Correa Perks Up His Ears at BOE Seat as Harkey Sues Her Opponent Wyland

Guess who could suddenly be a favorite to stay in Sacramento for the next four to eight years?

Here’s the local angle, from Scott Lay this afternoon:

“Termed-out state Sen. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana, has also opened a BOE campaign account, but it is unclear whether he plans to run. He did not return a call for comment. Republicans have a 3-point advantage in the district’s voter registration. Termed-out incumbent Michelle Steel is running for Orange County supervisor.”

This 4th District BOE seat is composed of OC, San Diego, and the more populated sections of the Inland Empire.  Could Correa actually pull this off?  I say … YES!  But why would he have a shot here in the state’s southernmost BOE district?  Easy: it’s because the Republicans are already killin’ each other — and more are piling on.

Do you remember this story I did a year ago today, and this follow-up from ten days later?  Well, check out this year’s sequel from some San Diego site.  Harkey is suing Wyland on some truly impressive grounds, and I’m not using “impressive” in a good way here.

Assemblywoman Harkey apparently didn’t appreciate Wyland’s reference to the case when he spoke to the Tri-City Tea Party group in San Diego on July 16. Her lawsuit, filed August 26 in Orange County Superior Court, claims that Wyland’s comments included the following:

Unfortunately, there has been a lawsuit brought by a lot of investors of modest means against her and her husband for defrauding them … There was decision that those investors were defrauded and there is a judgment … 

Now, get this. Harkey claims that Wyland’s statements weren’t totally accurate, among other reasons because many of the investors were wealthy and not simply of “modest means.”

This is not a joke.

From Harkey’s complaint:

Only a portion of Wyland’s statement is true. A lawsuit was filed against Harkey and her husband. However, the characterization of the “investors of modest means” is false in that there are many investors who have substantial financial resources … with net worths exceeding $1,000,000. Also, all investors when subscribing to obtain their real estate investment represented that their investment amount did not exceed ten percent (10%) of their net worth… Wyland’s statement is an attempt to paint a picture that Harkey somehow attempted to take advantage of “the little guy”.

Apparently, it’s quite alright to take advantage of those with “substantial financial resources,” you know, “the big guy.”

I may have had my issues with Correa at times, and I may have likened him to an white blood cell defending against a California single-payer proposal, but I don’t think I ever called him stupid.  He can size up a field with bad blood in it that would him leave an opening.  Could this BOE race offer such an opportunity?

I don’t know of a site that lists all of the BOE candidates around, but so far as I can tell the front-runners have generally been thought to be south OC Assemblywoman Diane Harkey and north San Diego State Senator Mark Wyland.  Now, former Assemblyman Van Tran is apparently entering the race as well.  That looks like a really nasty race.  Without a strong Democratic competitor, Correa could skate through the Top-Two primary and save his punch for the runoff, where he’d likely be inoffensive to most Republicans and — especially if he gets moved out of the county and isn’t on a track to run for Attorney General — would have the enthusiastic support of Democrats.

That includes critics like me.  Barring some even better Democrat coming along, I’d happily support Correa.  In any position where he isn’t dealing with public safety issues (and some public health issues — see the white blood cell link above), he’s usually OK.  (Ultimately, if not always initially.)  Now if we can just find a position for Solorio that keeps him out of the Senate.  (Maybe Gov. Brown could make him an Ambassador to Honduras.  Do we have these?)  Anyway … go, (provisionally), Lou!