Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on May 10, 2012
Congressman John Campbell had another mailer that arrived at my house today. He is clearly taking this race very seriously. As of today I have yet to hear of a piece from either of his opponents John Webb or Sukhee Kang. However, Kang does have the most signs up in the district as of earlier this morning.
The mail piece was an 8.5 x 11 that folds out into an 8.5 x 22 piece. I have scanned the piece into four different files:
Posted in 45th Congressional District | Tagged: John Campbell, John Webb, Sukhee Kang | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Chris Nguyen on April 13, 2012
The 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
65th District
68th District
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: Barry Levinson, Brenda McCune, Brian Calle, Brian Chuchua, Connie Lanzisera, Connie Underhill, Deborah Pauly, Dennis White, Desare Ferraro, Don Bankhead, Fullerton Recall, Greg Sebourn, Jeremy Yamaguchi, Jim Brownstein, Jim Domen, John Campbell, John Leos, John Webb, Nancy Rikel, Nick Wilson, North Orange County Conservative Coalition, Pat Shuff, Rick Alvarez, Robert Lauten | 1 Comment »
Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on April 11, 2012
I already know that I am going to get flack for my prediction in this race since a lot of people have a beef with John Campbell. For the record this is actually the Congressional seat that now represents me, with Anaheim Hills being drawn in by the redistricting commission.
Credit goes to Meridian Pacific for posting these maps on their website.
Republicans have a 17 point advantage in this seat along with a conservative leaning DTS crowd that is just 6 points away from making the Democrats totally irrelevant in this seat. (Democrats 28, DTS 22).
What used to be CD 48 moved a lot further north eliminating Newport Beach and picking up Orange/Anaheim Hills among other changes. This seat is a pretty safe Republican seat on paper despite the fact that Barack Obama came within 4 points of McCain back in 2008.
Incumbent Congressman John Campbell is currently representing a good portion of this district in CD 48. Which will make him the clear front-runner despite a couple of challengers taking him on this election, including another Republican.
His challengers include Sukhee Kang the Mayor of Irvine who is running as a Democrat. This is the second time that a member of the Irvine City Council has run against Campbell after Beth Krom ran back in 2010.
The other challenger is John Webb a Tea Party Republican who opted to run with the (R) next to his name as opposed to (NPP). He is listed as a small business owner on the ballot.
The factors at play- John Campbell is the incumbent and has represented the majority of this district thus boosting his name ID. His ability to send out mail and fund a comprehensive campaign make him the front-runner to finish first on the ballot in June despite the Republican vote being split.
John Webb seems like he is a good guy and he has a backing of some tea party folks behind him. His fundraising numbers just don’t lead me to believe he can get his message out to enough voters to get into the top 2. Had he listed himself as (NPP) on the ballot I think he might have been able to finish ahead of Sukhee Kang.
Sukhee Kang despite being wiped out by Kindee Durkee has name ID in Irvine, which is a good-sized part of CD 45. He is also the only Democrat on the ballot. Based on his name ID and party affiliation alone I believe that he will advance to November.
Looking at all the factors at play in this district I believe that the 2 candidates advancing to November will be:
John Campbell & Sukhee Kang
Posted in 45th Congressional District | Tagged: John Campbell, John Webb, Sukhee Kang | 2 Comments »
Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on April 7, 2012
We have our first mailer in the newly drawn 45th Congressional District from Congressman John Campbell. I expect that we will see quite a few more from him.
Posted in 45th Congressional District, Mail | Tagged: John Campbell | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Newsletter Reprint on April 6, 2012
This just came across the wire from the office of Congressman John Campbell:
Nation’s Largest Taxpayer Group Honors Campbell with “Taxpayers’ Friend Award”
WASHINGTON – U.S. Representative John Campbell today was recognized for his outstanding pro-taxpayer voting record last year. The 362,000-member National Taxpayers Union (NTU), a nonpartisan citizen group, has announced that Campbell is among the distinguished recipients of the 2011 “Taxpayers’ Friend Award.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in 45th Congressional District | Tagged: John Campbell | 3 Comments »
Posted by Newsletter Reprint on April 2, 2012
This just came across the wire from the office of Congressman John Campbell:
Monday, April 2, 2012
Fix it: Episode III – The episodic thing makes me feel like I am writing the next Harry Potter or something. OK, enough fantasizing. On to the real stuff.
Energy: The “fix” for our energy problems is actually one of the simpler ones. And, the reason it is simple is not because of any action of Congress or the President. It is not even because of our founding fathers. It comes from God. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in 45th Congressional District | Tagged: John Campbell | 1 Comment »
Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on March 31, 2012
John Webb also did not have a great day with John Campbell managing to block his endorsement, despite not being there.
The vote total was I believe:
Campbell- 14
Webb- 14
Webb did have this piece in the back of the room:
Posted in 45th Congressional District | Tagged: John Campbell, John Webb | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Newsletter Reprint on March 30, 2012
This came across the wire recently from the office of Congressman John Campbell:
Rep. Campbell: No More Political Gimmicks, Let’s Fix the Deficit Problem
Offering remarks during debate on the House Republican Budget resolution, Congressman John Campbell (R-CA) argues that the U.S. can avoid repeating Europe’s mistakes if Congress is willing to work on a bipartisan basis to develop a fiscally sound budget proposal and reject untenable proposals of a purely political nature. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in 45th Congressional District | Tagged: John Campbell | 1 Comment »
Posted by Chris Nguyen on March 24, 2012
For those of you who don’t want to wade through my live play-by-play of the OC CRA endorsing convention, here’s a list of all the endorsements from this morning.
(By the way, the play-by-plays with the most fireworks were in the Spitzer-Pauly race for the 3rd Supervisorial District and the Edgar-Pham battle for the endorsement in the 72nd Assembly District.)
Congressional Endorsements:
State Assembly Endorsements
Supervisorial Endorsements
Orange County Board of Education Endorsements
(In the interest of full disclosure, my day job is working for Assemblyman Chris Norby. Also, OCBE candidate Robert Hammond and OCBE Trustee Ken Williams are clients of Custom Campaigns. Norby, Hammond, and Williams were all endorsed by voice vote.)
Posted in 1st Supervisorial District, 29th Senate District, 37th Senate District, 39th Congressional District, 3rd Supervisorial District, 45th Congressional District, 46th Congressional District, 47th Congressional District, 48th Congressional District, 49th Congressional District, 55th Assembly District, 65th Assembly District, 68th Assembly District, 69th Assembly District, 72nd Assembly District, 73rd Assembly District, 74th Assembly District, Orange County Board of Education | Tagged: Allan Mansoor, Bob Huff, Chris Norby, Curt Hagman, Dana Rohrabacher, Darrell Issa, Deborah Pauly, Diane Harkey, Don Wagner, Ed Royce, Janet Nguyen, Jerry Hayden, John Campbell, John Webb, Ken Williams, Long Pham, Mimi Walters, Robert Hammond, Steve Rocco, Todd Spitzer, Troy Edgar | Leave a Comment »
OC Political 