three to four years, and the last thing that the city of Torrance needs is a mayor-in-training who will take at least a year to get used to the levers of power and responsibility.
To make it very simple, we need a mayor who already has on-the-job experience.
But there's something else to take into account with each of the former and current mayors of Torrance:
They all fulfilled that promise.
Quittin' Cliff Numark |
Except for one candidate: Cliff Numark.
Numark was elected to the Torrance city council in 2008 (he was the bottom vote-getter), and then elected to a full term in 2010.
Unlike all the other mayoral candidates and mayors once elected, Cliff Numark did not keep his commitment to the Torrance voters. He resigned in 2013 to serve on the El Camino College Board. He ran for that office and got elected, and then left Torrance in the lurch.
During the Seaside Homeowners Association debate on March 23, 2022, he argued that serving on the El Camino College Board would better serve the city of Torrance. Also, because state law prevented him from serving on two boards, he had to resign his position on the city of Torrance.
That is not an excuse, of course. Numark should have known well enough that running and winning the El Camino College Board seat was going to force him to resign his city council seat. That lack of commitment to the city of Torrance is really disconcerting.
It's been nine years since he served in any government capacity for the city of Torrance, and times have really changed. Sure, he helped other city councilmembers weather the fiscal storms of the Great Recession, but like many of his colleagues then--and as he asserts now--he has no problem raising taxes to restore city revenue. Furthermore, Cliff has shown that he is more ambitious than principled. Instead of considering the needs of the city, he wanted to take advantage of another political opportunity. Most people run for college board so that they can curry favor with labor unions and contractors in order to seek higher office.
Cliff cares about Cliff, and he has no qualms about quitting if it furthers his political pursuits. Torrance has had to deal with this dynamic already (think "Ted Lieu"). Torrance deserves better than another office-seeker looking for the highest bidder.
None of Torrance's eight mayors EVER broke their commitment to the city and its residents. They kept their promise when they ran for city council, and they kept their promise when they served their full term as mayor. None of them quit. They were engaged, they knew what the obligation was, they were active, they gave their time, and they were dedicated when making a promise to be Torrance's mayor.
None of them quit because they didn’t have the time. None of them quit because they wanted to take advantage of other opportunities along the way. For many of them, opportunities did pass by, but they rejected them: excellent job promotions, campaign bids for State Assembly, running for congress corporate jobs etc. None of the mayors quit.
Actions speak louder than words, and Quittin' Cliff has made his political career more important than the city and its citizens. His yard signs all over the city reasd "Former City Councilmember." That pretty much sums up his experience. He is a "former," and it should stay that way.
FORMER Councilman Quittin' Cliff is trying to hide his "former" self |
Vote for George Chen for Torrance Mayor on June 7th, 2022.
There is just so much winning for MassResistance.
Many people are growing aware of a pernicious hate group in the state of Alabama. I am not writing about the Ku Klux Klan, but a group that has had worse impact on many people of diverse backgrounds.
I am writing about the Southern Poverty Law Center.
I am happy to report that more news sites, even progressive radio stations in public universities, are sharing our view that the SPLC is a hate group with no standing or credibility.
Here's a complete statement from Christina Kuzmych, the General Manager of Wyoming Public Radio, in response to letter from MassResistance demanding a full retraction of the SPLC defamation on one of their recent articles about our organization:
Thank you for writing and for expressing your point on an issue that is understandably important to you.
I conversed with News Director Bob Beck, and also looked over the sequence of events unveiled here.
It’s my understanding that the portion of the story that included reference to the Southern Poverty Law Center was removed after your discussion with Bob. I support this move.
Unfortunately, we had referenced the SPLC with the “hate” context attached,
and the story had public exposure. It’s
our responsibility now to right this and to note that we reconsidered our
position and believe that the SPLW designation of Mass Resistance as a hate
group is inappropriate. MassResistance
is an anti-LGBTQ group, and this is the correct designation as per the group’s
mission.
When even public radio, oftentimes subsidized by the state, and located in progressive political environments like a public university, agrees that the SPLC is an "inappropriate" designation, you know that you are winning the culture war.
No more hate groups! The SPLC is a hate group, along with Black Lives Matter, Antifa, the KKK, and the Anti-Defamation League, and people need to step up and push back on their hate in every way possible.
Next time the hate group from Alabama targets you or your community (and remember, they have a long history of defaming Jews, Muslisms, and immigrants, as well as Christians and conservatives generally), just let the public that public radio stations have rejected their hate, and so should everyone else.
Wyoming Public Radio recognizes that the SPLC has no credibility |
Finally, the masks have come off … the students. But the sinister plot that allowed this systemic child abuse to continue unabated has not been dealt with properly. Until the Torrance School Board issues a firm resolution to disregard these outrageous mandates in the future, and passes a “mask and vaccine choice” regime, the students and parents in this district will have no assurance that their children’s health will remain safe and free from unwanted mandates.
I have received more calls and complaints from parents in
the district, this time from Hull Middle School. Mrs. Shawnda Leander is
pushing her own version of Critical Racist Theory, saying hateful things like
“mostly all white people are bad, except for me of course” and “All black
people are good.” Such broad statements are true testimonies to systemic racism
in our schools. It’s not in our kids, it’s not in people’s skin color. Frankly,
where do these teachers get these terrible ideas from in the first place? That
needs to be investigated.
While many parents have been rightfully outraged with the
unconscionable health mandates imposed on their children, they are now shifting
their focus back to the divisive and inaccurate curriculum and viewpoint
discrimination taking place in Torrance classrooms. I have already shared with
this board about teachers promoting hate groups like Black Lives Matter and the
Human Rights Campaign, dedicated to normalizing political violence and sexual
perversion on impressionable minds trapped in classrooms as a captive audience.
When will these practices cease? Schools should be safe spaces, yes, for ALL
students, not just a select group or one viewpoint.
To this day, I have not year hear from Director Ben Egan or
Superintendent Stowe regarding the new policies that will ensure that schools,
staff, and district personnel will no longer misuse school and school district
labels and logos to push a personal or political agenda, and especially at the
expense or in spite of the concern or disagreement of students or parents. When
will this policy be made public, Dr. Egan and Dr. Stowe?
Trustee Gerson contacted me after the previous meeting
regarding the current relationship between the California and the National
School Boards Associations. I understand that the voting member from the NSBA
has had their voting status stripped. That move is not enough. There is no
rectifying the fact that NSBA issued a letter to Joe Biden urging him to direct
the Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute parents who were merely
exercising their First Amendment rights in school board meeetings across the
country. The NSBA referred to righteously outraged parents as “domestic
terrorists” simply because they wanted to protect their children from Critical
Racist Theory and LGBT indoctrination in the classroom, along with the
unhealthy health mandates.
There is no excuse for any organization defaming parents as
“domestic terrorists” for doing their jobs to protect their children. I am
urging this board, this board’s CSBA representative to press for the California
School Board Association’s complete disaffiliation with the NSBA. This is not a
partisan matter, since red and blue states have disaffiliated from that
terrible organization. MassResistance assisted parents with pressuring three state
school boards associations from leaving the NSBA this year already.
Last of all, I hope that all parents in Torrance Unified, as well as across the state of California, understand that the fight is not over when it comes to ensure that their local school boards remain accountable to them. Ending the mask mandates was one step, but now more than ever it’s time for curricular and personnel oversight like never before.
Hey everyone!
Here are my endorsements for the California Republican Party slate at the 2022 CAGOP convention this year.