Umberg coronation begins

Looks like I was right about Tom Umberg. The OC Democrat Party endorsed him last night – and the Central Labor Council followed suit, according to a Total Buzz blog post. I heard about the OC Democrat endorsement last night from my co-blogger Claudio Gallegos, and from other sources as well. You can read more about it at Red County/OC Blog. I’m sure Claudio will write about it at some point as well.

Claudio did tell me that he was surprised at how negative Mark Rosen went in his comments last night to the Democrat Party. Rosen also appeared to be rambling. Umberg ended up with 67% of the vote in what amounted to a coronation.

Expect a full-court press from the Democrats and the labor unions on behalf of Umberg. I understand that the sheriff’s deputies (AOCDS) have yet to weigh in. They will. Interestingly, Wayne Quint, the president of the AOCDS, emailed me the day of the filing deadline wanting to know how to contact Lupe Moreno. It felt like they were moving quickly to interview the candidates and issue an endorsement. I will be shocked if they do not endorse Umberg.

Umberg also has the best ballot designation (California State Assemblyman) of all the candidates. You can check out all of their ballot designations at this link. Some of the designations are pretty funny.

Carlos Bustamante describes himself as a “Santa Ana Councilman.” However, doesn’t he work as a mid-level manager in the county planning department? Why is he hiding that fact?

Former Santa Ana Councilman Brett Franklin calls himself an “Orange County Businessman.” C’mon Brett – it’s alright to say you are a realtor. So was Lou Correa, a long time ago.

Larry Phan says he is a Television Producer. Then he says he has worked for the county for 25 yerars. Which is it Larry? And shouldn’t he tell us the county he has worked for is L.A. County – not Orange County? If a guy cannot be honest in his candidate’s statement, he certainly won’t be honest if he gets elected.

How about Kermit Marsh? His designation reads “Councilman/Hospital Chairman.” Kermit – you’re a lawyer! Why not just admit the truth? Not all lawyers are bad. Well, most of them are. But there is no way Kermit makes more money chairing a hospital board than he does as an attorney.

My old friend Lupe Moreno pulls the same stunt when she describes herself as a Santa Ana Library Commissioner. Yes, she is. But she also works for the county, in their immunizations department. Nothing wrong with that – but maybe it didn’t fit in the designation?

Benny Diaz, over in Garden Grove, sells himself as a “City Commissioner.” What city? What commission? Hmmm…methinks that Benny is going for the Santa Ana vote.

Janet Nguyen used the designation “Hospital Boardmember/Councilwoman.” I think I would have led with “Councilwoman.”

Mark Rosen pulled the same stunt as Kermit – he did not mention he is a lawyer. Instead he went with “City Councilman, City of Garden Grove.” Not bad. Certainly long.

And that brings us to Trung Nguyen. I half-expected his designation to say “Professional Victim,” but instead he went with “Engineer/School Boardmember.” I don’t think it was wise to lead with “Engineer.” Or to mention it at all.


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"Admin" is just editors Vern Nelson, Greg Diamond, or Ryan Cantor sharing something that they mostly didn't write themselves, but think you should see. Before December 2010, "Admin" may have been former blog owner Art Pedroza.