Fullerton California Campaign Central
I report, you decide. By Barry Levinson
League of Women Voters Fullerton Candidate Forum, Thursday October 2.
Attendees: G. Sebourn, D. Chaffee, B. Chaffee, J. Rands, S. Paden, R. Alvarez and
L. Bennett
I rated the candidates by using both my knowledge of the issues and the candidates.
I considered whether they answered the question fully and directly; whether they
answered honestly, and how well they presented their points.
This is my rating order.
Greg Sebourn
Jane Rands
Sean Paden
Bill Chaffee
Larry Bennett
Doug Chaffee, Rick Alvarez tied for last
Greg Sebourn answered the questions directly. Both his content and his delivery
were good. I believed he gave each question some real thought before he gave his
answers. In other words, his answers did not seem rehearsed or pre-planned. That
is a good thing. We want our leaders to thoughtfully answer questions and not give
rote answers.
Grade: A-
Jane Rands also answered the questions directly. I thought it was her best
performance to date. I did disagree with a few of her comments but overall thought
she did a good job with the issues and her presentation as well.
Grade: B+
Sean Paden also answered the questions directly. His content was good but his
delivery was bad. He discussed the pension problem, which was the highlight of his
presentation. However, on one question he forgot to turn on his microphone so we
missed his first few sentences of his answer. Overall he was hard to follow because
he spoke to fast and did not speak loud enough.
Grade: C+
B. Chaffee did his best and answered all questions honestly. He is a nice man but not
qualified enough to be a good council member in my opinion.
Grade: D+
The last three candidates were very disappointing to me.
L. Bennett is a smooth talker and tries to sell himself as a real conservative who
will be a good steward of our finances. Yet he was the campaign manager for the
NO on Recall Campaign in 2012 and a staunch supporter of McKinley, Bankhead
and Jones who helped get us into this financial mess. Two of them (Bankhead and
Jones) voted for the huge police and fire pension spike back in 2002 and McKinley
got a huge bump in his pension thanks to that vote which was retroactive for all
active safely employees. That pension spike allows safety employees to retire with
90% of their last year’s pay after 30 years of service as early as 50 years of age.
McKinley hired some bad cops in my opinion that have already cost the taxpayers
approximately 2 million dollars and going higher.
Bennett kept his comments very vague. For example, he mentions the need for
pension and retire health care reform but is totally silent on how he intends to
accomplish this goal. He also does not tell us what pension reform will look like. He
also repeatedly in his campaign has mentioned that he is a consensus builder. I have
a real problem with that claim. As stated above, it was Larry Bennett who was the
campaign chairman for the No on Recall in 2012. This was a very contentious and
divisive issue, regardless of what side you were on. It was certainly not a consensus
building process.
Grade: D-
R. Alvarez gets a failing grade for two reasons. First for making at least one huge
misleading statement and two for failing either in this forum or on his campaign
website to even mention the biggest financial problem facing Fullerton taxpayers,
which is the $182,000,000 unfunded pension liability and the unfunded retiree
health insurance liability. His misleading statement concerned his position on
the Downtown Core and Corridor Project (DCCSP). He stated that he has “serious
concerns” about the DCCSP. Ladies and Gentlemen, R. Alvarez voted to approve the
DCCSP as a member of the Planning Commission just a few short months ago despite
his “serious concerns”. Enough said on that issue.
Grade: F
D. Chaffee also gets a failing grade for misinforming the public. He stated in his
closing arguments, which ladies and gentlemen are prepared remarks the following:
He said he is “supported by the Orange County League of Woman Voters”. The
moderator had to remind the audience at the end of the forum that the League is
non-partisan and NEVER ENDORSES OR SUPPORTS ANY CANDIDATE. Also in my
opinion he had a hard time coming up with the answer to why he deserves to get
reelected. Looking forward to participating in Love Fullerton Day next May did not
strike me as a really good reason to vote for or reelect any candidate.
Grade: F
#1 by Anonymous on October 7, 2014 - 10:13 am
Greg is the best choice. He needs to be re elected. I have always liked Jane Rands as well. She has spent many hours trying to improve the city for its residents. I hope they get in.