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How did our common understanding of what is right and wrong in terms of the conduct of public officials change so drastically in the last four years? Before 2014, a council member would have been shamed by accepting a donation from a known felon and compelled to return it. Now,...

As a former Newport Beach mayor and Citizen of the Year, and a 50-plus-year resident of Newport Beach, I urge my fellow Newporters to re-elect Councilwoman Diane Dixon. I know Diane to be a hard worker, an excellent listener, smart and caring, and a natural leader. She has...

When it takes the Mayor of Newport Beach almost two months to answer a simple yes or no question, something’s terribly wrong. At the August 29th West Newport Candidate Forum, I asked my opponent, Mayor Marshall Duffield, if he’d ever employed Councilman Scott Peotter during their...

As a former member of the Newport Beach City Council, I have a unique perspective on this year’s election. During my first two years, I was privileged to serve with dedicated public servants who put the city first and worked in a spirit of collegiality to accomplish important...

It has been our collective honor to serve as Citizens of the Year in Newport Beach.   All of us share a love for our community and a deep appreciation for the values that make our city great. We also share a concern about the direction of our city over the past four years and how...

As a Newport Beach resident, I am very troubled by the fact Mayor Duffy Duffield has skipped the recent Speak Up Newport Candidate forum and, along with the other incumbent council members, has not confirmed their participation in the Feet to the Fire Forum. If they will not...

I am disappointed to hear that City Councilman Scott Peotter and our Mayor Duffy Duffield are willing to attend a fundraiser at the home of Bob McCaffrey.  McCaffery referred to Joy Brenner as a “drooling dog.” Brenner is running against Peotter for a seat on the City...

I recently received a taxpayer funded mailing inviting me to a taxpayer funded Town Hall on Public Safety featuring Supervisor Michelle Steel and co-hosted by Newport Beach Mayor Duffy Duffield. Ironically, this meeting will be held in the Community Center at Civic Center Park,...

Sometimes they say it takes a village to support the growth and development of an individual. In the case of Newport Beach, it is going to take a “village” to restore the City to its full potential. During the past few months, the community of Newport Beach has been at the...

As a board member of the Line in the Sand PAC, I feel compelled to respond to Therese Loutherback’s letter of September 7, “City Council Candidate Ethics.” This is a crucially important election year for our city, and voters need to have their facts and priorities straight. As in...

As former mayors, we are very concerned about the direction of our city during the past four years.  We have seen the city council majority make rash and partisan decisions that are not in the best interests of the residents. For example, the council refused $485,000 in traffic...

The key concern which unites Newport Beach residents now is over-development.  Most of the other problems engender from this one main problem-traffic, pollution, safety issues, expansion of Pacific Coast Highway, code and General Plan noncompliance and lack of civility and trust...

The Newport Beach City Council has been on vacation for nearly a month, but like a TV series finale, they left us with a few cliffhangers. On July 30, the council issued a statement designed to embarrass Jeff Herdman, but failed to reveal the three councilmembers who advanced the...

In 2016, a political action committee called Line In The Sand spent tens of thousands of dollars supporting a slate of candidates that included Phil Greer and Jeff Herdman for Newport Beach City Council. At the time, Greer and Herdman had three FPPC convictions between the two of...

It is widely believed that Councilmember Peotter has been retained by Mayor Duffield to assist in the relocation of some of Duffield’s boat manufacturing facilities to Utah. The refusal of Duffield and Peotter to answer the simple question “Does Peotter work for Duffield?” is...

Words cannot express the disgust I felt, as a woman and Newport Beach resident, reading Bob McCaffrey’s letter last week (NB Indy, Aug. 24) in which he compared council candidate Joy Brenner and community activists Susan Skinner and Lynn Swain to drooling dogs. All three women...

There is really nothing that a rational person can say about Team Newport surrogate Bob McCaffrey’s weird, sexist and incoherent rant (NB Indy Forum, Aug. 24). Notice that he doesn’t even attempt to defend the indefensible records of Mr. Peotter and Mr. Duffield. As a mouthpiece...

Consider what has happened in the past 60 days in Newport Beach. June 26: The city council passes the largest property tax increase in 40 years.  Taxes of up to $4,500 per year will be assessed against the new owners in Uptown Newport to pay for developer promised public...

Almost 130 years ago Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov was studying how digestion worked in mammals. He noticed that when he entered the room wearing a lab coat his dogs began drooling.  They thought it was dinner time. Pavlov then started ringing a bell while feeding Fido. Fido...

On Friday, August 17, the real opponents of the ballot measure being advanced by Team Newport will go to court to displace the phony arguments filed by Team Newport supporter Bob Rush. This ballot measure demonstrates how Duffy Duffield and Scott Peotter are using an amendment to...