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NOCCC’s Meet the Candidates Night: Central Committee, City Councils (Yorba Linda, Placentia, Fullerton, Anaheim), 3rd Supervisorial District, CD-45

Posted by Chris Nguyen on April 13, 2012

North Orange County Conservative CoalitionThe North Orange County Conservative Coalition held a meet the candidates night last night in Anaheim Hills.  By my quick crowd estimate, I believe 75-100 people were present.

Desare’ Ferraro organized the meeting which was guest emceed by Orange County Register writer Brian Calle.  Calle also brought the students from the “Mass Media Ethics” course he teaches at Cal State Fullerton.

Deborah Pauly and John Webb were crowd pleasers.  Todd Spitzer sent a video camera to film Pauly.

I was shocked to see John Leos speak.

Here’s a run down of the remarks by various candidates (please note that I am paraphrasing what the candidates said; I haven’t run a fact-check on the numerical data several of them asserted; also, I was attempting to write as fast as candidates spoke, so apologies to any candidates for incorrect transcriptions; please feel free to comment below with corrections).

Central Committee

Oddly, candidates for the Republican Party Central Committee did not get a chance to speak.  They were only introduced by Calle, stood as a group at the front, and then sat back down.

The Central Committee candidates present were:

55th District

  • Jim Domen
  • Desare’ Ferraro
  • Connie Lanzisera
  • Robert Lauten
  • Brenda McCune (our OC Political blogger)
  • Dennis R. White

65th District

  • Greg Sebourn
  • Pat Shuff

68th District

  • James Brownfield
  • Deborah Pauly
  • Nick Wilson

There was a 12th candidate present, but I did not catch the candidate’s name, and the candidate failed to sign in on the NOCCC’s candidate sign-in sheet.

Yorba Linda City Council

After the Central Committee mass introduction, the first speakers were candidate for the Yorba Linda City Council.

Incumbent Councilwoman Nancy Rikel spoke first.  She spoke of her successful efforts on Measure B (any major zoning change that exceeds housing densities in Yorba Linda’s current zoning and/or General Plan must be approved by a majority vote), her battles against eminent domain, and her efforts to pass an ethics measure.  In response to a question from the audience, she described the process to determine Yorba Linda’s police contract.

Candidate Jim Domen spoke second.  He spoke of his co-founding of NOCCC.  He also described how he became President of his homeowners association.  He felt it was analogous to government: before his presidency, the HOA kept raising dues, similarly to the government raising taxes; during his presidency, he opposed raising dues and used his business experience to cut spending, as government should cut spending instead of raising taxes.  He also spoke of his background as a Yorba Linda native and his international business and economics education.  In response to a question from the audience, he stated that he supported doing price comparisons between different police agencies in determining the Yorba Linda police contract.

Placentia City Council

Incumbent Councilman Jeremy Yamaguchi (currently serving as Mayor) made a joke about his council service giving him gray hair (he’s 23), and then spoke of his record fighting for fiscally conservative policies, protection of private property, reduction of business regulations, and holding the line against unions.  He noted his battle against a strange proposal to regulate Placentia garage sales and against borrowing money for a parking structure for the Placentia train station for a train that doesn’t yet exist.  In response to a question from the audience, he stated the only Councilmember to not vote for forming an Economic Development Commission was Connie Underhill, who he noted had been on the Placentia City Council for nearly his entire life.

Fullerton Recall Candidates

Greg Sebourn, who is running in the race to replace Don Bankhead, spoke of the illegal water fee that spiked residents water bills by 10%, which went to the general fund.  He stated that 80% of the general fund goes to employee pensions, salaries, and benefits.

Barry Levinson, who is running in the race to replace Pat McKinley, spoke of how ill-prepared recall targets Bankhead, McKinley, and Dick Jones seem at meetings; it seems to him that the trio don’t even read their council agendas before showing up to meetings.  He spoke of a Stanford study that found Fullerton’s unfunded pension liability is $500 million.  He spoke of Fullerton being targetted by a dozen lawsuits that could cost the city $100 million, thanks to McKinley (police chief until shortly before he ran for Council) and the Fullerton Police Department.  He noted those two figures totaled $600 million, while Fullerton’s general fund is $65 million.

Rick Alvarez, who is running in the race to replace Don Bankhead, spoke of his family’s immigrant background.  He said he is running as a uniter not a divider.  He also noted he is a Planning Commissioner and Traffic Commissioner.

Anaheim City Council

Brian Chuchua spoke of his opposition to the plan to permit the GardenWalk Hotel to retain $158 million (80%) of the transient occupancy tax (TOT) the hotel collects while the City does not allow any other hotel to do the same.  He stated the transient occupancy tax is 43% of Anaheim’s general fund.  He said he was removed as an Anaheim Chamber Ambassador due to this position on this issue.  In response to a question from the audience, he said he is opposed to the high-speed rail project.

I was shocked by who spoke next.

John Leos opened with, “Talk about walking into the lion’s den.”  He noted that his family immigrated to Anaheim 100 years ago.  He graduated from Canyon High School (author’s note: Emami and I are also Canyon grads), which is literally a block away from the site of the NOCCC meeting.  He stated he is a labor union member, and labor is very divided on the $158 million GardenWalk Hotel TOT plan, but that Leos himself opposed the plan.

Third District Supervisor

While being filmed by a representative of the Todd Spitzer campaign, Deborah Pauly spoke to the NOCCC.  She stated the Board of Supervisors needs “at least one limited government fiscal conservative who represents the people.”  She then noted the cameraman, stared straight into the camera and declared her opponent to be a “retread, big government, special interest career politician.”  She pointed to Spitzer’s brochure which has the word integrity right under his picture and stated his consultant believed Spitzer has an intergrity problem.  She stated Spitzer waves around a flyer showing he got an “A” rating from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association during his tenure in the Assembly, but she stated Spitzer sent a $1000 check to to get their endorsement, but the check was refused, as the HJTA “cannot be bought.”  She then showed a letter from HJTA endorsing her, not Spitzer, for the Third Supervisorial District seat.  She noted in December 2001 that Spitzer not only voted for 3%@50, but he actually made the motion to pass 3%@50 during his previous stint as Supervisor.  She disputed his statements that no one understood the costs of 3%@50 at the time, as she pointed to a November 2001 actuarial report that was in the Board of Supervisors agenda that she stated warned about the costs of implementing 3%@50.

In response to a question from the audience about the well-known video of her speaking in Yorba Linda, Pauly said she was not speaking about “peaceful moderate Muslims” but of two specific men from the Muslim brotherhood, including Malik Ali.

In response to a question from the audience, she noted that Supervisors John Moorlach and Shawn Nelson had not endorsed either candidate in the Third Supervisorial District and that Supervisors Pat Bates and Janet Nguyen endorsed Spitzer because “apparently, they like money.”

In response to a bizarre question from the audience about the Republican Party equalizing funding for candidates to stop multimillionaire candidates (author’s note: I think the audience member mistakenly thought the $1 million Spitzer warchest was Spitzer’s personal wealth rather than the fact that Spitzer raised all of that money and is not independently wealthy), Pauly stated Scott Baugh was “falling all over” himself to endorse Spitzer.  Pauly noted that voters don’t like the feeling of being purchased in an election.  She praised the Stop Special Interest Money Now ballot initiative.

In response to a question from the audience, Pauly stated she has not decided on Laura’s Law, as there needs to be a balance between helping people with great need and the potential to abuse the law with false mental health allegations.

Spitzer’s cameraman spoke next, stating he’s a volunteer.  He spoke of Spitzer helping his family on a crime issue.  He stated that he (the cameraman not Spitzer) is a Coptic Christian and that the Muslim Brotherhood is in Egypt not the United States.  He stated Spitzer was speaking at the Mission Viejo Tea Party on Monday (a Tea Party Patriot organizer in the audience shouted out it was a false tea party) and invited NOCCC to attend.  The cameraman also invited the audience to attend Spitzer’s open house on Tuesday.

In response to a question from the audience, the cameraman could not confirm or deny if Spitzer would serve a full four-year term.

In response to a question from the audience, the cameraman stated Spitzer was not present due to a scheduling conflict with a long-scheduled open coffee in Irvine.

45th Congressional District

John Webb spoke of his goal of changing the tax structure, restraining the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and supporting energy independence to ensure “no more wars for oil.”

In response to a question from the audience, Webb said he is personally opposed to the California Air Resources Board, calling it a bad idea from the 1960s when “we smoked dope.”  He, however, stated he was for states’ rights, implying Congress should not interfere with CARB.

In response to a question from the audience, Webb stated that if elected, he would be the sole member of Congress from Orange County who has combat experience.  He cited his military record, his record as a robbery/homicide detective, and his business record.  He stated President Barack Obama has committed impeachable offenses.

In response to a question from the audience, he stated the differences between himself and incumbent Congressman John Campbell is that Campbell voted fro TARP, Cash for Clunkers, and Sarbanes-Oxley expansion while Webb would have voted against those actions.  Webb also stated Campbell was one of only two Congressmen to vote against the STOCK Act.  Webb also said he heard a rumor that Campbell introduced legislation to control the type of bait used in Montana.

In response to a question from the audience, Webb said he would do not just town hall meetings but would go to voters’ homes.

In response to a question from the audience, Webb said he would fly on commercial airlines between Washington, DC and Orange County if elected, very likely on Southwest Airlines.

U.S. Senate

Robert Lauten spoke about wanting to revive the Glass-Steagall Act, to declare U.S. debt fictional, to implement a Hamiltonian economic system, and wanting to abolish the Federal Reserve.  He also accused “State Treasurer Richard Citron” of causing the 1994 Orange County bankruptcy (author’s note: for the record, it was County Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert Citron).

The audience looked at Lauten like he was completely nuts.

Wrap Up

All of the above was done in 90 minutes.  The program was slated for 60 minutes and was running on schedule until the Third Supervisorial District and 45th Congressional District ran over time and took up nearly half the program.

(Disclaimer related to Fullerton recall section above: In the interest of full disclosure, I should note my day job is working in the Fullerton office of Assemblyman Chris Norby, who served on the Fullerton City Council from 1984-2002.  One of my co-workers in the office is Fullerton City Councilman Bruce Whitaker, who was elected in 2010 and is not a target of the recall.)

Posted in 3rd Supervisorial District, 45th Congressional District, Anaheim, Fullerton, Placentia, Republican Central Committee, Yorba Linda | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

OC’s Best Ballot Designations

Posted by Chris Nguyen on April 5, 2012

Ballot

Ballot designations are the only piece of information that appear directly on the ballot other than a candidate's name (and party in some - but not all - races).

Last week, I wrote about OC’s worst ballot designations. In this post, I’ll be looking at OC’s best ballot designations.

As I said last week, “The most important thing a candidate does in a campaign may well be selecting a ballot designation.  That little phrase underneath a candidate’s name are the last piece of information that voters see before casting their ballots.  In low-profile races (like Central Committee, where you can’t even get a candidate’s statement in the sample ballot), that little phrase may well be the only piece of information that voters see before casting their ballots.”

Elected officials’ ballot designations are an inherent advantage, so I’m excluding the designations of elected officials.

OC’s Ten Best Ballot Designations (for Non-Incumbents/Non-Elected Officials)

  1. Retired Navy Captain (Emily Sanford in the 74th District Republican Central Committee)
    Retired Naval Officer (Norm Dickinson in the 73rd District Republican Central Committee)
    Who could possibly vote against the military?  People have a deep respect for career military officers, as these people have served their country, have substantial leadership experience, understand complex government bodies, and are educated.
  2. Deputy Attorney General (Peggy Huang in the 55th District Republican Central Committee)
    Voters love prosecutors.  Prosecutors put criminals in prison.  Deputy District Attorneys rarely lose elections.  Deputy Attorney General is higher on the food chain, so it should be even more impressive to voters.
  3. Deputy District Attorney (Cyril Yu in the 74th District Democratic Central Committee)
    See above.
  4. Retired Police Commander (Albert Ayala in AD-72)
    Voters love law enforcement because the police catch criminals.  A retired police commander has served his community, has leadership experience, and understands dealing with government.
  5. Law Enforcement Officer (Jorge Robles in CD-38)
    As above, voters love law enforcement because they catch criminals and have served the community.
  6. Businessman/Victims Advocate (Todd Spitzer in the 3rd Supervisorial District)
    How on earth do you vote against a victims advocate?  That’d be like voting against victims.
  7. Businesswoman/Childrens Advocate (Brenda McCune in the 55th District Republican Central Committee)
    How on earth do you vote against a childrens advocate?  That’d be like voting against the children.  (Of course, we’d expect all OC Political bloggers to have great ballot designations when running for office, and she’s done just that.)
  8. Retired Constitutional Litigator (Jonathan Adler in the 74th District Democratic Central Committee)
    Voters hate most lawyers as ambulance chasers and corporate raiders.  However, there are two types of lawyers people like: the prosecutors who put criminals away and the constitutional lawyers who battle for constitutional causes and rights (note that Spitzer and McCune went with “Advocate” instead of “Lawyer” – it’s the same job but “Advocate” sounds friendlier than “Lawyer”).
  9. Emergency Physician (Bill Honigman in the 73rd District Democratic Central Committee)
    Doctors improve health.  Emergency room doctors save lives.  People vote for lifesavers.
  10. Charitable Organization President (Usha Shah in CD-47)
    Too many people who work for non-profit organizations run with “Non-Profit Organization” or “Non-Profit Group” in their ballot designation.  “Charitable Organization” brings happy thoughts that make voters feel warm and fuzzy.  “Charitable” just sounds better than “Non-Profit” even though 90% of the time they’re the same thing.

Interestingly, half of the above are lawyers.  Note that none of these lawyers used “lawyer” in their designation.  None used “Attorney” except when it had key modifiers to become “Deputy Attorney General” or “Deputy District Attorney” instead.  These candidates realize voters don’t like lawyers, but they’re smart enough to realize people like prosecutors and advocates.

Lessons from the group above:

  • Non-prosecutor lawyers should generally run as advocates.
  • People like the military, law enforcement, and doctors.
  • When possible, “Charitable” should be used instead of “Non-Profit” to attract voters.

Best Pair of Ballot Designations in a Two-Person Race: 3rd Supervisorial District

  • Businessman/Victims Advocate (Todd Spitzer)
  • Councilwoman, City of Villa Park (Deborah Pauly)

Spitzer’s designation was #6 on my list of the ten best ballot designations in OC.  Pauly’s designation was ineligible to be on the list due to my “elected officials’ ballot designations are an inherent advantage” rule.  Therefore, this race inherently has the best pair of ballot designations in any two-person race.

Best Set of Ballot Designations in One Race Featuring 3+ Candidates: AD-72

  • Small Business Owner (Travis Allen – Republican)
  • Retired Police Commander (Albert Ayala – Democrat)
  • City Commissioner/Businessman (Joe Dovinh – Democrat)
  • Member, Orange County Board of Education (Long Pham – Republican)
  • Businessman/Mayor (Troy Edgar – Republican)

I noted last week that the five candidates in CD-46 has the worst set of ballot designations in any one race.  Well, another set of five candidates, this time in AD-72, has the best set of ballot designations in any one race with three or more candidates.

Every single one of these candidates maximized their occupations and political positions in their descriptions of themselves.

  • Allen runs a wealth management firm.  “Wealth Management Businessowner” could be offputting to some voters.  He wisely (and accurately) chose to describe himself as a “Small Business Owner” because his wealth management firm is a small business, and he does own it.  Plus people on both sides of the aisle respect people who own small businesses; indeed, the majority of Americans work for small businesses.
  • Ayala’s “Retired Police Commander” came in at #4 on my list of best ballot designations.  When the most hopeless candidate makes the best ballot designations list, you know you’ve got a fun race.
  • Dovinh’s “City Commissioner/Businessman” maximizes his appointed political role and takes advantage of his job as a general contractor.  The “City Commissioner” part wisely leaves off a specific city making it possible he could be a city commissioner in any of the cities in AD-72: Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, Seal Beach, Westminster, Garden Grove, Los Alamitos, or Santa Ana.  (He’s a Garden Grove Planning Commissioner for the record.)  Additionally, there are cities out there (though not in California) that call their city elected officials commissioners instead of councilmembers.  For voters looking for candidates with private sector experience, Dovinh’s “Businessman” designation appeals to them.
  • Pham’s “Member, Orange County Board of Education” takes advantage of my “elected officials’ ballot designations are an inherent advantage” rule.  Not only that, he takes advantage of the Elections Code regulation that allows sitting elected officials to exceed three words in a ballot designation if they use their elected title as their sole ballot designation (this counts as a five-word designation; remember, “Orange County” is legally one word for purposes of the Elections Code).  Further, Pham is one of a small group of elected officials whose elected position includes “Orange County” in the title.  Since the entirety of AD-72 is in Orange County, his title sounds like he could represent all the people of AD-72 (for the record, he represents Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Santa Ana, and Tustin).
  • Edgar’s “Businessman/Mayor” takes advantage of his status owning two businesses and the fact that he is currently Mayor of Los Alamitos.  Edgar is the only candidate in AD-72 who didn’t maximize the word limit, and he also failed to use the stronger “Businessowner” over “Businessman” in his designation: I would have tweaked this to be “Orange County Businessowner/Mayor” or “Small Businessowner/Mayor” though this is still a strong ballot designation.  Everything I said about Dovinh’s ballot designation applies to Edgar, with the added advantage that the mayor is leader of a city while a commissioner is just one of several officials.  Edgar’s not a directly-elected mayor; he’s mayor in one of those cities (specifically, Los Alamitos) where mayor is rotated on an annual basis among the councilmembers.  However, for ballot designation purposes, it doesn’t matter if you’re directly-elected or rotated into the position, as long as you’re the mayor when you’re running.

So last week, I wrote about OC’s worst ballot designations. In this post, these are Orange County’s best ballot designations.

Posted in 38th Congressional District, 3rd Supervisorial District, 47th Congressional District, 72nd Assembly District, Republican Central Committee | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

OC’s Worst Ballot Designations

Posted by Chris Nguyen on March 29, 2012

Ballot designations are the only piece of information that appear directly on the ballot other than a candidate's name.

The most important thing a candidate does in a campaign may well be selecting a ballot designation.  That little phrase underneath a candidate’s name are the last piece of information that voters see before casting their ballots.  In low-profile races (like Central Committee, where you can’t even get a candidate’s statement in the sample ballot), that little phrase may well be the only piece of information that voters see before casting their ballots.

Adam Probolsky has written about good and bad ballot designations, on (I believe) both Flash Report and old Red County, and he’s spoken about them in the press.  Inspired by his old commentary, I now present to you Orange County’s worst ballot designations (I’ll write about Orange County’s best ballot designations next week).

OC’s Ten Worst Ballot Designations

I would be shocked if any of these people with truly awful ballot designations win (with the possible exception of Lupe Moreno, who might be able to overcome her awful designation with her high name ID):

  1. Student (Roberta J. Reid in the Fullerton Recall, Kathryn Pena in the 73rd District Democratic Central Committee)
    The electorate does not vote for students.  Sorry, life’s unfair, but voters will not vote for a student.  Some of you will point to young candidates who have been elected, but guess what, they didn’t use the “Student” ballot designation.
    My advice to students running for office: pick “Community Volunteer” if you don’t have a job or “Businessman” or “Businesswoman” if you have a job (even a part-time job).
  2. Musician, Artist (Matthew Hakim in the Fullerton Recall)
    What on earth makes a musician or an artist qualified to hold elected office?  People like to listen to music and to look at art, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to vote for musicians or artists.
    My advice to musicians and artists running for office: pick “Businessman” or “Businesswoman”
  3. Homemaker (Patricia Ross in the 72nd District Republican Central Committee)
    While homemakers are absolutely essential to the well-functioning of people’s homes and ultimately, society, people are unwilling to vote for homemakers for elected office.  Sorry, as with students, life is unfair, and voters will not cast their ballots for homemakers.
    My advice to homemakers running for office: pick “Community Volunteer”
  4. Self-Employed Hairdresser (Heidi A. Bressler in the 74th District Democratic Central Committee)
    Why is anyone going to vote for a hairdresser?  Voters aren’t going to go for that.  What special attributes does a hairdresser bring to elected office?
    My advice to self-employed hairdressers running for office: pick “Small Business Owner” or “Businesswoman/Entrepreneur”
  5. Office Specialist (Lupe Moreno in the 69th District Republican Central Committee)
    What is an office specialist?  I think it’s something clerical.  (For the record, this is the County’s description.) If Lupe Moreno wins, it’ll be due to her long-term name ID in spite of her ballot designation.
    My advice to office specialists running for office: “Office Coordinator” or “Analyst” makes you sound more impressive.
  6. Plumbing Contractor (Kevin Richardson in the 73rd District Republican Central Committee)
    Unless you’re Joe the Plumber, I really don’t think voters are going to vote for anyone with “Plumbing” as part of their ballot designation.  People just aren’t big fans of plumbers.  Think of all the stereotypes of plumbers, and they aren’t flattering.
    My advice to plumbing contractors running for office: pick “Small Businessman” or “Business Contractor”
  7. Retail Sales Associate (Joshua Robert Morales in the 68th District Republican Central Committee)
    Why would voters cast their ballots for a retail sales associates?  What makes a retail sales associate uniquely qualified for office?
    My advice to retail sales associates running for office: “Businessman” or “Businesswoman”
  8. Retired Executive Secretary (Heide Krueger in the 74th District Democratic Central Committee)
    Executive secretaries are key players in what happens in an office and control access to the executives.  However, life’s unfair, and many people lack respect for the position and will not vote for one.
    My advice to [retired] executive secretaries running for office: “[Retired] Businesswoman” or “[Retired] Businessman”
  9. Executive Assistant (Erin Shawn in the 73rd District Democratic Central Committee)
    Executive assistants have virtually the same problem as executive secretaries, though there may be some people who make distinctions between the assistants and secretaries.
    My advice to executive assistants running for office: “Businesswoman” or “Businessman”
  10. Retired Recreation Supervisor (Glen Stroud in the 69th District Republican Central Committee)
    What would motivate people to vote for a recreation supervisor?  Stroud’s claims to fame as being a twice-ousted Santa Ana City Commissioner and a grand juror likely does not produce high enough name ID to overpower this bad ballot designation.
    My advice to [retired] recreation supervisors running for office: “[Retired] County Manager” or “[Retired] City Supervisor” (Stroud is the former, FYI); unfortunately, these are not interchangeable as “[Retired] County Supervisor” and “[Retired] City Manager” would be unacceptable due to their wildly different meanings.

(In all cases above from my advice, businessman/businesswoman/businessperson are interchangeable, of course.)

Worst Set of Ballot Designations in One Race: CD-46

  • Escrow Company Owner (Pat Garcia, Republican)
  • Tax Accountant (Jorge Rocha, Republican)
  • United States Representative – 47th District (Loretta Sanchez, Incumbent Democrat)
  • Local Independent Businessman (Jerry Hayden, Republican)
  • Strategy Manager/Accountant (John J. Cullum, Republican)

The old saying, “less is more” applies to all five of these ballot designations.  None of these in and of themselves would make the list of worst ballot designations, but collectively, they are the worst set of any one race.

  • Garcia should have just gone with “Small Business Owner” as his ballot designation.  I can’t imagine there’s a huge voter base of escrow officers.
  • Rocha should have just gone with “Accountant” or “Businessman” because a “Tax Accountant” sounds like some horrible agent of the IRS even though his job is actually helping people battle the IRS.
  • Sanchez should have left her district number off.  She inadvertently makes herself look like a carpetbagger when really her district was simply renumbered.  Fortunately for her, she has very high name ID in her district (high even for an incumbent) and throughout the county, and frankly it’s still by far the best ballot designation in this contest.
  • Hayden slapped on too many adjectives and picked odd wording.  People are more used to “Small Businessman” than “Independent Businessman” in their common vernacular.  Indeed, “Local Independent Businessman” sounds much colder and unfriendly than “Local Small Businessman” as a ballot designation.
  • On Cullum: what exactly is a Strategy Manager anyway?

So those are Orange County’s worst ballot designations.  I’ll write next week about Orange County’s best ballot designations.

(In the interest of full disclosure, I should note my day job is working in the Fullerton office of Assemblyman Chris Norby, who served on the Fullerton City Council from 1984-2002.  One of my co-workers in the office is Fullerton City Councilman Bruce Whitaker, who was elected in 2010 and is not a target of the recall.  Since I referenced him at the start of this post, I should also note I have not spoken to Adam Probolsky [nor Chris Norby or Bruce Whitaker, for that matter] about this post, although I hope he would be in agreement with my analysis above.  The opinions expressed in this post are exclusively my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Chris Norby, Bruce Whitaker, or Adam Probolsky.)

Posted in 46th Congressional District, Fullerton, Orange County, Republican Central Committee | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Feeling Lucky! Newest California Lottery Winners: Webb, Garcia, Varaseth, Walters, Norby, Avalos, Daly, Allen, Harkey, Daigle, Nguyen, Spitzer, Downing, Night, Dumitru, Dyrud, Nagel, Anderson, Aiken

Posted by Chris Nguyen on March 16, 2012

LotteryYesterday afternoon, the newest winners of the California lottery were announced: Businessman John Webb, Businessman Pat Garcia, Businessman Ron Varaseth, Senator Mimi Walters, Assemblyman Chris Norby, Perennial candidate Christina Avalos, Clerk-Recorder Tom Daly, Businessman Travis Allen, Assemblywoman Diane Harkey, Newport Beach Councilwoman Leslie Daigle, Supervisor Janet Nguyen, former Supervisor/Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, Businesswoman Karla Downing, Central Committee Member Baron Night, Orange Councilman Jon Dumitru, Central Committee Member Gwen Dyrud, Central Committee Member Steve Nagel, San Clemente Planning Commissioner Nesa Anderson, and Office Clerk Jon Aiken.

No, these 19 people are not splitting a $200,000,000 jackpot.  They won the Secretary of State’s candidate order lottery.

What’s the candidate order lottery, you ask?

Well, California law requires a lottery to determine the order of candidates on the ballot.  Why does this law exist?  Studies of the primacy effect showed the candidate at the top of the ballot gains as much as a 5% increase in votes.  Consequently, in 1975, California legislators adopted a law mandating an end to the alphabetical listing of candidates (likely to the chagrin of Sam Aanestad and Dick Ackerman but the joy of Mary Young and Ed Zschau) and requiring a lottery before each election.

The Secretary of State’s candidate order lottery has determined the alphabet for the June primary to be UNADIVXWQGOZLTRKSJHMCBFPYE.

This applies to most races on the ballot, excluding races that cross county lines (for OC, these would be CD-38, CD-39, CD-47, CD-49, SD-29, and AD-55).

The primacy effect is weaker when there are fewer candidates on the ballot, and when there are higher-profile campaigns.  Being at the top of the ballot is most valuable for low-profile campaigns with large numbers of candidates.  That means that of the 19 people I listed above, the biggest winners in this lottery are the Central Committee candidates, so the biggest congratulations goes to the following Republican Central Committee Candidates for their 5% vote bonus:

  • 55th District: Karla Downing, Small Business Owner (1st of 10 candidates)
  • 65th District: Baron Night, Incumbent (1st of 11 candidates)
  • 68th District: Jon Dumitru, City Councilman (1st of 18 candidates)
  • 69th District: Gwen A. Dyrud, Appointed Incumbent (1st of 10 candidates)
  • 72nd District: Steve A. Nagel, Incumbent (1st of 14 candidates)
  • 73rd District: Nesa Anderson, Planning Commissioner/Businesswoman (1st of a stunning 22 candidates)
  • 74th District: Jon Aiken, Office Clerk (1st of 16 candidates)

For the races that cross county lines, each county does its own lottery, so here are the OC Registrar’s lottery results: DMNESVTUHKWGXFCIQYAORZPLJB.

Congratulations to these candidates who won the Registrar’s lottery and will appear at the top of the ballot in the Orange County portions of their districts:

  • 38th Congressional District: Linda Sanchez (D), United States Representative (1st of 3)
  • 39th Congressional District: D’Marie Mulattieri (DCorrection: NPP), Community Volunteer (1st of 3)
  • 47th Congressional District: Gary DeLong (R), Local Small Businessman (1st of 8)
  • 49th Congressional District: Albin Novinec (NPP), United States Marine (1st of 4)
  • 29th Senate District: Greg Diamond (D), Workers’ Rights Attorney (1st of 2)
  • 55th Assembly District: Curt Hagman (R), Member of the State Assembly (1st of 2)

You would think that with electronic voting now, the names could be randomized for every poll voter (obviously, we’d still need the lottery for absentee voters).

(In the interest of full disclosure, my day job is working for Assemblyman Chris Norby, one of the lottery winners, as the letter N came in second in the alphabet behind U, though no one with a last name starting with U is running in all of Orange County.)

Posted in 29th Senate District, 38th Congressional District, 39th Congressional District, 47th Congressional District, 49th Congressional District, 55th Assembly District, Republican Central Committee | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Central Committee Races Finalized

Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on March 12, 2012

The OC GOP Central Committee races have been finalized.

Here are the candidates that qualified for the ballot (top 6 win in each district):

55th Assembly District

Brett Barbre                  Appointed Incumbent
Jim Domen                   Pastor
Karla Downing             Small Business Owner
Desare Ferraro             Small Business Consultant
Peggy Huang                Deputy Attorney General
Connie Lanzisera         Small Business Owner
Robert Lauten
Brenda McCune           Businesswoman/Childrens Advocate
Tim Shaw                      Mayor, City of La Habra
Dennis R. White          Mechanical Engineer

65th Assembly District

Samuel “Sam” Han      Appointed Incumbent
Steve Hwangbo             Councilman/Businessman/Father
Jerry Jackson                Retired Aerospace Engineer
Sou Moua                       Businessman
Shawn Nelson               Orange County Supervisor
Baron Night                   Incumbent
Greg Sebourn                Businessman/Educator
David John Shawver   Mayor Pro Tem
Pat Shuff                        Incumbent
Henry Charoen             Mayor/Businessman
Alexandria Coronado  Small Business Owner

68th Assembly District

Denis Bilodeau              Mayor Pro Tem
James Brownfield         Business Owner
Mark William Bucher     Incumbent
Steven S. Choi                  Irvine City Councilman
Jon Dumitru                     City Councilman
Marcia Gilchrist               Incumbent
Ray Grangoff                    Incumbent
Jeffrey Lalloway              Irvine Councilmember/Businessman
Joshua Robert Morales  Retail Sales Associate
Walter H. Myers, III       Software Consultant
Noel Stone Parrish          Businesswoman
Deborah Pauly                 Councilwoman, City of Villa Park
Lynn Schott                      Entrepreneur/Educator
Todd Spitzer                     Businessman/Victims Advocate
Scott “Scotty” Voigts       Lake Forest City Councilman
Fred M. Whitaker            City of Orange Councilman/Businessman
Ken L. Williams Jr.         Member, Orange County Board of Education
Nick Wilson                      Small Business Owner

69th Assembly District

Cuong Sinh Cao                            Incumbent
Bryan Carter                                 Software Engineer
Gwen A. Dyrud                             Appointed Incumbent
Brett Elliott Franklin                   Incumbent
Thomas Anthony Gordon           Incumbent
Robert Morris Hammond           Business Owner/Teacher
Charles Hart                                  Appointed Incumbent
Lupe Moreno                                 Office Specialist
Glen Stroud                                    Retired Recreation Supervisor
Timothy “Tim” Ryan Whitacre  Incumbent

72nd Assembly District

John W. Briscoe            Certified Public Accountant
Dennis R. Catron           Small Businessman
Patrick Dooley
Michael E. Gates             Businessman/Attorney
Dean Grose                      Small Business Owner
Matthew Harper             Huntington Beach City Councilman
Brian Hoops                    Special Needs Educator
Diane A. Lenning           Small Business Owner
Kermit Marsh                  Incumbent
Mark McCurdy                Fountain Valley City Councilmember
Steve A. Nagel                 Incumbent
Janet Nguyen                  Orange County Supervisor
Patricia Ross                    Homemaker
Mary Tuong Van Pham  Businesswoman

73rd Assembly District

Alice Anderson                   Incumbent
Nesa Anderson                   Planning Commissioner/Businesswoman
Linda Barnes                      Community Volunteer
Tony Beall                           Incumbent
Evan P. Chafee                   Marketing Sales/Representative
Chandra Chell                     Computer Systems Analyst
Nina R. Davar                     Export Assistant Manager
Norm Dickinson                 Retired Naval Officer
Mark Dobrilovic                 Financial Advisor
John C. Drew                      Author/Speaker/Consultant
Dave Duringer                    Gun Trust Attorney
Jon Steven Fleischman     Small Business Owner
Roy Fussell                          Realtor
Paul Hebbard                      Certified Public Accountant
Michael Kogus                    Business Owner
Steve Magdziak                   Small Business Owner
Mike Munzing                     Incumbent
Nancy Padberg                    Governing Board Member, South Orange Co. Community College District
Kevin Richardson               Plumbing Contractor
Eric Stolaski                         Small Business Owner
Greg Woodard                     Appointed Incumbent
Mary Young                          Incumbent

74th Assembly District

Jon Aiken                                Office Clerk
Allan Bartlett                          Incumbent
Scott Baugh                             Incumbent
John Draper                            Businessman
Bill Dunlap                              General Contractor
Thomas A. “T.J.” Fuentes    Businessman
Don Hansen                            Mayor, City of Huntington Beach
Daniel Marshall                      Attorney
Jeff Mathews                          Business Owner
Vanessa A. Matthews            Small Business Owner
Gary Morse                             Retired Business Owner
Richard “Dick” Palmer         Community Volunteer
Scott “Scotty” Peotter           Businessman/Legislative Analyst
Rhonda Rohrabacher           Small Business Owner
Emily Sanford                        Retired Navy Captain
Christina L. Shea                   Businesswoman
John Warner                          Incumbent

This is simply a list of the candidates that qualified for the ballot along with their ballot designations. After the alphabetical lottery we will make some predictions on who we think will actually win these races.

Posted in Republican Central Committee | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

2-29-2012 Central Committee (AD 65) Filing Update

Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on February 29, 2012

Here is part 7 in this 7 part series that is going out this week on the blog.

Thank you to Meridian Pacific for the use of the map to show this district:

This Assembly district is currently represented by Assemblyman Chris Norby and represents North Orange County. With that being said here is the break-down of who has pulled papers:

Alex Burrola– A Republican party activist that has run for partisan office before and been involved in numerous political activities.

Greg Sebourn– He ran for Fullerton City Council back in the 2010 election and fell just short of winning one of the two seats that was up. We might see take two of this election.

Henry Charoen– Currently a La Palma City Councilman and potentially a future candidate for the 65th Assembly District as he has already formed a committee.

Jerry Jackson– He is currently a sitting member of the OC GOP Central Committee. *Incumbent.

Sou Moua– I was not able to find any information about this individual.

Pat Shuff– She currently sits on the OC GOP Central Committee in this district and is a former Fullerton RWF President. *Incumbent.

Alexandria Coronado– She used to be a member of the Orange County Board of Education before she was narrowly defeated last election by David Boyd.

David John Shawver– He is currently a member of the Stanton City Council and a previous opponent of John Moorlach for public office.

Shawn Nelson– Orange County Supervisor representing the 4th district and he has been a solid vote so far. He is also a current member of the OC GOP Central Committee. *Incumbent.

Readers help me out by adding info on any candidates that I may have left out and feel free to fill me in on the candidates I found nothing on.

Posted in Republican Central Committee | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

2-29-2012 Central Committee (AD 68) Filing Update

Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on February 29, 2012

Here is part 6 in this 7 part series that is going out this week on the blog.

Thank you to Meridian Pacific for the use of the map to show this district:

This Assembly district is currently represented by Assemblyman Don Wagner and represents a chunk of North Orange County along with a large slice of Irvine. With that being said here is the break-down of who has pulled papers:

Ken L. Williams Jr.– He is currently an elected member of the Orange County Board of Education and a past member of the OC GOP Central Committee.

Noel Stone Parrish– I could be mixing her up with somebody else but it appears that she is a former resident of Los Angeles County who moved to Orange County.

Todd Spitzer– He is currently a candidate for Orange County Supervisor in the 3rd District and an elected member to the OC GOP Central Committee. *incumbent.

Marcia Gilchrist– She has been a solid voice in Republican politics for a long time including her service as an elected member of the OC GOP Central Committee. *Incumbent.

Deborah Pauly– She is currently a member of the Villa Park City Council and Vice Chair of the OC GOP. Also she is rumored to possibly be running for Supervisor against Todd Spitzer. *Incumbent.

Chris Emami– I don’t know for sure whether or not I will be running.

Walter H. Myers III– He is someone who I consider to be a friend and he is also a very solid Republican as well. We are clearly rooting for our fellow blogger here at OC Political to win.

Lynn Schott– She is currently an elected member of the OC GOP Central Committee. It might be just me, but she comes across as angry all the time.

Nick Wilson– He is currently a Tea Party Republican who is running for a second time for this Central Committee seat after a tough loss in 2010.

Denis Bilodeau– He is currently an elected member of the Orange City Council and Orange County Water district. He was recently appointed to the OC GOP Central Committee. *Incumbent.

Ray Grangoff– Currently a member of Supervisor Pat Bates staff and also an elected member of the OC GOP Central Committee. *Incumbent.

Scott “Scotty” Voigts– A current elected member of the Lake Forest City Council and also a member of Assemblyman Don Wagner’s staff.

Readers help me out by adding info on any candidates that I may have left out and feel free to fill me in on the candidates I found nothing on.

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2-29-2012 Central Committee (AD 69) Filing Update

Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on February 29, 2012

Here is part 5 in this 7 part series that is going out this week on the blog.

Thank you to Meridian Pacific for the use of the map to show this district:

This Assembly district is currently represented by Assemblyman Jose Solorio and represents Santa Ana, Anaheim (portion), and Orange (portion). With that being said here is the break-down of who has pulled papers:

Lupe Moreno– She is involved with the Minutemen and also used to be a member of the Central Committee before being ousted this past election.

Charles Hart– Former candidate for Santa Ana Mayor and current appointed member of the Central Committee. *Incumbent.

Thomas Anthony Gordon– Clearly we here at OC Political have to cheer for our fellow blogger Thomas Gordon who is running for re-election. *Incumbent.

Brett Elliott Franklin– He is a former member of the Santa Ana City Council and current elected member of the OC GOP Central Committee.

Timothy “Tim” Ryan Whitacre– Tim is a current elected member of the Central Committee and also the member who chose to challenge Scott Baugh for the Chairmanship this past year. *Incumbent.

Robert Morris Hammond– He is currently the only hope for Republicans in the 69th Assembly District for the Assembly seat and is a nice guy from my interactions with him. *Incumbent.

Cuong Sin Cao– He is a very quiet individual who has been a solid vote on the Central Committee during his tenure. *Incumbent.

Gwen A. Dyrud– Gwen Dyrud was appointed to this seat at some point in the past year and can run as an incumbent on the ballot. *Incumbent.

Readers help me out by adding info on any candidates that I may have left out and feel free to fill me in on the candidates I found nothing on.

Posted in Republican Central Committee | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 10 Comments »

2-28-2012 Central Committee (AD 72) Filing Update

Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on February 28, 2012

Here is part 4 in the Central Committee update.

Thank you to Meridian Pacific for the use of the map to show this district:

This Assembly district is currently represented by Assemblyman Jim Silva and represents  more of a coastal demographic. Currently Matt Harper, Troy Edgar, and Long Pham are battling it out for this seat. With that being said here is the break-down of who has pulled papers:

Janet Nguyen– She is currently the Orange County Supervisor from the 1st District and an incumbent on the Central Committee too. *Incumbent.

John W. Briscoe– He is currently an elected member of the Ocean View School District and has run for higher office in the past as well.   CORRECTION (11:55 PM): John W. Briscoe is President of the Fountain Valley Republican Assembly and a CRA State Officer.  He is also a CPA on the Orange County Property Tax Appeals board and a past Chairman of the Fountain Valley Planning Commission.  (He is not Ocean View School District’s John F. Briscoe.)

Mark McCurdy– He is currently an elected member of the Fountain Valley Council and is serving as the Mayor Pro Tem. Also he is an incumbent on the Central Committee. *Incumbent.

Dennis R. Catron– I am not sure if it is the same person but according to a bit of research that I did a Dennis Catron used to be the Vice-Chairman of the OC GOP back in 1986.

Brian Hoops– According to some research, I couldn’t quite pinpoint it but their was a Brian Hoop linked to a Tea Party meet-up group.

Matthew Harper– An elected member of the Huntington Beach City Council nd current candidate for the 72nd Assembly District seat. *Incumbent.

Dean Grose– He s a former member of the Los Alamitos City Council who got into some hot water for his watermelon e-mail that he sent out. *Incumbent.

Kermit Marsh– He is a former member of the Westminster CIty Council who left because he chose to do so, not because of term limits or losing an election. *Incumbent.

Ian Dooley– The first of the brothers Dooley to pull papers for this office. He currently has a profile up on the Campaign For Liberty website (A Ron Paul affiliated group).

Patrick Dooley– The second of the brothers Dooley to pull papers for this office. He currently has a profile up on the Campaign For Liberty website as well.

Michael Gates– I could find no information on him.

Patricia Ross– Although I was unable to find any political information out about her, she is involved in charity work with local schools.

Diane A. Lenning– She is a perennial candidate for the office of California State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Steve A. Nagel– Currently an elected member of the Fountain Valley City Council and the OC GOP Central Committee. *Incumbent.

Mary Tuong Van Pham– (Updated: 10:35 PM). According to one of our commenters this is the wife of Assembly candidate Long Pham. I was able to confirm that this does indeed seem to be the case.

Readers help me out by adding info on any candidates that I may have left out and feel free to fill me in on the candidates I found nothing on.

Posted in Republican Central Committee | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

2-27-2012 Central Committee (AD 73) Filing Update

Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on February 27, 2012

My apologies to those readers that were expecting the rest of the updates for the Central Committee races last week. I got a bit busy and was unable to finish posting about the different races. I promise to have the rest of the updates up and running by the end of this week.

Thank you to Meridian Pacific for the use of the map to show this district:

This Assembly district is currently represented by Assemblywoman Diane Harkey and represents  the furthest part of South County. With that being said here is the break-down of who has pulled papers:

Dave Duringer– He is a gun trust attorney who I believe is involved in the tea party (not 100% sure on that. He also ran for the Central Committee back in 2010 prior to redistricting when his district was the 71st.

Mary Young– She has been an activist with the Republican Part of Orange County for a very long time. She is also campaigning the hardest of anybody I have ever seen for a Central Committee seat. *Incumbent.

Mike Munzing– He was at one point running against John Campbell for Congress and then wisely decided to run for Aliso Viejo City Council (I think he can win). He is very good at marketing himself from what I have witnessed through his many activities. *Incumbent.

Alice Anderson– She is currently an incumbent in this district and if I remember hearing correctly is also in the hospital. I would encourage those involved in OCGOP politics to seek out a way to sign her nomination papers if you live in this district. *Incumbent.

Norm Dickinson– Many people who I have talked to have said that he is the foremost expert on the bylaws in the Republican Party of Orange County. I cannot see that I disagree from what I have witnessed. *Incumbent.

Steve Magdziak– He is one of the few that has set up a website for his Central Committee race http://www.stevemagdziak.com/ His website does not include much information about his background but if I had to guess I would think he was part of the Ron Paul crowd.

Chandra Chell– She is active in Republican politics through Atlas PAC among other things and she has also been involved in the CRA among other Republican volunteer organizations. *Incumbent.

Linda Barnes– From a bit of research I have learned that she is part of the leadership team with OC912 a conservative group which is tied to the tea party.

Greg Woodard– He recently friended me on Facebook. After having a conversation with him I found that he is involved in a lot of conservative groups including Atlas PAC and Family Action PAC. He was also appointed to a seat on the OC GOP Central Committee making him an incumbent as well. *Incumbent.

Nancy Padberg– She was previously on the Central Committee but was one of the members that was ousted in this past election. As an elected official on the South Orange County Community College District, her name ID will be high.

Tony Beall– He currently is an incumbent on both the Central Committee and on the Rancho Santa Margarita City Council. He also has been a conservative voice on the issues involving the Capistrano Unified School District. *Incumbent.

Kevin Richardson– According to the very little that I could find out about him he is one of the co-founders of SOC912 which I referenced above (OC912).

Nina R. Davar– I am seeing a trend here as when I did a bit of googling I found her name attached to SOC912 as well as other candidates with tea party ties.

John C. Drew– A writer for Examiner.com on Republican Party of Orange County Republican politics. He had a lot of information on his bio including the fact that he is an award-winning political scientist.

Susan A. Bock– I was unable to find any information on her.

Readers help me out by adding info on any candidates that I may have left out and feel free to fill me in on the candidates I found nothing on.

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