Thanksgiving Letter to Anaheim Democrats

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democrat donkey coolI was recently hoodwinked by Ed Lopez into taking his place as Vice President of the Anaheim Democratic Club. One of the more enjoyable tasks that comes with that position is to write the monthly newsletter… which I just finished, and I think is good enough to share here. Remember, one of the rules I have to follow is “Don’t say anything bad about any other ‘paid-up’ Anaheim Democrats” (which would include Jordan Brandman, Sukhee Kang, and Arty Montez) … I try to skirt that stricture imaginatively. And apologies to all my dear non-Democrat friends…

Hello Anaheim Democrats!  We have a lot to celebrate in this year’s election, if you can take your eyes off the horror show in Washington DC for a moment.  By the way – did you know that Orange County went for Hillary?  Yes, longtime Republican bastion OC is now blue!  And that’s just the beginning of the good news from Anaheim, the OC, and California.  What do we have to be thankful for this Thanksgiving?  Let’s see…

josh newman 1Josh Newman.  Our new state senator had first to overcome the resistance of his own Party, who “already had a guy” as inadequate as that guy might have been, and then the millions of dollars and endless slander of the deplorable Republican Ling Ling Chang … and has now emerged as the victor!  Josh’s victory gives Democrats the supermajority in the state Senate.  The former Army officer and Bernie Sanders supporter will focus on, among many other things, improving the efficiency of the state’s service to our nation’s veterans.

Quirk Silva beauteousSharon Quirk-Silva is BACK – and our new and former beloved Assemblywoman – and the driving force behind our planned Veterans Cemetery – gives us a supermajority in the Assembly!  Months ago, she told the Orange Juice Blog (in a yet-unpublished interview) that her three priorities if elected would be:  1. Helping the state’s millions of homeless from the vantage point of the Housing Committee;  2.  Prioritizing local students over foreign students in access to higher education;  and 3. Working on the Veterans Committee to provide them more jobs.  How lucky are OC veterans with two such advocates as Josh and Sharon in Sacramento?!

Oh, did you catch that?  Who’s your Daddy county, California Democrats?  The OC has given you the supermajority in BOTH houses of the legislature!  You’re welcome.

dr jose morenoIn Anaheim, most spectacularly:  Dr Jose Moreno!  The party-endorsed candidate, paid-up AnaDems member, architect of the district elections lawsuit, and (to steal Matt Cunningham’s favorite slur) “leftist academic” has just squeaked onto our city council by 44 votes, creating an honest council majority for the first time in at least 15 years – showing that people power can indeed overcome bottomless dollars from Disney, the resort district, and the more corrupt unions.  Jose joins three honest and decent Republicans (including our beloved Mayor Tait) for a majority that will stop robbing Anaheim’s treasury blind for special interests.

ed lopezA BIG AnaDem shout-out to our own former and paid-up Vice President Ed Lopez, who TROUNCED a very unqualified fellow for a seat on the North Orange County Community College Board.  I don’t know how the quiet and bald man pulled it off, but anyone who hears Ed talk about higher education can tell he has an encyclopedic knowledge of what the hell he’s talking about!

costa mesa 2016 majority

Looking around the county, there was plenty of other great news.  Most dramatically, Costa Mesa has achieved a council majority, with the election of Democrat John Stephens and the re-election of decent (and brilliant) Republican Sandy Genis, who will join probable next-Mayor Democrat Katrina Foley – a council majority which will bring humanity and sanity back to Goat Hill for the first time in decades.  This follows the long Mansoor Era which was marked mainly by immigrant-bashing; the Righeimer Era which was marked mainly  by public employee-bashing, outsourcing, overdevelopment, and bitter partisanship;  and finally two heartbreaking near-wins in 2012 and 14 when the good people came within 100 votes of victory.  Special bonus this year – the humiliating defeat of bully Mayor Steve Mensinger!

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Elsewhere in Democratic OC Council triumphs, we congratulate Fullerton’s Jesus Silva (husband of Sharon) who warmed our hearts by beating out corrupt police union thug Larry Bennett, and Melissa Fox adding class and smart liberalism to Irvine’s council.  (Our saddest defeat was that of OC’s greatest councilwoman, Westminster’s Diana Lee Carey, victim of $200,000 worth of lying attacks in a town that looks to be the OC GOP’s next petri dish of corruption and outsourcing … but even SHE managed to pass her most important project, Measure SS.)

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Looking over to Huntington Beach’s Ocean View School District, heroic and embattled President Gina Clayton-Tarvin, a progressive Democrat, liaison to HB’s latino “Oak View Comunidad,” and the number one target of HB’s scary alt-right, soared to re-election, a week before getting a final victory against Rainbow Disposal, forcing this filthy and smelly dump directly across the street from an elementary school to completely clean up and enclose.  Between that and the statewide ban of plastic bags, HB’s alt-right (led by Chris Epting) is pulling their hair out, consoling themselves by muttering “Trump – Trump – Trump.”

Pivoting on Gina and the OVSD, she also had a great success passing her Measure R school bond.  SCHOOL BONDS across the County passed handily, along with California’s Propositions 51 and 55, showing that voters across the county and state are more than willing to pay a little more to keep our children educated.

And the passage of PROP 57 (early parole for non-violent offenders) and 64 (marijuana legalization) puts California in the forefront of ratcheting down the Prison-Industrial Complex and the War on Drugs.

So Happy Thanksgiving, Anaheim Democrats, stay brave, and keep up the great work!  Trump too shall pass.

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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.