Bruce Whitaker Fullerton City Council (D4)

Achievements

Prior Experience

  • Chief Financial Manager/Controller
    • Prioritizing expenditures properly is key to ensuring a safe and fiscally sound government.
  • Medical Center Administrator
  • Fullerton Mayor (two terms)
  • Fullerton City Council Member
  • Commissioner Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority (SAWPA)
  • Orange County Water District (OCWD) Director  
  • Executive staff in County and State government
  • Fullerton Planning Commissioner
  • Senior Policy Advisor
    • Bruce served as Senior Policy Advisor. In this role he handled the Sheriff-Coroner Department; the District Attorney’s Office; the Public Defender’s Office; the Probation Department; the Superior Court System; the Orange County Fire Authority; Homeland Security; Emergency Services, and all state legislative matters while serving as the primary Field Representative for the office.
  • Statewide Coordinator for MORR (Municipal Officials for Redevelopment Reform)
  • Eight two-year terms on Republican Central Committee of Orange County, from 1996-2012.

Key Achievements

  • Bruce became active in his own city of Fullerton in 1993 when he led — as a proponent and treasurer — a successful effort to recall a majority of the City Council and repeal unnecessary utility taxes. That accomplishment has saved more than $200 million for residents and businesses of Fullerton to date.
  • On the heels of the Fullerton recalls, the Orange County bankruptcy erupted in December of 1994. At that time it was the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. As the chief spokesman of the Committees of Correspondence of Orange County, Bruce debated Sheriff Brad Gates, county CEO William Popejoy, Chapman University president James Doti and others and authored many guest editorials which helped to defeat Measure R, the bankruptcy sales tax.  The defeat of that tax has resulted in more than $3.1 billion in taxpayer savings since 1995.
  • Bruce Whitaker founded the Fullerton Association of Concerned Taxpayers in 1996. He was president for eight years, following which FACT successfully brought suit against the Gray Davis administration for an unconstitutional $12.7 billion bond offering.
  • When Governor Davis was recalled from office, the Schwarzenegger administration and the Legislature attempted to pass a $2 billion pension obligation bond which also lacked voter approval. FACT and the Pacific Legal Foundation brought suit and won in both Sacramento Superior Court and the State Court of Appeals. Those actions have prevented any further attempts by the state to borrow again without voter approval.
  • Beginning in 2004, FACT became a national leader in informing public opinion regarding runaway public employee pension costs via the PensionTsunami.com website. Worldwide, more than two thousand journalists have referred daily to the website which was identified by AFSCME (the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) as a key enemy.