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A Closer Look at SD-37: Newport-Mesa Delivered Nearly All of Moorlach’s Margin of Victory Over Wagner

Posted by Chris Nguyen on March 23, 2015

The Registrar of Voters certified the 37th Senate District Special Election on Friday night, John Moorlach took the oath of office yesterday afternoon, and he will be on the Senate Floor at his desk for the first time at 2:00 PM today while Don Wagner will be back on the Assembly Floor at 12:00 PM today.

We’ve all seen the official results districtwide, with Moorlach avoiding a runoff by 199 votes:

STATE SENATOR 37th District, Short Term
Completed Precincts: 248 of 248
Vote Count Percentage
JOHN M. W. MOORLACH (REP) 38,125 50.3%
DONALD P. WAGNER (REP) 33,411 44.0%
NAZ NAMAZI (REP) 2,621 3.5%
Louise Stewardson (W) 1,696 2.2%

 

Besides both being conservative Republican legislators from Orange County, there’s something else Moorlach and Wagner have in common: their most recent constituents like them.  In the 37th Senate District special election, Moorlach won the 2nd Supervisorial District while Wagner won the 68th Assembly District.  Turnout in the 2nd Supervisorial District was 16.8% while turnout in the 68th Assembly District was 15.0%.

Winner by City in the 37th Senate District Special Election

Winner by city or unincorporated area in the 37th Senate District Special Election.  (Note: the sizes of their heads have nothing to do with their vote margin in that community, it’s just the geographic size of the community that did it.  Laguna Woods and Laguna Beach are very oddly-shaped cities.)

The 68th, the 2nd, and Neutral Territory

In the 68th Assembly District (Anaheim Hills, Lake Forest, Orange, Tustin, Villa Park, and the northeastern 1/3 of Irvine), Wagner defeated Moorlach by almost the identical percentage (5.3%) that Moorlach beat Wagner overall in the 37th Senate District (6.3%).  (For those who care to an incredible level of detail, the charts are near the bottom of this post.)

In the 2nd Supervisorial District (Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, and Newport Beach), Moorlach beat Wagner by a whopping 20.6%.

In the neutral territory outside the 68th and the 2nd (Laguna Beach, Laguna Woods, and the southwestern 2/3 of Irvine), Wagner defeated Moorlach by a large 18.5% margin.  (To add insult to injury for Naz Namazi, write-in candidate Louise Stewardson beat her in these areas.)  In a testament to how fed up voters were with negative campaigning, it was in these areas where Stewardson and Namazi did the best, getting a combined 8.9% here as opposed to 5.4% in the 2nd and 4.5% in the 68th since there was no “favorite son” candidate in these areas.

Moorlach’s Newport Beach-Costa Mesa Landslide

Moorlach’s margin of victory in his hometown of Costa Mesa was a whopping 25.4% (1,712 votes) and in Newport Beach, it was an even larger 27.9% (2,996 votes).

Costa Mesa and Newport Beach combined to give Moorlach 4,708 more votes than Wagner.  Districtwide, Moorlach defeated Wagner by 4,714 votes.  In other words, without Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, Moorlach would have been ahead of Wagner by just 6 votes, and obviously, there would have been a run-off.

Moorlach also held on to the other 2nd District city, Huntington Beach, by a margin of 7.3% (599 votes).

Moorlach Won Portions of the 68th While Holding All of the 2nd

There were three critical areas where Moorlach broke into Wagner’s home turf: Anaheim Hills, Villa Park, and Silverado.  Had Wagner been able to stop the Moorlach incursion into those three areas of the 68th Assembly District, there would have been a run-off.

The Anaheim Hills votes are interesting in that Moorlach beat Wagner by 76 votes in Anaheim Hills overall, but Wagner beat Moorlach by 7 votes in the 39th Congressional District.  The only portions of the 39th Congressional District that overlap with SD-37 are in Anaheim Hills.  Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait endorsed Moorlach and did a robocall for him.  Congressman Ed Royce endorsed Wagner, did a robocall for him, and was listed on Wagner’s mail as an endorser.

It appears Tait managed to push Anaheim Hills out of the 68th District’s generally pro-Wagner voting pattern, but Royce was able to push his Congressional District back into Wagner’s column.  This war of endorsements from popular elected officials and of campaign mail probably explains why Anaheim Hills was the closest city in the entire district.  (We can rule out most precinct walking operations since the “Hills” name is very, very apt compared to the rest of the relatively flat SD-37.)

Moorlach was endorsed in Villa Park by Mayor Rick Barnett, Councilman Bill Nelson, Councilman Robert Collacott, and former Councilwoman Deborah Pauly.  Wagner was endorsed in Villa Park by Councilman Greg Mills and Councilwoman Diana Fascinelli.  Pauly ran Moorlach’s ground operations, which caused Villa Park to buck the trend of the 68th District backing Wagner.

I have no explanation for Silverado.

Moorlach Won the Liberal Pockets of SD-37

In spite of all the union independent expenditures against Moorlach and/or for Wagner, Moorlach actually won the liberal City of Laguna Beach and the flag-banning precincts of UC Irvine.

Tables Galore

STATE SENATOR 37th District, Short Term
68th Assembly District Precincts
Vote Count Percentage
DONALD P. WAGNER (REP) 17,213 50.4%
JOHN M. W. MOORLACH (REP) 15,418 45.1%
NAZ NAMAZI (REP) 1,192 3.5%
Louise Stewardson (W) 360 1.0%

 

STATE SENATOR 37th District, Short Term
2nd Supervisorial District Precincts
Vote Count Percentage
JOHN M. W. MOORLACH (REP) 15,633 57.6%
DONALD P. WAGNER (REP) 10,030 37.0%
NAZ NAMAZI (REP) 815 3.0%
Louise Stewardson (W) 651 2.4%

 

STATE SENATOR 37th District, Short Term
Excluding 68th Assembly District and 2nd Supervisorial District Precincts
Vote Count Percentage
DONALD P. WAGNER (REP) 7,963 54.8%
JOHN M. W. MOORLACH (REP) 5,279 36.3%
Louise Stewardson (W) 685 4.7%
NAZ NAMAZI (REP) 614 4.2%

 

STATE SENATOR 37th District, Short Term
Costa Mesa Precincts
Vote Count Percentage
JOHN M. W. MOORLACH (REP) 3,979 59.1%
DONALD P. WAGNER (REP) 2,267 33.7%
NAZ NAMAZI (REP) 254 3.8%
Louise Stewardson (W) 234 3.5%

 

STATE SENATOR 37th District, Short Term
Newport Beach Precincts
Vote Count Percentage
JOHN M. W. MOORLACH (REP) 6,651 61.9%
DONALD P. WAGNER (REP) 3,655 34.0%
NAZ NAMAZI (REP) 263 2.4%
Louise Stewardson (W) 177 1.7%

 

STATE SENATOR 37th District, Short Term
Excluding Costa Mesa and Newport Beach Precincts
Vote Count Percentage
JOHN M. W. MOORLACH (REP) 27,495 47.1%
DONALD P. WAGNER (REP) 27,489 47.1%
NAZ NAMAZI (REP) 2,104 3.6%
Louise Stewardson (W) 1,285 2.2%

 

STATE SENATOR 37th District, Short Term
Huntington Beach Precincts
Vote Count Percentage
JOHN M. W. MOORLACH (REP) 4,188 50.6%
DONALD P. WAGNER (REP) 3,589 43.3%
NAZ NAMAZI (REP) 264 3.2%
Louise Stewardson (W) 240 2.9%

 

STATE SENATOR 37th District, Short Term
Anaheim Hills Precincts
Vote Count Percentage
JOHN M. W. MOORLACH (REP) 2,579 48.4%
DONALD P. WAGNER (REP) 2,503 46.9%
NAZ NAMAZI (REP) 205 3.8%
Louise Stewardson (W) 46 0.9%

 

STATE SENATOR 37th District, Short Term
Villa Park Precincts
Vote Count Percentage
JOHN M. W. MOORLACH (REP) 651 60.8%
DONALD P. WAGNER (REP) 396 37.0%
NAZ NAMAZI (REP) 23 2.2%
Louise Stewardson (W) 0 0.0%

 

STATE SENATOR 37th District, Short Term
Silverado Precincts
Vote Count Percentage
JOHN M. W. MOORLACH (REP) 35 58.3%
DONALD P. WAGNER (REP) 21 35.0%
NAZ NAMAZI (REP) 3 5.0%
Louise Stewardson (W) 1 1.7%

 

Random Trivia Not Worth a Separate Post

For anybody wondering, Moorlach will be seated in the front row on the Senate Floor and will be seatmates with Cathleen Galgiani (D-Stockton).  Moorlach will be one of only two Republicans with a Democrat as a seatmate: the other bipartisan pair of seatmates are Anthony Cannella (R-Ceres) and Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo).  Moorlach will be diagonally seated from his old colleague of eight years on the Board of Supervisors, Janet Nguyen (R-Garden Grove), whose seatmate is their eight-year colleague on the Board of Supervisors, Patricia Bates (R-Laguna Niguel).

Moorlach Seat in the Senate

Posted in 2nd Supervisorial District, 37th Senate District, 68th Assembly District | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments »

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 »

Filling the Anaheim Union High School District Vacancy

Posted by Chris Nguyen on April 16, 2012

Anaheim Union High School District On February 27, Anaheim Union High School District Trustee Jan Harp Domene passed away unexpectedly at home at the age of 60.  Elected to a four-year term in 2010, her untimely death left the seat vacant with more than two years remaining on the term.

On March 8, the AUHSD Board of Trustees decided to fill the seat by provisional appointment until the voters fill the seat in November 2012 for the remainder of the term expiring in 2014.  The deadline to request an application for the seat was Thursday, March 29, at which point 21 candidates had requested an application.  Wednesday, April 11 was the deadline to submit their applications, and 13 candidates did so.

Thursday, April 19 at 6:00 PM is a special meeting of the AUHSD Board of Trustees to allow the public to comment on the 13 candidates.  On Wednesday, April 25, at 5:00 PM, the AUHSD Board will hold a special meeting to interview the 13 candidates.  The following day, on Thursday, April 26, again at 5:00 PM, the AUHSD Board will hold a special meeting to vote on the appointment.  If the board fails to make an appointment by the end of Friday, April 27, the seat will remain vacant until the November 2012 election, when the voters fill the seat for the remainder of the term expiring in 2014.

It will take 3 votes to fill the seat, as the four AUHSD Trustees need a majority vote to fill the fifth seat.  The four AUHSD Trustees are Board President Anna Piercy (R-Cypress) and Board Members Jordan Brandman (D-Anaheim), Brian O’Neal (R-La Palma), Katherine Smith (R-Anaheim).

This is the most recent in a series of vacancies in elected office in Orange County in the past three months:

  • On January 23, Orange County Public Administrator John Williams’s resignation in a settlement with the County took effect (though he attempted to hang on to the office until February 7).  The Supervisors have not filled Williams’s seat, but Measure A has been placed on the June ballot to convert the elected Public Administrator into an appointed position.
  • On January 31, Orange County Auditor-Controller David Sundstrom’s resignation to accept a similar position in Sonoma County took effect.  The all-Republican OC Board of Supervisors almost appointed Republican Shaun Skelly to the vacancy, but Skelly withdrew.  The Supervisors are slated to determine tomorrow on how to proceed on filling Sundstrom’s vacancy.
  • On February 1, Stanton Councilman Ed Royce Sr.’s resignation due to ill health took effect.  His resignation from the Municipal Water District of Orange County Board of Directors took effect the same day.  On March 13, the majority Republican Stanton City Council appointed Republican Rigoberto Ramirez to fill the vacancy.  On March 14, the all-Republican Municipal Water District of Orange County Board of Directors appointed Republican Wayne Osborne to fill the vacancy, effective March 21.
  • On February 12, Villa Park Councilman Bob Fauteux passed away suddenly at the age of 79.  On March 27, the all-Republican Villa Park City Council appointed Republican Rick Barnett to fill the vacancy.

The 13 candidates seeking to fill the vacancy on the Board of the Anaheim Union High School District are:

  • John Alvis (D-La Palma), 69, served on the Centralia School District Board of Trustees from 1988-2005 and is currently President of the Kiwanis Club of La Palma and Vice Chair of the La Palma Traffic Safety Committee.  In 2006, he came in third out of five candidates for two seats on the La Palma City Council.  He also unsuccessfully sought an appointment to the AUHSD board in late 2007 after the untimely death of Denise Mansfield-Reinking.  (Harald Martin was appointed to the seat, but petitions forced an early 2008 special election that Jordan Brandman won.)
  • Maureen Christensen (R-Anaheim), 48, serves on the Anaheim City School District’s Measure BB Bond Oversight Committee.
  • Dominic Daddario (R-Anaheim), 64, is a businessman.
  • Helena De Coro (R-Anaheim), 65, is a music professor at Cypress College.
  • Lori Dinwiddie (NPP-Buena Park), 44, is the Safety Chair for the PTSAs at both Kennedy High School and Walker Jr. High School.
  • Greg Domene (D-Anaheim), 61, is Domene’s widower and works in the computer industry.
  • Jackie Filbeck (R-Anaheim), 54, is a Field Representative in Assemblyman Chris Norby’s office, with a long track record as a PTA parent, Anaheim Little League board member, JUSA board member, and NJB board member.  She made an unsuccessful bid for the Anaheim City School District Board in 2010.
  • Rod Hall (R-Anaheim), 80, is a retired teacher active in the Anaheim Lions Club.
  • Kenneth Jenks (R-Buena Park), 57, is an insurance salesman who is active in his church.
  • Art Montez (D-Buena Park), 62, is active with LULAC and was a Centralia School District Board Member from 1998 until 2010, when he was defeated for re-election.
  • Annemarie Randle-Trejo (D-Anaheim), 49, is a twice-defeated candidate for AUHSD: she came in sixth out of eight candidates in her 2006 bid and third out of four in her 2008 bid.  She is a behavior interventionist for the Anaheim City School District.
  • Forrest Turpen (R-Anaheim), 74, is West Coast Regional Director for Christian Educators Association International.
  • Shanin Ziemer (NPP-Buena Park), 41, is President of the PTA at Buena Terra Elementary School and Cultural Arts Chair of the Fourth District PTA.

The average age of the applicants is 59.

The applicants include 7 Republicans, 4 Democrats, and 2 people registered as No Party Preference (known as Decline-to-State in pre-Prop 14 parlance).

They include 8 Anaheimers, 4 Buena Parkers, and 1 La Palman.

AUHSD includes the entirety of the City of Cypress, along with portions of Anaheim, Buena Park, La Palma and Stanton.  AUHSD includes grades 7-12, with K-6 education provided by the Anaheim City School District, Centralia School District, Cypress School District, Magnolia School District, and Savanna School District.

(In the interest of full disclosure, I should note my day job is working in the Fullerton office of Assemblyman Chris Norby.  Consequently, one of my co-workers is Jackie Filbeck, who is one of the candidates for the AUHSD seat.)

Posted in Anaheim City School District, Anaheim Union High School District, Centralia School District, Cypress School District, Magnolia School District, Municipal Water District of Orange County, Orange County, Savanna School District, Stanton, Villa Park | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

 
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