.
.
.
It’s that time of year — or actually, of the two-year (or four-year) election cycles — again, when runoff elections featuring the top-two vote-getters from the June primary races will be joined on the ballot by non-partisan races, which tend to be confusing. Below is a list of most of what’s on the ballot, just to get the juices flowing. (The exceptions are the races in OC’s 38 incorporated cities, which one has to check one-by-bloody-one if one wants to see who’s running for their city councils — and the occasional City Attorney or Treasurer races.)
We’ll get to those city races, ummm, when we get to them. Meanwhile, fresh from the OC Registrar of Voters, here’s the upcoming election contests, from the prominent to the obscure.
That was Greg. This is Vern. Many of the below races are still ones that YOU might think of running for. These are the salt-of-the-earth races where people who are really interested in public service start out, and may eventually move up to higher offices once they learn more, prove their intelligence and honesty, and make a name for themselves. Remember a few months ago when we had 17 people running for every Congressional seat? Well, a lot of those people should have started at these more modest levels … and they STILL should. – Vern.
Races on the Nov. 2018 General Election Ballot
The Top Two vote-getters from VOTER NOMINATED contests:
United States Senator
Representative in Congress
- 38th District
- 39th District
- 45th District
- 46th District
- 47th District
- 48th District
- 49th District
State Constitutional Officers
Governor
Lieutenant Governor
Secretary of State
Controller
Treasurer
Attorney General
Insurance Commissioner
Member, State Board of Equalization, 4th District
State Senator
- 32nd District
- 34th District
- 36th District
Member of the Assembly
- 55th District
- 65th District
- 68th District
- 69th District
- 72nd District
- 73rd District
- 74th District
NONPARTISAN
School – State
Superintendent of Public Instruction
County Supervisors
Supervisor, 4th District — Tim Shaw vs. Doug Chaffee
County Offices
District Attorney-Public Administrator — Racky vs. Spitzer!
Sheriff-Coroner — Nguyen vs. Complicit Guy
School District Contests
Coast Community College District
- Trustee Area 1
- Trustee Area 5
North Orange County Community College District
- Trustee Area 1
- Trustee Area 3
- Trustee Area 6
Rancho Santiago Community College District
- Trustee Area 2
- Trustee Area 4
- Trustee Area 6
South Orange County Community College District
- Trustee Area 2
- Trustee Area 4
- Trustee Area 5
Anaheim Union High School District
- Trustee Area 1
- Trustee Area 2
- Trustee Area 5
Fullerton Joint Union High School District
- Trustee Area 1
- Trustee Area 4
- Trustee Area 5
Huntington Beach Union High School District
Brea Olinda Unified School District, Full Term
Brea Olinda Unified School District, Short Term
Capistrano Unified School District
- Trustee Area 4
- Trustee Area 6
- Trustee Area 7
Garden Grove Unified School District
- Trustee Area 2
- Trustee Area 4
Irvine Unified School District
- Trustee Area 2
- Trustee Area 4
Laguna Beach Unified School District
Los Alamitos Unified School District
Newport-Mesa Unified School District
- Trustee Area 2
- Trustee Area 4
- Trustee Area 5
- Trustee Area 7
Orange Unified School District
- Trustee Area 1
- Trustee Area 4
- Trustee Area 5
- Trustee Area 7
Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District
- Trustee Area 4
- Trustee Area 5
Saddleback Valley Unified School District
Santa Ana Unified School District
Tustin Unified School District
- Trustee Area 3
- Trustee Area 5
Rowland Unified School District
Anaheim Elementary School District
- Trustee Area 2
- Trustee Area 4
- Trustee Area 5
Buena Park School District
- Trustee Area 1
- Trustee Area 2
- Trustee Area 5
Centralia School District
- Trustee Area 1
- Trustee Area 2
- Trustee Area 5
Cypress School District
- Trustee Area B
- Trustee Area C
- Trustee Area D
Fountain Valley School District
Fullerton School District
- Trustee Area 1
- Trustee Area 3
- Trustee Area 4
Huntington Beach City School District
La Habra City School District
Lowell Joint School District
- Trustee Area 1
- Trustee Area 2
- Trustee Area 4
- Trustee Area 5
Magnolia School District
- Trustee Area 1
- Trustee Area 2
- Trustee Area 5
Ocean View School District
Savanna School District
Westminster School District
- Trustee Area 2
- Trustee Area 3
- Trustee Area 5
Special District Contests
Capistrano Bay Community Services District
Emerald Bay Service District
Rossmoor Community Services District
Surfside Colony Community Services District
Three Arch Bay Community Services District
Serrano Water District
- Division 1
- Division 4
Silverado-Modjeska Recreation and Park District
Costa Mesa Sanitary District
Midway City Sanitary District
Sunset Beach Sanitary District
Surfside Colony Storm Water Protection District
El Toro Water District
Irvine Ranch Water District
Moulton Niguel Water District
Santa Margarita Water District
East Orange County Water District
Rossmoor/Los Alamitos Area Sewer District
Mesa Consolidated Water District
- Division 3
- Division 4
- Division 5
South Coast Water District
Trabuco Canyon Water District
Yorba Linda Water District
Orange County Water District
– particularly important to put up ONE GOOD CANDIDATE EACH against these 4 Poseidon whores (V.)
- Division 1 – run against Dina Nguyen in Garden Grove / Westminster area!
- Division 2 – run against Denis “Bill-more-Dough” in Orange / Tustin / Villa Park!
- Division 5 – run against Steve Sheldon in Newport / Irvine area!
- Division 7 – run against Shawn Dewane in Costa Mesa / Newport / Fountain Valley area!
[n.b. by Greg: is there any set of three politicians on any OC public entity creepier than Bilodeau, Sheldon, and Dewane? Cathy Green is a horror show also, but she’s not up this year. Remember — we need one, BUT ONLY ONE, opponent against each!]
Municipal Water District of Orange County
- Division 1 — Brett Barbre (like Jordan Brandman, a former Tom Daly Public Funds Scholarship winner), whose district in Brea, Buena Park, La Habra, La Palma, Placentia and Yorba Linda. [Greg ran against him four years ago as a Poseidon protest candidate — Barbre is one of the county’s main movers behind the consumer ripoff — but doesn’t plan to do so this year.]
- Division 2 — Larry Dick (is OK, as I recall, despite his being an OC Taxpayers Association board member. Right, Vern?) His district is Garden Grove, Orange, Tustin and Villa Park, and unincorporated North Tustin. I don’t think that there’s a reason to oppose him, but I defer there to Vern and to the amazing John Earl.
- Division 5 — Sat Tamaribuchi, whose district is Newport Beach, Laguna Woods, portions of Irvine, Lake Forest, Laguna Hills, Aliso Viejo, and parts of Mission Viejo. [Greg here: I sued Tamaribuchi on behalf of then-candidate Ron Varasteh four years ago in an unsuccessful in a challenge to his ballot statement, at the same time that I successfully sued Dave Ellis over a much larger problem with his statement. It’s the only election lawsuit I regret filing; with the perspective of time, the issue was too small to justify it, and it really seemed to annoy the hell out of him, because he took it as a major affront rather than something techical. I don’t believe that he’s a Poseidon supporter, and on that presumption I don’t favor anyone running against him.]
Buena Park Library District
Placentia Library District
Santiago Geologic Hazard Abatement District
[This is the best named district of them all. — GAD]
City Contests
[It’s complicated…]
This is your “getting your feet wet before filing closes” edition of OJB’s “Weekend Open Thread.” Talk about this, or whatever else you’d like, without reasonable bounds of discretion and decorum.
Hmmm…took 10 minutes of searching just to identify which “Trustee Area” I’m in for my school district, only to find that my area’s trustee is not up for election this year. Well, ok, one less position to research…
“The exceptions are the races in OC’s 38 incorporated cities, which one has to check one-by-bloody-one”
Yep. We have at least six candidates for Anaheim mayor as well: Sidhu, Machiaverna, Ward (Republicans), and Galloway, Aitken, Williams (Democrats). I like Cynthia Ward and Ashleigh Aitken so far…
There’s also the Boys and Girls Club guy running for Mayor, whose name and party I can’t remember.
Ashleigh and Cynthia would both make good Mayors. Cynthia has more relevant experience in the City and has shown as much backbone as one could hope for in a candidate; Ashleigh seems unlikely to sell out (though some of her positions will need to be nailed down) and if one’s values are solid then being a successful and prominent but not arrogant attorney and a longtime resident and political observer are good job qualifications.
I’ll be voting to endorse Ashleigh in DPOC, because she’d be far better than Lorri Galloway. (As I promised at the time, Galloway’s conflict with Vern is completely factored out of that equation for me. Her relationship with Curt Pringle, though, is not being factored out.) Ashleigh will have a substantial edge in money, while Cynthia has a great local reputation in a city where Tom Tait is the most popular politician among Republicans, Democrats, and independents. The two of them seem to get along decently and while each thinks that they’d be the better Mayor, each seems to appreciate the others good qualities.
Sidhu may end up having the most money, but his expenses are also highest — mainly the expense of erasing people’s knowledge of what a sad joke he has been in office. That doesn’t come cheap!
“There’s also the Boys and Girls Club guy running for Mayor…”
That’s Machiaverna. His dozens of fans call him J-Mac. This cranky conservative dude on Matt’s blog named Gary Gengler really likes him, at least Gary can see thru Harry.
I call him “Not-a-Factor Mac.” I’ve heard people claim that he was in both and neither party. Do you know the straight dope here?
Is Williams the Democrat that Democrats don’t think is actually a Democrat? The guy who split the anti-Kring vote in District 4? (So much to brush up on!) As I recall, his platform was pretty strongly traditional Republican.
Williams is that black dude who likes Burger Boy and spoke out against the new City Manager because he “has a cloud over him.” It’s hard to pin down his positions, but I most remember him for announcing at the ARA forum two years ago that everybody onstage was “an insider” except for him – meaning Mark Daniels, Donna Acevedo-Nelson, Sandra Angel, Orlando Perez, Angel Van Stark, Freddie Fitzgerald Carbajal, and other notorious insiders. Yes, he ran as a “Democrat” in district 4, but I don’t remember him getting enough votes to make a difference.
There’s also this DTS fella called Fuji who’s been hanging out and loving himself some charter schools. He tried to speak at the last Anaheim Democrats meeting, but Jeff called “point of order” and he got shut down.
Finer Things in Life Dept.-
Remember “Through the teeth, and over the gums, look out, stomach, Here It Comes ! ”
Well, what’s old is new again !
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/20/science/fukushima-radiation-levels-california-wine-nyt.html
Of course, we can anticipate CA Wineries confirming (or not ! ) the results of the French lab in a native lab, or at least one from a non-wine-selling-competitor location, right ?
“Sidhu …what a sad joke he has been in office. That doesn’t come cheap!”
Do tell…where else can one get the dirt on the local politicos when one is new to town?
Where else besides here? Good question.
Voice, Weekly … but mainly here for Anaheim since 2012.
https://www.fullertonsfuture.org/category/harry-sidhu/
Oh yeah, that! Good stuff.
Anything of note scheduled for tonight’s Anaheim Council meeting, Vern? (If FB is correctly telling me that there is one.)
That was last night!
Kris Murray tried to change the language under which the Living Wage Ordinance will appear on the ballot. She tried some other sneaky thing called “transparency and accountability” that nobody else could figure out. I’m pretty sure those both went down on “party” lines, though I have to check. (That probably woulda been around midnight)
There is no good reason not to let the very worthy Access California expand into a corner of Brookhurst Park, but the NIMBYs were out in force bitching about their park space being taken. And Access supporters, most of them Muslim, were there explaining how it’s an area of the park that never gets used. So painful hours went by with Council and staff looking at alternatives. That whole thing makes me mad, I think the NIMBYs just hate the Muslims as much as they hate the homeless, but they are careful not to say so. I’m gonna write about it.
There was a big report about crime in parks. Mostly focused on the badness of the homeless.
But our public comments went on till nearly 10pm, so me and Donna had to go home … after I led the room in another Disney song… (here, sung by the People’s Homeless Task Force)
It’s a town of brew’ries, a town of bars,
It’s a town of embryonic superstars,
And with cash in our jeans and a boost to our means,
It’s an Interdependent Town!
When a worker’s able to pay their bills,
Then they go out shopping, anybody will.
And the wealth they inject after each decent check
Makes an Interdependent Town!
It’s a small town after all, it’s a small town after all,
It’s a small town after all, it’s an Interdependent Town!
With a living wage that is how we get
What economists call a multiplier effect,
Henry Ford knew this well, now let’s teach our hotels
About Interdependent Towns!
It’s a rising tide lifting all our boats,
Whether haircuts, sports cars or ice cream floats,
And the most it requires is to pay all your hires
For an Interdependent Town!
It’s a small town after all, it’s a small town after all,
It’s a small town after all, it’s an Interdependent Town!
Action, —– Reaction ?
https://youtu.be/bsXRfZPo3Mw
https://youtu.be/AiZj7LTMjzs
https://youtu.be/WIK-_VDPbps
Of course, the pendulum, once in motion, continues swinging, reminding me of a decades-old Readers’ Digest article about the then-novel incidence of graffiti, citing an example of a NY Subway ad for a technical school, picturing a circuit board and posing the question, “What will you do when this circuit learns your job ?” that had attracted the scrawled reply, “Become a circuit breaker ! “.
For an interesting (?) presentation about how far robots can (and can’t) go in the hospitality (and other) industries, this may have something to offer- (paraplegic assistance and health care uses are also presented-)
https://youtu.be/dn74oHbhRuk