OC Political

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

Posts Tagged ‘Ken Lopez-Maddox’

BOE: Mission Viejo Mayor Pro Tem Greg Raths Enters the Race

Posted by Chris Nguyen on February 7, 2018

Mayor Pro Tem Greg Raths (R-Mission Viejo)

Mayor Pro Tem Greg Raths
(R-Mission Viejo)

Mayor Pro Tem Greg Raths (R-Mission Viejo) has entered the race for the State Board of Equalization seat being vacated by BOE Chairwoman Diane Harkey (R-Dana Point), who is not seeking re-election in order to run for the 49th Congressional District seat of retiring Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Vista).  The massive BOE seat includes all of Imperial, Orange, Riverside, and San Diego Counties, with small slivers of San Bernardino County.

Raths join a race that already includes State Senator Joel Anderson (R-Alpine), former Assemblyman Ken Lopez-Maddox (D-Dana Point), former Councilman John F. Kelley (R-Tustin), and Board of Equalization employee David Dodson (D-Dana Point).  Orange County Water District Director and former City Councilman Denis Bilodeau (R-Orange) is exploring his candidacy for the seat.  Orange County Taxpayers Association President and CEO Carolyn Cavecche (R-Orange) ruled out running shortly before Senator Anderson entered the race.  (Here’s OC Political’s coverage of Anderson and Lopez-Maddox entering the BOE race, along with Lopez-Maddox’s unexpected party switch.  Here’s OC Political’s coverage of Bilodeau and Cavecche’s explorations of the BOE race that also discusses Kelley.)

Raths first ran for elected office in 2014 when he ran for the 45th Congressional District after Congressman John Campbell (R-Irvine) announced his retirement.  State Senator Mimi Walters (R-Irvine) won 45% of the vote in the top-two primary, with Drew Leavens (D-Poway) winning 28%, Raths 24%, and Al Salehi (NPP-Buena Park) 3%.  Since he did not make it to the general election for the Congressional seat, Raths was able to run for Mission Viejo City Council, in which the retired Marine Colonel was the top vote-getter in a race that saw two incumbent Councilmembers defeated.

In 2016, first-term Councilman Raths challenged first-term Congresswoman Walters’s re-election bid.  Walters won 41% of the vote in the top-two primary, with Ron Varasteh (D-Irvine) winning 28%, Raths 19%, and Max Gouron (D-Tustin) 12%.

Posted in Board of Equalization, Mission Viejo | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

BOE: Senator Anderson Enters the Race While Lopez-Maddox Enters as a Democrat

Posted by Chris Nguyen on January 23, 2018

Joel Anderson

Senator Joel Anderson (R-Alpine)

State Senator Joel Anderson (R-Alpine) has entered the race for Board of Equalization to succeed Diane Harkey (R-Dana Point), who is running for the 49th Congressional District seat after Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Vista) announced his decision not to seek re-election.  Anderson seeks to be the first San Diego County resident to win the BOE seat since Ernest Dronenburg termed out twenty years ago.

First elected to the Padre Dam Municipal Water District in 2002, Anderson was elected to the State Assembly in 2006 and re-elected in 2008.  He won a 2010 bid for the State Senate and was re-elected in 2014.  Anderson raised $332,000 for Assembly in 2006 and $466,000 for his 2008 re-election.  He raised $779,000 for his initial Senate election in 2010 and $200,000 in his re-election in 2014.

Anderson narrowly won a five-candidate Republican primary for Assembly in 2006, defeating Santee Councilman Jack Dale by just 858 votes.  He won a four-candidate Republican primary for Senate in 2010, defeating Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone by 14%.

Former Assemblyman Ken Lopez-Maddox also entered the race, but oddly did so as a Democrat, a party he only recently joined.  First elected to the Garden Grove City Council in 1996, he was elected to the State Assembly in 1998 and was re-elected in 2000 and 2002 before losing the 2004 Republican primary for State Senate to John Campbell 60%-30% (a third candidate got 9%).  He moved to South County and then won a seat on the Capistrano Unified School District during a 2008 recall election but would be recalled himself in 2010, as the CUSD majority flipped back and forth.  In 2014, he was preparing for a bid for Orange County Public Administrator, but then the Board of Supervisors consolidated the position into the office of Orange County District Attorney-Public Administrator.  Instead, his wife, Monica, then ran for Clerk-Recorder, coming in second in a four-candidate field, winning 18% of the vote to Hugh Nguyen‘s 61%.  One week after his wife’s defeat for Clerk-Recorder, Ken Lopez-Maddox left the Republican Party.  He was registered as No Party Preference from then until becoming a Democrat in recent days.

Posted in Board of Equalization | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

1st District Chaos: Garden Grove Councilman Phat Bui Pulls Papers to Challenge Andrew Do

Posted by Chris Nguyen on March 4, 2016

Andrew Do, Michele Martinez, Steve Rocco, and Phat Bui

Supervisor Andrew Do (R-Westminster), Councilwoman Michele Martinez (D-Santa Ana), Steve Rocco (NPP-Santa Ana), and Councilman Phat Bui (R-Garden Grove)

Garden Grove Councilman Phat Bui (R) has joined convicted ketchup thief Steve Rocco (NPP) in pulling papers to challenge the re-election bid of Supervisor Andrew Do (R).  Additionally, Santa Ana Councilwoman Michele Martinez (D) and the enigmatic Robert Bao Nguyen have also pulled papers to challenge Do’s re-election bid in the First Supervisorial District, which consists of Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Westminster, Midway City, and northern Fountain Valley.

Bui’s entry into the race had been rumored for days, with Bui himself reportedly seeking support for his race in Sacramento on Wednesday despite the Republican Party’s official endorsement of Do’s re-election.

Bui, who was just elected to the Garden Grove City Council just sixteen months ago with labor union support, is the third member of his council to make a bid for higher office in the last fourteen months, joining Mayor Bao Nguyen (D), who is currently running for the 46th Congressional District but trails former Senator Lou Correa (D) badly in polling, and Councilman Chris Phan (R), who made an ill-fated bid for First District Supervisor against Do and Correa, coming in a distant third.

Bui’s home had displayed signs supporting both Correa and Phan in the 2015 special election for Supervisor that Do had won.

By splitting the Vietnamese-American vote, the Republican vote, and the Garden Grove vote, Republican Bui’s entry into the race substantially increases the risk of forcing a Do-Martinez run-off, which many Democrats hope and many Republicans fear will pull resources away from the re-election bid of Assemblywoman Young Kim (R) against former Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva (D) and the Senate bid of Assemblywoman Ling-Ling Chang (R) against former Irvine Mayor Sukhee Kang (D).

There’s no perfectly analogous race, but these are the four closest I’m aware of:

  • In 2014, there was a five-way race for Auditor-Controller, featuring Orange Treasurer/CPA Eric Woolery (R), Property Tax Director Frank Davies (R), Accountant Mike Dalati (D), Assistant Human Resources Director John Willard (NPP), and Audit Advisor Jim Benuzzi (D).  Woolery won 57%, Davies 17%, Dalati 11%, Willard 7%, and Benuzzi 7%.  Despite not being the incumbent, Woolery managed to avoid a run-off in a five-way race.
  • In 2014, Clerk-Recorder Hugh Nguyen (R) was challenged for re-election by Businesswoman Monica Maddox (R), Capistrano Unified School District Trustee Gary Pritchard (D), and convicted ketchup thief Steve Rocco (NPP).  Nguyen avoided a run-off by winning 61% of the vote to Maddox’s 18%, Pritchard’s 12%, and Rocco’s 8%.
  • In 2010, Public Administrator John Williams (R) was challenged by Superior Court Clerk Colleen Callahan, convicted ketchup thief Steve Rocco (DTS), and Deputy Public Guardian Kevin Vann (D).  Williams avoided a run-off by winning 58% of the vote to Callahan’s 24%, Rocco’s 11%, and Vann’s 7%.
  • In 1998, Supervisor Jim Silva (R) was challenged for re-election by Huntington Beach Councilman Dave Sullivan (R), former Costa Mesa Councilwoman Sandy Genis (R), and a mysterious Ralph Silva.  Jim Silva won 45%, Sullivan 26%, Genis 17%, and Ralph Silva 11%.  In the run-off, Silva defeated Sullivan 56%-44%.

It appears the current Garden Grove Councilmembers are dreaming of replicating the success of their predecessors: in 2012, Phan won the seat that was once held by Do and once held by former State Assemblyman Ken Maddox (R); State Senator Janet Nguyen (R) also previously sat on the Garden Grove City Council (her former seat is now held by Councilman Steve Jones, also a Republican).

Cue my usual Nguyen disclaimer: I am not related to the mysterious Robert Bao Nguyen, Garden Grove Mayor Bao Nguyen, Clerk-Recorder Hugh Nguyen, or State Senator Janet Nguyen.  The last name Nguyen is held by 36% of Vietnamese people.)

Posted in 1st Supervisorial District | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Vacancies Galore: Politicians Leaving Mid-Term Leave Seats to Be Filled

Posted by Chris Nguyen on December 17, 2012

Empty chairThere were a lot of vacancies this year.  Three countywide posts and one school board seat remain vacant.  All salaries noted below are base pay.

County

Four of Orange County’s eight countywide posts went vacant during 2012.

  1. Orange County Clerk-Recorder: Tom Daly (D) vacated the seat this month to become the 69th District’s State Assemblyman.  Numerous candidates have either expressed interest behind the scenes or are rumored to be interested; none have made public statements.  The job pays $139,256.40 (that extra 40 cents won’t even get you enough postage to send a letter).  Apply online here by January 15.
  2. Orange County Auditor-Controller: David Sundstrom (R) vacated the seat in January to become Sonoma County Auditor-Controller-Treasurer-Tax Collector (yes, that really is a single office in Sonoma County).  The job pays $173,097.60 per year (that 60 cents is crucial).  Apply online here by January 15.
  3. Orange County Public Administrator: John Williams (R) resigned in January or February depending on how you interpret his resignation, un-resignation, and re-resignation saga.  Former Assemblyman Ken Lopez-Maddox (R), who is also a former Garden Grove Councilman and former Capistrano Unified School District Board Member, is the first to publicly throw his hat in the ring. (12/19 Update:The previous sentence was ambiguously worded, so to clarify, Lopez-Maddox is running for the seat in the regularly scheduled June 2014 election but has not indicated if he will apply for the appointment.)  The job pays $30,000 per year (but the Board of Supervisors frequently consolidates it with the more lucrative appointed post of Public Guardian).  Apply online here by January 15.
  4. Orange County Superintendent of Schools: Bill Habermehl (R) vacated the seat in June, deciding it was time for him to retire.  Seven of the eight countywide posts are filled by the County Board of Supervisors when there’s a vacancy.  This is the eighth post, and the County Board of Education appointed Al Mijares (R) to fill the seat.  The job pays $287,500 per year.

Many people have argued Clerk-Recorder, Auditor-Controller, Public Administrator, and various other County posts should be appointed by the Board of Supervisors instead of elected positions.  Good luck with that.  Just six months ago, 60.5% of Orange County voters rejected making Public Administrator an appointed position.

City Council

They move with great speed to fill Council vacancies in Little Saigon.

  1. Garden Grove City Council: Bruce Broadwater (D) vacated the seat this month to become Mayor of Garden Grove.  Minutes after Broadwater became Mayor, the Council held the vote to fill his newly-vacated Council seat.  New Councilman Chris Phan moved to nominate the November election’s 3rd place finisher, Phat Bui, but he failed to get a second on his nomination. Councilwoman Dina Nguyen (R) moved and Councilman Steve Jones (R) seconded the nomination of defeated Councilman Kris Beard (D), who came in 4th in the election, and the Council voted unanimously to appoint Beard to the seat.  Beard was out of office for mere minutes.  The job pays $8,093 per year.
  2. Westminster City Council: Tri Ta (R) vacated the seat this month to become Mayor of Westminster.  In stunningly rapid fashion, the Westminster City Council left his seat vacant for mere minutes before appointing Margie Rice (R) after Ta replaced Rice as Mayor.  In other words, Ta and Rice simply swapped seats.  The jobs pays $10,206 per year.

The County’s smaller cities took a little more time.

  1. Stanton City Council: Councilman Ed Royce, Sr. (R) vacated his seat for health reasons in February.  Rigoberto Ramirez (R) was appointed to fill the seat in March.  Ramirez is up for election to a four-year term in 2014.  The job pays $10,200 per year.
  2. Villa Park City Council: Councilman Bob Fauteux (R) passed away in February.  Rick Barnett (R) was appointed to fill the seat  in March and won election to a four-year term in November with no opponents.  The job pays nothing.

School Board

For the second time this year, the Anaheim Union High School District Board is filling a vacancy.

  1. Anaheim Union High School District Board (February): Earlier this year in February, Jan Harp Domene (D) passed away unexpectedly at the age of 60.  The board appointed Annemarie Randle-Trejo on a 3-1 vote in April.  OC Political covered this process.
  2. Anaheim Union High School District Board (December): Jordan Brandman (D) vacated the seat this month to become an Anaheim City Councilman.  The board will fill his seat early next year.  The job pays $9,731.52.

Brandman originally won his AUHSD seat in a February 2008 special election after a petition overturned the appointment of Harald Martin (R), who was selected by the Board to fill the seat left vacant due to the unexpected passing of Denise Mansfield-Reinking (R) in May 2007.

The AUHSD board is on its third vacancy in six years.

Special District

  1. Municipal Water District of Orange County, Division 3: Director Ed Royce, Sr. (R) vacated his seat for health reasons in February.  Wayne Osborne (R) was appointed to fill the seat in March and won election to a four-year term in a four-way race in November.  The job pays $26,594 per year.

Posted in 69th Assembly District, Anaheim, Anaheim Union High School District, Capistrano Unified School District, Garden Grove, Municipal Water District of Orange County, Orange County, Orange County Board of Education, Orange County Board of Supervisors, Stanton, Villa Park | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

 
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