Editor’s note: Orange County Breeze live-tweeted the debate at twitter.com/OC_Breeze.
As promised, Villa Park Councilwoman Deborah Pauly ran a tight debate as Los Alamitos Mayor Troy Edgar and Huntington Beach financial advisor Travis Allen squared off in the Council chamber in Fountain Valley to draw a clear distinction between themselves, two Republicans running for California Assembly District 72.
Fireworks went off at a press conference prior to the debate, when Allen announced the endorsements of two members of the Los Alamitos City Council, Gerri Graham-Mejia and Warren Kusumoto.
At the presser, Allen emphasized the endorsements of two primary challengers, Joe Dovinh and Dr. Long Pham, before bringing up first Kusumoto, then Graham-Mejia, to the podium set up outside the building housing the Fountain Valley Council chambers.
As the sun set, Kusumoto kept his remarks short. Graham-Mejia spoke a bit longer. Everyone posed, then headed inside for the debate.
Also on hand to watch the announcement and debate was former Los Alamitos City Councilman Art DeBolt.
Other local politicos on hand included Seal Beach Mayor Pro Tem Gary Miller, Cypress City Councilman Leroy Mills and his wife Mary Ann, Cypress Council candidate Jay Sondhi and his wife Lydia Sondhi, a former mayor of Cypress.
The audience area was filled, with a handful of people standing against the wall. The 605/405 Tea Party Patriots sponsored the debate, and handled logistics like running audience questions (written on cards) to moderator Deborah Pauly.
Questions were wide-ranging, with topics from how to fix California’s economy to United Nations Agenda 21 (an environmental action plan).
Answers nevertheless circled around repeated talking points for each candidate.
Edgar emphasized his own experience: six years’ in local government, as the owner of two businesses and as a submariner in the United States Navy.
Allen took potshots at Edgar’s record, tried to portray Edgar as a “career politician,” emphasized his own financial-planning background and family history and insisted on interpretations that painted Edgar in poor light.
An example of that last was Allen’s use of an Orange County Register article opposing Measure DD on the November ballot. The measure updates the City’s utility user’s tax (UUT). Allen accused Edgar of trying to raise taxes on cell phone and Internet usage.
Within extensive discussion at City Council, the measure was designed to update the City’s UUT to embrace technological change since the code was originally adopted and avoid possible litigation based on the outdated language.
City staff conducted a survey of other cities in regards to similar change in order to inform a Council decision on where to set the rate in order to make the change revenue neutral.
Council went beyond a staff recommendation of a half percent decrease in the rate, and voted a one percent decrease in the rate.
It was also noted during Council discussion that utility companies were already collecting the UUT on cell phone and Internet usage, and forwarding the money to the City (similar to other cities).
So Measure DD, if approved, will likely not result in a sudden jump in money out-of-pocket by Los Alamitos residents, despite Allen’s claim.
Evasion and personal revelation
On one question in particular, Allen evaded a straight answer.
The question: Are you pro-life, from conception to natural death?
Allen answered that he was “pro-Constitution” and he believed that the Supreme Court ruling legalizing abortion, Roe v. Wade, should be overturned.
That answer evaded a straight yes or no and allows wiggle room for limited support of abortion or euthanasia.
In contrast, Edgar’s emphatic and straightforward yes included the nugget that he was adopted shortly after birth, a piece of his personal history unknown to Orange County Breeze prior to the debate.
Biggest audience reaction
Edgar drew all three of the biggest audience reactions.
As might be expected in front of a Tea Party crowd, his attempt to draw a distinction between taxes and fees in response to Allen’s repeated claim of Edgar raising taxes over the last six years spurred low-level grumbling from the audience.
A louder grumbling came when Edgar declined a chance to answer a charge raised by Allen that Edgar violated federal election law regarding corporate donations during Edgar’s initial campaign foray in the 47th Congressional District race now between Republican Gary DeLong and Democrat Allen Lowenthal.
After the debate, Edgar declined to say anything further when asked if he had any final comments.
On the lighter side, Edgar had the only real laugh line of the evening in response to Allen’s frequent references to Allen’s family, especially to his mother, who served on the California Coastal Commission.
Edgar’s response — “I love my mother, too,” — provoked merriment in the crowd.
Local media representatives from OC 180 News, Los Alamitos – Seal Beach Patch, News Enterprise and Orange County Breeze were in attendance.
Cameras and recorders were strictly limited to members of the media — which almost caused Ted Apodaca, editor of News Enterprise, to be ejected part way through when the moderator questioned his use of an audio recorder. The crisis was defused when he identified himself as a member of the media.
Featured photo
A crowd shot taken inside the Fountain Valley Council chambers prior to the beginning of the debate between Troy Edgar and Travis Allen for California Assembly District 72.
Related articles
- 72nd Assembly District candidates Edgar and Allen to debate tonight in Fountain Valley (oc-breeze.com)
- Candidate Edgar leads in endorsement tally for Assembly District 72 (oc-breeze.com)
- On item #11 at the 20 September 2012 Los Alamitos City Council meeting (oc-breeze.com)
- Momentum grows for Troy Edgar in Assembly District 72 (oc-breeze.com)
- Endorsements show strength of Edgar Campaign in AD 72 (oc-breeze.com)
- RHA hosting candidate forum on Oct. 11 (oc-breeze.com)
- Los Alamitos council votes on secret ‘magic red binder’ (ocregister.com)
- Accusations of wrong-doing continue to fly in Los Alamitos (ocregister.com)
About the Author
My wife and I attended the debate last night. Travis Allen hands down won this debate. He was on the offensive the entire night as Troy Edgar could hardly make eye contact with Travis and genuinely looked intimidated.
Shelley, how can you say Travis was evasive when Troy Edgar couldn’t even answer direct questions?
Personally, I don’t understand how any true conservative could vote for Troy Edgar. Not only has the man raised taxes in the past, he is currently supporting an internet/cell phone “Fee” (Troy actually tried to differentiate a Tax and a Fee last night; laughable!).
I’m glad to hear Troy loves his mother because she was the only one in the audience cheering for him last night.
I can say that Travis was evasive on that question because he didn’t answer the pro-life question.
The article does not declare an overall winner.
The telephone utility tax is indeed a tax, as opposed to a fee. There is a difference between the two, but given the repeated abuses in Sacramento (and elsewhere) to evade restraints on raising taxes by resorting to raising fees, I am sympathetic to the audience’s hot reaction to Edgar’s attempt to make that distinction during the debate.
The format of the debate called for the participants to answer questions from the moderator, not from each other. While politically canny, Allen’s ploy to smack Edgar with the accusation of a federal election law violation was not responsive to the question asked, and was out of bounds. Edgar’s refusal of the chance to answer the charge — offered by the moderator — was unsurprisingly viewed negatively. As I have no idea at all of the validity of the basis of the accusation, I can only guess wildly at possible reasons for Edgar not to respond, given the moderator’s offer and, after the debate, my own person-to-person inquiry.
A little bias, Shelley? — “Allen took potshots at Edgar’s record, tried to portray Edgar as a “career politician,” emphasized his own financial-planning background and family history and insisted on interpretations that painted Edgar in poor light.” “As might be expected…” “Loud grumbling…”
Haven’t you done PR for the Edgar campaign?
Some research (and a spell check) on Measure DD might be in order as well: http://ocpoliticsblog.com/troy-edgar-oc-gops-2011-tax-fighter-of-the-year-wants-a-big-one/, http://ocpoliticsblog.com/troy-edgars-big-fat-tax-increase/.
You completely gloss over the accusation that your guy Edgar _refused_ to answer Allen’s question regarding his Moxley/OC Weekly reported failure to accurately file Federal campaign funding reports. It wasn’t an idle or frivolous accusation — it’s factual, provable and will likely get your candidate into a whole lot of trouble. But that won’t be reported here, I expect. Here’s a link you might read: http://www.ocweekly.com/2012-09-27/news/moxley-confidential-troy-edgar-los-alamitos/.
No, I haven’t done any PR for the Edgar campaign.
The characterization of Travis Allen plinking away at Edgar’s record is accurate, and a viable strategy. If your opponent has a record, you can target pieces of it. That’s what Allen was doing.
Regarding the discussion on Measure DD, I attended the meeting when the item was discussed.
I do not gloss over Edgar’s refusal to answer. I even point out that Edgar refused a further chance after the debate.
I do not characterize the accusation as frivolous or idle. Those are your adjectives.
Say Shelley, in looking over Troy Edgar’s last Expense filing, we see the Orange County Breeze has accepted $260 for “print ads”.
But you haven’t done an “PR for the Edgar campaign”?
Who’s lying?
I can identify who is being provocative and misleading, and who is not identifying themselves by name while doing so.
As is common, Orange County Breeze maintains a separation between editorial (me) and advertising (Guy Cariglio). I was not involved in soliciting, designing or placing the advertisement for Troy Edgar.
In other words: I did not and am not lying.
I will be happy to continue sparring, but only if you step out from behind your anonymous handle, “OC Insider.” Email your name, address and telephone number to office-manager@oc-breeze.com. Our office staff will verify the name, address and telephone number. We will not publish them.
This requirement is similar to requirements to publish letters to the editor at print publications.
But without verification of who you are, I see no requirement to continue allowing you to publish misleading comments.
Shelley, this is more of an opinion piece then actual reporting. My husband and I were in attendance for the debate and as I was witness, Travis didn’t “smear” Troy with accusations of fraud, he asked him to answer the allegations.
Troy Edgar dodged the question by saying it”didn’t need a response”.
Well Troy, it absolutely does need to be responded to! If there was no wrong doing, why not come out and say it in public? I’ll tell you why, because Edgar doesn’t want to purger himself and go on public record by lieing.
I’m not sure what kind of connection the author of this article has with Troy Edgar, but a word of advise, jump off the ship while you can, because Edgat’s ship is sinking fast!
To cover the implied bias in the last statement: other than reporting on Los Alamitos City Council meetings and civic events, I have no connection with Troy Edgar.
The article does not claim that Travis “smeared” Troy. The article reports that Travis confronted Troy with the allegation of a violation of federal election law, and Troy refused to answer.
Given the rules of debate as laid down by the moderator, Deborah Pauley, Travis demanding a response from Troy was out-of-bounds.
Nevertheless, the moderator afforded Troy a chance to respond, which Troy turned down.
Your understanding of perjury is flawed. Perjury occurs when a person lies after swearing to tell the truth. Neither Troy nor Travis were sworn to tell the truth at that debate.
I can guess at Troy’s motivation for not answering, but I do not know for a fact why he did not answer. Therefore, I did not include his motivation in the article.
My personal opinion on whether Troy should have responded to the accusation are omitted from the article, but may be deduced from my attempt after the debate to get a response from Troy, a request that Troy refused.
Right. Keep shoveling Shelley. You’re behind the wrong guy.
Would you buy a used car from Troy Edgar?
Shelly,
Your site is sadly a mouth piece for Troy Edgar. From what I can tell, you print anything that Troy Edgar emails out. I can only find a couple things from Travis Allen on your site. I am on the email list for both Edgar and Allen and Allen emails much more often than Edgar. However, your site seems to only find Troy Edgar’s recycled emails of any use.
Also, your pro utility tax editorial at the beginning of this article is designed to protect Edgar from accusations he is supporting a massive tax increase. In fact, Edgar is supporting a massive tax increase. You may agree with this tax increase, but you should be honest. By taxing a multitude of technologies that have not been taxed before, Los Alamitos is pushing a very large tax increase.
The staff report refused to give a real analysis and provide any estimates of how much money would be brought in. This doesn’t mean that it is not a tax increase.
You and Edgar should be honest. Measure DD is a Massive Tax Increase!
We hope Edgar takes time out from fundraising (http://tinyurl.com/9w24a8k) to explain the difference between “a tax and a fee” — that’s how he was trying to pass off the TUT last week.
http://ocpoliticsblog.com/register-reiterates-no-on-troy-edgars-los-alamitos-telephone-tax/
That you assert something is true does not make it true.
Orange County Breeze receives dozens and dozens of news releases daily. We do not print all of them.
Travis Allen has a campaign website of his own that he can and does use to publish all his news releases.
Likewise Troy Edgar.
We are under no obligation to publish any candidate’s news release. Nor are we under any obligation to keep count of how many news releases for each candidate we publish. (For the record: we don’t keep count.)
I don’t regard my description of the Los Alamitos UUT as “pro” or “anti.” I described what went on at the Council meeting, in response to Travis Allen’s carefully delimited description that enables him to characterize it as a huge tax increase.
It is a huge Tax Increase! Read the OC Register position on the measure DD and why they endorsed Murphy for city council.
Your description of what happened at city council is not a analysis of the measure DD. In fact, it is just repeating the talking points put out by the city staff and Troy Edgar to us “common people. ”
You gave us talking points for the “common people” not facts about Measure DD.
For the record, I did not assert that you have any obligation to print anything. I was just pointing out the fact that your website seems to be very pro Edgar. Your choice is to print Edgar stuff like it is your religion.
This your website, you can publish anything you want. However, you should be honest about your support for Troy Edgar and the Utility Tax Increase.
I do not need the Orange County Register to tell me how to vote, or how to view proposed changes to Los Alamitos City Code. I find it presumptuous of OCR to tell residents of Los Alamitos how to vote on Measure DD — no one from the Register regularly attends Los Alamitos City Council meetings.
I am happy to hear that you recognize my right to publish whatever I want.
However, I do not do so. For instance, I have never published anything on the effect of Gregorian chant on brain chemistry. I find that fascinating — but I understand that most people don’t care.
Instead, I publish information that I believe will inform and build our communities, including news releases from cities, non-profits, school districts and others.
Candidates form a small percentage, although during an election year a very noisy percentage.
As with “OC Insider,” I will be happy to continue sparring,but only if you step out from behind your anonymous handle, “TroyEdgarWatch.” Email your name, address and telephone number to office-manager@oc-breeze.com. Our office staff will verify the name, address and telephone number. We will not publish them.
This requirement is similar to requirements to publish letters to the editor at print publications.
But without verification of who you are, I see no requirement to continue allowing you to publish misleading comments.
[...] DD which Travis mis-characterized as a tax hike on cell phone and internet users. It’s explained a lot better over here, and it was revenue-neutral to Los Al citizens, but Troy’s labored explanation sounded like [...]
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