William R. ‘Bill’ Orton: Ready to take a stand

RACE FOR THE 67TH STATE ASSEMBLY DISTRICT

Name: William R. “Bill” Orton

Age: 40

Occupation: Nonprofit organization director

Family: Wife and daughter, two cats.

Community activities: Board member for the Harbor Area Farmers

Markets. erved on the school site council for daughter’s elementary

school and on Los Alamitos Unified School District’s “Long Range

Planning Task Force.” Volunteer at school for homeless kids.

Education: Edison High School; bachelor’s in history from Cal

State Long Beach.

Favorite leader: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Contact information: billyorton.com. E-mail: bill@billyorton.com.

(562) 598-9630.

ORTON ON:

* EDUCATION:

We need a credentialed teacher in every classroom, a computer on

every child’s desk, the return of vocational education and a trained

nurse on every campus. Children need to be able to communicate

clearly, to compute and to figure things out. The obsession with the

SAT-9 test and the push for universal college prep are political

gimmicks that do little to actually prepare students for the real

world. Only one in five students will go on to college, but every

child will need technical skills and problem-solving abilities in

order to compete in the workplace and operate at a higher level at

home and in society. We should redirect the $1 billion spent on the

SAT-9 and Academic Performance Index into computer access to every

student starting in third grade and to reopening the doors to shop

classes.

* STATE BUDGET CRISIS:

The system in Sacramento is broken. What is needed most of all is

someone with the courage and credentials who can reach out to both

Democrats and Republicans, lay on the table the core ingredients of

fundamental budget reform and work like the dickens to line up the

votes needed to move a reform agenda forward.

In my estimation, there are two essential ingredients to any

fundamental reform of the state budget. To achieve fundamental

reform, we must end “soak the rich” taxation and reduce the vote

threshold needed to pass a state budget.

Republicans are right when they say that we must lower the capital

gains tax and substantially reduce the personal income tax on the

richest 2% of all Californians.

Democrats are correct when they say that there’s got to be a

reduction in the vote threshold needed to pass a budget.

Both sides are right, but there’s got to be someone in the middle

who gets each side to give.

On the table with these two giant issues are plenty of other

substantial issues, not the least of which is how to end the

ripping-off of local government that the state has engaged in since

1992.

* WATER QUALITY:

The most important thing in this race is upgrading, repairing and

expanding our sewers, storm drains and wastewater treatment capacity.

Infrastructure is too big a job for any one city to handle, or even

for all the cities together. I publicly opposed the extension of the

Orange County Sanitation District’s 301(h) waiver. That’s why I’ve

been talking for nearly a year about an obscure state agency, called

the California Development Bank (CalBank). I know this little entity

well.

The CalBank’s primary job is to pay for noncontroversial

infrastructure projects -- things like sewers, storm drains and

wastewater treatment plants.

In January, I proposed using the CalBank to generate $10 million a

year for 10 years. That pool of $100 million would be matched against

federal, county and sanitation district money. Cities could then

apply for matching funds to pay for what needs to be done.

I rank the Bolsa Chica as a critical issue. I am 100% committed to

doing everything possible to achieve a public buyout of that

ecological treasure.

I’ve also proposed the creation of a Santa Ana River Conservancy,

running from the mountains to the sea. The San Gabriel River is

managed by a conservancy and that is going well. It’s time that we

take care of the Santa Ana River.

* BIGGEST ISSUE IN THIS ASSEMBLY RACE:

Perhaps even more than the individual issues of education, the

budget, the environment, immigration, guns ... what have you ... the

most important thing is in this race comes back to what Richard Nixon

once said:

“If you don’t stand for something, you stand for nothing.”

I agree.

I’m pro death penalty. Pro 2nd Amendment. And I don’t think we

should be rewarding illegal immigration. Having grown up here, it is

not unnatural for me to have these views.

Now, I am the first to admit that the leaders of my party are a

bunch of big city liberals and they’re not going to like my

conservative views. But unlike my opponent, I’m not afraid to lay out

my views or to stand up to either party to defend my positions.

On guns, on abortion, on immigration, on the environment and

education ... on big issues that really matter, our current

assemblyman is all over the place. For $99,000 a year, taxpayers

deserve better than a wiffly-waffly, flip-floppy double talker.