Democratic Club
By Mary Larson
LW contributor
LW Democratic Club members enthusiastically welcomed Katrina Foley to their meeting on Oct. 20. Foley has been serving as the first Democratic woman elected to the Orange County Board of Supervisors since earlier this year. She has accomplished a great deal in just a few months, with her primary goal being to make county government more accessible to voters.
Foley has encountered considerable resistance in her efforts to “open county government and increase transparency.” Nevertheless, she persisted.
She meets on a regular basis with advisory teams she has organized to deal with a number of critical issues. To assist these teams in their deliberations, she has hired consultants to compile information regarding the efficacy of currently county-funded programs. She has also initiated monthly meetings with all mayors in the county and quarterly meetings with all elected officials in OC.
Foley reported that the county currently does not have an overall plan to deal with problems relating to the climate. Supervisors have hired a consulting firm to best assess environmental needs and develop a county action plan. They hope to have results in January or February 2022. Foley is especially concerned about the current toxic and dangerous offshore drilling. She sees the importance of working to stop the drilling and to transfer dirty and unsafe jobs to clean energy jobs.
She also encouraged club members to get involved in the county’s redistricting process, which could result in significant changes in supervisors’ district boundary lines. She urged club members to look at the proposed eight maps that would be published in a few weeks and to make their preferences known. There was some discussion about having a special LW Democratic Club Zoom meeting to help understand the process and what was at stake for the future.
During the question-andanswer period, Foley was asked to speak about how concerned people should react to ongoing protests taking place outside school board and Board of Supervisor meetings. Her response was that directly confronting protesters was not the most effective way to respond; nor was it healthy to gather with mostly unvaccinated persons. She recommended focusing on positive actions (keeping informed/reading online newsletters and websites, sending postcards, making calls, writing letters to the editor, and remaining unified).
Foley will be on the ballot again in 2022. Readers can go to the club’s website at https://sblwdems. wordpress. com for more information.
••• The LW Democratic club will continue to hold its membership meetings via Zoom until further notice. The club will hold its annual meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 17, during which 2022-2023 board members will be elected.
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LW Democrats and supporters who are interested in more in-depth, up-to-date reporting on the issues can subscribe to the club’s free electronic newsletter by emailing democraticclubsblw@gmail.com or calling the editor Mary Larson at (562) 296-8521.
