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Posts Tagged ‘Jim Brulte’

Breaking News: Enough Signatures Verified to Qualify Recall Election for Senator Josh Newman

Posted by Newsletter Reprint on August 18, 2017

This came over the wire from the California Republican Party just minutes ago announcing enough signatures have been verified by County Registrars of Voters to qualify the recall election of Senator Josh Newman (D-Fullerton):

Statement by California Republican Party Chairman Jim Brulte on the Counties Verifying Enough Signatures to Qualify Recall of State Senator Josh Newman

Sacramento, CA — Today, the counties of LA, Orange and San Bernardino have verified 66,597 signatures from voters who signed the petition to recall State Senator Josh Newman. This is significantly more than the required 63,593 verified signatures from voters within Senate District 29 by mid-October to qualify the recall for a vote.

“Despite every cynical effort by the Democrats to stall this election, the time has come for Senator Newman to stand before the voters in Senate District 29 and answer for his tax-raising antics,” stated California Republican Party Chairman Jim Brulte. “We call upon the Secretary of State to certify the recall so that voters can finally have their say at the ballot box.”

Ever since SD 29 voters filed a petition to recall Senator Newman this Spring, Sacramento Democrats have gone out of their way to undermine and upend the electoral process.

In a cynically corrupt attempt to shield Senator Newman from the impending recall, Democrats in the Legislature scrambled to pass Senate Bill 96—a gut and amend bill that would needlessly extend the state’s recall approval process—denying voters in SD 29 the due process of a speedy election. In response, SD 29 voters joined with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and sued to stop the implementation of SB 96. In a win for the recall proponents, the courts granted their request earlier this week.

In a move to further bolster Newman’s chances of surviving the recall, Senate Democrats last month filed a motion with the supposedly non-partisan political watchdog, the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), to lift the contribution limits for Newman’s recall campaign. Going against the recommendation of its legal counsel, the FPPC approved the Democrats’ request earlier this week. Newman’s colleagues in the Legislature will now be allowed to raise and contribute large sums of cash to Newman by using their committees to funnel money from special interests. To add insult to injury, it was reported that one of the FPPC commissioners had held several conversations with the Senate Democrats’ attorney prior to the ruling, calling into question the objectivity of the Commissioner.

“Make no mistake about it, the Democratic supermajority and the special interests who benefit from it will continue to fight dirty. They have all the money in the world, the power to change laws at will, and a direct interest in ensuring that Newman keeps his seat,” stated Brulte. “It’s despicable that the Democrat Party is pulling out so many stops to prevent voters from having their say. It’s really no wonder that voters are so cynical these days.”

Once the Secretary of State certifies the sufficiency of the recall petition, the Governor must order an election for SD 29.

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Posted in 29th Senate District | Tagged: , , , , | 4 Comments »

CRP: 84,988 Signatures Submitted to Recall State Senator Josh Newman

Posted by Newsletter Reprint on June 30, 2017

This came over the wire from the California Republican Party on Tuesday…

84,988 Signatures Submitted to Recall State Senator Josh Newman

Today, the California Republican Party (CRP) announced that it has collected and submitted 84,988 signatures in the effort to recall State Senator Josh Newman. The campaign needs at least 63,593 signatures from voters within Senate District 29 by mid-October to qualify the recall for a vote.

“Voters in Senate District 29 have made their opposition to Newman’s vote on the gas tax and car tax increases very clear. The speed with which voters signed the petitions is a testament to the anger they feel towards these tax increases and a fear of what liberal Josh Newman might decide to tax next,” stated California Republican Party Chairman Jim Brulte.

In a cynically corrupt attempt to shield Senator Newman from the impending recall, Democrats in the Legislature scrambled to pass Senate Bill 96, a gut and amend bill that would needlessly extend the state’s recall approval process, denying voters in Senate District 29 the due process of a speedy election.

“It is a clear abuse of power for the same legislators who voted for a wildly unpopular gas tax to now change the rules applying to recall elections in order to protect their colleague form the voters of his community,” stated Brulte. “The Democrats’ attempt to quell the movement by retroactively changing the rules is pure political gamesmanship and completely undermines our democratic process.”

In light of the legislative tomfoolery the CRP will continue to circulate recall petitions and turn in signatures to ensure all voters who desire to sign have the ability to do so.

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Posted in 29th Senate District, California | Tagged: , , , , | 1 Comment »

Lake Forest Councilman Dwight Robinson Elected To The South Coast Air Quality Management District Position, Ousting Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido

Posted by Greg Woodard on November 6, 2015

In a coup for conservatives, the Republican party, and businesses throughout much of Southern California, Dwight Robinson defeated Miguel Pulido for the Orange County cities’ representative on the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) Board.  As reported by OCPolitical’s own Chris Nguyen earlier, having to win the majority vote of all Orange County mayors, both in the number of cities, and overall county population, Robinson garnered 21 cities and 54% of the County’s population, to Pulido’s 12 cities and 45% of the population.  Pulido was Orange County’s representative on the AQMD for over a decade.

Robinson’s victory is significant as it flips the AQMD Board from 7-6 Democrat to 7-6 Republican, which will have considerable impact for many Southern California businesses.

Of his victory, Robinson said, “I am very proud of the broad based support I had across the spectrum that helped secured the votes I needed.  I deeply care about air quality and the environment.  I drive an electric car.  I put solar panels on my house earlier this year.  Equally important to me are jobs and the regional economy.  Many of the things AQMD has been doing over the last decade have driven companies, jobs, and the middle class out of Southern California.  I am dedicated to making sure that AQMD balances sensible environmental stewardship with middle class job retention.”

The race was marred by infighting from Republicans and rumors of Pulido offering support to mayors and their cities in exchange for their votes.  The most curious (and in my opinion, disappointing) aspect was the battle that erupted between Irvine Councilman Jeff Lalloway and Mayor Steven Choi.  As reported here, Choi was unavailable for the vote so he originally designated Lalloway as his voting representative.  However, it was reported that Lalloway was planning on voting for Pulido, and Choi removed Lalloway and appointed Christina Shea to vote instead.  Shea voted for Robinson, giving a size able chunk of population to Robinson.  While Lalloway denied that he had made up his mind on who to vote for, his claim that the Orange County Republican party’s support for Robinson was a push by California Republican Party Jim Brulte to strong-arm local Republicans to vote lock-step with the party is curious given that the race pitted Robinson, a strong Republican conservative and pro-business candidate, against Pulido, an avowed liberal Democrat who recently admitted to six violations of the Political Reform Act.  Pulido also previously appointed his brother as a part-time consultant to the AQMD, a position that paid more than $35,000 per year.

Posted in Orange County | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

OCGOP Elects Whitaker Chairman, Lalloway Treasurer, Whitacre Sergeant-at-Arms

Posted by Chris Nguyen on January 19, 2015

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In its biennial organizational meeting, the Republican Party of Orange County unanimously elected its slate of 2015-16 officers.

Most notable was the election of Orange Mayor Pro Tem Fred Whitaker as Chairman, succeeding Scott Baugh, who retired after 11 years at the helm. Irvine Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Lalloway was elected Treasurer succeeding Mark Bucher, who retired after approximately 11 years in that post. Tim Whitacre was elected Sergeant-at-Arms succeeding Retired Navy Captain Emily Sanford, who retired from that post.  All other officers were re-elected.  The officers are:
Chairman Fred Whitaker
1st Vice Chairman John Warner
2nd Vice Chairwoman Mary Young
Secretary Peggy Huang
Treasurer Jeff Lalloway
Assistant Treasurer TJ Fuentes
Sergeant-at-Arms Tim Whitacre
Parliamentarian (Appointed Position) Kermit Marsh

Also, the OCGOP unanimously endorsed Jim Brulte for reelection as Chairman of the California Republican Party, and Assemblyman Travis Allen was named OCGOP Legislator of the Year.

Posted in Republican Central Committee | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

California Republican Party Convention in Anaheim Begins Today, Continues Through Sunday

Posted by Chris Nguyen on October 4, 2013

CAGOPThe California Republican Party’s Fall 2013 Convention begins in Anaheim at 8:30 AM today at the Hilton and continues through Sunday.

The party will hold elections for two-year terms three of the eight Regional Vice Chair positions (the other five were elected at the Spring convention).  The Vice Chair for the South region (Orange, San Diego, and Imperial Counties), Tony Krvaric of San Diego, was elected in 2011 and is now up for election, as is the Vice Chair for Los Angeles County, Adam Abrahms of Santa Monica, and the Vice Chair for the Inland Empire (Riverside, San Bernardino, Inyo, and Mono Counties), Adele Harrison of Temecula.

The Associate Representative position is also up for election, with Aaron Ginn of San Francisco and Liz Kolstad of Fresno seeking the position. This position is unique among Board of Director positions, as only the Associate Delegates can vote for this position.  All other positions are elected by the regular Delegates.  (For those less familiar with the state party structure, Associate Delegates are effectively alternates to the voting members.  While there are specific formulas for the number of Delegates that can exist, there is no limit on the number of Associate Delegates.)

The headline speaker of the convention will be Saturday’s dinner speaker, Texas Governor Rick Perry.

The more significant headline out of the convention is that earlier this week, Chairman Jim Brulte announced that the CRP’s seven-figure debt had been wiped out.  This is all the more impressive since Brulte, who was elected Chairman earlier this year, began his debt retirement drive just six months ago.

The most controversial item on the convention agenda will be the three competing proposals on how to handle CRP endorsements in a post-Prop 14 world.  A temporary arrangement was made for the 2012 elections, but that procedure expires before the 2014 election, so delegates will be implementing a permanent procedure going forward.

The three proposals are named for their authors:

  • Mike Spence and Deborah Wilder propose that in any primary where there is more than one Republican, the state party will only endorse if 2/3 of the Board of Directors votes to do so after a request is made for the state party endorsement by the Chairman of each affected County Central Committee and only if each affected County Central Committee (by a 2/3 vote) has endorsed the same candidate.  Spence and Wilder also propose that any Republican who is the sole Republican on the ballot is automatically endorsed.  Spence and Wilder’s proposal does permit the CRP Board of Directors (by a 2/3 vote) and each affected County Central Committee (by a 2/3 vote in each County) to adopt an endorsement procedure in a district wherein every Republican registered to vote in the district (including overseas military personnel) can vote on the endorsement.
  • Jon Fleischman proposes that endorsements be made by all voting delegates of the State Party and all County Central Committee members present at the state party convention in the Spring before the primary will vote to endorse a candidate, provided that “60% + 1” of those present and voting vote to endorse that candidate.  There will be no more than three rounds of balloting, and the candidate with the lowest number of votes will be dropped from the first round and again from the second round.  Should no candidate achieve “60% + 1” in the third round, there is no endorsement.  Unlike all other state delegate votes, there will be no proxy voting allowed (similarly, proxy voting is moot in the Spence/Wilder and Abrahms proposals since County Central Committees do not have proxy voting nor does the State Board of Directors).
  • Adam Abrahms proposes that in any primary where there is more than one Republican, the state party will only endorse if 2/3 of the Board of Directors votes to do so, provided that the Board of Directors may not endorse any candidate whose opponent has been endorsed by at least one affected County Central Committee.  He also proposes that a majority of any affected County Central Committee may vote to preemptively veto a state party endorsement, no later than five days before a state party endorsement meeting.  Abrahms also proposes that any Republican who is the sole Republican on the ballot is automatically endorsed.  He also defines an affected County Central Committee is one where at least 5% of the precincts in the district are in that county.

Posted in California | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Jim Brulte Elected CRP Chairman

Posted by Chris Nguyen on March 3, 2013

In a surprise to no one, San Bernardino’s Jim Brulte has been elected CRP Chairman.

Here’s his official web site.

Here’s Brulte’s official business biography.

Here’s his Wikipedia biography.

Traditionally, CRP Vice Chairs become Chair.  As Vice Chair Steve Baric of Rancho Santa Margarita stepped aside for Brulte, Brulte proposed appointing Baric as Chairman of the Budget and Expenditures Committee.

Posted in California | Tagged: | 2 Comments »

The Munger Games: Bob Huff and Connie Conway – No Criticism of Munger For You!

Posted by OC Insider on February 28, 2013

This weekend, delegates to the California Republican Party Convention will travel to Sacramento will vote on a new Chairman, Vice Chairman and several other important CRP board positions. Since the current Chairman, Tom Del Beccaro, has announced he will not be running for re-election, former legislator Jim Brulte has stepped up to take the Chairman position in what can easily be described as the CRP’s lowest point in a generation. Senator Brulte has only drawn the token opposition of a very late entrant into that race and it appears Mr. Brulte has all but locked up the position. We wish him well in what will be a difficult job.

The real drama is surrounding the continued and expanding influence of Silicon Valley billionaire and Santa Clara County Republican Central Committee Chairman Charles Munger, Jr. As readers of this blog post know, Mr. Munger spent millions of dollars in last year’s election. Some of it was to support Proposition 32 and oppose Proposition 30. Unfortunately Prop. 32 failed and Prop. 30 passed.

Also unfortunately, Mr. Munger attempted to oust Assemblyman Allan Mansoor by spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in support of Allan’s June 2012 Republican opponent Leslie Daigle of Newport Beach. Thankfully that effort failed but Mr. Munger continued forward by spending more hundreds of thousands of dollars in the fall campaign in Republican v. Republican races. It is too bad he could not have spent even a little of that money to help Republicans in Republican v. Democrat races so that the State Senate and Assembly might not be in the complete control of Democrats for the next legislative session. The Chris Norby Assembly race comes to mind.

Recently, State Senate Republican leader Bob Huff and Assembly Republican leader Connie Conway sent out a letter / e-mail to CRP Delegates defending Charles Munger and criticizing those who criticize Mr. Munger. It is noted that during the run up to the race between Allan Mansoor and Mr. Daigle, Mr. Huff and Ms. Conway did little or nothing to help Allan beat off this obvious challenge to a sitting Assemblyman that could have resulted in a Democrat running in the fall runoff against a non-incumbent weaker Republican Daigle for that seat. A pause here to give mega kudos to Orange County OC GOP Chairman Scott Baugh (and hundreds of volunteers) who pulled out all stops in support of Assemblyman Mansoor!

A web site/blog called The Munger Games, which appears to be one of the objects of Mr. Huff’s and Ms. Conway’s wrath, responded to their letter by pointing out they’re defending a man who wasted resources attacking a sitting Assemblyman while being a sitting Chairman of another county’s Republican Central Committee. The blog also pointed out that debates and criticism are important to the political process and the voters of Allan Mansoor’s district certainly expressed their views by reelecting Allan by such a wide margin that Ms. Daigle did not even make it into the “top two” runoff – the new system brought to you by Proposition 14 – again courtesy of Charles Munger, a very big supporter financially of Prop. 14.

Bottom line: The Munger Games blog site asks some very, very important and legitimate questions Senate Republican leader Bob Huff and Assembly Republican leader Connie Conway should answer. Whether or not they agreed with Mr. Munger’s attempt to unseat a sitting Assemblyman at the risk of placing that safe Republican seat in play for the Democrats? If the resources Allan had to raise to fend off that challenge and the resources Mr. Munger used for that race and the R v. R races he spent money on in the fall could have been better spent holding onto Republican seats? Where were they during that June primary battle while Allan was fighting for his political life? Why are you attacking those who are asking these important questions? Why are you attacking those who engage in an honest debate by bringing up these issues?

This blog post writer would like to know the answers to those questions too. Senator Huff what is your response to those questions? Assemblywoman Conway?

Posted in 29th Senate District, 65th Assembly District, 74th Assembly District, California, State Assembly, State Senate | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Live from OCGOP Central Committee

Posted by Chris Nguyen on January 21, 2013

The rest of the nation commemorated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day today, and Barack Obama was sworn in to a second term as the 44th President of the United States.

Here in Orange County, however, the Republican Central Committee is gathering to swear in its 2013-2014 membership, elect its 2013-2014 officers, and hear from Jim Brulte.

Captain Emily Sanford delivered the invocation and new Central Committee member Peggy Huang led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Central Committee Chairman Scott Baugh called the roll.

State Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff swore in the Central Committee members. Huff joked that it was nice to be in a place where there’s actually multitudes of elected Republicans.

Lucille Kring, Henry Charoen, Robert Hammond, Tony Beall, Mike Munzing, Scott Voigts, Cecilia Iglesias, Anna Bryson, Tom Tait, Jesse Petrilla, Travis Allen, Don Wagner, Greg Sebourn, Bill Brough, Tim Shaw, Fred Whitaker, Todd Spitzer, Jeff Lalloway, Deborah Pauly, Steve Nagel, Mark McCurdy, Matt Harper, Steven Choi, Allan Mansoor, Dean Grose, Mark Schwing, and Craig Young were the elected officials introduced.

Long Pham announced he is running for the 34th Senate District in 2014. Anna Bryson confirmed she has filed paperwork to run for the 73rd Assembly District in 2014. Baron Night announced he was running for Buena Park City Council in 2014.

At 7:32 PM, John Warner nominated Scott Baugh for re-election as Chairman.

At 7:33 PM, Mary Young nominated and Tim Whitacre seconded John Warner for re-election as First Vice Chair.

At 7:34 PM, Bill Brough nominated Mary Young for re-election as Second Vice Chair.

At 7:35 PM, Mary Young nominated and John Warner seconded Peggy Huang for Secretary.

At 7:35 PM, Kermit Marsh nominated and Robert Hammond seconded Mark Bucher for re-election as Treasurer.

At 7:36 PM, Mike Munzing withdrew his candidacy for Assistant Treasurer and nominated TJ Fuentes, with a second from Jon Fleischman.

At 7:36 PM, Pat Shuff nominated and Lucille Kring seconded Norm Dickinson as Sergeant-at-Arms.

At 7:37 PM, the entire slate of executive committee officers was elected unanimously.

Chairman Scott Baugh reappointed Kermit Marsh as Parliamentarian.

At 7:38 PM, Orange County Central Committee Chairman Scott Baugh introduced former Senator Jim Brulte, who is running unopposed for California Republican Party Chairman.

Brulte said he was elected to the San Bernardino County Republican Central Committee at the age of 18. After working in DC, Brulte returned to San Bernardino County as Executive Director of the Central Committee. Brulte had painted the Republican Party headquarters in San Bernardino at the age of 10.

Brulte outlined his top priorities:
1. The CRP is hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. He wants to rebuild a statewide donor base of small donors, medium donors, and large donors. The CRP only has three employees currently.
2. The CRP must rebuild and expand the grassroots to protect David Valadao and Gary Miller; capture the seats formerly held by Brian Bilbray, Mary Bono Mack, and Dan Lungren; capture the seat held by Lou Correa; and protect the seats held by Eric Linder, Jeff Gorell, and Mike Morrell.

Deborah Pauly asked Brulte about the Tea Party. Brulte said anyone who supports Republican principles of limited government would be welcome and are the core of the grassroots.

Marcia Gilchrist asked about CRP headquarters. Brulte said the CRP headquarters are in a state of disrepair and need rehabilitation.

Teresa Hernandez asked about Hispanic and Latino outreach and about immigration policy. Brulte said the CRP must reach out to people of every community, Latinos, African-Americans, and every community out there. Brulte said it is not the CRP Chair’s job to pontificate on policy issues, it is the CRP Chair’s job to raise money. He said it is Congress’s responsibility to legislate on immigration. Brulte says he wants to focus on the nuts and bolts; he will be appearing on television, on radio, and in newspapers, far less often than previous CRP chairs, so he can focus on nuts and bolts.

Dean Grose asked about reinvigorating the CRP. Brulte said he gained seats during his tenures as Republican Leader in each house of the Legislature. He said the CRP is severely behind technologically.

Mike Withrow urged people to donate more money. Despite his blue collar profession, Withrow has been able to donate $1000 each year for years.

Outgoing CRP Vice Chair Steve Baric spoke of Brulte’s accomplishments in the Legislature and urged support for Brulte for CRP Chair.

At 7:57 PM, Jon Fleischman moved and Mary Young seconded for the OC GOP to endorse Jim Brulte for CRP Chair. The motion passed by acclimation.

Baugh then outlined the top lessons of 2012.
1. GOTV and grassroots matter. He cited numerous instances of close races and noted that a shift in just 500,000 votes in four states out of well over 100,000,000 votes in fifty states could have made Mitt Romney president.
2. Messengers matter. Baugh noted Orange County’s population is like few other metropolitan areas, with 34% Latino and 18.5% Asian. Republicans has lost 7% registration in the last decade, so Baugh says the GOP must work to fight this trend by better engaging Latinos and Asians.
3. Message and tone matter. Baugh said thoughts and ideas are more important than feelings, but properly framing thoughts and ideas are key. Baugh called the Republican Party the party of hope, opportunity, and prosperity for all. Baugh expressed disapproval of Romney’s 47% remark. Baugh pointed to Ted Cruz’s language of opportunity conservatism. He said the term of “limited government” is meaningless to the unemployed or the parents with children in poor schools but “removing barriers and regulations impeding job creation” and “giving parents choices” are the language of opportunity conservatism. He said conservative ideas must be described in how they can help advance opportunity. Baugh said immigration policies are out of date, unenforced, or unenforceable. He said there is a labor supply in Mexico and a labor demand in the US, and people in Mexico are seeking a better life. He said America allows people to seek a better life and asked “who among us” would not come to America from Mexico to seek a better life. Baugh said neither amnesty nor deportation is the answer; it lies somewhere in the middle of those two extremes, a solution that respects dignity and the human spirit. He said Republican policies must offer opportunity to all.

After a brief recess, the 65th District named Alexandria Coronado as its Executive Committee representative, and the 69th named Charles Hart as its Executive Committee representative.

For the Financial Review Committee, each district named the following members:
55th – Brenda McCune
65th – Baron Night
68th – Fred Whitaker
69th – Charles Hart
72nd – Steve Nagel
73rd – Greg Woodard
74th – John Draper
These seven people comprise the entire Financial Review Committee.

Chairman Scott Baugh presented the Local Elected Official of the Year Award to Irvine Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Lalloway for his successful efforts at building a team that toppled the Larry Agran machine in Irvine. Baugh spoke of sending the party’s financial and grassroots resources to Irvine.

Lalloway thanked Mayor Steven Choi, Councilwoman Christina Shea, and Council candidate Lynn Schott. Lalloway spoke of losses at the federal and state levels but the hope that Irvine Council provided, with the police union endorsing Agran’s entire slate and with $1,200,000 spent by Agran’s side including $300,000 spent by Agran personally.

Chairman Scott Baugh presented the Legislator of the Year Award to both Congressman John Campbell and Assemblyman Don Wagner for their efforts in bankrolling much of the OCGOP’s efforts in Irvine.

Wagner thanked Lalloway, Choi, Shea, Baugh, the Central Committee, and all the volunteers who helped in Irvine.

On Campbell’s behalf, Lou Penrose spoke of Campbell’s great delight at the Irvine results and the importance of team efforts. Noting his own Italian heritage, Penrose spoke of doing this as a family effort.

Chairman Scott Baugh announced that Assemblyman Don Wagner was renting a currently-vacant portion of the OC GOP Headquarters in Tustin for his campaign office.

Rhonda Rohrabacher and Assemblyman Don Wagner presented the Anna Woods Memorial HQ Volunteer of the Year Award to Naz Namazi for her efforts at the OCGOP HQ and in Huntington Beach. Namazi also received awards from the offices of Senator Mimi Walters and Supervisor Pat Bates.

Captain Emily Sanford, Zonya Townsend, and Assemblyman Don Wagner presented the Captain Emily F. Sanford, USN (Ret.) Volunteer of the Year Award to Chalone and Harold Warman of San Clemente. The Warmans called themselves “rare Republican teachers,” as Chalone Warman was a teacher at San Clemente High School and Harold Warman taught at San Diego State University.

Irvine Mayor Steven Choi spoke to the Central Committee. He quipped, “It took a village to elect a Republican Mayor of Irvine.” Choi thanked Irvine Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Lalloway, Irvine Councilwoman Christina Shea, Congressman John Campbell, Assemblyman Don Wagner, former Supervisor Bill Campbell, and the volunteers who made his victory possible. Choi also reported Republicans now have a registration advantage over Democrats among Orange County’s Korean-Americans.

At 9:08 PM, the Central Committee adjourned.

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

OC Republicans Shoot Selves in Foot; OC Democrats’ Worst-Case Scenario Evaporates

Posted by Chris Nguyen on March 16, 2012

In a pre-Prop 14 world, it made absolute good sense to contest every single partisan race.  Each qualified party was guaranteed exactly one candidate on the November ballot.

Prop 14 changed all that.  The top two candidates, regardless of party and regardless of whether anyone breaks 50%, advance to the November ballot.  If the top two candidates were members of the same party, presumably the more moderate candidate would win.  If there were two Democrats, the less liberal one would win thanks to Republican voters.  If there were two Republicans, the less conservative one would win thanks to Democratic voters.  Furthermore, the party with two candidates facing off in November would then spend a fortune in an intraparty battle, freeing the excluded party to spend its human and financial resources elsewhere.

In Orange County:

  • Republicans feared a November bloodbath in AD-74 between Allan Mansoor and Leslie Daigle, in which the less conservative candidate would win.  In AD-74, Republicans comprise 42.5% of registered voters, Democrats 29.0%, and no party preference voters 23.7%.
  • Democrats feard a November bloodbath in AD-69 between Tom Daly, Michele Martinez, Julio Perez, and Paco Barragan, in which the least liberal candidate would win.  In AD-69, Democrats comprise 49.7% of registered voters, Republicans 27.5%, and no party preference voters 19.1%.

Conventional wisdom held:

  • If no Democrat filed in AD-74, Democratic voters would back Republican Leslie Daigle over Republican Allan Mansoor in both June and November, as Daigle is less conservative than Mansoor.  Republicans would squander valuable human and financial resources in an intraparty battle for AD-74, freeing Democrats to spend their resources elsewhere.  However, if a Democrat were in the AD-74 race, presumably that person would be in the top two to face off against the winner of the Mansoor-Daigle fight.
  • If no Republican filed in AD-69, Republican voters would back Democrat Tom Daly over the other three Democrats (Michele Martinez, Julio Perez, and Paco Barragan) in June, as Daly is the least liberal of the four; the Republican voters would continue to back Daly over whichever Democrat he faced in November, as Daly would still be the less liberal candidate.  Democrats would squander valuable human and financial resources in an intraparty battle for AD-69, freeing Republicans to spend their resources elsewhere.  However, if a Republican were in the AD-69 race, presumably that person would be in the top two to face off against the winner of the Daly-Martinez-Perez-Barragan fight.

For about half a week, many in OC, including yours truly, thought the Democrats’ worst nightmare had materialized: a Democrat in AD-74 and no Republican in AD-69, as Robert Rush joined the Democratic Party and entered the AD-74 race while Republican Robert Hammond withdrew from AD-69 to join the Orange County Board of Education race.

Well both party’s fears came to naught and we revert to status quo in November with likely one Democrat versus one Republican.  As my intrepid fellow blog editor Chris Emami wrote, an obscure gentleman by the name of Jose Moreno (not to be confused with Anaheim City School District Trustee Jose Moreno) filed as the sole Republican in AD-69 with barely two minutes to spare.

Robert Rush (D-74) and Jose Moreno (R-69) could spend the next three months in Siberia, and both will still be in the top two in their June races by virtue of having “Democrat” and “Republican” after their names, respectively, allowing them to advance to November, where they will be summarily destroyed by their opponent.

(In case you’re wondering, Rush has a ballot designation of “Business Owner/Accountant” and will be second on the ballot after Daigle but before Mansoor while Moreno has a ballot designation of “Orange County Eligibility Technician” and will be third on the ballot after Daly and Martinez but before Barragan and Perez.  Many voters will be left scratching their heads as to what an eligibility technician is, and if you’re one of them, here’s an explanation of what that is.)

Democrats won’t squander their resources on an intraparty AD-69 battle in November nor will Republicans squander their resources on an intraparty AD-74 battle in November.  Both parties will revert to the old rules of spending their resources against each other in November.

Former Senate Republican Leader Jim Brulte once said in reference to a San Francisco Mayoral race: “When you’re a conservative, and you’ve got a choice between a socialist and a communist, you back the socialist.”  Democrat Robert Rush has enabled the most conservative candidate to win in AD-74, and Republican Jose Moreno just enabled the most liberal candidate to win in AD-69.

Posted in 69th Assembly District, 74th Assembly District | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments »

 
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