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A right-of-center blog covering local, statewide, and national politics

Posts Tagged ‘John Webb’

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California Republican Party’s Endorsements for OC: Royce, Campbell, Hayden, DeLong, Rohrabacher, Issa, Huff, Walters, Hagman, Norby, Wagner, Harkey, Mansoor

Posted by Chris Nguyen on March 20, 2012

The California Republican Party has endorsed in most races for Congress, the State Senate, and the State Assembly.  Emami blogged about the CRP endorsement of Elizabeth Emken for the US Senate while I indirectly linked to the list of endorsements in this post (via CapitolAlert).

However, we never really discussed the state Republican Party endorsements here on OC Political, so here’s the CRP’s endorsements for OC’s US Congressional delegation:

  • CD-39: Congressman Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) was endorsed and is the sole Republican running.
  • CD-45: Congressman John Campbell (R-Irvine) was endorsed over Small Business Owner John Webb.
    While the CRP endorsed Campbell, the OCGOP did not.
    I covered the OCGOP endorsement drama in this race here, and Emami covered it here.
  • CD-47: Long Beach Councilman Gary DeLong was endorsed over former Congressman Steve Kuykendall, an OC man named Steve Foley, and Small Business Owner Sanford Kahn.
    The Democrats running for this open seat are State Senator Alan Lowenthal, College Professor Peter Mathews, and inexplicably, a married couple are both running: Dr. Jay Shah and Charity President Usha Shah.  I’d pay to go to the Shah family dinner the night before the election.  It must be awkward to be one of the Shahs’ two adult sons; hope they live outside CD-47.
    As a legitimate swing district with no incumbent, this is one of the most interesting races involving Orange County.
  • CD-48: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) was endorsed and is the sole Republican running.
  • CD-49: Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Vista) was endorsed and is the sole Republican running.

Here’s the CRP’s endorsements for OC’s State Senate delegation (in both cases, they’re the sole Republican running; I covered both those races here):

Here’s the CRP’s endorsements for OC’s State Assembly delegation:

  • AD-55: Assemblyman Curt Hagman (R-Chino Hills) was endorsed is the sole Republican running.
  • AD-65: Assemblyman Chris Norby (R-Fullerton) was endorsed and is the sole Republican running.
    Emami covered this race here.
  • AD-68: Assemblyman Don Wagner (R-Irvine) was endorsed and is the sole Republican running.
    I did an article on his opponent, Christina Avalos (D-Orange), here.  Emami covered her here.
  • AD-69: No endorsement was made.  OC Eligibility Technician Jose Moreno is the sole Republican running.  I sort of covered him here.
  • AD-72: No endorsement was made.
    Los Alamitos Mayor Troy Edgar, OC Board of Education Trustee Long Pham, and Businessman Travis Allen are the three Republicans running for this open seat.
    Click here to see our various articles related to AD-72.
  • AD-73: Assemblywoman Diane Harkey (R-Dana Point) was endorsed and is the sole Republican running.

For the full list of all Congressional, State Senate, and State Assembly endorsements by the California Republican Party, click here.

(In the interest of full disclosure, my day job is working in the office of Assemblyman Chris Norby, who was endorsed in AD-65.)

Posted in 29th Senate District, 37th Senate District, 38th Congressional District, 39th Congressional 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 | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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 »

Analysis On Campbell Missed Endorsement Last Night

Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on February 21, 2012

As you can see from the post written by my esteemed colleague Chris Nguyen, in a major surprise Congressman John Campbell failed to get the endorsement of the OC GOP.
Congressman John Campbell, challenged on the left by Irvine Mayor Sukhee Kang and on the right by Businessman John Webb
I along with many others in attendance last night was shocked by the results of the vote, with John Campbell falling just 1 vote short of the endorsement. John Webb who is also running for this seat in the 45th Congressional District was also present in an effort to try to block the endorsement.

This particular endorsement began with John Campbell giving a speech on why he deserved the endorsement of the OC GOP. He pointed out that he had been a vocal member of the Republican Party for conservative causes in D.C. After he finished John Webb went up to speak and gave his reasons as to what he offered as a candidate for the seat.

Both men did a solid job in their opening statements and came across as intelligent advocates of conservative principles. Where things started to unravel a bit for Campbell was during the portion where members got to ask questions of the candidates. He was attacked for his positions on Cash For Clunkers, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and TARP.

I have a great deal of respect for Congressman Campbell for coming into a hostile environment and defending his position he took on these specific bills. I absolutely disagree with his position on TARP, but I respect the fact that he stands by the vote and gives his reasons for it.

One important note is that despite John Campbell having some solid supporters in his corner to speak up for him both Congressman Ed Royce and Congressman Dana Rohrabacher who were in attendance, yet failed to chime in on supporting him for the endorsement.

Nobody in Congress is perfect and overall John Campbell has been a solid conservative vote. I would have liked to have seen him get the endorsement of the OC GOP mainly because the last thing we need is for us to get stuck with Sukhee Kang in Congress.

John Webb seems like a really nice guy and a true conservative but I am behind John Campbell in this race and I hope that he can hold onto the seat. I recognize that we have a couple of Central Committee members as bloggers with us who likely differ with my opinion on this and I would like to encourage them to also post on this issue to give a different side of what went down last night.

Posted in 45th Congressional District, Republican Central Committee | Tagged: , , , , | 11 Comments »

OC GOP Shocker: John Campbell Fails to Gain Endorsement

Posted by Chris Nguyen on February 20, 2012

Breaking from OC GOP Central Committee: 41 people voted to endorse Congressman John Campbell and 22 people voted against endorsing him.

Out of 63 people, Congressman Campbell needed 42 votes, as a 2/3 vote is required to gain the endorsement.

John Webb successfully blocked the endorsement.

Campbell’s opponents attacked his votes in favor of TARP and against Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

Posted in 45th Congressional District, Republican Central Committee | Tagged: , | 9 Comments »

CD-45: Durkee Embezzlement Case Freezes 40% of Sukhee Kang’s Warchest; John Campbell’s Warchest = $1.1 Million

Posted by Chris Nguyen on February 15, 2012

Compared to most Democrats who had Kinde Durkee as their treasurer, Irvine Mayor Sukhee Kang actually fared pretty well (Irvine is the largest city in the new 45th Congressional District, and Kang is a directly-elected mayor).  Kang raised $289,398 and spent $35,715 (for those looking at the FEC summary sheet, please note these figures account for a $1,000 refund), only $188,523 was frozen by the LA County Superior Court, pending resolution of the Kinde Durkee case.  He reports $189,559 cash on hand.  (I realize the math doesn’t seem to add up, but this is what’s on his FEC report.)  Kang’s best case scenario is he has all his money.  His worst case scenario is he gets none of the cash back, but that’s only 40% of what he’s raised compared to the wipe-out Jose Solorio and Lou Correa suffered.

Unfortunately, for Kang, even if he gets all of that money back, incumbent Republican Congressman John Campbell‘s $1,096,043 warchest still dwarfs Kang’s.  Not only that, Congressional finance disclosures indicate Campbell is California’s fourth wealthiest member of the House (behind only Darrell Issa, Nancy Pelosi, and Gary Miller), with a net worth between $8-$33 million.  (Including both houses of Congress, Senator Dianne Feinstein comes in ahead of Pelosi but behind Issa).  When Durkee embezzled $4.6 million from Feinstein’s re-election, the Senator loaned her campaign $5 million.  Needless to say, fantastically wealthy members of Congress can easily drop millions into their campaigns if they feel the need.

In the comparison of remarkably similar warchests, Todd Spitzer has $2,988 more cash on hand than John Campbell.

Republican challenger John Webb raised $23,047 and loaned himself an additional $3,200, but has already spent $23,786, leaving himself $2,460 cash on hand before accounting for debts (I assume the $1 differential on the math is due to rounding on his report).

For people wondering, the Registrar of Voters reports a 16.9% Republican registration advantage in this district.  Despite a challenge from the right and a challenge by the mayor of the district’s largest city from the left, John Campbell will still cruise to re-election.

Posted in 45th Congressional District, Fundraising | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

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