About Diane
Mayor Diane Dixon spent 40 years in the private sector as a business executive before being elected to the Newport Beach City Council in 2014. She is serving her second term as Mayor, and has served as Chair of the Water Quality and Tidelands Committee and as Chair of the Finance Committee.
Fiscal responsibility and government transparency have been the hallmarks of her time at City Hall. Diane’s leadership has helped her city deliver budget surpluses, pay down pension liabilities, improve public safety, and complete infrastructure projects on time and within budget and greater cooperation between residents, businesses, and government to resolve community problems.
Diane has actively engaged city residents, holding 22 town hall meetings, working closely with local business owners and residents to solve community problems, and initiating numerous neighborhood and community improvement programs. She has worked to successfully add citizen members to the City’s Finance Committee and launch independent audits of City projects.
A regional leader, Diane currently serves as First Vice President of the Association of California Cities-Orange County. She previously served as an Alternate Director of the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency.
Diane has been an active member on several philanthropic community-based boards of directors for nearly four decades, including United Way Orange County, YMCA, public television, USC Board of Councilors and Alumni Association, educational institutions, child service agencies, and health-related organizations.
During her 40-year business career, she spent 30 years as a senior executive at a Fortune 300 public company, where she was responsible for the company’s global communications, marketing communications, and corporate philanthropy. She managed the intersection of business and government, forging connections among business, government, communities and nonprofit organizations.
She earned her Bachelor of Arts with honors in political science from the University of Southern California.
Diane has been married for 44 years to Pat Dixon, a career prosecutor who currently serves as Special Counsel to the Orange County District Attorney. Diane and Pat’s daughter, Colleen, is a former prosecutor with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. Colleen and her husband, Graves, are the parents of Diane and Pat’s three grandchildren.
The Issues
Diane on the Issues that Matter to California’s 74th Assembly District
The Legislature continues to try to raise taxes on Californians even with large budget surpluses. I will oppose and fight against new taxes from Sacramento because California families pay enough. We must use State budget surpluses to help reduce the unfunded pension liabilities at CalPERS and CalSTRS. I will oppose bait-and-switch funding schemes that attempt to redirect taxes and fees away from what voters approved.
As Mayor and City Councilwoman, I’ve helped to deliver budget surpluses and reduce our pension liabilities. I have ensured the implementation of rigorous general budget and capital program planning and project management practices that have prevented major program cost overruns. My 40-year business career, including 30 years as a senior executive for a Fortune 300 public corporation has provided me deep expertise in disciplined fiscal management, long-term planning, investor responsibility and customer-responsive, quality service.
I will fight to protect law-abiding residents from rising crime. AB 109, Prop 47, Prop 57, and other laws that allow the early release of inmates and the reduction of criminal sentences are endangering California families. AB 392 and other bills that make it harder for police to do their jobs simply make it easier for criminals to escape justice.
I have a proven track record at City Hall, where I have taken a proactive approach to help our exceptional police and fire departments keep our neighborhoods and communities safe and secure. I have brought residents, business owners and the police together to identify and implement the newest approaches to effective crime prevention and pursuit of offenders, and to increase the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of emergency services, including restoring four police officer positions that were eliminated in the 2008 recession.
Burdensome regulations are coming out of Sacramento at a furious pace that are taking away local control. People in local communities know best how to handle local problems. One-size-fits-all mandates from Sacramento do not work because San Francisco, Alpine County, and Orange County all have different problems and needs. I will fight for greater local control to empower local communities, not Sacramento bureaucrats.
As Vice President of the Association of California Cities-Orange County, I work closely with city leaders all across Orange County. We have worked to develop regional solutions when appropriate and local solutions when cities have differing needs. The unique diversity of Orange County communities is a microcosm of the incredible differences of local communities across California. One-size-fits-all mandates do not recognize this.
We must protect our district’s greatest environmental assets, especially our beaches, harbors, and bay. As a businesswoman and mayor, I understand how to work with businesses and residents develop common-sense solutions that protect our environment without resorting to overly burdensome regulation.
Having served as Chair of the City’s Water Quality and Tidelands Management Committee, I have a strong understanding and appreciation of the long-term investment necessary to protect our waters. I support efforts to protect our water quality along our district’s beaches and in our district’s harbors and bay. I’ve worked to ensure the maintenance, repair, and replacement of sea walls and other vital infrastructure to protect our environment.
We must strengthen public schools and allow greater local control because local communities and parents working together with local schools and teachers are the people who best understand the needs of their children. We must hold our public schools to the highest standards while also allowing parents the choice of how best to educate their children.
I’ve served on the boards of educational institutions and child service agencies, so I know how nonprofit organizations can work together with government and our local school districts to improve our local schools. As a mother and grandmother, I know the importance of parents working closely with teachers to ensure the best possible education for our children.
