Taken to Task

John Moorlach
Aug 23, 2017 · 4 min read

The first piece below, from the California Policy Center, takes the CalPERS Board to task about its harsh treatment of the city of Loyalton and LA Works in their efforts to exit this multi-employer plan.

I have provided a solution for CalPERS in this regard that is fair and reasonable with Senate Bill 681 (see MOORLACH UPDATE — Pursuing Reforms). California cities have been a little slow in providing their support for the idea, but I’m hoping that they will join in the discussion. Public safety officials have been asking me for assistance. If something isn’t done to address these ridiculous exit penalties, I may suggest to municipalities that if their contract gets too onerous with CalPERS, that Loyalton has provided a path out.

In the second piece, from Politifact, I am taken to task for one sentence in a recent editorial submission in the Sacramento Bee that tangentially mentioned an uptick in crime as a reason to be concerned with fuel theft as the tax increases are implemented (see MOORLACH UPDATE — Changing Behaviors). Ironically, shortly after my editorial was printed, the AP published a story on the fuel black market and associated theft validating my supposition. But Politifact decided that they were going to take one sentence from my piece and scrutinize it and label my claim, “mostly false”.

Good grief! It’s no wonder that the term “fake news” is gaining traction.

As someone who has served as the Chair of the Orange County Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee for some seven years, with members that included the Orange County Sheriff, the Chief Probation Officer, the Presiding Judge for the Superior and Juvenile Courts, the Director of the Health Care Agency, the Mental Health Administrator, the director of the Office of Independent Review, and a representative from the District Attorney’s office, their admonishment is a serious charge. Hasn’t crime been rising?

Let me start with a recent graphic from the OC Register

The Politifact piece refers to the most recent reports for 2016 on violent crime increasing, so it’s interesting that I’m judged by it and with it, even though it came out after my piece. For more, see SacBee, CalMatters, and Mercury News.

I won’t give a long lecture here about the impacts of Gov. Brown’s AB 109 on local communities, but it has been dramatic (see my reactions to its passage in MOORLACH UPDATE — AB 109 & CalOptima). We now have so many former state inmates in Orange County that our homeless population has boomed in the last five years. And, they hang around public spaces, like shopping centers and grocery stores. Look at the higher level of security staff at these venues in recent years. The number of housewives that have told me they are afraid when they go to purchase groceries has been alarming. And we’re talking cities like Costa Mesa and Newport Beach!

The voters were also duped into approving Propositions 47 (2014) and 57 (2016). With former felony crimes being reduced to misdemeanors, I would postulate that our public safety officials are not making as many arrests as they had in previous years. A suspect who will only be charged with a misdemeanor is back on the streets within hours and may even be visited by the same police officer later in the day for committing the same crime. Because of the unintended consequences of so many changes in the classifications of crimes, and the prohibitions and lack of incentives that peace officers have in detaining people for crimes, I believe our crime statistics are not accurate. Don’t trust me on this bold claim, ask the Police Chief of your city. Those that participated in my December hearing on what is happening in the communities in my District as a result of Gov. Brown’s policies certainly argued that crime is getting worse (see MOORLACH UPDATE — Propositions 47 and 57).

It looks like Politifact is not even familiar with what is really happening in California. All the same, I’m honored that someone in this country is reading my editorial submissions and I’m happy to include critical pieces in my UPDATEs. It’s too bad they didn’t address the topic of my piece and honed in on one short sentence. It must have been a fun project for the writer. But, twisting some facts and disregarding others makes my piece, in their estimation, “mostly false.” Consequently, as I do not believe I am flippant in my published remarks, I requested a columnist with more than three decades of experience, to provide a more thorough review of Politifact’s piece and his analysis taking them to task is presented as the conclusion below.

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    John Moorlach

    Written by

    I represent California's 37th Senate District (R-Costa Mesa). Father, husband, CPA.

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