MEETING President Ross Stewart opened the meeting. Ken Dufour gave the invocation reminding us of our responsibilities personally and as an Exchange Club. Ed Romeo led us in the Pledge.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS….. SHIRLEY LASHMETT asked what members will be attending the Golf Tournament for the Big Drawing? Mitch Mitchell gave us the weekly count down to Ed Romeo’s 100th Birthday. Mitch also introduced our guest speaker, Will O’Neill, Chairman of the Republican Party of Orange County, previous Mayor of Newport Beach and past member of our Exchange Club. Will stat-ed in the beginning of his presentation that he does not support the Proposition, but said he would provide us with the basic argument for Prop 50 as well. Chairman O’Neill mentioned that various websites presented the pros and cons of Prop 50. Will gave us a number of reasons for Re-publicans to vote against the proposition: *Prop 50’s special election will cost tax-payers nearly $300 million while California is facing a $20 billion deficit….. *Instead of funding key priorities like public safety and emergency response, Gavin Newsom and the State Legislature are wasting hundreds of millions on dol-lars on a partisan special election to help elect more Democrats .….*Prop 50 will override the maps created by the voter-approved independent California Citizens Redistricting Commission, which aims to preserve communities of interest, in favor of partisan districts drafted secretly by politicians. …..*Statewide, these new maps will divide counties 114 times and cities 141 times—including many Latino, Asian and Black communities who fought to stay unified in the same district. New-port would be divided in half. The north-ern half along with Huntington Beach would join Long Beach to change our community to a strong “blue” Congressional district. The southern half along with Laguna Beach would be connected with more “blue” communities south…..*Prop 50 dilutes community representation and silences voter’s voices—all to benefit a few politicians…..*Approving Prop 50 puts the State Legislature in charge of drawing on California’s congressional maps…..*We should maintain California’s gold standard for fair redistricting and lead the country in showing that independent, citizen-led redistricting is the better path forward.
Dwight Williams, President of the California Senior Alliance stated, “The independent redistricting process has helped ensure that diverse communities across California can advocate effectively for their needs. Prop 50 discards that progress by merging urban ethnic neighborhoods with far-flung rural areas that have little in common, protecting politicians at the expense of real representation.” The Demo-crats favor Prop 50, arguments for are posted on their “Yes on Prop 50” webpage: *It levels the playing field to make sure the 2026 midterm elections are conducted on a level playing field without an unfair advantage for Republicans…… *Commits to fair redistricting, reaffirming California’s commitment to independent redistricting and calls for a nationwide commitment to fair and impartial maps……*Puts the power in the hands of the people of California, not backroom politicians, to approve emergency congressional district maps in response to Trump’s election rigging scheme…..*Is fair and proportional by providing emergency maps only because Republicans moved forward with their power grab…..*These maps expire in 2030. Prop 50 preserves California’s award-winning redistricting reforms and reaffirms the California Redistricting Commission’s authority to draw congressional districts after the next census.
Chairman O’Neill reminded all to vote and encouraged everyone they know to also vote. He pointed out that the Re-publicans do not turn out in great numbers for non-national elections and that Democrats do. The presentation ended as Will answered questions from the members. Craig Boardman asked more details about the cost of this election. Will shared that this election was the 2nd most expensive election in the State. Mitch Mitchell was interested in the statement about Orange County be-coming “purple’. Will stated that Governor Brown predicted that the Irvine University of California, Irvine would eventually impact the “color” of Orange County.