UPDATE: The New York Times actually prints a favorable review of her book and most of the comments are about what one would expect from the Times readers.
I like Sarah Palin and have since I first heard about her record as governor of Alaska. I reviewed her book and was particularly interested in the sections on her career in local government. One reason is because I know someone a lot like her and because I saw what happened to reformers in local government in my own small city. A history of the reform group in Mission Viejo, where I live and have lived since 1972, is here. I became vaguely aware of the group when the apartment issue reared its ugly head. Mission Viejo is a small city that was planned in 1962, at a time that Orange County was a bedroom community for people who commuted to Los Angeles to work. It was definitely middle class and new homes sold for about $25,000 to $65,000. There were model homes and the homes were typically sold before they were built, at least in the early days. There was a cluster of apartments in the center of the city and these were almost completely occupied by families waiting for their home to be built.
The huge apartment project that first got my attention was a change in the city master plan and violated the principles of planning that made this a good place to live. The first planned cities did not anticipate the rise of small business and the information economy. The assumption was that most residents would commute. The city plan did not include much of a commercial zone since local offices would probably be local businesses like lawyers, doctors and accountants. Newer developments have included large swaths of low industrial park that reduces commuter traffic and allows small business to be located in proximity to the homes of the owners and employees. That was still to be learned when Mission Viejo was planned.
In 1995 or so, real estate developers proposed a large apartment project that would require changes in the master plan and zoning laws. Large apartment projects are not very friendly to neighbors. They increase traffic and often demand additional school construction while contributing little to the tax base. They also tend to attract crime and often add to parking problems since the parking codes do not anticipate families with four cars occupying a two bedroom unit. In my time on the Transportation and Planning Commission, I became very aware of these issues.
Others, who knew more about it than I did, organized a petition drive opposing the project and the master plan change. I signed the petition and attended the Planning Commission meeting. I got a lesson in local government tyranny. The agenda placed the item last so the enormous crowd, probably 500 or so. had to wait until midnight to get a hearing. This, of course, was planned to tire out all but the most enthusiastic. The Commission cared little about the comfort of the protestors. They voted approval of the project in spite of the petition and the attendance of hundreds. The scene was reminiscent of the town halls last summer.
In 2000, I became aware of more nastiness during the election. I had voted by absentee as I had to be in Ohio on business election day. Ironically, the person who was the victim of the nastiness and the cause of my entry into electoral activism, when finally elected to the city council, turned out to be a faker and made lots of new friends among developers and other shady characters. If you get involved in politics, prepare to be disappointed. The rest of the story is pretty much at the link.
My story begins about here:
Fall 2000 CIG members support Gail Reavis for city council.
Gail Reavis is a very nice lady who reminds me of Sarah Palin. What follows explains why.
Nov 2000 General Election. CIG member Gail Reavis, in her first race for elected office, defeats an incumbent after he spent $80,000 in the most costly candidate expenditure in city history.
The election of Gail to the city council infuriated the majority, which had had things largely to itself. The first of the reformers to be elected, John Paul Ledesma, was a minority of one and could be ignored. He, however, was the one who got them in trouble over the Brown Act violation since he knew they had violated it. For this mortal sin, he was ostracized. When Gail was elected, the majority felt a chill.
The majority, which consisted of two women and a man, decided that she would not be tolerated. The women would not speak to her and, more frustrating, they refused to confirm her appointments to city commissions. This had never happened before but they would not allow her to exercise the normal functions of her position. At this point, after they had voted down her nominee for the Planning Commission, I was asked if I would be willing to serve. I was interested and she nominated me to the commission. I had never met Gail before that meeting. I did have one quality the others didn’t. I had operated on one of the councilwomen or her husband. I really didn’t remember them but didn’t let on as she voted for me and then congratulated me.
For the next two years I served on the commission and got a real dose of nasty local politics. The new city hall was built in spite of opposition from the CIG group. It was far too expensive for our small city. When it opened, a reception was held by the council majority to which the city residents were not invited. It was that kind of situation. When I went to the city hall for my first commission meeting after it opened, I was informed by the receptionist that I could not go to the first floor meeting room without an escort. I wrote a letter to the local paper complaining about the whole tone of the “Taj Majal” city hall, as many of us had begun calling it. The day the weekly paper came out, I got a furious phone call at home from the city manager. He was in a rage because I had criticized the city in a newspaper. He was in such a rage that spittle could have shorted out his phone. I informed him that I did not work for him and when that didn’t calm him down, I finally told him I was recording the call. He quickly hung up. He also had a couple of rages that affected Gail who is a small stature woman and which occurred in the city hall. She called me and I suggested she get the names of witnesses.
Then came the earthquake:
Nov 5, 2002 “Shock and Awe.” Clean Sweep. Three city council candidates, strongly supported by CIG members, defeat high profile incumbent mayor and mayor pro-tem. Trish Kelley, John Paul Ledesma and Lance MacLean finish first, second and third.
Now, we had four of five council members from the reform group. The city manager knew his job was in trouble so he filed a harassment lawsuit against the tiny woman he had threatened in one of his rages. His remaining allies on the council plus a turncoat from the supposed reform majority, gave him a $500,000 settlement.
By 2004, the reform majority was breaking up under the stress of learning that power corrupts and political allies will sell out or just go off the reservation for no good reason if they are silly enough (Examples of both). Gail, however, continued to read the city check register and find all sorts of nasty little “easter eggs” in there. For her troubles, she was hated by the friends of the old majority and some of her supporters were hassled and nitpicked. Finally, she decided not to run for re-election last year. Her husband said it wasn’t worth it and she had no higher office ambitions.
Knowing the story gave me a lot of insight into what Sarah Palin went through and is still going through. Henry Kissinger once said that the politics of the Harvard faculty were far more cut throat than anything he saw from the Russians. The reason, he said, was because the stakes are so small. I think that is also true of small city government although the feckless city council of Mission Viejo may eventually bankrupt the city. There are too many employees with too high salaries and pensions and the city gave away too many handouts to friends. Some of the story can be found in exchanges of letters in local papers, like these. The big newspapers show little interest in small cities so a lot of this goes along under the radar. Fortunately, we have some local blogs that make up the difference. And sometimes we get really good local office holders like Gail Reavis and Sarah Palin and some us know enough to appreciate them.
Not enough, though.
Tags: Mission Viejo
Thanks for the political history lesson on Mission Viejo politics. I’ve lived here nearly 20 years and know there’s been lots of turmoil in the city, but didn’t really know much of the details.
I also write a blog, but concentrate more on national and state politics. I’ll have to start paying more attention to the local stuff.
“I like Sarah Palin and have since I first heard about her record as governor of Alaska.”
Same here. (Particularly her selling the “Governor’s” jet!) (Oh… and of course her taking on her own Party’s corrupt special interests…)
“I reviewed her book…”
I haven’t yet read it – but I will!
“Mission Viejo is a small city that was planned in 1962…”
My birth year!
“…new homes sold for about $25,000 to $65,000.”
$65K? In 1962? Why, doc… that was a small fortune then! Heck… I still remember when the bi-levels folks had bought in the ’60’s for $35K (in Rockland County, NY where I grew up) shot up to $70K in the early ’70’s. Jeezus… what sort of home did $65K buy in ’62? (Seriously… I’m interested!)
“If you get involved in politics, prepare to be disappointed.”
Ain’t that the truth!
Doc, your analysis is dead on; the tale you tell represents the norm throughout the nation.
BILL
Interesting history, Mike. I think the problem is that most local politics issues fly under the radar of the average voter. If they are interested in politics at all it’s usually the “big picture” stuff they see on TV. The local pols know how to leverage the apathy too.
In our local elections, they can’t even vote by party anymore.
I may have overstated the house prices. That’s about what they were in 1972 when I moved here. There was not much home appreciation that decade as the bull market ended in 1966. I believe there some that sold for less than $20,000. I know of nice small homes in Alhambra (near Pasadena) that sold for $14,000 in 1969. I made an offer on a nice home in South Pasadena of $19,000 that year. I used a VA loan estimate and they required the seller to pay a point. Another buyer bought it for the same price but with conventional financing.
I really would like to like Sarah Palin. She’s engaging and enthusiastic.
Unfortunately, it’s the number of factual errors in the book that makes me uncomfortable. I feel that when an author misstates a fact that is easily checked, I really can’t trust her version of events that are not so easily verified.
Many articles have been written that examine her statements. Just one example is Craig Medred’s in the “Alaska Dispatch.” He quoted from page 35 of “Going Rogue” that said, “Together Al and Lena (Todd Palin’s grandparents) helped start the Bristol Bay fishery in the 1930s, drifting for salmon from sailboats…”
Then, he explained that “According to a history compiled by a Bristol Bay author for the conservation group Trout Unlimited, ‘The fishery began in 1884 when San Francisco businessman Carl Rohlffs organized the Arctic Packing Company and built the first cannery on the Bay at the Native village of Kanulik across the Nushagak River from present day Dillingham. The first commercial pack of canned salmon was only about 400 cases or 6,000 fish.'”
If she’ll lie about who began a fishing business, how much more easily will she stretch the truth about issues that aren’t as easy to verify?
Dani, have you considered the possibility that she was told that story by Todd’s family who may think they started the fishery ? How much fishing was being done before they started ? She was writing a biography, not the history of Alaska. That error, like others that Palin haters dredge up, is trivial to the story but go ahead and use it to justify your feelings that I am sure derive from other sources.
Thanks for stopping by.
troll alert
I know but some people actually believe this stuff. Most of the Palin attacks are illogical and some seek this sort of justification to avoid facing what their real motives are. Some of it is seeking totemic figures like Harvard or Yale graduates. I have gotten a close look at the curriculum of the U of Arizona the past year. It is pretty depressing. Harry Truman, who never went to college, is looking better all the time.
Dani,
The doc is right.
Not to base being “pro-Palin” on compare and contrast, but for God’s sake, how many outright lies have the Clintons (both Bill and Hillary) been caught in, large and small, personal and political? How’bout Gore? Biden? Kerry?
No… my point isn’t to excuse any misstatements by Palin… rather I’m simply pointing out the outrageous double standard on stage here.
As to the example you cite:
1) “Together Al and Lena (Todd Palin’s grandparents) helped start the Bristol Bay fishery in the 1930s, drifting for salmon from sailboats…”
OK.
BRISTOL BAY FISHERY.
2) “According to a history compiled by a Bristol Bay author for the conservation group Trout Unlimited, ‘The fishery began in 1884 when San Francisco businessman Carl Rohlffs organized the Arctic Packing Company and built the first cannery on the Bay…”
ARCTIC PACKING COMPANY.
What lie…???
BILL
Bill, sorry I didn’t check the spam filter sooner. What is it with you and spam ?
Actually, doc, I’m a hash man – corned beef OR roast beef; on occasion even turkey!
(*WINK*)
BILL
Housing prices–Orange County.
I think your prices are smack dab in the adequate range. They don’t sound any different than what I recall. I did not live in Orange County. I have relatives that lived in Orange and traded up several times, but not because they were commuting to Los Angeles. It was because the market was stable and they could count on selling and improving their situation. What’s not to love about that kind of world?
Mrs. Palin is better than anyone expected, smarter than they realize, and too skillful to be drawn into a debate over liberal vs conservative. She is no fool. I winced when she left the governorship–we needed her voice in this new debate on Federalism. What a great critic of Obamanomics and Obama’s Federalism she certainly could have been.
On the commuting patterns, I once explained to a national politician (I can’t remember who) who was visiting the area, how traffic reversed in the 80s as housing prices soared and business shifted to the small business model. Many high tech businesses located in Irvine and other small business parks so the jobs moved here. As a result, the present situation is that people who can’t afford to live in south Orange County (and don’t want to live in lower middle class towns in north Orange County) commute from San Bernardino through the Santa Ana Pass on the 91 freeway. The traffic congestion is bad because there are mountains in the way. One good solution would be to build a tunnel under the mountains but the present feckless state government will never get it done. If it were built the home values in the “Inland Empire” would soar. Anyway, it’s been an interesting economic experiment that few politicians understand. It may be the first time in history that the employers and the jobs were located in areas that the workers couldn’t afford to live in but would if they could. Commuting began when the auto allowed workers to ive away from dirty polluting plants. Now it has reversed the situation.
Sarah Palin is a woman with a very strong character and personality that is why i like her.
Hi – I don’t comment on many sites but had to on this one. It’s fantastic! I really like the way you write – very to the point, unlike a lot of other blogs. Thanks for having the courage to have this site. I don’t have time to read all the articles here right now, but I have bookmarked your site and will return very soon to see what’s new. I am so proud of Sarah Palin for what she is doing and saying. Do you think she will run for President? I hope so, I would definitely vote for her. Click here if you’d like to check out my site. Keep up the fine work!
Unbelievable! Sarah Palin left Hawaii because there were too many Asians there and it made her unforortable! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/06/palins-father-she-left-ha_n_381724.html
She left Hawaii because there were too many Asians and married an eskimo. I call bullshit on this one. Thank you for stopping by, though.