School board member enters race for the 34th State Senate District

Anaheim Union High School Board member Robert “Rob” Stewart has filed papers to run for the 34th State Senate District as a Republican. I had an opportunity to talk to him and found out that he came onto the AUHSD board after they passed the construction bond that turned out to be a highly publicized failure; as such he feels that the stigma won’t hurt his state senate campaign. Perhaps, but it won’t help either.

Stewart was first elected to the AUHSD back when my old friend Lou Lopez was on the board. Apparently he has come on and off the board over time, and he now feels that he can beat the RINO Lynn Daucher. He is staunchly pro-life and is a former ROP teacher. He owns a racing car parts business.

I asked Stewart if State Senate GOP leader Dick Ackerman, the man behind the Daucher campaign, has called him yet, but he just now filed to run, and as such few people have had the chance to talk to him. He did say that if he fails to collect the requisite nomination signatures, he will be happy to talk to Lupe Moreno and will likely support her against Daucher.

Stewart once proposed that the federal government be billed for the expenses realized by the AUHSD with regard to educating illegal immigrant children. He partnered with Dr. Alexandria Coronado in that effort, but he says that it came to naught because then-trustee Harald Martin decided to bill Mexico for the costs.

This development at first glance is bad news for Moreno, but if Stewart fails to file, then she will likely be able to count on his support. Also, Stewart may actually hurt Daucher more than Moreno, given that his intent is to go after Daucher, and they both appeal to the same demographics. Moreno, as a conservative Latina, has a clear edge in the 34th against both Stewart and Daucher.

Stewart also intimated that he is going to help his neighbor, David J. Shawver, a Council Member in Stanton, in his campaign against popular conservative John Moorlach, for the 2nd Supervisorial District. Stewart feels that Moorlach is to blame for the Orange County bankruptcy, and he claims that Shawver will be using secret information along those lines in his campaign against Moorlach. I don’t know what to make of that – I strongly support Moorlach and I think he will easily defeat Shawver, who is part of the disgraceful Stanton City Council that is now charging home owners for inspections when they try to sell their homes, as has been widely reported in the media and at the OC Blog.

I thought initially that Stewart had been put up as a candidate by Ackerman, but he denied that, although he did admit that some unknown parties talked him into it. He was also very candid about the fact that he does not intend to spend much, if any, money in his campaign. That seems an odd strategy, but Stewart says he has been very successful in politics, and he is very comfortable with his ability to win.

I know that Stewart’s entry into the race for the 34th will not dissuade Moreno. His dislike for Moorlach will likely hurt him and I suspect that most conservatives will ultimately go with Moreno for that reason and others. I also am very positive that Moreno’s work in the area of immigration will net her the endorsements of Jim Gilchrist and other Minutemen leaders, despite Stewart’s self-proclaimed leadership in that same issue.

If nothing else, the race for the 34th State Senate District just got a lot more interesting.