Why I Am Running For San Clemente Mayor?

San Clemente is the very best of what an American city has to offer – a safe place to live and raise our families, educate our children, practice our faith, build successful businesses, and enjoy our beautiful parks and beaches — and I want to work to continue the work I’ve focused on over the past three years — to preserve and protect it.  If elected, I’ll focus on local issues:  public safety, fire prevention, and enhanced security; supporting local business; preserving our beaches and coastline; and government and fiscal accountability; and stopping expansion of the Prima DeShecha Landfill.

My father, a barber, and mother, a hairdresser, social worker, and police department community advocate, taught me the value of hard work and community service.  We didn’t have material wealth, but I was blessed to grow up in a loving home.  My wife and I instilled those same values in our four adult children (a schoolteacher, a Nurse Practitioner, Homeland Security deputy chief, and a nuclear engineer/software architect) who have since blessed us with six wonderful grandchildren.  My parents also placed a premium on education and sacrificed to provide their children with an excellent Catholic elementary and high school education.   I earned my undergraduate and law degrees from UC Davis, and a Master’s in Public Administration from Harvard.

I built a successful law practice, worked as a US Department of Justice trial attorney, as Counsel on the US Senate Judiciary Committee and Chief Counsel to the Vice Chair of the US Merit Systems Protection Board.  Afterwards, I worked in the private sector as vice president of public policy for Verizon, in the legal department for GE’s NBCUniversal/Telemundo division, as a managing partner at Cabral Group (a consulting firm), and now as managing partner in Energy Capital Group, a solar energy company.

If elected, I’ll put my time, resources, experience, and passion to work for San Clemente and focus on these key local issues:

• Public Safety and Security— We need to feel safe in our homes, on our streets, and at our beaches and parks.  As a member of the Orange County Fire Authority, I am proud to have secured a helicopter for San Clemente to put out fires quickly.  And I will continue to build upon and maintain a strong relationship with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department to ensure our community’s law enforcement priorities are met.
• Accountability for the City’s Management and Operations – We worked hard to find the right City Manager, Andy Hall, and to build a team of professional staff to support the work of the city. We need to continue to monitor the success and efficiency of the team, and provide the support needed to meet the needs of our citizens.
• Govern Within Our Means – As a fiscal conservative, I believe we should align our spending with the citizen’s priorities, find efficiencies, and manage revenue and debt obligations wisely.  That means making every tax dollar count.
• Support Our Vibrant Business Community – We need to be small-business-friendly, with policies and processes that encourage family-owned and small businesses in our town – from eliminating delays for permits to implementing policies to support local small businesses.
• Stop Beach Erosion –Saving San Clemente beaches is not only key to preserving our quality of life and our tourism economy, today, but it is essential to preserving the “San Clemente Way of Life” for our children and grandchildren.  I am very proud of the 450,000 cubic yards of sand we placed on our beaches during my term as Mayor.   We must continue to implement specific sand retention measures designed for our coastline as part of a comprehensive and Coastal Commission approved Local Coastal Plan.
• Regional Homeless Solution – We must work with the County to develop a regional homeless center outside of San Clemente where medical, mental health and addiction services are readily available for the chronic homeless. And we should continue to support local organizations that provide a safety net for emergency homeless situations so that families can weather transitions.
• Stop the expansion of Prima Deshecha Landfill – Our citizens are concerned about the proposed expansion of the landfill.   They gave voice to their concerns at an educational forum and I remain focused on stopping the expansion.