These seven OJ-endorsed candidates have declared victory in the last couple days (except for Sharon and Vicente, and I don’t know what they’re waiting for – they are both ahead by thousands of votes and keep gaining.) All of these (except Ashleigh) were pretty close and scary for the first week – Sharon and Vicente were actually both behind for a while.
But let’s consider:
Bullets Dodged.
Sometimes it’s not just that the winning candidate is good, but that their opponent was particularly dangerous or otherwise undeserving of holding office. Some examples:
MATT GUNDERSON. We were especially gratified to see environmentalist Encinitas Mayor Cathleen Blakespear beat this fellow, as he was one of the eight candidates California’s Big Oil Refineries chose to support, in an effort to shield themselves from a much-deserved “windfall profit tax” which will come back to us taxpayers as a refund. In fact Gunderson as Senator was Big Oil’s dearest hope, as they invested a record $1.8 MILLION in his race, most of which went into vicious lying propaganda against Blakespear. HAHA, DIDN’T WORK!
SCOTT BAUGH. This Republican lobbyist was never a big firebrand or hater, but has been a dependable font of corruption since the 1980’s, when he got busted running a fake Democrat assembly candidate to get Republicans a brief majority in Sacramento (the beneficiary of which was Curt Pringle, who got to be Speaker for a little while!) Later, probably as a reward, Scott spent several years leading the OC GOP. With Katie Porter rather than Scott Baugh as their representative in Congress, Coastal OC can hold its head high!
SOO YOO is a public education fearmonger and race-baiter, most recently criticizing her town’s Latinos for drug abuse and quinceaneras, and appearing with alt-right Huntington Beach chudlette Gracey Van Der Mark. She doesn’t need to be in the assembly and we’re glad Sharon has beaten her – though it was a nail-biter there for a while!
KIM BERNICE NGUYEN – that comes down to what does it mean to be a Democrat in the OC? Kim is part of the far-right clique of the OC Democrat party, along with Lou Correa, Tom Daly, and Avelino Valencia – uncritically supportive of law enforcement and solicitous to big business. Also she’s mean, AND the proud Sheriff’s candidate in the race against reformist Vincent. (Yeah, I know Katrina got the Sheriffs’ support too, but there’s more to Katrina than that.) Vince’s victory over Kim is good for the County, and good for the Party.
ANAHEIM CABAL. Ashleigh was pretty much destined to win, but it was good to see cabal kleptocrat Trevor O’Neil, as well as tireless and valueless election spoiler Lorri Galloway, get trounced. [Bigger Anaheim piece coming up Sunday!]
IN OTHER RESULTS NEWS:
Continuing to widen their leads over their opponents:
- Carlos Leon in Anaheim District 2.
- Ben Vazquez in Santa Ana Ward 2.
- Jessica Guerrero in AUHSD.
- Katie Brazear Aceves in SAUSD.
- Andrea Marr in Costa Mesa.
- And sadly, Steve Knoblock in San Clemente.
And unexpectedly, Trumpy Westminster Council candidate Amy Pham West looks like she could very well be defeated by investigator / bar owner John Gentile!
No report on Katie Porter’s victory over Scott Baugh is complete without noting that Katie won despite being betrayed and stabbed in the back by “Democratic” Irvine mayor Farrah Khan, who leaked private text messages from Katie to Fox News.
These private text messages, in which Katie was critical of the Irvine police for failing to protect her and her supporters at a town hall, were then weaponized by the Republicans to paint Katie as “anti-police.”
As you will recall, Farrah Khan’s claim that she was forced to give these texts to Fox News by a public records request was explicitly denied by Irvine’s public records office. https://irvinecommunitynewsandviews.org/mayor-khan-appears-to-have-leaked-text-messages-to-damage-irvine-congresswoman-katie-porterl/amp/
*All in all…..not bad! Although, Moorlach should have run for State Controller.