OC Political

Mike Alvarez

Ray Grangoff

Larry Labrado

Mark Murphy

Eight people filed for Orange City Council by the close of filing Friday.  Two council seats are up, and they are held by termed-out Councilmembers Jon Dumitru (R) and Tita Smith (D), so there are no eligible incumbents in this race.  In alphabetical order by last name, the nine candidates (and their ballot designations) are:

• Mike Alvarez (R) – Businessman
• Richard Callahan (R) – Financial Professional/Author
• Brian A. Del Vecchio (R) – Businessman/Educator
• Robert L. Douglas (D) – Orange Business Owner
• Ray Grangoff (R) – City of Orange Planning Commissioner
• Lawrence R. “Larry” Labrado (D) – Governing Board Member, Rancho Santiago Community College District
• Mark A. Murphy (R) – Businessman
• Josh Nothom (D) – Educator

I’ll get back to Alvarez, Grangoff, Labrado, and Murphy in a minute, but let me briefly describe the other four first.  Douglas is a perennial candidate for council, having run in the last four elections, and only once surpassing 11% of the vote.  Callahan is a frequent letter writer to the Orange County Registerand is a former corporate executive, having been vice president and controller of Coldwell Banker Real Estate Group.  Del Vecchio is a salesman, currently a national account representative at Equus Products (Equus sells “diagnostic & scan tools, test equipment, gauges and tachometers” for cars).  Nothom is a teacher at the Lila School of Orange County, is currently developing the Joberu Community School, and is also the lead guitarist in a band called ReaLEyeZ.

Here are the Big Four:

• Alvarez is a former Orange City Councilman, who termed out in 2004.  He made an unsuccessful bid for Mayor in 2006 when Carolyn Cavecche defeated him 55.7%-33.2%.
• Labrado is a sitting elected member of the Rancho Santiago Community College District, representing the people of Orange on that board since 1994.
• Grangoff is an Orange Planning Commissioner.  He’s also Deputy Chief of Staff to Supervisor Pat Bates and was an elected official at the age of 18 when he was a school board member before opting not to run for re-election to attend graduate school.
• Murphy is a former Orange Mayor and City Councilman, who termed out in 2010.  He was elected by the people of Orange in 1994, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006.