Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait wins OCTA Board seat
Graphic: saveanaheim.com
From the OC Politics Blog
Thursday last, the OCTA City Selection Committee (comprised of all 34 OC elected and appointed Mayors) was gathered by the UNelected Association of California Cities – Orange County (who’s membership do not include every city in the OC) to rule on the selection of new OCTA Board Directors, one for each Supervisorial District. Continue reading
From: The OC Politics Blog
You have to love the OC Weekly’s annual list of Orange County’s Scariest People. This year’s list includes Anaheim Council Member Kris Murray, GOP blogger Matt Cunningham, OC Supe Todd Spitzerm, State Senator Lou Correa and lame OC Register owner Aaron Kushner. Here are a few excerpts:
A pioneer in OC’s blogging community, Matt Cunningham was shamed into digital hiding a couple of years ago when the longtime Republican operative outed sex-abuse victims in his pathetic campaign to defend his priest, John Urell, a Diocese of Orange bigwig who had long shielded pedophile priests from the law. Cunningham re-emerged last year to start a new blog funded by the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce with the sole purpose of tarring Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait and activists trying to reform the corrupt town. When he’s not trashing attempts at democracy, Cunningham hails the status quo and whines that Republicans aren’t paying attention to Anaheim, which only proves how influential he truly is. Did we mention he outed sex-abuse victims? Mitigating factor: He inspired two of the greatest nicknames in OC blogging history—”Jerbal,” for his Baba Booey-like chompers, and “Fart Boy,” because his ethics are as smelly as a juicy ripper. Continue reading
In a 5-4 ruling in United States v. Windsor, the court struck down a provision of the 17-year-old Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that denies federal benefits — like Social Security benefits or the ability to file joint tax returns — to same-sex couples legally married, according to CBS News.
The Supreme Court also cleared the way Wednesday for same-sex marriages to resume in California as the justices, in a procedural ruling, turned away the defenders of Proposition 8. Chief Justice John Roberts, speaking for the 5-4 majority, said the private sponsors of Prop. 8 did not have legal standing to appeal after the ballot measure was struck down by a federal judge in San Francisco, according to the Los Angeles Times.
These landmark decisions will be celebrated by Day of Decision Orange County today, June 26. 2013, in Santa Ana, at 6:30 pm at the Old Orange County Courthouse, located at 211 W. Santa Ana Blvd. Continue reading
Former State Senator John Lewis has such a hold on the Republican Party of Orange County that he was able to force the withdrawal of Robert Hammond, their candidate for the 69th Assembly District, so as to pave the way for his Democratic pal Tom Daly. And Lewis also ran the failed campaign of Chris Norby, for the 65th Assembly District. With the loss of Norby’s seat, and the 69th, the California Republican Party ceded a supermajority in the State Assembly to the California Democratic Party.
But Lewis is not the only one to blame. OC GOP Chairman Scott Baugh (a political consultant) and OC Supervisor Janet Nguyen were personally involved in pulling Hammond out of the race for the 69th. And neither of them helped Jose “Joe” Moreno, the Anaheim Republican who, at the last minute, filed for the 69th rather than concede the victory to Daly. Moreno was however undone by allegations that he violated an obscure Federal law – the Hatch Act. Moreno, an employee of the O.C. Health Agency, was accused of this by labor, even though he is a longtime union member. Continue reading
Twin devils of deception
Everyone in Santa Ana is talking about the arrest of Santa Ana Councilman Carlos Bustamante, on multiple felony counts of various sex crimes, but most folks have forgotten that former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger once appointed Bustamante to the California Fair Employment and Housing Commission, back in January of 2008.
When I found out about the appointment I could not believe it. Even then we knew Bustamante had some issues with women, but when I first wrote about the appointment, over at my old Orange Juice blog, I tackled the issue from a different standpoint – pointing out the fact that Santa Ana was a leader in home foreclosures – and Bustamante had done nothing at all about that. Continue reading
Paid Republican power couple Matt and Laura Cunningham
Did you know that paid Republican consultant Matt Cunningham is now writing so-called “community Editorials” on the Voice of OC? That’s right. Apparently he is part of the Voice of OC’s new Community Editorial Board. I discovered this when I saw his byline on a post defending Anaheim Councilwoman Kris Murray, who got caught, by the Voice of OC, casting a City Council vote earlier this year to approve a report by a subsidiary of Willdan Group, a consulting firm that employs her as its senior vice president, city records show.
According to the Voice of OC’s “About Us” page, “First and foremost, Voice of OC focuses on accountability in government, not the process of government.” And their stated mission is “To hold government agencies, elected officials and other power brokers in Orange County accountable through investigative news coverage. And to be a catalyst in the community for a robust and sophisticated discourse on local politics and government.”
It is hard to imagine who Cunningham fits into that equation. This is the guy who outed victims of molestation by Catholic priests, while he was being paid to shill for Monsignor John Urell – a man of the cloth who ran interference for molester priests. Cunningham posted an unredacted legal document – that he should not have had access to, on the failed “Friends of Urell” website, and in the process he outed the molestation victims, whose names appeared in the court document. Continue reading
Mrs. Jerbal is back!
Chisme has it that O.C. Supervisor Bill Campbell has hired a new Chief of Staff – gay basher Laura Cunningham! You may remember that she was the “Hispanic Outreach Director” for the Yes on Prop. 8 campaign – the ballot measure that made gay marriage illegal here in California.
We know now that Prop. 8 was cynically designed by Republican consultants so as to create votes for their presidential candidate at the time, John McCain. Well, it was an epic fail. Blacks and Latinos voted for Prop. 8 – but they voted for Obama, not McCain. Continue reading
Santa Ana resident Tim Whitacre fought the good fight on Monday night, at the Republican Party of Orange County’s Central Committee meeting – and he has nothing to hang his head about. He got 23 votes, out of a total of 54 elected members of the Central Committee, in his campaign for party chair, against longtime incumbent OC GOP Chairman Scott Baugh.
According to Whitacre, who I spoke with tonight, there was a large crowd at the back of the room that largely cheered him on, much to Baugh’s consternation.
The big news on Monday, was that party heavyweight Jon Fleischman lost his campaign for Vice Chair. He was upended by Deborah Pauly. Whitacre’s ally, Allan Bartlett, lost that race but the consolation prize was watching Fleischman lose.
There were also a couple of seats to fill on the 69th Assembly District’s delegation, as Robert Hammond earned a seat on the Central Committee as a candidate for that Assembly District. But since he also ran for the Central Committee, he vacated that seat, and it was handed to Gwen Dyrud, who campaigned for Van Tran this year in his race against Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez.
Minuteman Lupe Moreno was appointed to serve as Dyrud’s alternate on the Committee – so, after losing in the Central Committee election in June of last year, she is back on the Committee – as an alternate.
Moreno was involved in a huge scandal this year when she took over the Santa Ana 4th of July event, at the Santa Ana Public Library, and brought a bunch of Minutemen with her. One of them got caught on video calling a Santa Ana resident a “wetback.” Moreno was rewarded for her efforts with a certificate from Santa Ana Councilman David Benavides.
Scott Carpenter won a seat in the 69th but he moved out of the district after the election. His seat was given to Charles Hart, who ran for Mayor of Santa Ana this year. Hart started out strong only to watch many of his supporters jump on Alfredo Amezcua’s bandwagon, late in the game.
Thomas Gordon won a seat on the OC GOP Central Committee in June as well – but he skipped Monday’s meeting. I spoke to Gordon and he said that he told Baugh and others with the OC GOP Executive Committee that he was not going to be there, for personal reasons.
There was a commotion in the press today, as Walter Myers , a conservative black Republican, raised a stink after he was overlooked in his quest to gain a vacant seat on the Committee in the 71st Assembly District. The seat went to a white candidate, as reported today in Total Buzz, by Martin Wisckol. What Wisckol did not report is that the three members of that delegation who chose not to vote for Myers were all Baugh allies – including Mark Bucher, and Marcia Gilchrist.
Myers has worked diligently for the OC GOP in ethnic outreach – but he got punked anyway. And there is no way Baugh did not know about this, not with his allies joining in rejecting Myers.
Baugh tried to recover from this faux pas by pointing out that he has hired Laura Cunningham and George Andrews to fill out his party staff. Cunningham is a Latina, who is married to Red County blogger Matt Cunningham – a consultant who serves on both the Orange Planning Commission and the Orange County Beaches, Harbors and Parks Commission – even though he often works for developers. Andrews is East Indian. He is an ally of the aforementioned Van Tran.
Laura made headlines in 2008, when she was hired to conduct Latino outreach for Prop. 8, the anti-gay marriage ballot measure. She once serves as the OC GOP’s Executive Director, when Baugh first took over as Party Chairman. But that was a train wreck. She was dismissed a few months into her tenure, amidst allegations of ego problems.
If you want a big laugh, check out the OC GOP’s Central Committee page. The OC GOP is utterly lacking in diversity. Orange County is now a majority minority county. The only saving grace for Baugh and his cohorts is that their Democratic counterparts are an even bigger mess.
Matt Cunningham, a Republican blogger at the Red County blog, thinks that State Senator Lou Correa, who just won reelection, is going to run against Supervisor Janet Nguyen in 2012. Here are a few excerpts from Cunningham’s post:
In 2012, Correa will be in the middle of his final term not only in the state Senate, but in the state legislature. If he has aspiration to remain in public office rather than seek his fortune in the private sector, his options are limited once he is termed out in 2014.
Challenging Sup. Janet Nguyen has several advantages, which I am sure have already occurred to Sen. Correa and his advisors as they ponder his future options:
- It’s a free ride: if he fails to unseat Nguyen, he still has two years left in the state Senate.
- Since Correa served less than two full years of his original term on the Board of Supervisors before becoming a Senator, he is eligible for two full, consecutive terms on the Board. Two more years as a state Senator versus eight as a county supervisor: in an age when county offices have become landing pads for termed-out legislators, that’s a pretty good trade.
I think Cunningham is very wrong, for a number of reasons:
I think that Assemblyman Jose Solorio is the one who is going to challenge Nguyen in 2012. Even if she redistricts her seat, I think he has a great shot at beating her. She has lost a lot of support even in her own community, in the wake of her disastrous attempt to take over the Little Saigon Black April event this year.
Will Lucille Kring’s GOP pals put her over the top in the 34th State Senate District in November?
Does it really matter that Republican Lucille Kring got more votes than Democratic State Senator Lou Correa, in the primary election this week?
Kring, who is an Anaheim Councilwoman, got about 700 more votes than Correa.
As one might expect, Red County editor Matt Cunningham is crowing about this as if it matters.
But does it?
Democrats hold an advantage overall in the district, with 44% of the vote. The GOP has 32.73% of the vote and 19.27% of the voters are Decline to State.
Latinos hold a huge advantage in the district, with 58% of the vote. White voters come in at only 21.6% of the vote and Asian voters have just over 10% of the vote.
There are over 315,000 registered voters in this district. Kring and Correa, combined, got just over 32,000 votes. Clearly many voters tayed home – presumably most were Democrats.
In November things will be quite different. Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez will be working hard in the same area to get out the vote. So will Assemblyman Jose Solorio. Correa will be able to count on both of them for significant help.
Kring is already working closely with Mexican-hater Van Tran, who is challenging Sanchez. Solorio faces only token opposition.
The key will be the Latino vote. Correa will need to get Latinos to the polls in order to prevail.
It should be noted that Correa has made vast inroads into the Vietnamese community. And this time he will be helped by Democratic candidate Phu Nguyen, who will be challenging the worst Mexican-hater, Allan Mansoor, over in the 68th Assembly District, which is part of the 34th State Senate District.
No legislator works harder than Correa. Kring should relish her primary votes as the general election promises to have a very different ending.
In 2006, Lucille Kring couldn’t beat Jon Aiken – how will she beat State Senator Lou Correa?
Republican Lucille Kring, who is a member of the Anaheim City Council, has decided to run against State Senator Lou Correa, over in the 34th State Senate District, which includes Santa Ana and Anaheim.
Kring won a seat on the Anaheim City Council in 2006, defeating incumbent Councilman Richard Chavez. Bob Hernandez also won a seat on that council in 2006, getting a few more votes than Kring did, according to Smart Voter. Chavez was damaged by numerous scandals but he still came in just .02% of the vote behind Kring.
Kring ran for Mayor of Anaheim in 2002, losing to Curt Pringle by over 4,000 votes, according to Smart Voter. And she also won a seat on the Anaheim City Council way back in 1998, when she was the top vote-getter, with 24.8% of the vote, according to Smart Voter. Back then there were no Latinos in that council race, which tells you that Anaheim has changed a lot over the past decade. Continue reading