The voters will get the board they deserve in NMUSD special election
Good morning. It's Wednesday, May 21. I'm Carol Cormaci, bringing you this week's TimesOC newsletter with a look at some of the latest local news and events from around the county.
Mail-in ballots for the June 10 special election to seat one person on the Newport-Mesa Unified School District Board of Trustees have been sent to voters. They are being asked to weigh in on who should replace Michelle Barto on the school board, as she stepped down from that board after being elected in November to serve on the Newport Beach City Council.
It appeared the matter of filling the remaining two years on Barto's term as a trustee was settled with the 4-2 vote taken in January by the school board that gave the seat to Kirstin Walsh, a PTA president and longtime active supporter of the schools.
But trustees on the losing end of the vote wanted someone more compatible with their political point of view (and Barto's), and although Walsh took her new seat in late January, some persons disgruntled with that state of affairs began circulating a petition seeking to force a special election rather than allow Walsh to keep the job through the end of Barto's original term. The petition drive yielded the requisite signatures (they collected 391, according to the reporting) and forced the special election that's coming up.
There was an oddly short window of time — just three days — for any potential candidate to assess the situation and prepare the required paperwork between the time the special election was announced, March 11, and the end of the filing period, March 14. But it appears that didn't matter to the people behind the petition drive, because they already knew who they wanted in that seat, Republican Andrea McElroy (one of the people considered and turned away by the majority of the school board who supported Walsh).
Walsh, a licensed occupational therapist with children attending Newport Harbor High, did apply, however, and so the campaigns got underway. There was a May surprise, if you will, when a retired judge reported that after looking into the backgrounds of the candidates through court records it came to light that McElroy, an entrepreneur who previously went by the last name of her former husband, Young, had been embroiled in numerous lawsuits under that last name over nonpayment of bills and rent.
This information made its way to media outlets, including the Daily Pilot, and poked the bear: the head of the Orange County Republican Party, Will O'Neill. I can't say what missives he may have sent to other media, but in an email O'Neill warned Daily Pilot reporter Eric Licas off the story after Licas reached out to McElroy for her comments, so it appears the two communicated about the pending article. Also, McElroy had her attorneys write a letter on her behalf that was distributed to the Daily Pilot.
Licas is a serious reporter. He was not deterred, but instead determined to fairly and accurately report the legal woes McElroy/Young has seen over the past several years, including a large claim against her that had not been settled as of the day the story was published.
Toward the end of his story, which you can find here, Licas takes a look at what brought us to school boards becoming deeply divided and explains why the O.C. GOP want their candidate seated on the NMUSD board.
'Cultural issues associated with the perception of vulgar materials in classrooms and opposition to policies either meant to accommodate the needs and concerns of LGBTQ youth or include ethnic studies in curricula have been rallying cries for conservative politicians,' he writes. 'As a result, school boards are repeatedly becoming battlegrounds in a broader conflict of ideologies and, according to the nonprofit CalMatters newsroom, California GOP officials have been actively recruiting and training Republican candidates to run for seats.'
Licas spoke to McElroy so he could portray her point of view in his article. She described concerns raised by Walsh's supporters as a 'non story,' much as O'Neill had characterized it to the reporter. She explains that she was 'dragged into litigation' by her ex. In one email to the reporter, she lamented having been married to Mr. Young. 'She went on to say political opponents and 'far-left blogs are now running around with half-truths and full lies about that history to demonize me,'' Licas writes.
She also shrugged off some of the lawsuits as just a part of doing business in this state.
'As an entrepreneur, I can tell you that business owners in California are often targets of frivolous litigation,' McElroy said. 'Business owners are often a target of false and malicious accusations, like those being leveled against me.'
The only reason the lawsuits against her became public, McElroy told the Daily Pilot, was because the Walsh campaign was behind them. Walsh said 'she and her campaign were not involved in researching McElroy's legal history or the distribution of that information to the media or public,' Licas writes. He learned the retired judge who uncovered the lawsuits and contacted media has donated to the Walsh campaign, but not acted as a member of it.
This civic exercise is costing between $444,695 and $493,802 in public funds, a figure Licas got from the Orange County Registrar's Office. Whatever the outcome may be, the voters will have the board they deserve.
• Regular newsletter readers may recall the story last summer about the area pediatrician who founded and established several Coastal Kids offices around O.C., only to be ousted by the hedge fund he had partnered with to get a cash infusion. Although Dr. Steve Abelowitz is still involved in litigation over that situation, he has moved forward and, since August, has opened three new sites in the county under the name Ocean Pediatrics. According to the most recent Daily Pilot story on Abelowitz, state Business and Professions Code 2052 bans corporations from practicing medicine in the state, but the Medical Board of California doesn't have any system in place or the resources to investigate or enforce potential violations of the code. So a legislator, Chris Cabaldon (D-District 03), proposed SB 351, a measure that would bolster existing law and give the California attorney general's office oversight over the matter.
• The Santa Ana Unified School District Board of Trustees voted Monday to shed 262 jobs amid declining enrollment and a $154-million budget deficit. According to the TimesOC article by Gabriel San Roman, Sonta Garner-Marcelo, president of the Santa Ana Educators Assn., asked the board to rescind the layoffs and argued that the district has $70 million in unrestricted funds it could use to save jobs.
• Alejandro Oliveros Acosta, accused of killing dozens of cats in Santa Ana and stealing an expensive Bengal Lynx cat from Westminster, was charged Monday with two counts of animal cruelty and a count of grand theft of a pet, all felonies, as well as a misdemeanor count of possession of methamphetamine, according to the criminal complaint. Arraignment for the 45-year-old Santa Ana man was scheduled for today.
• Four men have been arrested by Huntington Beach police on suspicion of murder in the death of a 29-year-old Anaheim man in September outside a restaurant in the city's downtown area. All four suspects are residents of Huntington Beach and are each being held on $1-million bail.
• More than $8.4 million in illegal marijuana, plus 643 pounds of psychedelic mushrooms, were seized at an unlicensed cannabis delivery service, leading to the arrest of Kung Chau, 49, of Westminster, authorities announced Thursday. Chau was booked at the Orange County Jail.
• Three Fountain Valley 6th-graders took a handgun and ammunition to a Vista View Middle School a week ago Monday, according to the Fountain Valley Police Department. Officers discovered a 'handgun and ammunition,' while searching the students' backpacks, officials said. Two of the students were arrested and booked at the Orange County juvenile hall. The third was taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation.
• Body-worn camera footage from a police officer who shot and killed a suspect on Jan. 24 was released last Wednesday by the Fountain Valley Police Department. The video shows contentious moments leading up to the officer's fatal use of force.
• Richard David Lavalle of Long Beach was convicted Thurday of second-degree murder in the Dec. 6, 2020 fatal collision with Noel Bascon at Junipero and Arlington drives in Costa Mesa. Noel was just 12 at the time he was struck down by the truck Lavalle was driving; he'd been out riding his bike with his father when Lavalle, who was driving under the influence of meth, sped through the neighborhood and crashed into the boy.
• A Newport Beach man pleaded guilty last week to conspiring to steal more than $2.5 million from DoorDash. Sayee Chaitanya Reddy Devagiri, 30, admitted he worked with several others in a scheme to cause the company to pay for deliveries that never occurred.
• Tustin resident Hoang Xuan Le, 43, who led a drug-trafficking ring from July 2020 to October 2021 that exported hundreds of pounds of meth to Australia and Papua New Guinea has been sentenced to more than 17 years in federal prison, according to authorities. Le's co-defendant, Tri Buinguyen, 40, of Garden Grove, was sentenced on Feb. 24 to 15 years in prison. Both men pleaded guilty and both were ordered to pay $50,000 fines.
• Five people suspected of being part of a burglary crew targeting homes in Irvine were charged Monday. The defendants were identified as Jesus Antonio Hernandez Chavez, 42; John Fredy Sanabria, 42; Duber Salarte, 48; and Jhon Marlon Osorio Arias, 24, all of Fontana; along with Isneidy Ortiz Valencia, 29, of Colton.
• A unique program called Dear Hospital that was spearheaded by three employees at Children's Hospital of Orange County is encouraging connection, camaraderie and mental health awareness among hospital workers. One element of the program includes new employees having phrases chosen by them written on their body with a skin-safe marker for photo sessions during new employee orientations. They're called 'brain tattoos,' according to this TimesOC story, and can be easily wiped off after the photos are taken. The framed photographs are then put on display. Contributing writer Jessica Peralta describes a recent pop-up exhibit at CHOC's Orange location where messages like 'Invisible, I See You,' 'It's OK to be Different' and 'Here to Serve' were featured on participants' arms and hands in the large black-and-white photos.
• Portillo's in Buena Park is celebrating Robert Prevost's elevation to Pope Leo XIV by paying homage to his Chicago roots: although well-known for its hot dogs, Portillo's has rechristened its gravy-splashed Italian beef sandwich the 'Leo.' My colleague Gabriel San Román felt duty-bound to give it the taste test for our readers. 'Coming in at $8.99 a pop, the Leo is just as good as any would-be 'holy' hot dog,' he writes.
• The Boot Campaign, which offers wellness support to veterans and military families, was on the receiving end of a loca fundraiser Saturday. In honor of National Military Appreciation Month, Recoup Personal Training in Costa Mesa sponsored its 14th annual Push Ups for Charity event Saturday to raise funds for the nonprofit. To date, Recoup has raised more than $250,000 for the Boot Campaign.
• A landmark Costa Mesa retail center enjoyed five minutes of national fame last Friday when the iconic Triangle Square was featured in a segment aired hosted by local resident Holly McDonald on the Travel Channel.
• Disneyland turns 70 this summer and the celebration got an early start on Friday, when hot pink, royal purple and cyan blue decorations chosen especially for the anniversary by a veteran Imagineer were unveiled throughout Disneyland, Disney California Adventure and Downtown Disney. Among the anniversary offerings to guests is 'A Story of Celebration' guided tour.
• The Laguna Beach Chamber Singers has announced it is accepting audition submissions for its 2025-2026 season. The group rehearses on Tuesday evenings in Laguna Beach. Those with an interest in joining the it are asked to submit a short video recording by May 31. This can be of a recent solo performance or a simple melody like 'Happy Birthday.' Videos must be uploaded and the audition form completed at lbchambersingers.org/join by the deadline.
• The historic Fox Theatre in Fullerton will officially turn 100 years old next week. To mark the occasion there will be a Roaring Twenties-style celebration this Saturday, May 24, when guests can see the restoration work that has so far taken place at the building. This event is free to the public, appropriate for all ages and will be held from noon to 6:30 p.m. in the theater's parking lot at 510 N. Harbor Blvd. After the daytime celebration there will be a Speakeasy Party from 7 to 10 p.m. To learn more, read the TimesOC story on the celebration and visit the Fox Theatre website.
• Feeling charitable? Visitors to Newport Beach's Fashion Island on Saturday, May 31 will have the chance to sponsor a child in Orange County's foster care system during the annual 'Pinwheel Project' at the Neiman Marcus/Bloomingdale's Lawn, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nearly 3,000 pinwheels will be 'planted' across the lawn, each one representing a child in the foster care system. Guests can donate $10 to sponsor a pinwheel, funding advocacy and support efforts on behalf of foster children. For details and to sponsor a pinwheel, visit casaoc.org/pinwheel.
• The professional American Coast Theater Company will take the stage at Vanguard University's Lyceum Theater in Costa Mesa with two upcoming productions. 'The Importance of Being Earnest — a Wilde New Musical!' and Performances run through June 8 with shows at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and weekend matinees at 2 p.m. Arthur Miller's classic drama 'Death of a Salesman' will open June 19 and continue through June 29, with 7:30 p.m. shows Thursday through Saturday, plus 2 p.m. shows on Saturday and Sunday with a special two-for-one ticket offer Wednesday, June 25. Admission costs $20-$30. For more info or to purchase tickets, visit americancoasttheater.com
Until next Wednesday,Carol
We appreciate your help in making this the best newsletter it can be. Please send news tips, your memory of life in O.C. (photos welcome!) or comments to carol.cormaci@latimes.com.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Los Angeles Times
an hour ago
- Los Angeles Times
South Dakota is on track to spend $2 billion on prisons in the next decade
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Two years after approving a tough-on-crime sentencing law, South Dakota is scrambling to deal with the price tag for that legislation: Housing thousands of additional inmates could require up to $2 billion to build new prisons in the next decade. That's a lot of money for a state with one of the lowest populations in the U.S., but a consultant said it's needed to keep pace with an anticipated 34% surge of new inmates in the next decade as a result of South Dakota's tough criminal justice laws. And while officials are grumbling about the cost, they don't seem concerned with the laws that are driving the need even as national crime rates are dropping. 'Crime has been falling everywhere in the country, with historic drops in crime in the last year or two,' said Bob Libal, senior campaign strategist at the criminal justice nonprofit the Sentencing Project. 'It's a particularly unusual time to be investing $2 billion in prisons.' Some Democratic-led states have worked to close prisons and enact changes to lower inmate populations, but that's a tough sell in Republican-majority states such as South Dakota that believe in a tough-on-crime approach, even if that leads to more inmates. For now, state lawmakers have set aside a $600-million fund to replace the overcrowded 144-year-old South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls, making it one of the most expensive taxpayer-funded projects in South Dakota history. But South Dakota will likely need more prisons. Phoenix-based Arrington Watkins Architects, which the state hired as a consultant, has said South Dakota will need 3,300 additional beds in coming years, bringing the cost to $2 billion. Driving up costs is the need for facilities with different security levels to accommodate the inmate population. Concerns about South Dakota's prisons first arose four years ago, when the state was flush with COVID-19 relief funds. Lawmakers wanted to replace the penitentiary, but they couldn't agree on where to put the prison and how big it should be. A task force of state lawmakers assembled by Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden is expected to decide that in a plan for prison facilities this July. Many lawmakers have questioned the proposed cost, but few have called for criminal justice changes that would make such a large prison unnecessary. 'One thing I'm trying to do as the chairman of this task force is keep us very focused on our mission,' said Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen. 'There are people who want to talk about policies in the prisons or the administration or the criminal justice system more broadly, and that would be a much larger project than the fairly narrow scope that we have.' South Dakota's incarceration rate of 370 per 100,000 people is an outlier in the Upper Midwest. Neighbors Minnesota and North Dakota have rates of under 250 per 100,000 people, according to the Sentencing Project, a criminal justice advocacy nonprofit. Nearly half of South Dakota's projected inmate population growth can be attributed to a law approved in 2023 that requires some violent offenders to serve the full-length of their sentences before parole, according to a report by Arrington Watkins. When South Dakota inmates are paroled, about 40% are ordered to return to prison, the majority of those due to technical violations such as failing a drug test or missing a meeting with a parole officer. Those returning inmates made up nearly half of prison admissions in 2024. Sioux Falls criminal justice attorney Ryan Kolbeck blamed the high number of parolees returning in part on the lack of services in prison for people with drug addictions. 'People are being sent to the penitentiary but there's no programs there for them. There's no way it's going to help them become better people,' he said. 'Essentially we're going to put them out there and house them for a little bit, leave them on parole and expect them to do well.' South Dakota also has the second-greatest disparity of Native Americans in its prisons. While Native Americans make up one-tenth of South Dakota's population, they make up 35% of those in state prisons, according to Prison Policy Initiative, a nonprofit public policy group. Though legislators in the state capital, Pierre, have been talking about prison overcrowding for years, they're reluctant to dial back on tough-on-crime laws. For example, it took repeated efforts over six years before South Dakota reduced a controlled substance ingestion law to a misdemeanor from a felony for the first offense, aligning with all other states. 'It was a huge, Herculean task to get ingestion to be a misdemeanor,' Kolbeck said. Former penitentiary warden Darin Young said the state needs to upgrade its prisons, but he also thinks it should spend up to $300 million on addiction and mental illness treatment. 'Until we fix the reasons why people come to prison and address that issue, the numbers are not going to stop,' he said. Without policy changes, the new prisons are sure to fill up, criminal justice experts agreed. 'We might be good for a few years, now that we've got more capacity, but in a couple years it'll be full again,' Kolbeck said. 'Under our policies, you're going to reach capacity again soon.' Raza writes for the Associated Press.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Voters want ‘someone tough': Mass. GOP governor candidate Brian Shortsleeve makes his pitch
A venture capitalist, Marine Corps veteran and Charlie Baker-era MBTA executive, Brian Shortsleeve believes a businessman belongs in the corner office. Less than a month into his run for governor, Shortsleeve forms one half of the Republican primary race alongside fellow Baker executive Mike Kennealy. Shortsleeve has spoken volumes during his short time on the trail about immigration and the emergency shelter system in Massachusetts, his desire to repeal the MBTA Communities Act, and what he sees as a lack of private-sector growth crippling the state. Shortsleeve points to his time in the Marine Corps as essential to who he is, calling his run for governor his most recent 'mission.' The pro-choice Republican is running on a 'common sense, conservative leadership' platform. In a recent conversation with the News Service, Shortsleeve spoke about running as a GOP candidate in Massachusetts, his stance on energy and housing policy, and immigration. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length. Q: Can you talk to me a little bit about your family political history? Your uncle, Joe Shortsleeve, ran for Senate in 2017 — where does that interest in moving into the public sector come from? A: 'I've always had a passion for public service. My grandfather served in the Navy in World War II. He was on a destroyer called the Cassin Young, which actually sits at the Charlestown Navy Yard now; it was the last U.S. Navy ship hit by a kamikaze in World War II — July 30 of 1945, one week before the war ended. He was one of only two officers that survived the attack." I grew up in a family that really valued service. I graduated from Harvard, I had an ROTC scholarship and I joined the Marine Corps. Many of my friends went off to work at Goldman Sachs and McKinsey and Bain, but I felt a real strong sense of service. I've done a lot of things in life — I've built a phenomenal business, I spent a couple years working for [Gov. Charlie] Baker, but more than anything, I'm a Marine. I think it's that experience that shaped who I am and how I think." Read More: GOP Mass. governor hopeful Brian Shortsleeve touts 'record' $416K fundraising haul Q: Charlie Baker is one of a number of Republicans who have held statewide office in Massachusetts — Bill Weld, Paul Cellucci, John Volpe, Mitt Romney, to name a few. Do any of those names stand out to you? Who are some of your political inspirations? A: 'Massachusetts works better with balance. I would say some of the greatest times this state has ever had are times when we had business-oriented Republican governors in the [State House], whether that was Mitt Romney, Charlie Baker, certainly Cellucci.' 'But if you look back to the stretch from 2015 through COVID, this was the fastest-growing state in the country. Massachusetts was the fastest-growing state in the northeast. We were creating lots of jobs, our private sector was growing. I look back at that era as a great era for our economy.' 'Fast forward to now, under Governor Healey, we haven't created a single private sector job since the day she took office. Think about that — not a single private sector job since January 2023. There are fewer people working in the private sector today than there were the day she took office." 'People are leaving. Businesses are leaving. No private sector growth. I think having a business builder, an entrepreneur in the corner office who knows how to build businesses and stimulate private companies is so important.' Read More: 'Mission for Mass.': Ex-MBTA boss Brian Shortsleeve launches GOP guv bid Q: Why this focus on the private sector piece? A: 'If you're growing private sector jobs, it means you're a good place to do business. It means companies want to come here. If your private sector is contracting, it means you're not a good place to do business. There's a lot of growth out there — states are growing, companies are growing." 'The markets have been terrific over the last few years. If we were just keeping pace, we would have created 85,000 private sector jobs in Massachusetts. We lost 5,000 over three years, tied only with Illinois. Businessmen live in the real world. We've got to balance budgets. We have to manage costs. We have to think about how to scale and how to grow.' 'When you have a career politician, a lawyer in the corner office, I think you're missing the ingredients that it takes to get a state's private sector growing again. From a state of Massachusetts standpoint, we've always done better with business-oriented, fiscally conservative Republican governors in the corner office.' Q: You voted for President Donald Trump, and you've said that you'd want to work with the Trump administration. Massachusetts, as a state, is not his biggest fan — how are you approaching running as a Republican in Massachusetts, where so many associate the party with what's happening at the federal level? How are you appealing to Bay State independent voters, and the moderates within either party? A: 'I'm running to lower taxes. I'm running to lower utility bills. I'm running to improve affordability. I'm running to grow our private sector. Every time a company closes in Massachusetts and leaves, that's someone who's losing a job.' 'Every time a young person leaves the state, that's a company that can't find someone to work there. I think these issues are really personal, and we need to get refocused as a state on making this a place where working-class people can grow and can build their companies and can scale.' Read More: Mass. Gov. Healey's popularity takes a dip in new poll 'The issues I'm running on are the issues that Massachusetts voters care about: affordability, the cost of electricity. We've got the highest electricity rates in the whole country, and under Healey's failed energy policies, they've gone up 30% in the last year. If you look at your utility bill today, about a third of it is the cost of power. Two-thirds of it are all the distribution charges, and half of that are a variety of state mandated fees, which should be eliminated entirely.' Q: You've said you'll cut taxes on day one. What would that look like, tangibly, for Massachusetts residents? A: 'A lower cost of living. If you live in the city of Boston, you just got a tax bill hike of somewhere between 18% and 25%. Why? Because Mayor [Michelle] Wu cranked up spending by another $400 million this year to fund the growth of government.' 'That's a very tangible example. When government grows, it's coming out of your pocket. This needs to be a state where working families and working people can grow and can raise their kids and can put food on the table. When you have an electricity bill that, in some cases, has doubled over the course of one or two years, that's making it hard for people to do that.' 'There's a lot of things a governor can do day one to address those things. When I come in, day one, we'd be focused on the utility bills. Day one, we'd be focused on taxes. Day one, we'd be focused on going through every single item of state government in finding opportunities to run more efficiently, every line item, every contract, every department. I've done it before. I know how to do it, and I can tell you that in a $65 billion budget, there's a lot of opportunity to run more efficiently.' Read More: From Baker to Ballot: Republican Mike Kennealy makes his pitch for governor | Bay State Briefing Q: With regard to energy policy, are you at all supportive of the state's clean energy transition and the associated climate mandates? A: 'I've got three young boys that are the most important thing in my, and my wife's, life. We need clean air. We need clean water. I care a lot about those things, but we have to do that in a way that doesn't bankrupt the state, doesn't drive families out, doesn't ruin the fishing industry, doesn't kill whales.' 'From an affordability standpoint, we should not be running a $1.5 billion green energy program through utility bills. I would remove that from your utility bill. Day one, I would build a natural gas pipeline. Governor Healey fought hard against that pipeline when she was attorney general.' 'That pipeline, if it was in place today, would be saving ratepayers $2 billion a year. I would invest in a lot of the new nuclear technology. It's got to be all of the above, but we've got to start with nuclear, with the pipelines, and you've got to start with removing all of those program charges from people's utility bills and put it back to the Legislature. If they want to fund it, they can fund it, but it's not appropriate to drive it through bills.' Q: Do you support any offshore wind infrastructure? A: 'It's interesting, Governor Healey's focus on the most expensive way to generate electricity. There's a lot of alternatives out there, renewable and otherwise, and we should start with the ones that are most cost-effective. Offshore wind by a factor of three is the most expensive of the ways to create renewables. So I would look at it, and I would say, what are the most cost-efficient ways to achieve our goals? And let's start there.' Q: You support a full repeal of the MBTA Communities Act, one way the state is attempting to build more affordable housing. What is your housing plan? A: 'The MBTA Communities Act is an example of administrative overreach. It's an unfunded mandate — I agree with the auditor on that — and it's a one-size-fits-all approach. Under the powers granted to the state in that act, the state is withdrawing funds from Marshfield for dredging." 'They're taking money from local fire departments for fire suppression equipment. That's inappropriate. The way to build housing in this state looks much more like the housing compact program, which still exists and was a major initiative a decade ago.' 'Here's where I would start: there's 100,000 acres of land that the state owns in metro Boston. The municipalities own another 200,000 acres. In greater Boston, somewhere between 17% and 35% of that land sits vacant.' 'You could build 85,000 units if the state just developed 5% of that vacant land. What the governor should be doing is looking at thousands of acres of vacant land and thinking about how to develop, because there you can move quickly, often in areas where you're not going to get community opposition. I know how to build housing. When we were at the MBTA, we built thousands of units of housing up and down the Red Line.' Q: You worked on the fiscal side of the T under Governor Baker. You've said the Healey administration is at fault for the T's existing issues — both fiscal and operational. But data from 2024 shows that there have been measurable improvements in the T's service over Healey's tenure. Those are two different stories. A: 'When Governor Baker asked me to take two years away from the business world to step in and play a leadership role, I agreed to do it. I was charged with [serving on] the Fiscal and Management Control Board to do three things: Get operating expenses under control, get the Green Line Extension back on track, [and] develop and deliver a balanced budget.' 'We did those things. We took out waste and abuse, we streamlined parts of the organization, we rebid contracts, and when we were done, we had the lowest operating expenses in the history of the T. That shows you what's possible in terms of reforming government, when you bring a businessman sort of mindset, an outsider perspective, and a Marines determination to the job. 'What I would tell you is that Governor Healey has never delivered a balanced budget for the T. Today, the T takes a billion dollars more to run than it did six years ago, and the T's costs in almost every area have grown rapidly. What I've seen in the fast past few years is unrestrained cost growth.' 'I think that if the T does not get its cost growth under control, the T will not be fiscally sustainable for the long term. There's a pretty good debate going on at the State House as to whether the T deserves an incremental $500 million. What I would counsel leaders to do is get focused on cost control and get focused on making sure the T is run in a way that's fiscally sustainable.' Q: The feds found that there weren't enough T workers around the time it was running fiscally soundly. You need to run a fiscally sound transit system, but you need to invest in it enough to have a strong workforce there to run it safely. How do you manage those aspects, as they weren't all happening together when you worked there? A: 'Under Maura Healey in 2024, the T had more derailments than any transit in the country, number one in derailments by a factor of four. I would put that question back to the team there, as to what they are doing to get serious about safety and serious about derailments.' Q: Let's talk about education. Are there any aspects of the state's education system you're most focused on? A: 'I think some of the things going on in this state with vocational schools is really exciting. I think we've got to be creative and bold. The number-one thing we've got to do is return money back to cities and towns through Chapter 70 local aid.' When I look at what Governor Healey is spending on the migrant crisis, that's over a billion dollars a year that could be returned to cities and towns. You could give every city and town $7 million to $10 million dollars, which they could put into their local schools. 'Most of education policy is happening at the local level. Many cities and towns are looking at flat funding for Chapter 70 this year. The state should be pushing as much money down to those cities and towns as they can to help them build great schools. But that means we've got to get serious about reducing our spend on the migrant crisis, about the broad size of state government.' 'The local teachers, the local police, the local fire — that's where services are delivered. I would advocate for as much choice for parents as we can [give], to give parents good alternatives, because I think parents always know best." Q: Vocational and technical school admissions policy is a big conversation right now. What are your thoughts? A: 'I think we just need more of those schools. Everywhere where they build really good vocational schools, there's tremendous demand, so let's just start with that. That's where I would focus, is really on the supply side of the equation.' 'It's clear people vote with their feet, right? There are 500 people a week leaving Massachusetts. They're voting with their feet. Parents vote with their feet when it comes to schools, and when you see the demand for vocational schools, that's parents and families voting with their feet saying, 'We want more of that.'' Q: You're vocal about supporting local law enforcement being able to cooperate with federal immigration agents. A: 'Governor Shortsleeve day one: The State Police would cooperate with ICE to deport people with criminal records. That's critically important. I also think that the financial side of this crisis is enormous. You're looking at just over the first nine months of this fiscal year, a run rate spend of over a billion dollars.' 'In cumulative total since January 2023, the state has probably spent $2 billion to $3 billion on this. That's money I think would be much better spent on Massachusetts citizens, much better spent on local schools, much better spent on reducing the tax burden, making the state more affordable.' Q: You're supportive of federal agents coming in and arresting and detaining criminals. ICE agents have reportedly been taking people who weren't initially targets and who are not criminals, but are undocumented. A lot of immigrant communities are very fearful. They're not going to work, they're not going to school. Immigrants are a big part of the Massachusetts economy. How do you approach those situations? A: 'We've always had a vibrant immigrant community here. Massachusetts needs it. It grows our economy. But people need to be here legally. They need to come here legally. So I would support deporting convicted criminals.' 'I would support doing universal background checks in the shelters — Healey does CORI checks, which don't help you much, because that's Massachusetts only." 'So day one, universal background checks. But most importantly, I think we've got to focus on solving the problem: That our sanctuary city policies and our right-to-shelter law have made this state a magnet for illegal immigrants, and it's costing the state billions of dollars.' Q: Agents are coming in and taking people who are undocumented but are NOT criminals. Are you supportive of that? A: 'I think people should get due process. And from what I read, I see due process playing out. But look, I'm running for governor, I'm not running for president, and I'm not running to be the arbiter on these things. I'm focused on Massachusetts. Maura Healey is going to run against Trump.' 'I'm running for the people of Massachusetts. That's what I care about. Governor Healey loves talking about all the problems with the current president. Guess what? She didn't do very well under the previous president, either. Our problems in this state — in terms of private sector job growth, affordability, runaway state spending — are Healey's problems." Q: You're running in the Republican primary against another former Baker executive, Mike Kennealy. What sets you two apart? Why are you the right Republican to chart this path? A: 'Our voters want a winner. They want someone who's tough enough to win this race. I'm the candidate that can beat Healey. And I will bring not only a sort of a businessman's mindset and outsider perspective, but I'll bring a Marine's determination to the task.' 'We had a phenomenal first 20 days of fundraising. We raised more than anyone ever has in their first month. Shattered the records. When I'm out with the grassroots, when I'm talking to donors, I think people feel I've got the right profile, I've got the energy, I got the determination, and most importantly, I'm a fighter. It's gonna take a fighter to win this race. It's not going to be an easy race.' Trump deploying National Guard to quell protests in Los Angeles despite Newsom's objections 'We are not just fighting for Harvard': For alums, this year feels different DOGE team can access Social Security systems, US Supreme Court rules This is my classroom. ICE isn't welcome here. Republicans are also sweating Medicaid cuts in Big Beautiful Bill, poll finds Read the original article on MassLive.
Atlantic
2 hours ago
- Atlantic
Where Is Barack Obama?
Last month, while Donald Trump was in the Middle East being gifted a $400 million luxury jet from Qatar, Barack Obama headed off on his own foreign excursion: a trip to Norway, in a much smaller and more tasteful jet, to visit the summer estate of his old friend King Harald V. Together, they would savor the genteel glories of Bygdøyveien in May. They chewed over global affairs and the freshest local salmon, which had been smoked on the premises and seasoned with herbs from the royal garden. Trump has begun his second term with a continuous spree of democracy-shaking, economy-quaking, norm-obliterating action. And Obama, true to form, has remained carefully above it all. He picks his spots, which seldom involve Trump. In March, he celebrated the anniversary of the Affordable Care Act and posted his annual NCAA basketball brackets. In April, he sent out an Easter message and mourned the death of the pope. In May, he welcomed His Holiness Pope Leo XIV ('a fellow Chicagoan') and sent prayers to Joe Biden following his prostate-cancer diagnosis. No matter how brazen Trump becomes, the most effective communicator in the Democratic Party continues to opt for minimal communication. His 'audacity of hope' presidency has given way to the fierce lethargy of semi-retirement. Obama occasionally dips into politics with brief and unmemorable statements, or sporadic fundraising emails (subject: 'Barack Obama wants to meet you. Yes you.'). He praised his law-school alma mater, Harvard, for 'rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt' by the White House 'to stifle academic freedom.' He criticized a Republican bill that would threaten health care for millions. He touted a liberal judge who was running for a crucial seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. When called upon, he can still deliver a top-notch campaign spiel, donor pitch, convention speech, or eulogy. Beyond that, Obama pops in with summer and year-end book, music, and film recommendations. He recently highlighted a few articles about AI and retweeted a promotional spot for Air Force Elite: Thunderbirds, a new Netflix documentary from his and Michelle's production company. (Michelle also has a fashion book coming out later this year: 'a celebration of confidence, identity, and authenticity,' she calls it.) Apparently, Barack is a devoted listener of The Ringer 's Bill Simmons Podcast, or so he told Jimmy Kimmel over dinner. In normal times, no one would deny Obama these diversions. He performed the world's most stressful job for eight years, served his country, made his history, and deserved to kick back and do the usual ex-president things: start a foundation, build a library, make unspeakable amounts of money. But the inevitable Trump-era counterpoint is that these are not normal times. And Obama's detachment feels jarringly incongruous with the desperation of his longtime admirers—even more so given Trump's assaults on what Obama achieved in office. It would be one thing if Obama had disappeared after leaving the White House, maybe taking up painting like George W. Bush. The problem is that Obama still very much has a public profile—one that screams comfort and nonchalance at a time when so many other Americans are terrified. 'There are many grandmas and Rachel Maddow viewers who have been more vocal in this moment than Barack Obama has,' Adam Green, a co-founder of the Progressive Change Institute, told me. 'It is heartbreaking,' he added, 'to see him sacrificing that megaphone when nobody else quite has it.' People who have worked with Obama since he left office say that he is extremely judicious about when he weighs in. 'We try to preserve his voice so that when he does speak, it has impact,' Eric Schultz, a close adviser to Obama in his post-presidency, told me. 'There is a dilution factor that we're very aware of.' 'The thing you don't want to do is, you don't want to regularize him,' former Attorney General Eric Holder, a close Obama friend and collaborator, told me. When I asked Holder what he meant by 'regularize,' he explained that there was a danger of turning Obama into just another hack commentator—' Tuesdays With Barack, or something like that,' Holder said. Like many of Obama's confidants, Holder bristles at suggestions that the former president has somehow deserted the Trump opposition. 'Should he do more? Everybody can have their opinions,' Holder said. 'The one thing that always kind of pisses me off is when people say he's not out there, or that he's not doing things, that he's just retired and we never hear from him. If you fucking look, folks, you would see that he's out there.' From the April 2016 issue: The Obama doctrine Obama's aides also say that he is loath to overshadow the next generation of Democratic leaders. They emphasize that he spends a great deal of time speaking privately with candidates and officials who seek his advice. But unfortunately for Democrats, they have not found their next fresh generational sensation since Obama was elected 17 years ago (Joe Biden obviously doesn't count). Until a new leader emerges, Obama could certainly take on a more vocal role without 'regularizing' himself in the lowlands of Trump-era politics. Obama remains the most popular Democrat alive at a time of historic unpopularity for his party. Unlike Biden, he appears not to have lost a step, or three. Unlike with Bill Clinton, his voice remains strong and his baggage minimal. Unlike both Biden and Clinton, he is relatively young and has a large constituency of Americans who still want to hear from him, including Black Americans, young voters, and other longtime Democratic blocs that gravitated toward Trump in November. 'Should Obama get out and do more? Yes, please,' Tracy Sefl, a Democratic media consultant in Chicago, told me. 'Help us,' she added. 'We're sinking over here.' Obama's conspicuous scarcity while Trump inflicts such damage isn't just a bad look. It's a dereliction of the message that he built his career on. When Obama first ran for president in 2008, his former life as a community organizer was central to his message. His campaign was not merely for him, but for civic action itself—the idea of Americans being invested in their own change. Throughout his time in the White House, he emphasized that 'citizen' was his most important title. After he left office in 2017, Obama said that he would work to inspire and develop the next cohort of leaders, which is essentially the mission of his foundation. It would seem a contradiction for him to say that he's devoting much of his post-presidency to promoting civic engagement when he himself seems so disengaged. To some degree, patience with Obama began wearing thin when he was still in office. His approval ratings sagged partway through his second term (before rebounding at the end). The rollout of the Affordable Care Act in 2013 was a fiasco, and the midterm elections of 2014 were a massacre. Obama looked powerless as Republicans in Congress ensured that he would pass no major legislation in his second term and blocked his nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. 'Obama, out,' the president said in the denouement of his last comedy routine at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, in 2016. In Obama lore, this mic-drop moment would instantly become famous—and prophetic. After Trump's first victory, Obama tried to reassure supporters that this was merely a setback. 'I don't believe in apocalyptic—until the apocalypse comes,' he said in an interview with The New Yorker. Insofar as Obama talked about how he imagined his post-presidency, he was inclined to disengage from day-to-day politics. At a press conference in November 2016, Obama said that he planned to 'take Michelle on vacation, get some rest, spend time with my girls, and do some writing, do some thinking.' He promised to give Trump the chance to do his job 'without somebody popping off in every instance.' But in that same press conference, he also allowed that if something arose that raised 'core questions about our values and our ideals, and if I think that it's necessary or helpful for me to defend those ideals, then I'll examine it when it comes.' That happened almost immediately. A few days after vowing in his inaugural address to end the 'American carnage' that he was inheriting, Trump signed an executive order banning foreign nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States for 90 days. The so-called Muslim travel ban would quickly be blocked by the courts, but not before sowing chaos at U.S. points of entry. Obama put out a brief statement through a spokesperson ('the president fundamentally disagrees with the notion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith or religion'), and went on vacation. Trump's early onslaught made clear that Obama's ex-presidency would prove far more complicated than previous ones. And Obama's taste for glamorous settings and famous company—Richard Branson, David Geffen, George Clooney—made for a grating contrast with the turmoil back home. 'Just tone it down with the kitesurfing pictures,' John Oliver, the host of HBO's Last Week Tonight, said of Obama in an interview with Seth Meyers less than a month after the president left office. 'America is on fire,' Oliver added. 'I know that people accused him of being out of touch with the American people during his presidency. I'm not sure he's ever been more out of touch than he is now.' Oliver's spasm foreshadowed a rolling annoyance that continued as Trump's presidency wore on: that Obama was squandering his power and influence. 'Oh, Obama is still tweeting good tweets. That's very nice of him,' the anti-Trump writer Drew Magary wrote in a Medium column titled 'Where the Hell Is Barack Obama?' in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. 'I'm sick of Obama staying above the fray while that fray is swallowing us whole.' Obama did insert himself in the 2024 election, reportedly taking an aggressive behind-the-scenes role last summer in trying to nudge Biden out of the race. He delivered a showstopper speech at the Democratic National Convention and campaigned several times for Kamala Harris in the fall. But among longtime Obama admirers I've spoken with, frustration with the former president has built since Trump returned to office. While campaigning for Harris last year, Obama framed the stakes of the election in terms of a looming catastrophe. 'These aren't ordinary times, and these are not ordinary elections,' he said at a campaign stop in Pittsburgh. Yet now that the impact is unfolding in the most pernicious ways, Obama seems to be resuming his ordinary chill and same old bits. Green, of the Progressive Change Institute, told me that when Obama put out his March Madness picks this year, he texted Schultz, the Obama adviser. 'Have I missed him speaking up in other places recently?' Green asked him. 'He did not respond to that.' (Schultz confirmed to me that he ignored the message but vowed to be 'more responsive to Adam Green's texts in the future.') Being a former president is inherently tricky: The role is ill-defined, and peripheral by definition. Part of the trickiness is how an ex-president can remain relevant, if he wants to. This is especially so given the current president. 'I don't know that anybody is relevant in the Trump era,' Mark Updegrove, a presidential historian and head of the LBJ Foundation, told me. Updegrove, who wrote a book called Second Acts: Presidential Lives and Legacies After the White House, said that Trump has succeeded in creating a reality in which every president who came before is suspect. 'All the standard rules of being an ex-president are no longer applicable,' he said. Still, Obama never presented himself as a 'standard rules' leader. This was the idea that his political rise was predicated on—that change required bold, against-the-grain thinking and uncomfortable action. Clearly, Obama still views himself this way, or at least still wants to be perceived this way. (A few years ago, he hosted a podcast with Bruce Springsteen called Renegades.) From the July 1973 issue: The last days of the president Stepping into the current political melee would not be an easy or comfortable role for Obama. He represents a figure of the past, which seems more and more like the ancient past as the Trump era crushes on. He is a notably long-view guy, who has spent a great deal of time composing a meticulous account of his own narrative. 'We're part of a long-running story,' Obama said in 2014. 'We just try to get our paragraph right.' Or thousands of paragraphs, in his case: The first installment of Obama's presidential memoir, A Promised Land, covered 768 pages and 29 hours of audio. No release date has been set for the second volume. But this might be one of those times for Obama to take a break from the long arc of the moral universe and tend to the immediate crisis. Several Democrats I've spoken with said they wish that Obama would stop worrying so much about the 'dilution factor.' While Democrats struggle to find their next phenom, Obama could be their interim boss. He could engage regularly, pointing out Trump's latest abuses. He did so earlier this spring, during an onstage conversation at Hamilton College. He was thoughtful, funny, and sounded genuinely aghast, even angry. He could do these public dialogues much more often, and even make them thematic. Focus on Trump's serial violations of the Constitution one week (recall that Obama once taught constitutional law), the latest instance of Trump's naked corruption the next. Blast out the most scathing lines on social media. Yes, it might trigger Trump, and create more attention than Obama evidently wants. But Trump has shown that ubiquity can be a superpower, just as Biden showed that obscurity can be ruinous. People would notice. Democrats love nothing more than to hold up Obama as their monument to Republican bad faith. Can you imagine if Obama did this? some Democrat will inevitably say whenever Trump does something tacky, cruel, or blatantly unethical (usually before breakfast). Obama could lean into this hypocrisy—tape recurring five-minute video clips highlighting Trump's latest scurrilous act and title the series 'Can You Imagine If I Did This?' Or another idea—an admittedly far-fetched one. Trump has decreed that a massive military parade be held through the streets of Washington on June 14. This will ostensibly celebrate the Army's 250th anniversary, but it also happens to fall on Trump's 79th birthday. The parade will cost an estimated $45 million, including $16 million in damage to the streets. (Can you imagine if Obama did this?) The spectacle cries out for counterprogramming. Obama could hold his own event, in Washington or somewhere nearby. It would get tons of attention and drive Trump crazy, especially if it draws a bigger crowd. Better yet, make it a parade, or 'citizen's march,' something that builds momentum as it goes, the former president and community organizer leading on foot. This would be the renegade move. Few things would fire up Democrats like a head-to-head matchup between Trump and Obama. If nothing else, it would be fun to contemplate while Democrats keep casting about for their long-delayed future. 'The party needs new rising stars, and they need the room to figure out how to meet this moment, just like Obama figured out how to meet the moment 20 years ago,' Jon Favreau, a co-host of Pod Save America and former director of speechwriting for the 44th president, told me. 'Unless, of course, Trump tries to run for a third term, in which case I'll be begging Obama to come out of retirement.'
