Running Lean: How This Campaign Shows How I Would Serve
I have run this campaign the way I believe City Hall should run: lean, open, and answerable only to residents. I have no endorsements: no party, no interest group, no council bloc. I paid for this campaign myself. I sent one mailer, one flyer, and no spam texts. Every position I hold is posted here, free to read in English, Spanish, and Farsi.
Answerable to District 4 residents
A seat on the Laguna Hills City Council is a nonpartisan office under the California Constitution, and I will serve it that way. The other candidates in this race carry endorsements from party organizations, interest groups, or sitting council members, and some lean on them heavily. While I respect those endorsers and have written about my gratitude to our firefighters and my support for our deputies, the fact is endorsers have a stake in what a candidate decides once elected. The council votes on contracts, budgets, and labor agreements that matter a great deal to them.
I have no endorsements of any kind: no party, no interest group, and no council bloc. Fixing a road, staffing a fire season, and balancing a budget carry no party label. Every vote I cast will answer to the residents of District 4 first, and then to Laguna Hills as a whole.
Spend what the job requires
Every candidate needs voters to know they are running, and a sign or a flyer does that job. The volume of signs and mail in this race is out of proportion for a seat on a small city council. At many intersections in District 4 you will find two or more signs for a single candidate, often with several candidates doing the same. Where I have a sign, such as at the entrance to a park, I put up one sign. One sign tells a passing driver or pedestrian a name and where to learn more, and every one of my signs carries a QR code that links to this website.
Here is everything my campaign has used to reach voters:
- One printed mailer
- One campaign flyer, delivered by hand
- A modest number of yard signs
- This website, with detailed positions in English, Spanish, and Farsi
- Direct outreach to neighbors
That is the standard I would bring to the city budget: pay for what does the job, and stop there. An attorney's focus and a neighbor's heart look like this in practice.
Respect for your time, your phone, and your mailbox
Most of us are tired of spammy political text messages. My campaign has sent none. I treat residents the way I want to be treated, and I would not want an unrequested campaign message on my own phone. The same goes for your mailbox. My campaign has sent one mailer by mail and one campaign flyer delivered by hand. Some District 4 households have received seven or more mailers from a single candidate this season. That volume is politics on autopilot, and it assumes voters will not notice.
Many of the "voter guides" in your mailbox are slate mailers: paid advertising with independent-sounding names such as "Seniors Voter Resource," "Parents for Progress," and "Nonpartisan Voter Guide." Slate publishers sent my campaign repeated offers to appear on theirs for about $1,000. I declined. California law requires slate mailers to mark every candidate who paid to appear with an asterisk (*). Check the guides in your mailbox and see which candidates paid to appear.
To let people know I am running, I have reached out directly to neighbors I know and trust. If you want to reach me, email me and I will reply.
Positions anyone can read
Candidate profiles and interviews in the Orange County Register are a valuable part of local election coverage, and I support independent journalism. Much of the Register's digital coverage sits behind a subscription paywall, so many residents cannot read what candidates told the paper. A race for one District 4 seat on a small city council should have its full platform open to every voter.
Residents get their information in different ways, and not everyone has the same time, tools, or background to follow local government. I can do my part by putting the core of what matters in one place that the most people can reach: free to read, in three languages, on any phone or computer.
Ask yourself how many candidates in this race have posted detailed positions you can read for free, with links to the sources behind the facts. Mine are all here. Several of them began as questions from residents. You emailed, I researched the issue, and I answered on this site so every neighbor could read the answer.
Technology that multiplies what one council member can do
Some might argue that experience on a city commission or in government makes a candidate ready on day one. A council seat is a job like any other: every new member learns the procedures and paperwork at the start. Effectiveness is measured on every day after that, and it depends on how curious, adaptable, and resourceful a person is. I put residents first, stay curious, read the fine print and disagree when called for, spend frugally, and measure results.
I worked as a Discovery Staff Attorney at Google, and I saw up close how technology can power a business to great success. In the last couple of years, small teams have started doing work that once took large ones. I use these tools every day to learn, to research, and to get more done. I will bring this process to every staff report, budget, and contract that comes before the council. The same tools let a resident research a candidate in minutes and let a small campaign share a complete multilingual platform without a large budget. Small businesses and neighborhood groups have that opportunity, and City Hall should put it to work for residents as well. I have the experience to advocate for that approach, and it is practical experience: I have done exactly this, right here, in this campaign.
Real work, in plain view
As an attorney, I care about privacy, and I know you do too. That is part of why I oppose renewing the city's Flock camera contract while supporting alternative police funding strategies with more proven results. It is also why you will not find me making performative social media posts or acting the part of a council member on camera.
You hire a council member with your vote to do a job: read the staff reports, ask hard questions, and cast informed votes. The work product of that job is policy. Researched positions, cited sources, and plain-language explanations are the core of what you should expect from your representative. This website shows how I approach that work, in a place where anyone can read it.
How I would govern
I believe this election turns on change. If you elect me, you can expect the same process I have used in this campaign: policy before performance, research with modern tools, explanations in plain language, and effective, open communication. I will put residents at the center, cut old bureaucracy, and leave the spam and social media noise behind.
- Independent votes, decided on the merits for District 4 residents first and Laguna Hills as a whole, with no party, interest group, or council bloc behind them.
- Plain-language explanations of my votes, with the research behind them, posted where every resident can read them.
- Communication that respects your time: email me and I will answer, and I will reach out when there is something worth telling you.
- The same discipline I used in this campaign: pay for what does the job, cut bureaucracy, avoid spam, and ask hard questions about everything else.
I am asking for your vote because I offer responsible, accountable, forward-thinking, and frugal leadership. This campaign is the proof.
Is this what you want from City Hall?
I would like to hear from you. Send me a question about any issue in District 4 and I will answer it.
Email Tiffany