Why are the two Republican candidates for the 33rd Senate District, which is being vacated by Dick Ackerman, both tilting to the hard right? You would think at least one of them would try to reach out to moderate voters, but instead they are both from the Taliban wing of the OC GOP. What gives?
Blame our legislators of past years for the current mess we’re in. They so gerrymandered all of our legislative districts that many of them tilt very far to the right or the left, leaving no breathing room for moderates. In these districts, the winner of the primary becomes the de facto winner of the general election, as the other party’s candidate simply cannot compete, for lack of votes.
The O.C. Register addressed this dilemma in a recent editorial, which also brought up a related issue: “We’re also disturbed by the degree to which immigration reform is the recurring GOP campaign theme, even in races where the winning candidate will have virtually no authority to deal with that issue.”
What a great point! Neither of the OC GOP candidates for the 33rd Senate District will be able to drive ANY legislation through our blue state legislature. Mimi Walters and Harry Sidhu will matter not a bit – because the Democrats own Sacramento and that won’t be changing anytime soon.
Do Walters and Sidhu think the voters are stupid? They must, because all they keep harping about is immigration. In the case of Sidhu that is just disgusting as he IS an immigrant. As for Walters, she ought to be fitted with a KKK hood. I used to think she was somewhat reasonable, but her mailers have been so utterly offensive that I will NEVER support her for any office.
Clearly we need to redistrict our legislative districts. Until then we will continue to be saddled with ridiculous extremist candidates, from both parties. And common sense will continue to be in short supply in our state’s capitol.
As one would expect, the only reasonable candidate for the 33rd Senate District is the Democratic candidate, Gary Pritchard. But the O.C. Register won’t even mention him. Instead they keep writing about Sidhu and Walters. It is just sickening. Our gerrymandered legislative districts just might be the biggest reason our state legislature is dysfunctional and our state government is drowning in debt.
Art –
Are we ready to do the Gary Pritchard interview yet?
SMS
It really comes down to this, whoever wins the primary is going to win the General Election. And the people who vote in the Republican Primary are those who are very conservative and far right.
The issue here is that neither Sidhu or Walters can get rid of undocumented workers since our economy and the businesses that fund their campaigns depend on cheap labor. The people who come here for work want one thing, to feed their families. People go where the jobs are, by using them as their pet wedge issue they only create more distrust and animosity towards undocumented workers and those who are here legally. It’s the worst kind of bigotry, it feed on the idea that what they tell you is for your own good.
It is truly amazing how far right they are. Mimi Walters voted against letting charities hold “casino night” events. In my mind this is a big deal because just here in Orange County the American Cancer Society’s Barron’s Ball raises about $500,000 from the casino night.
I called Sidhu’s campaign and even though the bill that Mimi opposed passed overwhelmingly, Harry would not even come out to say he supports the concept.
So, here we are. Two candidates that are hostile to the concepts of freedom in the extreme. We are going to face a water crisis when demand exceeds supply some day. Do you think one of the candidates would support Chuck DeVore’s hemp bill so farmers could grow a dry water crop? No way. What a shame the the Libertarians did not field a candidate for this race.
I think the one vote we have to cast in this race will go to Mimi though. At least she is a known quantity. Oh, the pain in having to vote for the lessor of two evils.