SD-37 Newz: Dem Louise Stewardson launches write-in campaign; Moorlach snags Register, McClintock, and the Cynthmonster!

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The race to take Lyin’ Mimi Walters’ place in the State Senate for the 37th district (stretching wildly from southern Huntington Beach to Anaheim Hills and taking in Costa Mesa, Newport, all Lagunas, Irvine, Lake Forest, Tustin and Orange) just got a little bit more interesting over the weekend.

For one thing, Democrats who would like to come out and vote for a GOOD PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRAT now have a choice at least – a write-in candidate to be sure, but let’s all get the word out for her:  I’ve known Louise Stewardson for nearly a decade.  When I started the OC chapter of Healthcare for all California, which was trying to bring single-payer to this state, she was one of the founding members and served as treasurer.  Louise is a nurse and the nicest person you could ever hope to meet, and, upset that no Democrat had filed for the race, jumped in to fill the void.  (The LibOC gives handy instructions for writing-in a candidate.)

It sure would be nice if she could win, hard as it is to imagine in such a blood-red district.   Democrats should all come out and write her in (or stay home and mail her in!) just in case she can get past the March 17 primary threshold and move on to duke it out with John Moorlach or Don Wagner.

But even if she doesn’t, a decent Democratic showing for Louise (and don’t forget Naz, you nonconformists) could keep Don and John both under 50%, ensuring that the race goes on till May – either giving the honest Moorlach more time to make headway past the kleptocrat Wagner, or – if this is your way of thinking – giving Republicans more time to spend lotsa money bloodying each other up.  So I say, Vote LOUISE, Democrats!  (And vote Moorlach, Republicans!)

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Meanwhile the Moorlach-Wagner cagematch is shaping up to what I’d call a conservative vs. Republican showdown … Wagner being the consummate order-taking, cronyist, insider Party man with all the money and most OC GOP endorsements, and Moorlach as the thoughtfully conservative, outsider, underfunded candidate who’s been slowly gathering the more thoughtful endorsers.  And I’m glad to see that, over the weekend, following in the footsteps of their splendid Tait endorsement last fall, the Register has joined the latter ranks:

…while each [candidate] offers a strong resume, we find Mr. Moorlach possesses a track record as a knowledgeable truth teller willing to rock the boat on behalf of the taxpayer…

Mr. Moorlach entered politics in the early 1990s in an attempt to avert looming financial disaster, predicting Orange County’s 1994 insolvency, the largest municipal bankruptcy in history at that time.

It was a politically unpopular prognosis that lost him the election for Orange County treasurer-tax collector, and earned him the nickname “Chicken Little.” But by the next year, the county’s municipal bond portfolio was in ruin and Mr. Moorlach had been appointed to fill the vacated position he had sought.

Mr. Moorlach was instrumental in putting the county back on an even fiscal footing, serving nearly 12 years as treasurer-tax collector before joining the supervisors.

On the board, Mr. Moorlach was a reliable voice for good fiscal stewardship and instituting much-needed pension reforms, including pushing, and ultimately passing, a Civic Openness in Negotiation ordinance for new contracts with the county’s employee unions.

Now, Mr. Moorlach can bring those talents to Sacramento, which is much in need of his style of fiscally prudent governance. There is much still to do to reform employee pensions and retiree health care costs, lower taxes, reduce regulations, improve the state’s business climate, foster school choice and more local control of schools, and audit state spending, he told us.

Though the Legislature has often doled out tax credits to preferred industries, such as Hollywood and “green-energy” companies, Mr. Moorlach finds such favoritism distasteful. “I’m not an advocate of special incentives,” he said.

Mr. Moorlach also told us he will be an unwavering voice for the county, and will work to secure a fairer formula for state funding of county government, which has seen our county give far more to the state than it has received for decades.

John Moorlach has accomplished a great deal of good for those he has represented, and we think he achieve a great deal more. He has our endorsement in the 37th state Senate District.

A few days earlier, in the wake of popular conservative Congressman Tom McClintock‘s ringing endorsement, our own conservative Anaheim firebrand Cynthia Ward threw in her two cents:

Moorlach is picking up speed, and endorsements.  Folks in the 37th SD are making it clear, the Crony Capitalism that Don Wagner has engaged in during his service in the Assembly is NOT something we want to see expanded into a State Senate seat. No, we do not live in the 37th, but we are reaching out to our friends who may live in the District, asking for you to join us in supporting John Moorlach for special election to the 37th Senate District, in March.

Moorlach is the financial wizard who tried to warn us about the impending County Bankruptcy, and our leaders’ refusal to listen to him cost us big as taxpayers. Moorlach has been a solid vote against boondoggles like ARTIC and the ARC streetcar, while serving on the OCTA board during his time as a County Supervisor. His leadership does affect us in Anaheim’s flatlands and the leader who takes that State Senate seat will affect us as well.

cynthia ward 2Meanwhile, his opponent Don Wagner’s service in the State Assembly led to Wagner supporting the Kleptocracy of Anaheim’s Council majority for re-election. Don Wagner foolishly supported Lucille Kring’s attack on Mayor Tom Tait during the 2014 campaign. Thankfully Tait managed to beat all three of his opponents combined, and Wagner needs to be next on the list of leaders who need to be defeated, if we are to reclaim some form of fiscal sanity for our future!

Wagner has jumped in with both feet to the pool of Crony Capitalism, including the use of public funds as the enforcement arm of Curt Pringle’s lobbying firm,  to the benefit of Pringle’s clients! Wagner has backed many of the more unsavory projects the Council majority pushed forward to the detriment of Anaheim’s taxpayers, and it is time to send him the message loud and clear. Anaheim does not want Wagner’s brand of leadership. Thanks anyway, Don.


About Vern Nelson

Greatest pianist/composer in Orange County, and official political troubadour of Anaheim and most other OC towns. Regularly makes solo performances, sometimes with his savage-jazz band The Vern Nelson Problem. Reach at vernpnelson@gmail.com, or 714-235-VERN.