When appropriate, OCTaxPac creates a detailed letter of endorsement for the Candidates, Initiatives, and Propositions it supports. Below is a partial list of the formal letters of endorsement provided to some of the candidates listed on the Endorsements Page from the Orange County Taxpayers Political Action Committee.
MEG WHITMAN - Candidate for Governor, State of California
The Orange County Taxpayers Association Political Action Committee (OCTaxPAC) is proud to support your campaign to become the next Governor of California. OCTaxPAC’s mission is to elect candidates who believe that taxes and tax-supported programs must be “fair, understandable, cost-effective, and good for the economy.” In several meetings with you, OCTax members found that you share that mission:
• Your plan to reform lavish public employee pensions will save taxpayers billions of dollars while
restoring simple fairness between the public and private sectors;
• Your spending cap will prevent future profligate spending by the Legislature;
• Your “sunset commission” will identify and stop waste and fraud in government; and
• Your tax cuts and tax credits will help get California’s economy moving.
Those are challenging goals, but you have three attributes that convince OCTaxPac that you can meet them. First, your education includes degrees in economics and business administration, two skills so obviously lacking in our State Capitol today. Second, your successful record as a businessperson with Proctor & Gamble, Bain & Company (a global business and strategy consulting firm), Disney, Stride Rite, FTD, Hasbro and eBay proves your talents for team building, decision-making and leadership. Finally, you demonstrate fierce determination to win this election and serve the taxpayers, workers, businesses and residents of this state.
OCTaxPac is pleased that you met with us and listened to our ideas. We will support you enthusiastically in your new role as Governor of the State of California.
MIMI WALTERS - California State Treasurer
The Orange County Taxpayers Association Political Action Committee (OCTaxPAC) is proud to support your campaign to become the next California State Treasurer.
OCTaxPAC’s mission is to make taxes and tax-supported programs “fair, understandable, cost-effective, and good for the economy.” Your performance as a City Councilmember, Mayor, Assemblywoman and State Senator shows that you share our goals.
You are an opponent of big government and a defender of private enterprise. As a State Assemblywoman, you led the fight against higher taxes and bloated government. As a State Senator, you authored many bills that were supported enthusiastically by OCTax (a separate organization that is the sponsor of OCTaxPAC), including bills that would empower charter schools, reduce insurance fraud, provide education support for veterans, eliminate toll road fraud, increase the property tax exemption for first-time homebuyers, and limit the power of eminent domain.
Occasionally you invited us to Sacramento to testify in support your bills; we appreciate being included in your effort.
Your private-sector experience with the firms of Drexel, Burnham & Lambert and Kidder Peabody brought financial common sense to a Legislature in which that quality is in short supply. That skill and your experience as Vice Chair of the Senate Revenue & Taxation Committee qualify you perfectly for the job of State Treasurer.
MIKE VILLINES - California State Insurance Commissioner
The Orange County Taxpayers Association Political Action Committee (OCTaxPAC) supports your campaign to become the next California State Insurance Commissioner.
OCTaxPAC’s mission is to elect candidates who believe that taxes and tax-supported programs must be “fair, understandable, cost-effective, and good for the economy.” In meetings with you over many years, OCTaxPAC Directors found that you share that mission.
• You own a small business.
• As Assembly Republican Leader, you led the fight for tax code revisions to encourage business
development.
• You are a champion of transparency and efficiency in government.
• You have common sense and problem solving ability, two rare and valuable traits in today’s
vituperative political discourse.
OCTaxPAC is confident that you will keep insurance rates affordable by promoting vigorous competition among insurance providers, rather than by executive fiat.
Sherriff Hutchens - Orange County Sherriff-Coroner
The Orange County Taxpayers Association Political Action Committee (OCTaxPAC) is proud to support your campaign for re-election to the office of Orange County Sheriff-Coroner.
OCTaxPAC has observed your quiet but effective leadership during a very trying period. In the relatively short time since you were appointed to your present position, you quickly brought needed change to a department that had been found to be corrupt at the top. You have dealt civilly with attacks by your rivals on your policies. You have taken difficult (but necessary) steps to reduce your Department’s budget in response to national, state, county and city budget shortfalls. We are convinced that you share OCTaxPAC’s mission of making government “fair, understandable, cost effective, and good for the economy.”
The Orange County Sheriff-Coroner Department is comprised of 4,000 staff members, 800 reserve personnel, and five organizations divided into 20 divisions. You serve unincorporated portions of Orange County, 12 cities, and many County agencies. That’s a big job, but your enthusiasm, decisive leadership and management skills equip you to handle it.
OCTaxPAC is convinced you are qualified and motivated to help keep spending in check, while maintaining a high level of service. We hope that OCTaxPAC’s endorsement will encourage other elected officials and candidates for office to follow your example of taxpayer-friendly leadership.
Superintendent Bill Habermehl - Orange County Superintendent of Schools.
The Orange County Taxpayers Association Political Action Committee (OCTaxPAC) is proud to support your campaign for re-election to the office of Orange County Superintendent of Schools.
For years, OCTaxPAC has observed your inspiring leadership of the Department of Education. Almost as importantly, we note your enthusiastic participation in the Orange County business community, where you have won many friends and supporters for Orange County schools.
You and your department of 2,900 full- and part-time employees provide services to Orange County school districts, including special education, teacher credentialing, accounting, business and information technology and outdoor science schools. These efforts have helped Orange County’s school superintendents, principals, teachers and staffs deliver the lowest dropout rate, lowest crime rate, highest verbal SAT scores and highest math SAT scores in Southern California. You have done this despite major reductions in funding from the State of California. Over 500,000 students benefit by your efforts.
We can’t help but notice that three million Orange County citizens and taxpayers benefit by your cost-conscious leadership, too. OCTaxPAC is convinced that you share OCTaxPAC’s mission of making taxes and tax-supported programs “fair, understandable, cost effective and good for the economy.”
We hope that OCTaxPAC’s endorsement will encourage other elected officials and candidates for office to follow your example of taxpayer-friendly leadership.
Harry Sidhu - Candidate for the Orange County Board of Supervisors, District 4
The Orange County Taxpayers Association Political Action Committee (OCTaxPAC) supports your primary-election campaign to become Orange County’s 4th District Supervisor.
The Fourth District is blessed with several highly qualified candidates. Your endorsement by OCTaxPAC came after detailed interviews with you and the other candidates, followed by considerable discussion. The selection committee considered your background as a successful small-business owner. We reviewed your seven-year record as a city councilmember who actively reduced government regulations and fees, supported private property rights, created private-sector jobs, and heard both sides of any issue before making a decision. We concluded that you share OCTaxPAC’s belief that taxes and tax-supported programs should be “fair, understandable, cost effective, and good for the economy” (OCTaxPAC’s mission statement).
If you win the primary election by less than an absolute majority of votes, you will face a general election in November. Until then, OCTaxPAC hopes to see you (and possibly your rival in the general election) exert energetic leadership on four issues that are important to taxpayers.
• Reducing the cost of public employee pay, pensions, holidays and other benefits.
• Substantially shrinking County government, including the number of employees.
• Doing away with the phony Productivity Improvement Program (PIP), an unbargained general pay raise
in disguise.
• Implementing the County’s Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy. This would create
private-sector jobs for your constituents while raising County revenue
Allan Mansoor - Candidate for the 68th Assembly District, State of California
The Orange County Taxpayers Association Political Action Committee (OCTaxPAC) is proud to support your campaign for election to serve the people of the 68th Assembly District. For years, OCTaxPAC has observed your no-nonsense leadership as mayor and councilmember of the City of Costa Mesa. You have been the taxpayers’ champion, fighting for fiscal restraint
in government. You supported a residential remodeling program that eliminated city fees and allowed citizens to bring their homes up to code without penalty. You supported an overlay zone to encourage free market revitalization in portions of the city where it was needed. You are a solid supporter of property rights and an opponent of eminent domain. You are a vigilant watchdog against those who seek to weaken or circumvent Proposition 13.
Above all, as a mayor and as a citizen, you show rare courage in defying the special interests that would bleed taxpayers to expand government bureaucracy. You are one of very few elected officials willing to take an unambiguous stand against lavish public employee pensions.
OCTaxPAC is convinced that you share OCTaxPAC’s mission of making taxes and tax-supported programs “fair, understandable, cost effective and good for the economy.” We hope that OCTaxPAC’s endorsement will encourage other elected officials and candidates for office to follow your example of taxpayer-friendly leadership.
Jerry Amante - Candidate for the 70th Assembly District, State of California
The Orange County Taxpayers Association Political Action Committee (OCTaxPAC) is proud to support your campaign for election to the 70th Assembly District.
OCTaxPac has observed your wide-ranging leadership on the Tustin City Council, Orange County Transportation Authority and Transportation Corridor Agencies. We are convinced that you share OCTax’s goals of lower taxes and limited, more effective government.
Your success as a businessman (as owner of a law firm that specializes in advocacy, strategy and government relations, and as owner of a commercial and residential real estate brokerage firm) indicates that you have the real-world skills to represent your constituents prudently.
The 700th Assembly District includes the cities of Aliso Viejo, Costa Mesa, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Newport Beach and Tustin. Your enthusiasm, high-energy leadership and varied background equip you to serve this dynamic part of Orange County.
OCTaxPAC is convinced you are qualified and motivated to help keep State spending in check, which is especially important in this era of seemingly unrestrained government largesse. We hope that this endorsement will encourage other elected officials and candidates for office to follow your example of taxpayer-friendly leadership.
Chris Norby - Candidate for the 72nd Assembly District, State of California
The Orange County Taxpayers Association Political Action Committee (OCTaxPAC) is proud to support your campaign for election to the 72nd Assembly District.
OCTaxPAC’s mission is to ensure that taxes and tax-supported programs are “fair, understandable, cost-effective, and good for business.” Your service as an Orange County Supervisor indicates that you share those goals.
• You voted to approve a pay-and-benefits contract that is fair to sheriffs’ deputies, yet will save taxpayers $140 million.
• You voted to introduce the landmark concept of defined-contribution pension benefits into Orange County government.
• You supported legal action against a retroactive county employee benefit; if a court finds that it is unconstitutional, taxpayers will save hundreds of millions of dollars.
• You are an outspoken defender of private property rights, and an equally outspoken opponent of expansion of government power and programs.
Your record proves that taxpayers can count on you to stand up to big-spending Sacramento politicians and their special-interest allies. The 72nd Assembly District includes the cities of Fullerton, Anaheim, Placentia, Orange, Brea, Yorba Linda and La Habra. Your work on the Board of Supervisors, your experience as a city councilmember, and your varied background in government, education, and community organizations equip you to represent your constituents in this dynamic part of Orange County.
OCTaxPAC is convinced you are qualified and motivated to help keep State spending in check. We hope that this endorsement will encourage other elected officials and candidates for office to follow your example of taxpayer-friendly leadership.
