The filing period for state and county offices has finished. Barring write-in candidacies, it’s all over except the litigatin’.
Three positions — CA-45, AD-74, and County Auditor Controller — were widely understood to still be open, thanks respectively to the refusals of eligible incumbents John Campbell, Allan Mansoor, and Jan Grimes to run for their seats. (According to some sources, SD-32, SD-34, and SD-36 also remained open, because of some arcane magic related to redistricting, but I figured that if anyone really wanted to find out about those they should have done so by themselves.)
A total of six candidates completed their filing. In CA-45, No Party Preferencer Al Salehi — it says “Sale-Hi,” but that looks like a typo — with the ballot designation (Trustee, Buena Park Library District) joins Democrat Drew Leavens (Educator/Businessman) and Republican Greg Raths (Retired Colonel/Businessman) in the race to derail State Senator Mimi Walters’s road to Congress. I prefer all three challengers to Walters, and I don’t even know anything about Salehi beyond the above information — except that he isn’t Walters.
In AD-74, Republicans Karina Onofre and Emanuel Patrescu join party-mates Keith Curry and Matt Harper against Anila Ali — who could probably make the runoff with a 25-30% share of the vote. (For comparison purposes, in the 2012 primary race involving Allan Mansoor and Leslie Daigle, Democrat Robert Rush got about 33% of the vote and 43% in the November runoff.)
In the Auditor-Controller‘s race, James Benuzzi (Audit/Business Advisor) is no longer all alone on the ballot. On Monday, Mike “Mike” Dalati — which the ROV assures me is not a misprint, but how he wants “wants” it — an Accountant/Tax Instructor, made “made” the ballot. Today, the three others who had taken out papers joined them. That means that Eric Woolery (Orange Treasurer/CPA), John Wayne Willard (Assistant Director HR), and Frank Davies (Deputy Auditor-Controller) round out the field. Woolery has been claiming that he has tremendous amounts of money, so he’s off my list. I’m interested in hearing about Davies’s reputation within the county government — and whether he has the endorsement of Jan Grimes.
From the Gossip Desk: OJB has been informed that today’s filers Karina Onofre and Mike “Mike” Dalati are an item, despite that Mike “Mike” is supposedly a Democrat “Democrat.” (His better known brother Bill Dalati left the GOP for the Dems in late 2006.)
I’ve been told of only two ballot designations currently being challenged: 2nd Supe candidate Michelle Steel’s designation of “Taxpayer Advocate/Businesswoman” — really, now, did she read the rules? — and Young Kim’s “Small Businesswoman,” which is just sad. She does not appear to be making money through her business, and if this somehow remains I’m going to have great fun assessing how much business she is doing (apparently “none”) and with whom. Given that her story about the business diverges from that of her advisor, “Odious Dave” Gilliard, and that one’s designation is supposed to refer to income over the past year, well into her period of being Ed Royce’s highly compensated social director (or whatever her title was officially), I’d say that her ballot designation should be more along the lines of “Small Fibber.”
There’s more — but it can wait. For previous races, see here; for final developments on races closing Friday, here, and for developments from earlier this week, see here. (And if anyone feels like combining those three with this one for the integrated final word, please do!)
Postscript: While I was searching for Bill Dalati’s party identification, this old newspaper article came up from Hussam Ayloush’s personal website:
GOP Leader Says Anaheim Council Candidate Backs Extremist Groups Syrian-born Bill Dalati focuses on America’s enemies, Web note says. Dalati says his faith and heritage are being questioned.
By Dave McKibben
Times Staff WriterOctober 9, 2006
A state Republican party leader has roiled a sleepy Anaheim City Council race with allegations that an Arab American candidate is anti-American and supports extremist groups.
The accusations against Bill Dalati, an insurance agent who was born in Syria and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1987, surfaced last week in a letter from former state Republican Party chairman Shawn Steel and on various websites. On the OC Blog, a politically conservative website, the headline atop the letter opposing Dalati’s candidacy read “Something Scary in Anaheim.”
Steel, the state GOP leader from 2001 to 2003, said he wrote the letter to alert fellow conservatives that Dalati — a moderate Republican — could be a “Manchurian candidate.”
“He looks good on the outside, but the guy could be an extremist,” Steel said Friday. “Is his primary concern to fix the potholes and improve the city, or does he really have an agenda here to support extremist organizations and cloak them with respectability?”
In the letter, Steel questioned Dalati’s connections to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, later calling CAIR a “pretty radical, nasty group.” He also cited Dalati’s involvement with an Anaheim rally protesting the Israel-Lebanon conflict, and his endorsement of Rep. Cynthia A. McKinney of Georgia, a Democrat.
Dalati, who came to the U.S. in 1984 and has been an Anaheim resident for 12 years, said he was frustrated and angered by the letter.
“I need to be out on the campaign trail, not worrying about all this negative stereotyping,”
Dalati said. “People should look at the issues, not where I came from. Everybody came from somewhere. It’s clear that my faith and my heritage are the reason they don’t want me around.”Dalati, a 41-year-old Muslim, doesn’t deny that he supports CAIR, the largest Muslim civil rights group in the country and largely viewed as a mainstream organization. Local Republican law enforcement officials such as Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona and Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca have attended the local chapter’s fundraisers.
Hussam Ayloush, director of CAIR’s Southern California chapter, in Anaheim, said Steel had a history of making “Islamaphobic” comments.
So, Mrs. Steel, I’d like to know — does your husband Shawn still hold this sort of Islamaphobic perspective?
Do you?
Mike “Mike” Dalati
Hey I read Catch-22, too. Sort of like Major Major.
We’ll see how funny everyone thinks this is. If enough people find it funny enough, maybe he’ll change his name on the ballot. If not, then good “good” luck to him.
“Mike” Dalati is the little brother of Anaheim’s beloved insurance magnate / political reformer / de facto Syrian ambassador from the region / Democratic former council candidate Belal “Bill” Dalati.
“Mike” is a big guy and a big loud talker. He came to Los Amigos half a year ago and said he was running for something or other. Someone asked what Party he was and he wouldn’t answer; the pretty blond girl he drags along with him and orders around blurted out that he was a Republican, and probably got chewed out afterward. That was unnecessary, a lot of good Republicans go to Los Amigos. Nobody liked him.
“For comparison purposes, in the 2012 primary race involving Allan Mansoor and Leslie Daigle, Democrat Robert Rush got about 33% of the vote and 43% in the November runoff.”
And that was with practically zero campaigning from Mr Rush. I was angry at the time, thinking he was a fake Dem put up by Allan’s side to bleed votes from Leslie, but it turned out to be due to a family tragedy.
Oh so that was KARINA who blurted out that “Mike” was a ‘pug! Before I knew who SHE was. That sounds right.
AD74. I don’t know Anila or Keith. I suppose I should support the Democrat, I probably agree with her most on most issues, and who knows maybe it’s time for a Dem there. But of the reeps I’m most fond of Petrascu, the young Rumanian-American who i’ve long dealt with as an aide to Tom Harman and then Travis Allen.
I’m gonna quote him talking to me at Travis’ “Bonfire for the Bonfires” – “I had to deal with these rich Newporters…” [since he’s running for office I’m omitting his obscenities, but picture obscenities ALONG WITH a Rumanian accent like that funny guy who used to be on NPR] “After ten or fifteen minutes of complete BS about environmental concerns which I was able to refute, it became clear it was all about CLASS and keeping people they didn’t like out of their neighborhood. They were all complaining about poor people from the 909 parking in front of their houses to go surfing. I was nodding my head and trying to look concerned, but secretly thinking ‘F— you guys, that was ME ten years ago when I lived in Corona!'”
Karina Onofre is the classic airhead, a wannabe Sarah Palin. Her main message is “look at me, I’m hispanic, I’m a woman, I’m pretty, but I’m a REPUBLICAN!” Her Facebook posts are characterized by an average of roughly seven exclamation points!!!!!!! Jose Moreno told her to come back to Los Amigos once she figures out where she stands on any ISSUES.
I’ll let others describe Matt Harper since I deal with him as an ally on the toll lanes. People, please try to avoid phrases such as “classic career politician,” “waste of life,” and “polyp.”
People, please try to avoid phrases such as “classic career politician,” “waste of life,” and “polyp.”
Well, I guess I can’t write anything, then.
Andrei Codrescu
Him.
I hope that that wasn’t your description of Matt Harper. If Harper ever touched Codrescu, the anti-matter explosion could destroy the continent.
Curry seems to be the establishment GOP candidate — and I’m told that he is reasonably reasonable. Oops, I just killed his campaign by saying that. Sorry. (Think of John Belushi giving Stephen Bishop back his guitar in Animal House.)
Harper: no. Alternatively: NOOOOOO! What a classic waste of polyp.
Onofre: your description matches what I’ve heard, so: no.
Petrascu : ok, I’m prepared to like him personally. We’ll see about policies.
Ali is a lovely and cultured woman with a charming British accent — not that any of that matters one whit, of course — and seems to be quite energetic and on the ball, which does. You will enjoy meeting her. I met her husband at the ROV on Monday when he was turning in some papers; seemed like a nice chap.
*We are going with Mimi……in spite of your trepidations Dr. D. Lucille for Mayor of Anaheim too!
Oh, come on, Winships, move BACK to Anaheim, so you can enjoy the REAL “BENEFITS” of Kring’s give-away deal rubber-stamps!
Stop by the ROV’s office today and I ask the Santa Ana coordinator about last Friday and she said it was a mad house.
So if you are out of work and could use some spending change, go sigh up, it is early and there are plenty of spot available.
Omigosh, so any good looking politician is now an airhead? Geeze… Men need to take it easy and let people be. I think that Karina’s change of party more than puts her as a front runner. So, will it be Karina and Keith?
No, no one here is saying that “any good looking politician” is … an airhead.” Some people are saying that Karina Onofre is an airhead — I won’t do so because I don’t know her — but, as I hope you realize, no one here is extending that to all other candidates who are also good-looking. Her opponent Anila Ali, for example, is not an airhead.
Ali, furthermore, is the Democratic Party endorsed candidate — so no Central Committee member can support another candidate, and she may have the benefit of party spending. She’s also a great fundraiser — previously it was for others, but that will change this year. Onofre has carpetbagged into both the district and into the party; you’ll be surprised at how little that impresses people. She won’t take enough Democratic votes away from Ali to make a difference — though she will continue to take votes away from the three Republican men.
Um. I’ll just say I’ve heard her talk, I’ve asked her questions, I’ve read her Facebook posts, etc. etc. I’m not some sexist prick that calls any good-looking female politician an airhead. And there are also ugly airheads, male airheads, and ugly male airheads. So, no, Jennifer.
I’d like to see a general between Ali and Petrascu – the best candidates, and the best ACCENTS for a debate!
I’m betting!