A blatant abuse of influence and power

Charles Osterland

Pam Julien Houchen is an example of how a person abuses power if no

one challenges them. It is hard to believe that anyone in City Hall

noticed anything regarding the condo scam. It is hard to imagine that

other City Council members knew nothing about these official

transgressions.

Too many times, staff members are afraid to bring things up for

fear of reprisal somewhere down the road. Other council members try

to stay out of any controversy. Citizens who speak up are discounted

to avoid dealing with an issue affecting the bureaucracy. If she

would have been stopped early, then this latest smear on our city

could have been avoided.

Special interest groups have always played a big part in city

politics. It could be developers or unions who want favorable

treatment. The police union supported Houchen in her first council

bid and she also named her real estate partner to the Planning

Commission. Those connections should have been watched. When

paintball started competing with surfing, didn’t anyone look for

problems?

We now have a sports center that can’t be used by our kids unless

they pay high fees because it is a commercial sports center. Where

are the special interests on this one? Where was the council on this

one? Oh well, up the water fees to pay for the lost million dollars.

Sliding around rules is not limited to the city. In the Ocean View

School District, board President Barbara Boskovich bypassed district

rules to get a favorable legal opinion to allow a vote of only three

members to declare the district’s Bolsa Chica property surplus.

The state Department of Education says there should be four votes.

The rest of the school board didn’t even get to register a vote on

obtaining the legal opinion. The teacher’s union heavily supports

Boskovich. The district has been deficit spending since the union

took control of the board.

Look for the patterns of abuse in our public officials. Call out

the abuses, and use your vote to remove them from office.

* CHARLES OSTERLUND is a Huntington Beach resident. To contribute

to “Sounding Off” e-mail us at hbindy@latimes.com or fax us at (714)

965-7174.