Martin Wisckol, over at the OC Register’s Total Buzz blog, is reporting that there are now four Vietnamese-American candidates vying for the First Supervisorial District. Quang Pham, over at Red County/OC Blog, wrote about the latest one, Larry Phan.
Phan, like Phu Nguyen (who announced earlier this week that he is running too), has no name ID. The other second-tier candidate, Trung Nguyen, has already lost two elections this year. It looks like he is trying to start 2007 in the same fashion. Whatever – who cares? None of theses wannabe candidates are viable, exceptional or likely to make much of a difference.
The only candidate in this bunch that matters is Garden Grove City Councilwoman Janet Nguyen. She is the only one with any legitimate political experience. She is also the only conservative in the race.
Another Republican also filed today – former decline to state, and American Independent Carlos Bustamante, the Mayor Pro Tem in Santa Ana. Bustamante has had almost as many political affiliations as Garden Grove perennial candidate Al Snook.
Keep it up Carlos! Maybe you can go to the Democrats after you lose this election. Then you can join Nativo Lopez over at the Green Party when you run for reelection in Santa Ana in two years. Which will of course present you with the perfect opportunity to switch from calling yourself “Forrest Gump” to singing “It Isn’t Easy Being Green.”
Alvarez is the only candidate in this race who might give Janet Nguyen a run for the money. If Umberg files, I will have to revisit that opinion, but he will have his hands full with the fiesty Rosen. And former Santa Ana Councilman Brett Franklin also figures to take votes away from Umberg and Rosen – and Bustamante too.
This race is starting to look like the Davis recall election…
Sorry Art not only is Janet not the only conservative in the race but this district doesn’t go for conservatives….conservative Brett Franklin didn’t even make the run off the last time. Right now I’d handicap her 4th behind Umberg, Bustamante and Alvarez( in no particular order). And all 3 of them have been the subject of your writers wrath in the last year so get used to another disapointment.
B/R,
You cannot be serious! Bustamante is a dreadful joke. He will be the Tino Rivera of this race. Looks good on paper, but isn’t potty-trained yet. Alvarez will leave him on the runway.
Why aren’t you giving Rosen any credit? I expect him to give Umberg a battle. This will be Umberg’s last hurrah – and not in a good way.
A lot depends on what Janet Nguyen communicates to the voters. I think you are wrong about conservatives in this race. What we have is a collection of squishes and lefties. Alvarez is more conservative than Bustamante and Umberg combined! And Janet trumps them all – unless she tries to run as a moderate. I have advised her not to, but this is her campaign. My advice from the beginning has been to run as a McClintock/Moorlach conservative.
Franklin by the way is a moderate at best. Regardless, the voters just don’t know what he stand for – all they know is that he always backs Democrat Pulido. That has killed his political career.
Art:
You don’t mention Trung. I wonder who’s more conservative, him or Janet. Maybe you can enlighten us?
You could be right about Alvarez leaving Bustamante on the runway…she started to do that the other night. But the fact is that he will have the cash and I’m not sure she will..GOP is thinking latino in this race(Carlos, not Claudia), not Vietnamese. Carlos is their guy. You thought you had a fight with Baugh on endorsing Carona? Watch this one. And you won’t have Tim to help you fight up Porkchop Hill. And then if you back Rosen over Party endorsed Carlos you’re in deep doo doo. Mike Schroeder will delight in THAT inquisition.
Seriously, Franklin IS conservative. if you knew him better you’d know that. Backing Pulido is just inside Santa Ana politics. He loses 50 votes from you, Sean, Luis and others who can’t stand Miguel. Otherwise its an issue with no legs. I’ve heard Carlos has some skeletons but never seen the evidence….you’d be better off chasing that angle then ragging on the mayor who is not on the ballot.
Rosen is a sharp guy. Ijust don’t think he’s got the name recognitition and $$. However if unions back Mark, he’s in the hunt.
I don’t think Janet can break out of the pack. But, you never know in such a crowded field.
Poster 3,
The only thing I know about Trung is that he is a Trannie. As such, I must oppose him.
Art:
Very well, then speak about Janet being the only conservative in the race AWARE that you do not have all the fact or does not care enough to find out all of them.
I think Alvarez will have more money than anyone might expect. She is very resourceful.
I do think that many old dogs in the OC GOP want a token Latino – and they think Bustamante is the guy. They will waste a lot of money for nothing.
This is ostensibly a non-partisan race, so no one will have any grounds to go after me, if the scenario we are talking about takes place. However, if Rosen is the union guy, I will back Alvarez instead. Again, that is only if the only Republican left in the race is pitiful Bustamante.
Franklin may be a conservative, but my point was that he has never given the public a reason to believe that. He has simply never stood for anything. He is a nice guy and I like him, but seriously he needs to cut the Pulido strings if he ever wants to be taken seriously as a Republican candidate. Same goes for Bustamante.
Janet can break out – but only if she runs with a conservative message. I have told her this. She will lose if she tries to run as a moderate.
Art–please continue to give her that advice……its good for the 5th district, not the 1st.
B/R,
You are missing the obvious – if only one conservative runs in a field of a dozen liberals and no names, the conservative wins. I am not talking about her running as a social conservative. There is room in this race for someone to run as a true fiscal conservative.
If Janet takes a page from McClintock and Moorlach she will win, hands down. Remember, this is a winner-takes-all race…at least 35% of the voters in this district are fiscally conservative. That is all she needs to win in this crowded field…
Art…the only liberal in the race is Umberg, maybe Rosen. Even Ackerman knows this which is why he dumped Tran for Daucher in the 34th which covers a good part of the SD. There’s more labor liberals then Moreno conservatives. You’ve got a number of candidates who will run as conservatives and your candidate worked for your favorite union squish ken Maddox. Tran is going to have a field day with her.
B/R,
There is a big difference between a Moreno conservative and a McClintock/Moorlach conservative – but I don’t expect you to know that as you are not a conservative.
Tran by the way is not running – instead it is his “Trannie” Trung who is in the race. I expect him to come in almost if not completely last.
BTW, the labor liberals will be splitting up their vote between Rosen, Umberg and Bustamante (their stealth candidate). Whereas conservative-leaning voters will only have one candidate to support – Janet.
Jeez Art, your dislike of Carlos colors your perception of this race. As much as it pains me to say this, I think Carlos has a good shot at winning.
The GOP will get behind him and he’ll raise alot of money. I don’t many whites will vote for him, but I think he can garner enough other votes to make a go at it.
It’s amazing what an empty suit can do if it’s packaged right.
Art, the labor liberals will not split their vote–they’ll get behind one candidate. But I don’t expect you to know that because you’re not a labor liberal(even though you are/were a card-carrying AFL-CIO labor thug).
I know Tran is not in the race but Janet is sure to feel the sting of his hit pieces since Trung is Tran’s Potemkin candidate.
I know there is a difference between a Moreno conservative and a McClintock-Moorlach conservative. But when John Lewis and Van Tran get finished with Janet she’ll end up looking like a Gray Davis liberal.
B/R,
Touche! However, it is one thing for labor bosses to endorse someone – quite another when it comes to how the union members vote. Remember that in Santa Ana they turned on both Gray Davis and Nativo Lopez.
Yes, Tran and his Trannies are going to unload on Janet. That is unfortunate. I guess they want the seat to go to a Democrat, or to the bumbling Bustamante.
Lewis better tread carefully. It is not worth it for him to sully his reputation with Bustamante – a truly pathetic politico who is destined to lose this race then lose his seat on the Santa Ana City Council. Mark my words…
You’re right about them turning on Gray and Nativo, although I think it was more a huge turnout of John and Jane Doe who were mad as hell and wouldn’t take it any more. I think whats different here is that the COunty unions can afford to have all 5 sups flipping them off ala Sometimes a Great Notion. The fortune they blew on Shaver will be chump change to what they’ll spend for Umberg or Rosen.
Art, one other thing. Clearly hegemony in the Vietnamese community is more important to Van Tran then winning this special election. Janet as supervisor gets nested in the Correa senate & Sanchez congressional seats….and she’ll hardly step aside and let Van Tran run when those seats open up. Better to try and stop her now, even if it means losing to a non-Vietnamese or a Democrat.
I cant site my source on this but… Joe Dunn has been seen meeting with some key labor leaders and going to more Democratic functions. I asked one of his employees what joe is planning for district 1, and this person was very guarded on whether Joe will be running or not…
Dont hand this thing to Umberg/Rosen/Bustamante/Nguyen yet!
What we need is a pro-sports jock or a circus monkey.
I doubt Joe is going to get into the race. Unless he really doesn’t like where he is now.
Joe Dunn has landed the big Med Assoc. job but there is nothing to prevent him from putting his name on the ballot if Umberg does not want to run (they are friends) and he does not see a Dem who can take it. He can self fund this quick campaign with loose change from his sofa. The guy has cash. I would not be surprised if this happens and Dunn will run away with it.
An anonymous poster says we need a circus monkey to run and then a few minutes later Ryan Gene posts a comment.
I love it. Draft Ryan Gene.
Circus monkey Carlos pulled papers last night.If Ryan entered, he would just end up with more votes than circus monkey Carlos.
Ryan Gene is a good man and is helping on the Campaign of Ms. Janet Nguyen. He will not run against his friend.
I ain’t running, but thanks for the encouragement!
So, who are the Deputy Sheriffs backing? Then again, that could be the kiss of death —–
I believe the public safety unions will back Umberg
Janet Ngyuen hired a bunch of hacks to run her campaign. Expect Carlo’s B. to clean her clock and make her a one termer.