Candidate for the Orange County Board of Supervisors, Michelle Steel, visited with some Los Alamitos residents at a coffee meeting hosted by Los Alamitos Mayor Pro Tem, Richard Murphy, on Saturday.
Candidate for the Orange County Board of Supervisors, Michelle Steel, visited with some Los Alamitos residents at a coffee meeting hosted by Los Alamitos Mayor Pro Tem, Richard Murphy, on Saturday.
The event was also attended by Los Alamitos City Council members Warren Kusumoto and Dean Grose. Steel is running for the seat that is being vacated by John Moorlach, who is termed out of office.
Steel spoke to the group of residents, before taking a few questions. She laid out the basics of her platform, which she said is to root out waste in the system, pension reform and helping business. One of the key points she specified is the changes that she said need to be made in regards to weeding out those who are getting assistance, who don’t really need it.
“We really want to get rid of the waste,” Steel said.
Steel said that a program in San Diego recently focused on auditing those on assistance programs and was able to identify those who were abusing the system. Steel said she originally ran for the State Board of Equalization in 2006 to fight what she thought were unfair taxes on small businesses.
One of her biggest priorities was to overhaul the business security deposit requirements that hampered small businesses. With her help, she noted that since 2008, more than $100 million has been returned to California businesses as part of the security deposit refund program.
Grose noted that he sees Steel as someone who will go into the office with an open mind and willing to work with the cities in the district.
“I think Michelle is going to be the right candidate for the job for Los Alamitos,” Grose said.