2020 OC Filings #21: “Pulido Republican” Brett Franklin Gets 2 Opponents for College Board

By
Greg Diamond
– August 11, 2020Posted in: "The OC", Fresh Juice

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UPDATE 8/12

Brett Elliott Franklin, discussed at length below, did finally get a challenge by “Affordable Healthcare Manager” David Crockett, who filed on the last possible day.  However, waiting that long is likely what invited a third candidate, “Business Owner” Samuel Ulloa, to enter the race out of nowhere.

But which Samuel Ulloa?  Facebook gives me several possibilities:

  1. Supposedly from Milpitas; he and I have exactly one friend in common: former Ian Calderon staffer and Jordan Brandman crony Danny Fierro.  Egads!  (And double egads!: I’m friends with Danny Fierro??)  That this Ulloa has Bay Area sports teams on his page suggests that he is a NorCal local, and some minor demon arranged this just to freak me out.  (Or did he just move?)
  2. Supposedly from Corona; his page suggests he has a good sense of whimsy and the absurd.
  3. One apparently from both Compton and Jalisco.  Doesn’t seem likely.
  4. A Jerry Orbach lookalike who provides no hometown.
  5. One in Paris France.
  6. One in Chile.
  7. One in Guaymas, Mexico.

There are others on Twitter, but none seem to fit.  More as it develops.  If it’s the FB-friend-with-Fierro guy, his plan may always have been to drop in at the last minute. just so I wouldn’t do what I’m doing here.  Again: in the AEIOU extension period, don’t wait until the last day, because someone may ambush you.   More as the story develops!

ORIGINAL POST:

Pulido’s Republican

Termed-out Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido, soon gone but not forgiven, was pretty much the epitome of a corrupt OC Democrat, though with the protection of former D.A. Tony Rackauckas he never really suffered for it over his decades in power, often getting the DPOC endorsement.  But he didn’t do it only with Democratic support; he also had Republican help.  And Pulido had no more devoted Republican ally on Council during the Aughts that Brett Elliott Franklin, who served two terms before being replaced by the ill-fated Carlos Bustamante.  In fact, Fraklin was Pulido’s assistant helping him work on the South Coast AQMD Board of Directors.

Franklin may be a nice guy, for all I know, but this is not the sort of association I like to see rewarded.

Franklin ran for the Rancho Santiago Community College District School Board — someplace that, we might say, has been congenial to Pulido’s style of politics, in 2004.  He lost.  Now he’s back, running for the Area 5 seat vacated by Claudia Alvarez, for which filing ends on Wednesday — tomorrow — at 5:00.

Franklin is currently unopposed.

“What is Truman’s name is the matter with the OC Democrats?”, you may ask.  Let’s be kind and chalk it up to inattentiveness.  Anyway, we have about half a day, when the sun comes up, to fix it — if we can.

If you live in the area in gold, clear your schedule to file to run for office.

Boundaries of Rancho Santiago CCD Area 5

As you can see from the map above, the Rancho Santiago district lines are horribly gerrymandered.  We’ll do the best we can to describe the boundaries — but if you’d like to be on a community college board and live roughly within the bounds described, it’s worth checking it out.

District 5 is in gold — bright yellow gold, not the dull gold abutting the Anaheim Hills district. (The big red arrow may be a useful clue.)  I’m interpolating the borders of the district as best I can — it’s barely readable even magnified, which should not be allowed, for this exact reason –but I think I can get it reasonably close.  (I have no idea why they left the 405 off of the map.)  So, from west to east:

  1. The western boundary looks like Euclid.  For the portion between that and Harbor, it looks like it goes up to Garden Grove Blvd., just above the 22, and down as far as Edinger.
  2. Between Harbor and the Santa Ana River, it looks like it going up only to Westminster Ave. and south to Edinger where it crosses the river.  It would include a small area just northwest of where First St. crosses the river, and a small divot below First where it crosses Jackson.
  3. West of the river to Fairview, it looks like it’s entirely north of First, going up to around Westminster Ave, but dipping down maybe halfway to Hazard at around Clinton St.  This includes a small area above the 22, the Golden Triangle, just east of where the river crosses the 22 and up to the 5.
  4.   Between Fairview and what I think is Main, it’s bounded by the 22 in the north and First St. to the south.

No guarantees, of course — but that’s what it looks like to me.  So if you’re a fan of Santa Ana College or Santiago Canyon College — ideally both, of course — you have just a little time to throw your hat into the ring!  (Comment here if you’re sure that you’re going to file — if we like you, we’ll tell other people to lay off!)  Let’s get one, and only one, viable Pulido-free candidate into this race!

Is This a Winnable Race?

Only one way to find out!  Democrats can still endorse — and without his power, Pulido has a lot less influence.  He found that out when running for Supervisor.  For  Latinx with a background in education, I think it would be.  But nothing ventured, nothing gained — and not filing is a sure loss!

About Greg Diamond

Somewhat verbose attorney, semi-disabled and semi-retired, residing in northwest Brea. Occasionally ran for office against jerks who otherwise would have gonr unopposed. Got 45% of the vote against Bob Huff for State Senate in 2012; Josh Newman then won the seat in 2016. In 2014 became the first attorney to challenge OCDA Tony Rackauckas since 2002; Todd Spitzer then won that seat in 2018. Every time he's run against some rotten incumbent, the *next* person to challenge them wins! He's OK with that. Corrupt party hacks hate him. He's OK with that too. He does advise some local campaigns informally and (so far) without compensation. (If that last bit changes, he will declare the interest.) His daughter is a professional campaign treasurer. He doesn't usually know whom she and her firm represent. Whether they do so never influences his endorsements or coverage. (He does have his own strong opinions.) But when he does check campaign finance forms, he is often happily surprised to learn that good candidates he respects often DO hire her firm. (Maybe bad ones are scared off by his relationship with her, but they needn't be.)