Bob McCaffrey recently wrote a letter which either is intentionally misleading or shows a remarkable misunderstanding of reality.
McCaffrey says our meeting at his house was “a few weeks ago.” It was March 2, Q1 of 2016. We are now in Q3.
I happily meet with everyone who has concerns in this city including– and even especially– those who may have an opposing view from my own. Indeed, as Tony Petros decided against running, his district was left with only one candidate: someone who has lived here for such a short amount of time that it was extremely concerning, and nobody could seem to find anyone to fill the void.
Unwilling to go through the painful training process we have seen with Diane Dixon after she filed to run after living in Newport for only six months, I struggled greatly to call everyone I could to fill the void.
As time crept closer, Bob initiated an email chain to me on June 29 asking what I thought about Petros’s announcement. I knew where this was going. Thankfully, Brad Avery stepped up to fill the void in that district. Brad called me, and everyone put the whole thing to rest. Our lives moved forward as normal and nobody had to move.
Do I “crave” public office? Hardly. However, everything McCaffrey’s elected officials have promised fell woefully short, as they went on to approve a dock tax, eliminate almost the exact same number of fire rings as the previous council did, and expanded the attacks on property rights.
He says he is happy about them passing the dock tax because it was of a lesser amount that was originally proposed. I remind the public that his campaign was called “Stop The Dock Tax” – a violation of Prop13 – not “Reduce The Dock Tax” and definitely not called “Prop 13 is Optional.”
Yet his candidates affirmed a dock tax and continued the violations of Prop13. Unsurprisingly, when I approached him, he didn’t like my ideas about repealing the Dock Tax because it was his candidates which actually unanimously affirmed one. I am not at all shocked that he endorsed my opponent; after all, as Lowrey is a “land manager” in the area, they have inherently very close ties.
If anyone agrees with McCaffrey’s team violating Prop13, raising taxes, affirming the dock tax and removing the fire rings is the definition of “success,” then by all means continue to vote for his picks.
However, if you like his pitch but don’t like his track record, then I humbly ask for your vote in November. I have years of history in activism right here in Newport Beach. I’ve written thousands of pages of my views on Newport subjects, gathered tens of thousands of signatures on petitions ranging from Saving the Dog Beach, Stopping Lights Out at 11 p.m., Stopping the Dock Tax, or pushing back the city when they attack our small businesses, all of which were perpetrated by McCaffrey’s candidates.
I’m a proven quantity fighting for citizens as McCaffrey’s team continues to go on the attack against this city.
I’m going to guess that as Election Day inches closer, McCaffrey’s attacks on me, the leading candidate in District 5, will become more and more vicious and less and less based in reality. So please, take what he says with a very large grain of salt.
Mike Glenn
Newport Beach
