Okay, Seriously. Why The 72nd Election Matters

We considered ourselves pretty much hopelessly cynical. Most local elections don’t seem to matter much, at least here in OC. The choices are determined in Repuglican primaries between various assorted mixed nuts with more ambition than brains; people whom you wouldn’t hire to walk your dog. People of no real ability but a crafty sort of skill at ferreting out the main chance – for themselves. Remember Duvall? Bulldozer Daucher? Every council election gives birth to a new litter. But this time it really is different. Chris Norby is not perfect. A long way from perfection – like most of us. But his political attributes far outweigh his liabilities. He is a rock-solid conservative who has fought for property rights against the incursion of government depredations for decades. At the County he has opposed pension spikes, PLAs, and other policies that unreasonably raise the cost of government to the people who pay for it – us. As a city councilman in Fullerton Norby time and time again had to stand alone in a lonely fight against the boondogglery of the Redevelopment Agency and completely incompetent affordable housing schemes - foisted on us by his colleagues. You see, Chris put the welfare of the City ahead of foolish collegiality with the rest of the council and with staff. He never forgot that it is the city manger who works for the council – not the other way around. Unlike his fellows on the council he never came to identify himself with the bureaucracy at the expense of his constituents. Remember the Utility Tax? There is a reason a billionaire like Ed Roski Jr. dislikes Norby so much and is willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars to attack him. It’s because Norby is one of the few elected officials in California who has stood up to fight the redevelopment abuses that create sham cities like “Industry” where Roski rules over his supposedly democratic realm in effective majesty. Read more.