By Their Endorsers Ye Shall Know Them: the AD-69 candidates

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AD-69  - El Pollo Local

Who wants chicken?

So as not to bury the lede: it was announced today by e-mail that Tom Daly IS running for AD-69. So where do we stand now?

With a 76.14% Latino population and 52.6% Latino voting-eligible population (a discrepancy that is a story in itself), the chicken-shaped Assembly District 69  is the most Latino state legislative district in California.   The field of potential winning candidates for what will sometimes be known here as “El Pollo Local” is now most likely set: Orange County Recorder Tom Daly is in.

I’m on record as endorsing Julio Pérez of Anaheim and the Orange County Labor Federation (from which he is on leave) in this race, but I have no animus towards Santa Ana Councilwoman Michele Martinez or Tom Daly (with whose father I am friendly here in the OC tundra north of the 91.)  So, today — the day when an e-mail has been circulated indicating Daly’s intention to run —  is a day to be (mostly) even-handed. Who is endorsing whom — and which list of endorsers, if you were running in El Pollo Local, would you prefer to have? (Note that Daly’s list is fresh out today, while the other two are a month or so old, so direct comparisons are tricky. But one goes with what one has.)

A few points of interest in the lists below:

First, I’m treating the presence of a name on a list as an “endorsement.”  Some “endorsers” (as I term them) may quibble with that.  This post will give them the chance to do so.

Second, I’ve boldface-italicized the names of two endorsers, Jose Solorio and John Hanna, simply because they are taking a step that at one time might have been confusing: endorsing two candidates. How do we interpret this, in a sure-to-be Democratic seat with three candidates running?   Well, in our brave new “top two primary” system — “it’s Abel Maldonado’s world, we just live in it” — endorsing two of the three candidates may be seen as non-endorsing the remaining one. So, apparently Jose Solorio is supporting the “not Julio Pérez” party in this race and John Hanna is with the “not Michele Martinez” party.   They will not be alone in those parties, before all this is done, and the “not Tom Daly” party will probably be well-represented as well.

Finally, aside from Solorio, I see four clearly Latino names (out of 40) on Daly’s list. Which would be worse: if he asked other Latinos but didn’t get their endorsements for this district — or if he didn’t even ask?  Are the leading Santa Ana Latinos in government really willing to support an Anaheim Anglo over a Labor Latino, in the event of a Daly-Pérez runoff?  That could shake up Santa Ana politics, if they did.

Here are the major candidates, in order of their announcements for office, from their respective “kick-off event” flyers:

Julio Pérez (Sept. 15 kick-off event):

[Note: Joe Dunn’s endorsement of Perez was announced as this article was nearing publication.]

  • Joe Dunn (former Asm. and Senator, executive director of State Bar of Calif.) [Not in kick-off flyer]
  • Lorri Galloway (Ana. Council)
  • Sharon Quirk-Silva (Fullerton Council)
  • John Hanna (Rancho Santiago CC Dist.)
  • Lawrence Labrado (Rancho Santiago CC Dist.)
  • Michael Matsuda (North OC CC Dist.)
  • Sergio Contreras (Westminster School Bd.)
  • Jose Moreno (Anaheim City School Dist.)
  • Bao Nguyen (Garden Grove Unif. School Dist.)
  • John Palacio (Santa Ana Unif. School Dist.)
  • Adam Acosta
  • Valerie Amezcua
  • Nick Anas (OC Young Dems)
  • Jess Araujo
  • Marcos Cardenas
  • Jackie & Eudy Cordova
  • Amin David (Los Amigos)
  • Benny Diaz (LULAC)
  • Berny Enriquez
  • Tefere Gebre (labor)
  • Zeke Hernandez (LULAC)
  • Lauren Lee
  • Jeff LeTourneau
  • Art & Raquel Lomeli
  • Art Montez
  • Mai Nguyen
  • Melahat Rafiei (DPOC)
  • Eric Robles
  • Marti Schrank (DPOC)
  • Jennifer Siegert
  • Tim Steed (OC Young Dems)
  • Jose Vargas
  • AFSCME 36
  • IATSE 504
  • Laborers 652
  • Orange County Emplyees Association
  • Roofers 220
  • Sprinklerfitters 709
  • UNITE HERE 11
  • UFCW 324
  • Teamsters 396

Michele Martinez (Sept. 22 kick-off event)

  • Jose Solorio (State Assembly)
  • Diane Singer (Orange Unif. School Dist.)
  • Miguel Pulido (Mayor, Santa Ana)
  • David Benavides (Santa Ana Council)
  • Vincent Sarmiento (Santa Ana Council)
  • Sal Tinajero (Santa Ana Council)
  • Ken Nguyen (Santa Ana Govt)
  • Max Madrid (Santa Ana Govt)
  • Patrick Correa-Yrarrazaval (Santa Ana Govt)
  • Eric Alderete (Santa Ana Govt)
  • Sean Mill (Santa Ana Govt)
  • Mario Turner (Santa Ana Govt)
  • Monica Garcia (Santa Ana Govt)
  • Lynnette Verino (Santa Ana Govt)
  • Benjamin Mendoza
  • Ruben Smith

Tom Daly (Oct. 19 kick-off event)

  • Bill Lockyer (State Treasurer)
  • Jose Solorio (State Assembly)
  • Gail Eastman, Anaheim Council
  • Bruce Broadwater, (Garden Grove Council)
  • John Hanna (Rancho Santiago CC Dist)
  • Brian Conley (Rancho Santiago CC Dist)
  • Leonard Lahtinen (North OC CC Dist)
  • Donna Miller (North OC CC Dist)
  • Jordan Brandman (Anaheim Union HS Dist)
  • Jan Domene (Anaheim Union HS Dist)
  • Anna Piercy (Anaheim Union HS Dist)
  • James Vanderbilt (Anaheim Union Elem. Dist)
  • Tom Umberg, (Fmr. State Assembly)
  • Todd Ament
  • Frank Barbaro (Dem Party of OC Chair)
  • Dan Callahan
  • Cynthia Contreras
  • Lucy Dunn (OC Business Council)
  • John Erskine
  • Alden Esping
  • Linda Esping
  • Juan Carlos Flores
  • Mark Gaughan
  • Frank Garcia
  • Gary Hunt  (lobbyist for sale of the OC Fairgrounds to Facilities Management West – ed)
  • Dan Jacobson (Dem Foundation of OC Chair)
  • Charles Kim
  • Paul Kott
  • Mike Levin
  • Reuben Martinez
  • Carrie Nocella
  • Tom Phelps
  • Michael Ray
  • Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters
  • Geoffrey Stack
  • Bryan Starr
  • Steve Sullivan
  • Bill Taormina
  • George Urch
  • William C. Waggoner
  • John Withers

We can post additions to the above lists as more endorsements (or “endorsements”) are announced.  Or we may not — that could get pretty time-intensive over the next eight months.

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.)