A Day at the Races: the Home Stretch! UPDATED with Final Rosters Where Available!

We’ve entered the final turn.  By today at 5:00 — although we won’t know all of the developments until later that night when the Registrar of Voters finishes processing people and hits “publish” — we’ll finally know who is running where in the races we’ve been following.  (Which, as you know, excludes most of the City Council races because no one stepped up to cover them.  Maybe next time — right, everyone?)

Two exceptions:

  1. City races may not be reported until Monday, unless the City Clerks really feel like working overtime, so unless someone willing to clue us in is stationed in a City at the close of business we won’t know the final lineup in Anaheim, Santa Ana, etc. right away.
  2. All together now: IF an incumbent WAS ELIGIBLE to run again but DID NOT, then we chuck the horse-racing metaphor for basketball and go into overtime, which ends at 5:00 on Wednesday August 13.)
And now a third, updated exception: They seem to have a full roster of candidates, but not yet clear information as to which of them have qualified.  HOWEVER, we do know which contests (other than City Council races) have been extended — and their names are listed in GREEN.

Now let’s go back to the boilerplate!

Remember that this is a two-step process.  One can pull papers for an office (or more than one), described here as “filing,” and except where those two offices are incompatible this post treats that person as being in the race.  However, a candidate is not committed to run in a race until they have qualified for the ballot — which they can prevent by not ultimately filing some of the necessary paperwork.  At this point, many have filed, but few have qualified.

Because writing these posts takes for-freakin’-ever, we’ve omitted the City Council races in all but the largest OC cities.  (Want to see your town’s race covered?  Look up whose running on your city’s website, or go to City Hall if it’s not there, and post the information here; we’ll incorporate it into the text.)  Besides City Council, Mayoral, and other City Executive races, we have the Educational Boards (Community College, Unified, High School, and Elementary School) and Special Districts covered.  (Note that party affiliation of incumbents is found at the excellent, although not always entirely accurate, OC Political Elected Officers Database.  Send your corrections as you find ’em.)

Color code: seats that are currently going begging  are identified in magenta. Seats where “why the hell isn’t anyone running against this person??” have notes listed in blue.  I generally have not checked to see where an incumbent is termed out, but where I understand that a contest will clearly go until Aug. 13, it is listed in green.  Names newly entered into the matrix are in red.  If a race is over — closed filing and number of candidates equal to number of available seats, you’ll see “IT’S OVER” in gold.

Anaheim - Who's Running from Council Majority
From Anaheim’s Council majority (L-R): running, running, allegedly running but more sort of staggering, not running.)

Selected City Councils of OC’s Larger Cities

#1 City of Anaheim

MayorFour candidates have pulled papers for Mayor.  Three were expected: Tom TaitLucille Kring, and Lorri Galloway.  One, we shoulda seen coming: Denis Fitzgerald.  (I don’t know what Fitz is up to, but it’s sure to be partly entertaining and perhaps partly horrifying.  But, dammit, it’s his right to run.)  Either Anaheim’s filing status is behind the times — or the City’s powers that be decided to dump Kring and run only Galloway against Tait.  (I guess that she’d be a better choice for them than Fitzgerald, but I hope that she would not go so readily to the Dark Side.).  I think that they’re just late in updating.

City Council:  We have nine candidates for the two vacant seats, but because of the lack of updating (which makes sense, if one doesn’t want to pay overtime), we don’t know which of them have qualified.  More on that after we meet them.

Incumbents Kris Murray and Gail Eastman, of the “Pringle Ring” Party, are more or less aligned with Loose-Lipped Lucy Kring.  Murray’s reelection is the Pringle Party’s top-priority, while the not-central-to-plotting Eastman is somewhat of an afterthought.  This is a shame because Eastman is by far the less culpable, offensive, and impervious to reason.

Mayor Tait will campaign on a slate with two candidates: City School Board member James Vanderbilt  and business law attorney Doug Pettibone.  One of the more interesting backstories here is who the OCGOP will endorse.  They’re already highly favorable to Tait, having effectively snubbed and snipped at Kring when she appeared there, but the question is whether they’ll favor Tait’s allies over Pringle’s incumbent allies.  As a Democrat, I have no idea.

Tait is also friendly with Vanderbilt’s School Board colleague Dr. Jose Moreno.  Barring an attack of utter insanity, he’ll be the endorsed Democrat.  Donna Acevedo is also a Democrat, but not much in touch with the party leadership.

As for the rest, without knowing what happened yesterday, my bet has been that Jose “Joe” Moreno (who has told too many people over the years of his plans to take advantage of his sharing a name with Dr. Moreno for him to credibly deny it now — although he may make my day by trying!) did not complete filing in the race and will try to pursue his identity confusion strategy in one or another school board race.  I don’t know who Jerry O’Keefe and Bob Tiscareno are — and so far no one will tell me.

As of the last update, only Acevedo, Murray, and O’Keefe had qualified for the ballot.  If the final roster turned out just to be these three, I’d predict Acevedo and Murray, but I’d endorse not only Acevedo but also O’Keefe, sight unseen, so great is the advantage to the City of his not being Kris Murray.

Moreno - Doctor vs Quack

Certified qualifications-free candidate “Quack Doctor” Jose “Joe” Moreno may want to follow around highly qualified candidate Dr. Jose F. Moreno to confuse voters while pretending that such a thing is inconceivable. Certain result: BIG READERSHIP BUMP FOR ORANGE JUICE BLOG!

#2 City of Santa Ana

Santa Ana’s website is down.  It’s has been down for days, as I recall.  We are not amused.

Mayor:  Former Everything Lou Correa pulled papers, but apparently after a confab with Mayor-for-Life (or so it has seemedMiguel Pulido, decided not to run — perhaps because there’s not enough medical industry and public safety union money in it for him.  (I could have said much worse than that, Senator.) Councilmembers Roman Reyna and Vince Sarmiento ha pulled papers as well, as did a Mr. Mark Lopez.  Sarmiento had been the obvious choices to run for Mayor this year — neither has, despite speculation — but Reyna stepped in he didn’t come forward.  If Sarmiento and Reyna split the vote, it’s doubly bad — not only does it almost surely elect Pulido, but it may fracture the anti-Pulido coalition on Council.  That’s Pulido’s fondest dream — get rid of Mayoral term limits! — and would be Santa Ana’s cruelest fate.  Really, Correa — you didn’t care what happens to your city, when you could have stopped it?

Council:

Seat #2: The incumbent is Michele Martinez.  Gilad SalmonMirna Velasquez, and Rene Gomez have also pulled papers.  Last I saw, Martinez and Salmon have qualified.

Seat #4: The incumbent is David Benavides.  Alex Padilla — not the statewide candidate — has also pulled papers.  Last I saw, neither has qualified.

Seat #6: The incumbent is Sal Tinajero.  Mike Gonzalez and Nam Pham have also pulled papers.  Pham has already qualified for the ballot.

Brave prediction: the three incumbent Councilmembers will be hard for the contenders to beat.  Pulido would like to knock them off so that he can get rid of term-limits (if Correa doesn’t get rid of him first), but it doesn’t look like he’s setting the foundation to try this year.

#3 City of Irvine

Mayor: Steven Choi will run for reelection.  Democrats could have and should have, in this nonpartisan office, formed a coalition of convenience with reformist Republican and 2012 Mayor Candidate Katherine Daigle, who would give the City honest, competent, and non-partisan (even if not especially liberal) leadership.  Naturally, they instead put up a sacrificial lamb, Planning Commissioner Mary Ann Gaido, a perfectly respectable Beth Krom appointee who came out of nowhere and who will split the anti-Choi vote.  Daigle has been running since she lost in 2012; Gaido has been running since — oh, maybe Tuesday?  She’s perfectly fine on local issues, she’s distant from any of the controversy over the Great Park, but would still be the type who would give Agran and Company a fair shake rather than trying to hunt him down and smite him.  Dis they really think that, after refusing to drop out of the race in 2012 against Agran and Choi, she would drop out in 2014 against Choi and a far weaker Democrat?  And I promise you, they will be crowing about the “coup” of getting Gaido to run.  Their best chance comes if Steve Choi dies laughing at them.

Oh well.  Democrats need to win either the two Council seats or the Mayor’s seat to take the majority — although Choi and Christine Shea could still prevent a Council majority could still prevent them from overturning Choi’s increasingly brazen and despotic rulings from the Chair.  So good luck to Gaido, good luck to Daigle, good luck to Irvine, and good luck to Irvine’s Democratic strategerists.  Let’s move on.

City Council: Krom and Shea continue until 2016; but Larry Agran and Jeff Lalloway are on the hot seat.  Lalloway’s de facto ticket-mate will apparently be Tea Partier Lynne Schott, with whom (although some will dispute this) he makes an odd couple.  Melissa Fox, the second Democrat in the race, has kept prudent distance from the Great Park dust-ups while showing lots of leadership on the Vets cemetery.  I don’t think that Schott is likely to make it, but any of the other three could — and with all of the hammering done against Agran, none of them are truly safe.  Evan Chemers is also running, but seems likely to be an also-ran.  (Honestly, I think that the Gaido candidacy hurts Fox — who I understand is friends with Daigle, is capable of working across the aisle, and who could have campaigned with Daigle as the candidates of the “sensible middle” — worse than anyone else.  Given how she has otherwise positioned herself, that is a crying shame.)

#4 Huntington Beach

First: If you haven’t done so already, go read Beach Baby and Publisher Vern Nelson’s stunning description of the vicious Mobile Home Park trying to shove their residents out of their homes and onto some place where they’ll have to be cared for by their overburdened families or the public.  His discussion at the very end of HB’s political layout goes well beyond mine here.

City Attorney:  HB doesn’t elect a Mayor, but it does elect a City Attorney, so let’s get it out of the way first.  Incumbent Jennifer McGrath has completed filing.  Her sole challenger so far, Michael Gates, has not.

City Council:  Four seats are open.  What I’m not sure about is whether filing continues through Wednesday.  While I believe that incumbent Joe Carchio was termed out — hence his bid for Supervisor — I believe that incumbent Matt Harper was not, but voluntarily chose to run instead for Assembly.  I’m not sure of that, though — and even if so I’m not sure whether HB has the same provisions for extending filing that we have in the offices going through the County ROV.

Incumbents Joe Shaw and Connie Boardman are the top environmentalist tag team in Orange County politics; while one always has to run scared to win, and while they will be run down by a blizzard of negative mailers from consultants for the likes of Poseidon, it’s just hard for me to envision either of them losing.  They’ve done a really good job — and with four seats open there’s plenty of room for them on the victory stand.  Among the other names, former Council members Devin Dwyer and Barbara Delgleize (champion of the evil Mobile Home Park owners) have obvious name recognition.  I’m not deeply immersed in Surf City politics anymore, but of the other 11 people who have pulled papers — Erik PetersonAlexander PolskyMike PoseyMark BixbyBilly O’ConnellHec ValdezClem DominguezJohn NosichMaura Van StrienBrendan Kenney, and Lyn Semata — none of them jump out at me as major threats to the above four.  Vern says that Peterson is the Evil Mobile Home Park owners co-favorite with Delgleize, so keep out an eye for him, and newcomer Bixby is the third member of “Team Huntington Beach” along with Shaw and Boardman, so he bears watching too.  If filing is over, then Van Strien and Kenney did not make the ballot.

#5 Garden Grove

I can’t find a list of candidates on the City’s website.  Seriously — no section on elections — and under the City Clerk’s page the only link regarding “elections” is to a Public Records Request form.  Really, Garden Grove?

News came down through Facebook that School Board Member Bao Nguyen is running for Mayor, which must be a relief for Alan Lowenthal and Jose Solorio.  Among his opponents (or maybe the only one, for all I know: Mayor Bruce Broadwater, accomplished homophobe and, Vern implies elsewhere, ethical waste reservoir.   Councilmember Kris Beard is also running for reelection. Republican Dina Nguyen is termed out; last I heard her husband Democrat Joe Dovinh is running for her seat.  So it’s not like there’s no storyline to follow here!  (Follow-up: the unavaibility of the candidate list has still not been fixed.  Is there any possible excuse for this?  Interested readers may want to contact City Hall and ask what’s going on.  Maybe ask Bao if he’d put up with this.)

#6 Orange

In some ways, this is even stranger than Garden Grove.  Orange has its Candidate Handbook featured prominently on its home page — but no apparent way to find out who has filed for office thus far.  If any of you know powerful Republican Councilmembers Dennis Bilodeau or Fred Whitaker, who are up this year along with Mayor Tita Smith, perhaps you can call them and ask what they are hiding.  Someone go down to Orange and find out what’s going on there!  Do we have to run Paul Lucas or not?  [Update, 8/9: No, we didn’t run Paul Lucas — but I have no idea who’s running and neither does anyone else who might have been interested.  What a scummy way to run an election, embargoing information about the state of play.  If it’s possible to kick out Bilodeau and Whitaker, that’s what should happen.]

#7 Fullerton

Fullerton has no separate race for Mayor.  Six men and one woman will compete for two seats.  The incumbents are Mayor Doug Chaffee and Greg Sebourn.  Larry BennettRick AlvarezSean Paden, Bill Chaffee and Jane Rands.  Bill Chaffee is, I’m told, the estranged brother of Doug and his only effects in the race will be to either draw away confused voters about the Mayor’s first name or make some unknowing Chaffee supporters happy to think that they are in effect voting for him twice.  He won’t play a role in the rest of the analysis.

Chaffee (the Mayor, that is) — looks to be the clear favorite for one seat because he has no Democrats nearby with which to split up the vote.  (While Rands is well to Chaffee’s left, on the most contentious issues of police and pensions she’s also more likely to be allied with Bruce Whitaker than with Chaffee.)   Paden and Sebourn represent the insurgent Republic faction; Bennett represents the old guard; Alvarez — with whom Chaffee is probably most ideologically compatible — falls between the two.  Public safety unions will probably want to elect Chaffee and Alvarez or Bennett — but the success of Whitaker in 2012 suggests that the public hasn’t exactly forgotten about Fullerton’s recent history.  Frankly, I don’t know what to make of the presence of Larry Bennett — who led the anti-recall forces in 2012 — in the race, but my bet is that Rands will appreciate it.

I’m not sure whether this race could get any more interesting than it already is, if this entire field qualifies.   So far, only Bennett and Bill Chaffee have qualified.

#8 Costa Mesa

No seperate race for Mayor.  The Council minority needs to pick off both seats to change the direction of the City.  Jim Righeimer is running for reelection; if he’s elected, the “deformers” keep their majority over the reformers.  Former Councilwoman Katrina Foley and Jay Humphrey seem to be favorites of reformers who want someone to carry the flag of termed out Councilwoman Wendy Leece.  (Harold Weitzberg — I honor him by placing his name in purple — gave the City a great gift by not following through with his filing.  His candidacy would have split the reformist vote; now it is easier for both Foley and Humphrey to displace Righeimer.  He gets enormous credit for putting the commonweal above his personal goals.)  Tony Capitelli and Lee Ramos had already filed; they were joined yesterday by Christopher Scott Bunyan and Rita Louise Simpson.  Capitelli has some relatively minor conservative endorsements, though none from the Righeimer claque.  Ramos says that he’s conservative, but lists no endorsements.

Community College Boards

North Orange County Community College Board: No change.  Incumbent Democrats Barbara Dunsheath (seat 1), Donna Miller (seat 3), and Jeffrey Brown (seat 6) all remain unopposed.

Coastline Community College Board: Incumbent Jim Moreno (seat 1) has qualified and remain unopposed — IT’S OVER!  David Grant (seat 5), has qualified; we don’t yet know whether his challenger, high school teacher Joel Flores, has done so.

Rancho Santiago Community College Board:  Incumbents John Hanna (D, seat 2) qualified and is unoppsed — IT’S OVER!  Phil Yarbrough (R, seat 6) remains unopposed and, given the absence of overtime, has presumably qualified.

In Seat 4, incumbent Democrat Larry Labrado Sr. (D) is being challenged by Robert Douglas, a Democrat from Orange.  Both have qualified.  It’s not clear whether Garden Grove Republican Trung Quang Nguyen has qualified.

South Orange County Community College BoardMarcia Milchiker (R, seat 5) qualified and remain unopposed, so IT’S OVER!   Incumbents TJ Prendergast (NPP, seat 2) is unopposed and has apparently qualified.  Incumbent Nancy Padberg (Seat 4), is being challenged by Jim Leach as well as by Quinlan Rakin; from the lack of overtime she has apparently qualified, but we don’t know about her opponents.

School Boards — Unified (K-12)

Brea-Olinda Unified: Still six candidates for four seats.  The incumbents, Republicans Nicole ColonBill Hall, and Joe Rollino and NPP Alicia Maciel, are all running for re-election.  They currently face two challengers: Carrie Flanders and Holli Kittleson.  Apparently all four incumbents have qualified, given the lack of overtime. So has Kittleson; we don’t know about Flanders.  Who will be the first to propose providing bus service for students attending zero-period high school classes?  THAT’S A HINT, FOLKS!

Capistrano Unified (one seat extended): In Seat 4Craig P. Alexander (a relatively frequent contributor to the infrequently updated OC Political blog) and Martha McNicholas have filed to replace Mungercide victim Anna Bryson.  (I had thought that she was termed out, but she was apparently eligible to run, leading to overtime.)  In Seat 6, incumbent Ellen Addonizio (R) is now being challenged by Gila Jones.  Unclear whether either has qualified.  In seat 7, incumbent Lynn Hatton (D) will be challenged by Julie Collier.  Unclear whether either has qualified.  This has been a contentious board in recent years, with a coalition of Democrats and John Alpay holding sway, so a shift of a single vote could turn it.

Garden Grove Unified: Lan Quoc Nguyen and Bob Harden are the Republican incumbents.  No overtime reported, so apparently Nguyen has qualified.  If so — IT’S OVER!

Irvine Unified:  Sharon Wallin (D) and Ira Glasky (R) are running for reelection; Bob Vu is challenging them.  Vu had already qualified; from the lack of overtime, so did the incumbents.

Laguna Beach Unified:  Three seats open; Katherine “Ketta” Brown, the only Republican among the three incumbents, is the only one currently filed for reelection.   Annette Gibson joins Dee Namba Perry as a challenger.  Only Perry is known to have qualified.

Los Alamitos Unified:  Incumbent Republicans Jeffrey Barke and Diana Hill are now opposed by Cathy Larson and Greg Shellenbergar.  All but Larson are known to have qualified.

Newport-Mesa Unified (one seat extended): No one has as yet qualified.  Incumbent Katrina Foley, the current Board’s only Democrat, is giving up Seat 2 in her bid to return to Costa Mesa City Council;  Charlene Metoyer has filed to replace her, now joined by Michael Collier.  In Seat 4, incumbent Karen Yelsey (R) faces a challenge from Abraham Cassis.  Only Yelsey has qualified.  In Seat 5, incumbent Judy Franco (R) faces a challenge from Sandra Asper.  Only Franco has qualified.  In Seat 7, incumbent Walt Davenport (R) is being challenged by Lisa Manfredi and now also Fidel Mora.  No overtime , so Davenport apparently qualified; unclear as to the opponents.  Appointed incumbent Vicki Snell (R) faces a challenge for the remaining two years of Seat 1’s term from Steve Smith.  No overtimeso Snell apparently qualified; whether her opponent did is unclear.

Orange Unified: Incumbent Democrats Diane Singer in Seat 1 and Kathy Moffat in Seat 4 are running, with Brian HarringtonZachary Collins, and now Larry Cohn challenging Moffat.  No overtime, so we know that at least the incumbents qualified.  Of the incumbent Republicans, Tim Surridge in Seat 5 will face Labor attorney Florice Hoffman.  Rick Ledesma in Seat 7 will face college professor Tim Perez and former Board member — thanks to the efforts of blogger Matt Cunningham, let’s recall — Steve Rocco.

Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified: Incumbent Democrats Carrie Buck and Karin Freeman, who have both qualified.  The challengers are Steven Ehrich, OC Political blogger Brenda McCune, and Jim Brunette.

Saddleback Valley Unified: Incumbent Republicans Dolores Winchell and Dennis Walsh face a challenge from C.J. Brower.  No overtime, so we know that at least the incumbents have qualified.

Santa Ana Unified: Incumbent Democrat John Palacio has reported been running for reelection, but unless he qualified as of yesterday he’s now barred from filing.  The other incumbent, Audrey Yamagata-Noji, did not file, itself yielding overtime regardless of Palacio.  Four challengers had filed by Wednesday: Cecilia Aguinaga,  Shuntelle AndrewsEverlena Oliver, and Rigo Rodriguez.  On Thursday, Valerie Amezcua joined them, as expected, as did Angie Rosario Cano and Mike Dalati.

Tustin Unified: On this uniformly Republican board, Lynn Davis and Jonathan Abelove are being challenged by Michael JonesElias Teferi, and David Yang.  Only Teferi, Davis, and Jones have qualified.  No overtime, so presumably both incumbents did file.

School Boards — High School

Anaheim Union HSD:

Seat 1:  Appointed incumbent Al Jabbar picked up two challengers yesterday: Maureen Christensen and Lisa Lobatos.  No overtime, so we know that Jabbar has qualified, though we don’t know about his opponents.

Seat 2:  You may have to read this more than once.  Because the AUHSD has just now moved from an at-large to a district system, one current school Board Member, Annemarie Randle-Trejo, is an incumbent in the sense that she has represented District 2 (and the rest of the Districts) on the Board, but she is not an incumbent of District 2.  She used to live in Cypress, on the far west side of the AUHSD, ¾ of a mile north of Piercy and 1½ miles southeast of Board Chair Brian O’Neil.  So she has moved to District 2, the southeastern part of the Anaheim Flatlands, to run from there.  Her opponents include former Trustee Thomas “Hoagy” HolguinJose “Joe” Moreno (if hr doesn’t run for City Council); Eleazar Elizondo, who ran against Art Pedroza for the County School Board in 2012 and (my guess is) will spend a lot of his time reminding voters that Pedroza’s friend Joe Moreno is not the local civil rights leader Dr. Jose F. Moreno; and last-minute filer Roberto Baeza, the Principal who was transferred from an elementary school position for reasons unstated and survived an attempted canonization by confused radical left citizen journalist Gabriel San Roman.  Watching GSR come out for Baeza over the “real deal,” Randle-Trejo (if he dares) will be a real treat.

I’ve figured that Seat 5 was almost over, but I’m not really sure.  Incumbent Republican Anna Piercy is qualified and unopposed.  (Really — no one wants to challenge Piercy?)  But consider this: Randle-Trejo is listed as an incumbent for this seat, and if she counts as an eligible incumbent — I think that moving away does not take her out of that category, but I could be wrong — then filing would stay open until Aug. 13.  But does she trigger overtime?  Hard to say!  That’s why we pay Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley the big bucks to find out.   [UPDATE: No overtime, so apparently Kelley believes that Randle-Trejo doesn’t count.  I’m still not so sure!  We may need someone to try to file against Piercy if we want to test this.  If not, then IT’S OVER!]

Fullerton Joint Union HSD: This district continues to use at-large representation.  Its three incumbents are Marilyn BuchiRobert Hathaway, and Robert A Singer.  The trio currently faces two challengers:  Joanne Fawley has been joined by Aaruni Thakur and now Zina Gleason, MJ Noor, and Ho Jeong Lim.  (Disclaimer: Fawley uses the firm where my daughter works as her Campaign Treasurer.  That fact will not affect anything I write about the race; from what I know of her, I’d expect to support her anyway, along with Thakur.)  All incumbents have qualified; we don’t know about their challengers.

Huntington Beach Union HSD: Democrats Bonnie Castrey and Kathleen Iverson are incumbents; Republican Duane Dishno is an appointed incumbent.  All are seeking reelection, and are being challenged by Kathy Ryder, Janis Mantini, and Matthew Westwell.  Dishno, Ryder and Iverson have qualified; Castrey must have as well, as it will not go to overtime.  We don’t know about the others.

School Boards — Elementary School

Anaheim City SD:  The incumbents are Dr. Jose Moreno, who this week became a Democrat; Democrat Jeffrey Cole, the only person to have qualified for the ballot so far; and Republican Sandy Blumberg.  Dr. Moreno is apparently leaning towards City Council;  If so, then this race remains open until Aug. 13. We won’t know until he files the papers he’s pulled. (Moreno is friendly with James Vanderbilt, who is up for reelection to the School Board in 2016, and both prefer Tait’s approach to governing to that of Kris Murray.)  Challengers now include D.R. Heywood, a Democrat and Jordan Brandman ally, for whom the firm where my daughter works also provides services.  (Whatever I write about this race will be despite that last clause.)  New to the race this past week are challengers Ryan Ruelas, Cecilia Lopez,  Carlos Llanos, and a woman who had been sitting next and accompanying Baeza and — I am not making this up — complained to the Deputy Registrar and I’m told tried to get a cop to arrest me for taking pictures of the lobby.  So, I’m not going to bother listing her name — and you don’t have to bother voting for her.  If you want to know who she is, she’s in this picture, I think post-excitable squawking, but I don’t think you’ll learn much from it.  (Special to GSR: I think that she may be one of your favored elementary school parents who was trying to call in the gendarmes to shut down citizen journalism.  Nice, huh?)

ROV, Aug 8 2014 - empty room

I tool this photo as part of a series intended to show how incredibly and unexpectedly dead the ROV was as we approached 5:00 on the last day of filing.  (The chairs weren’t there for nothing!)  I would black out this shrieking photophobic candidate’s image, but SHE’S ALREADY IN SILHOUETTE SO I DON’T REALLY HAVE TO BOTHER!

ROV, Aug 8 2014 - candidates at counter

I had also wanted to show candidates at the counter. You can see Matt Harper, jovially preparing to be slaughtered by Keith Curry; former Principal Baeza, and Wendy Leece. Between the latter two, you can just make out the shrieking photophobe’s foot and shoe.

Buena Park SD:  The incumbents up this year are Helen Lee, an NPP, and Republicans Samuel Van Hamblen and Brian Chambers.  Hamblen and Chambers have filed for this year’s election, as has Rochelle Smith — the only one to have qualified.  This will see overtime, so apparently Lee did not qualify.

Centralia SD: This district is shaping up as one of the more interesting in the county.  All three incumbent Republicans, Lisa  JordanKevin Segueira (an appointee), and Irv Trinkle, have pulled papers.  They have interesting company.  Henry Chareon, the La Palma City Councilmember who is continually mentioned as a candidate for higher office, has filed — and is the only one to have qualified for the ballot.  Art David Montezwho touts his 40 years of experience in education, is running for both this seat and Buena Park Library Board.  Last and youngest: Connor Traut, the Jordan Brandman protégé and larval form (so maybe there’s still hope) of Simon the Likeable.  (Fans of Get Smart may remember this unforgettable Jack Gilford role.)  The ROV says that this will go into overtime, so apparently one of those incumbents stepped aside (presumbly for GOP heavy hitter Chareon.)  But I suspect that they may have erred.

Cypress SD: Incumbents up for election this year include Democrat Steve Blount and Republicans  David Geise and Valeri Peters Wagner.  Blount and Wagner have filed and qualified. We’ll see overtime, so apparently Geise did not.  We don’t know whether challengers Sandra Lee and Lydia Sondhi have qualified.

Fountain Valley SD: The incumbents are Jimmy Templin (an NPP) and Republicans Judy Edwards and Sandra Crandall; of these, only Crandall has so far filed to run.  Four non-incumbents have as well: Jim CunneenSamuel LewLisa Schultz, and Gary Stine.  Crandall, Cunneen, and Schultz have qualified.  We’ll see overtime, so at least one incumbent didn’t qualify.

Fullerton SD: The Republican incumbents are: Beverly BerrymanJanice Meyer, and Chris Thompson.  Their sole challenger is Daniel Halkyard.  No overtime, so at least the incumbents filed.

Huntington Beach City SD: The incumbents are NPP appointee Shari Kowalke and Democrats Celia Jaffe and Rosemary Saylor.  Of these, Saylor has qualified and Kowalke has filed thus far.  Challenger Paul Morrow has qualified; we don’t know about Marilou Ryder or new additional challengers Brian Donahue and Rob Fishel.  This will go to overtime, so presumably Jaffe didn’t file.

La Habra City SD:  The incumbents are Sharon Brown (D), Linda Navarro Edwards (NPP), and Sandi Baltes (R).  None, so far, are running for reelection; so this will go to overtime.  Ida MacMurry, a retired teacher and well-respected Democratic activist, has entered the race and qualified.  DPOC member Cynthia Aguirre and, as of yesterday, Ofelia Corona Hanson have filed but not qualified.

Lowell Joint SD:  The incumbents are William Hinz, Darin W Barber, and Anastasia Shackelford.  So far, Barber and Shackleford have filed and qualified.  Hinz has filed, and, given no overtime, presumably qualified.  No other challengers have appeared.

Magnolia SD:  Incumbent Republicans Clifford E Breeden Jr and Esther H Wallace have filed and qualified; Incumbent Democrat Barbara Quintana has filed and, as this doesn’t go into overtime, apparently qualified.  Challengers Gary Shields and Forrest Turpen both filed; we don’t know whether they qualified.

Ocean View SD: Last week, only American Independent incumbent John Ortiz had filed.  Now the Republican incumbents, Tracy Pellman and John Briscoe, have joined him — as have challengers Joseph Gaglione, Jack C. Souders and now Norm Westwell.  No overtime indicated, so apparently at least the incumbents qualified.

Savanna SD: Republican incumbents Edward Erdtsieck, Linda Weinstock, and John Shook have all qualified and remain unchallenged.  IT’S OVER!

Westminster SD: The incumbents are Democrats Penny Loomer and Mary Mangold and Republican  David Bridgewaters.  All have filed, as have Justin WeilerBao Anh “Samantha” Nguyen, and now Khank Nguyen.  No overtime, so apparently the incumbents all qualified.

Special Districts — Water Boards

If you want to see the more water district maps, as well as lots of additional discussion, go here.

Independent and Municipal

Special Districts do lots of things, especially in OC’s unincorporated areas, but the brunt of their activity involves water politics — dirty, dirty, water politics, with a lineage straight from John Huston in Chinatown.  So let’s go out of the order that the Registrar of Voters suggests and start with those fluid behemoths.  Among other things, they will play a major role in deciding the future of the Poseidon desalination plant — and they have been of course been well-stocked with lavishly rewarded supporters of the project.

The two big ones get their own categories on the ROV page.  The Orange County Water District is an “Independent Water Board” and the Municipal Water District is a “Municipal Water Board.”  (If you wonder whether they (and other boards) are largely redundant, in his last article printed in OJB, ported over from Surf City Voice, the late lamented puckish politico Gus Ayer, aka Mayor Quimbyargued that the MWD surely is.  Go, shoo — read, learn, and pay your respects to the Old Master.)  So let’s start with those two.

Orange County Water District (one seat extended):

Here’s the area served by the OCWD, including its overlap with other smaller districts.

OCWD Service Map
But how can they be truly civilized if they don’t serve La Habra and Brea? (And, uh, some other places.)

And here’s the breakdown of their governing districts.  Note that Anaheim, Fullerton, and Santa Ana have their own appointed seats, currently held by Harry SidhuJan Flory, and Vincent Sarmiento.  OCWD has three seats open, for Divisions 1, 5, and 7.

OCWD - Water District Seats by the Numbers
Yes, Division 3 is non-contiguous because of Fullerton’s separate appointed seat, and Division 2 is non-contiguous because mumble-mumble.

Division 1, composed of portions of Garden Grove, Stanton, and Westminster — this is a heavily gerrymandered board — is currently held by Katherine Barr, a Democrat who has been on the board for over 35 years and is now retiring.  Termed out Garden Grove Councilwoman Dina Nguyen filed a while ago, and has now been joined by educator and consumer activist Robin Marcario and Zack Barrett.  This will go to overtime, ending August 13.

Division 5, which covers parts of Irvine and Newport Beach, has been represented by Stephen “Son of Lou” Sheldon — last seen casting a safe “yes” vote in favor of transparency (meaning recording of meetings) given that it was going to fail with him or without him.  He’s a big supporter of Poseidon.  Sheldon is being challenged by Leslie Daigle, who was knocked out of the 2012 74th Assembly District primary by the combination of victor Allan MansoorRobert Rush, a challenger driven by anger towards her over disagreements in Newport Beach; and wealthy funder Charles Munger, who was testing the “destroying preferred OC Assembly candidate through obnoxious independent expenditures” tactic that he perfected this year with Anna Bryson in the 73rd.  Sheldon will be tough, but if Daigle has serious reservations about Poseidon she’d be a clear choice — and would probably pick up lots of support from Democrats and Independents as well as Newport Beach Republicans.

Democrat Ron Varasteh, who ran against Rep. Dana Rohrabacher in 2012, pulled papers for this seat, but decided on to run for Municipal Water Board Seat 5 instead.  My current understanding is that, contingent on Daigle’s position on Poseidon, he intends to endorse her.

Division 7 covers Costa Mesa and parts of Fountain Valley, Newport Beach, and Irvine.  (Seriously — can you believe how badly the incumbents gerrymandered this thing?)  Incumbent Shawn Dewane — a huge supporter of Poseidon — filed for reelection in this district this past week.  Termed-out good-government-supporting Costa Mesa Councilwoman Wendy Leece has filed to take on Dewane.

So, that’s Robin Marcario, Leslie Daigle, and Wendy Leece as possible additions to the OC Water District Board, replacing Barr, Sheldon, and Dewane.  And THAT is what I call TRADING UP!

Municipal Water District of Orange County (one seat extended):

Here’s a map of the service area for the MWDOC, which will also fill in the locations of many of the smaller water districts discussed herein:

MWDOC map

As you can see, if you can see, the MWDOC covers the entire county except for the cities of Anaheim, Fullerton, and Santa Ana (and the Cleveland National Forest and maybe other East OC hiking areas.  East OC is not my specialty.)  It has three seats up this year: Divisions 1, 2, and 5.

Division 1:  This district in North OC (again, minus Fullerton)  is served by lobbyist and huge Poseidon peddler Brett Barbre, another of our cover boys, last seen on these pages trying to shoehorn Los Alamitos’s Troy Edgar into the County Clerk’s race against Hugh Nguyen.  (Speculation holds that this was related to his longtime bond with former County Clerk and current Assemblyman Tom Daly.)  He’s been on these pages before that, too, with many of those links lead back to FFFF diatribes, ones very much worth reading. (And you will get that chance.)  Barbre is also one of OC’s four appointees to the 37-member Metropolitan Water District, which serves 23 million residents in Southern California — JUST where one wants to put a lobbyist cum PR flack!  He was running unopposed, but the prospect someone with his track record getting a pass was so irritating to one district resident that he now has an opponent: Greg Diamond.  Or, as I put it Thusday, prior to revising this piece on Saturday:

“I am planning to file tomorrow to run against him”.

Barbre, who despite filing well ahead of the deadline stayed at the ROV to the very end (I presume to avoid the cost of an unnecessary ballot statement), was apparently surprised by my entry into the race, despite that big aquamarine pledge of opposition — so that’s what you get if you don’t read OJB.  I actually do anticipate a substantive race on issues including Poseidon and fracking.  I could be wrong.

Division 2: This district in Central OC (eastern Garden Grove, most of Orange, Villa Park, and north and unincorporated Tustin) is served by Larry Dick.  He’s also a member of the big MWD, and is on the Board of the OC Taxpayers Association, so draw your own conclusions.  He is currently running unopposed, but has not qualified.  I am told that he favors Poseidon, perhaps because “Taxpayers Association” is intended as a subtle joke.

Division 5: This district in mid-coastal OC (Newport Beach and portions of Irvine, Lake Forest and Laguna Woods) has been served by Wayne Clark, who is departing from the Board.  Two Republicans are currently competing to replace him.  One is Jose Vergara of the tiny El Toro Water District; the other is … can it be? … yes it is! … Dave Ellis.  Dave Ellis, of the attempt to sell the OC Fairgrounds to a group of people including Dave Ellis.  Dave Ellis, whose photo has for some reason never before now, to my knowledge, been recolored bullfrog green.  Vergara’s main advantage here is that he is not Dave Ellis, but it would not be surprising if this district could cough up a real environmentalist to compete with these two gentlemen.  Plurality rules, after all!  Ron Varasteh has pulled papers for this seat, as has water engineer Satoru “Sat” Tamaribuchi.  (What does he think about Poseidon!)  Clark was eligible for reelection, so this one is going all the way to August 13.

California Water Districts

OC has four of these: the El Toro, Irvine Ranch, Moulton Niguel, and Santa Margarita Water Districts.  As you can see from the map, these cover most of the land in South OC that wasn’t incorporated before 1970.

El Toro WD is electing two at-large directors.  Democrat William Kahn has filed; Republican Jerard Werner, apparently did not.  One non-incumbent, water consultant Fred Adjarian, has filed and qualified.  This will go to overtime.

Irvine Ranch WD is electing three at-large directors.  Each of  the three incumbents, Democrat Steven LaMar and Republicans Peer Swan and Douglas Reinhart, is running, as are challengers John JaegerThomas Cagley andShane JagowThis is not listed as going to overtime, so presumably all eligible incumbents filed.

Moulton Niguel WD elects by districts (called Divisions.)  Seats 2, 3, and 4 are up.  Incumbents Scott Colton and Donald Froelich on this uniformly Republican 7-member Board are currently unopposed in Seat 2 and 3.  In Seat 4, incumbent Laurence Lizotte is being challenged by both Cal Olson and Julie Dean Larsen.  All incumbents have qualified for the ballot; neither challenger has done so.

Santa Margarita WD elects two at-large Directors.  Incumbents Saundra Frances Jacobs and Justin McCusker (an appointee) have filed, as has Stanislaw Dziecielski.  Dziecielski qualified; presumably, so did the incumbents.

County Water Districts

Then we have six County water districts: the East Orange County, Mesa Consolidated, South Coast, Trabuco Canyon, and Yorba Linda Water Districts, and the Rossmoor/Los Alamitos Area Sewer District.

East OC WD elects three at-large directors.  All incumbents, Richard Bell, John Dulebohn, and appointee Sy Everett have filed, as has Douglas Chapman.  No overtime; presumably the incumbents qualified.

Mesa Consolidated WD has two seats open this year.  In Division 4, incumbent James Atkinson is being challenged by Ron Amburgey.  Shawn Dewane currently represents Division 5, and is being challenged by Mark Abrams.  Amburgey and Dewane have qualified.

South Coast WD has two open seats.  Incumbent Bob Moore has filed; Richard Runge has not.  Four others have filed: Bill GreenDennis ErdmanNorman Lee Denton and Richard Gardner.  Only Green and Erdman have qualified.  This will go into overtime, probably due to Runge, though we don’t know if others have qualified.

Trabuco Canyon WD has three open seats — and incumbents Michael SafranskiEd Mandich, and Glenn Acosta have all filed.  No overtime; presumably the incumbents qualified.

Yorba Linda WD has three open seats.  The incumbents, Gary MeltonPhil D. Hawkins, and Robert Kiley, are all running and are currently unchallenged.  Kiley and Melton had already qualified; presumbly Hawkins did as well.

Rossmoor/Los Alamitos Area Sewer District incumbents Joel M Rattner and Linda Habermehl have both filed; they are currently unchallenged.  Both presumably qualified.

Special Districts — Water-Related but Not Actual Water Boards

I’m just not going to explain how these creatures work.  Run for one, don’t run — do what you want.

Irrigation District

Serrano Water District elects by Division, this year it’s seats 1 and 4.  In Seat 1, incumbent Richard Freschi is being challenged by Brad Reese; Reese has qualified.  In Seat 4, incumbent Frank Bryant is currently running unopposed and has qualified.  Good luck irrigating Villa Park, guys!

Storm Water Protection District

Surfside Colony Storm Water Protection District is on the board!  The incumbents are Gayle Mueller WinnenJon Regnier, and John Kriss.  Only Kriss and Winnen are running for reelection, joined by Lawrence Zero.  All have qualified — but as Regnier didn’t run, it goes to overtime.

Sanitary Districts

OC has three Sanitary Districts, not counting Rossmoor’s, which apparently is a Water District.  They are:

Costa Mesa Sanitary District: The incumbents, all of whom are running, are Bob OotenMike Scheafer, and Arlene Schafer, who is an appointee.  They have two challengers, Brian Peotter and Chuck Perry.  Only Ooten has qualified.  No overtime, so presumably the other incumbents also qualified.

Midway City Sanitary District: The three incumbents are Margie L Rice, Frank Cobo, and Tyler Diep.  All have now filed, but not qualified, and are currently unchallenged.

Sunset Beach Sanitary District: Also located since last week.  The incumbents, Gregory Griffin and appointee Bernard Hartmann, have both filed, Hartmann has qualified, and they are unchallenged.

Special Districts — Home Rule-ish

Orange County has six Community Services districts in unincorporated areas, which provide something like limited home rule.  One of them is deceptively labeled; let’s see if you can find it!

Capistrano Bay Community Services District: Two unfilled seats.  The incumbents up this year are supposed to be Kirk Bell, David Gutierrez, and Robert Bancroft.  Finally, Kurtis Breeding has stepped up to run, making it slightly harder for strange fringe cultists to take over Capo Bay.  This one goes until August 13, Capoteers!

Emerald Bay Service District:  The incumbents are John McDermottKeri Ueberroth, and appointee Susan Thomas. All filed and presumably qualified, as there’s no overtime.

Rossmoor Community Services District: Incumbent Bill Kahlert has filed; incumbent Alfred Coletta hasn’t.  Three challengers have filed: Rich Butterfield and Mark Nitikman, and David Burgess.  Only Butterfield has qualified.  This will go to overtime, so if incumbents didn’t qualify they are now ineligible to run.

Silverado-Modjeska Recreation and Park District, full term seats: Incumbents Ron Shepston and Gregory Bates filed for re-election, but Thomas Smisek did not, so filing for all three seats goes into overtime.  Kevin ToppJoanne Hubble, Deborah JohnsonPhil McWilliams, and short-term incumbent Board member Linda Kearns have now joined them.

Silverado-Modjeska Recreation and Park Districtshort term John Olson and Lisa Collins have filed for the open short term-seat that Linda Kearns left to run for the full-term seat, so this goes to overtime.  It’s not clear whether either has qualified.

Surfside Colony Community Services District:  Four seats; four candidates qualified — but two of the incumbents didn’t run.  Incumbents Donald Karich and John Kriss have filed; incumbents Dan Nowak and Nora Straight have not.  Challengers Paul Mesner and Laren Johnson have also filed.  So SCCSD goes to overtime.

Three Arch Bay Community Services District: Incumbent Tim Hamchuk has put his name onto a ballot previously containing only his fellow incumbent, heretofore lonesome Rhoads Martin (sorry, I couldn’t resist), so this one is over.

Special Districts — Library

Finally, OC has two independent Library Districts, named after Buena Park and Placentia.  They control, respectively, the weather and the stock market.

Buena Park Library District: Its incumbents are Mary Furhman and Al Salehi, the latter of whom is another candidate (against Mimi Walters, as I recall) who went nowhere in June.  Both are running for reelection, being challenged by Art David Montez and Baron Knight.  Only Salehi has qualified.

Placentia Library District: The two incumbents are Al Shkoler and Jo-Anne Martin, an appointee, both of whom are running and currently unchallenged.  Neither has qualified.

That’s all, folks!


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.)