The red and blue blogs in town had a field day today breaking the news we posted first this weekend about Supervisor Janet Nguyen. I wrote a post on Sunday about the Fiestas Patrias parade in Santa Ana, which featured a plethora of local politicians pretending they care about Latino immigrants. I found out that day that Nguyen decided to endorse Santa Ana Councilman Carlos Bustamante for Ward 3 on the Santa Ana City Council, and I reported that in my story about the parade.
For the uninformed, I am running against Bustamante. And, as the red and blue blogs pointed out, I have been perhaps the only defender of Nguyen on the local blogs. So of course they all think it is the end of the world that Nguyen has endorsed my opponent, but is it?
The fact is, Nguyen was pressured by the Republican Party of Orange County to back Bustamante, who is her fellow Republican. And she buckled to that pressure – even though she just got reelected to a four year term on the Board of Supervisors. She could have blow off Bustamante and what would it have mattered? Four years hence it would have been an afterthought.
But does her endorsement really matter all that much in a town dominated by Democrats and independents? Bustamante is the last Republican on the City Council – and even his own party members are increasingly avoiding him. Former GOP State Senator and consultant John Lewis is no longer advising him. And the O.C. Lincoln Club took a pass on endorsing him this year. Bustamante even got kicked out of Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido’s endorsement signature party a few weeks ago, according to a slew of pajaritos.
The fact is, Nguyen’s endorsement doesn’t do much for Bustamante. Now an endorsement by a major Democratic figure, like State Senator Lou Correa, would be something to crow about. But why would any real Democrats do anything for Bustamante?
Nguyen has a history of strange endorsements. She earned the unending wrath of fellow Supervisor John Moorlach when she endorsed Stanton’s Dave Shawver against him. She said at the time that she was returning the favor as Shawver had backed her for the Garden Grove City Council. So? He is ridiculous. She had no business endorsing him. It was a huge mistake. And she paid the price for it. Moorlach still treats her with open disdain. By no means is he perfect, but Shawver is a complete joke.
Nguyen also stepped in it when she recently announced a fundraiser that starred notorious trash queen Judy Ware. I winced when I saw that flier. She told me that she had no choice but to be fair to Ware. Not true. She had a choice – and she made the wrong choice.
At the end of the day, Nguyen is going to do whatever she wants. And when it comes to her endorsements, the results are a mixed bag. I am by no means sore that she did not endorse me. I asked her to stay out of this race. She chose otherwise. Now she is going to take the hit – she will be maligned for siding with the guy who made the infamous “waterbra” remarks. And if I beat him she is going to look even worse.
And, as others have pointed out, it now looks like Nguyen puts politics ahead of her friends. That may not be true, but that is what her endorsement of Bustamante looks like. But that’s politics for you. Nguyen is a seasoned politician. She’ll probably weather this storm. And Bustamante isn’t going to make much headway despite this endorsement. Note that the DPOC “leadership” office opening in Santa Ana tomorrow includes Santa Ana Councilman Vince Sarmiento and Assemblyman Jose Solorio. No Bustamante.
When Bustamante ran for Supervisor and was trounced by Nguyen, his Democratic opponent, Tom Umberg, spent a fortune telling the voters that Bustamante is a Republican. That race wasn’t that long ago. Bustamante now has to spend a fortune to undo that damage.
On the other hand, the voters I am talking to like that I am an independent. My campaign co-chairs are Republicans and most of my supporters are Democrats – and Libertarians. I have quite a diverse coalition behind me. Bustamante? He has Nguyen’s tepid endorsement. Good luck with that Carlos!
Another politician distances themselves from Art Pedroza. Don’t you see the pattern here?
Can you say “radioactive”?
Art, you have a lot of friends, all of whom are thinking or saying, Janet was always a no-good robotic Republican, like all of them these days, and you were a naive fool, and there you go, it’s over with you and her, and all for the best. PEDROZA ’08!
anon,
Radioactive? Keep that up and DeVore might endorse me! Yikes…
Art,
You completely and purposely avoid the entire point. You keep getting punked by Janet and you keep giving her free passes like an abused spouse.
Art said:
“I wrote a post on Sunday about the Fiestas Patrias parade in Santa Ana, which featured a plethora of local politicians pretending they care about Latino immigrants. ”
You gave her a pass when she sent out overly racist mailers during her race for the supervisor’s seat against Trung Nguyen.
You gave her a pass when she ate Lobster and passed out free concert tickets with matt Cunningham whom you pounded on. But not a word about Janet doing the same.
You gave her a pass for taking money from Judy Ware. Thanks for the reminder. You gave her a pass when she took money from Ahmensen.
How many more times will she get free passes from you when you finally realize she is a dyed in the wool opportunistic Republican just like the ones you love to vilify for doing the same things she does?
Like I said earlier, you are just like a battered wife. You need help.
art, even though the two of us have had our little spats on here i actually think you’re a good guy and i plan on voting for you come election day because i know you’re the better candidate but this news is just bullsh** and insulting. e-(i swear at exactly 12:01 am i had to stop this post because “chezvern”im’ed me to call me a dick what the hell is going on with your fellow bloggers who should respect boundries, i dont want to talk to this dork) even as you post this you seem to be so nice to her even though she fuc*** you. she has no morals and she’s a wimp when it comes to speaking her mind. just what we need:another spineless candidate. her endorsement really would of given you a fighting chance in this election and she chose to back somebody she felt would help her in her future elections she has no class. and why the hell would she want to run she’s useless anyways. i hope you take this action as what she really thinks of you her biggest supporter. what a communist filth she is.
Hey Lucas where is the proof of the free lobster tickets…. Keep it up with the false claims… she was not at the event with the free lobster.. let this be your last warning with spreading false lies….
anon 1:26 –
Just ignore him. That’s what the rest of us try to do… when we’re not clowning him of course. 😛
SMS
John,
Whitacre failed to support three outstanding Republicans, including Gordon and Collins. Bustamante on the other hand has a long record of supporting tax and fee increases. Even the O.C. Lincoln Club, which gave him a ton of money in his failed Supervisorial race, turned their noses at him this time. Why should Gordon and Collins support a guy who did not support them – a guy who, by their standards, is a RINO – a Republican in Name Only?
Gordon and Collins know that I will fight tax and fee increases. They know I will call for open government. They know I will stand for the people of our city. That is why they are supporting me.
Jose,
Thanks for your support! I hear you. As I wrote in my post this decision by Nguyen hurts her, not me. She already has no allies on the Santa Ana City Council. She should have stayed out of this mess.
yen tr
I am running to represent the people of my city. I could care less what the red and blue party hacks think. The way I look at it, either you are with the people or you are with the special interests. Folks know where I stand.
So I am moving on from this. And let me also say that in my opinion endorsements matter. We should never endorse people who don’t deserve our support, for purely political reasons. What has Bustamante ever done to deserve ANY endorsements? Nothing I can think of. If Nguyen truly thinks he is worthy of her support, that reflects quite poorly on her.
And one final word to Vern and Sarah – our readers deserve respect, period. We should be able to disagree with them without resorting to firebombs. Save your ire for the political hacks like Busty.
Paul,
Your analogies are disturbing. I take those issues seriously. We should never refer to battered women in some comedic fashion or to make a political point. My church is attended by numerous women from a local shelter who have been attacked. My heart goes out to them and to their children. They did nothing to deserve such treatment. That you are resorting to such awful analogies says volumes about who you are – and why the people in Garden Grove should not vote for you.
As for Nguyen, I have said this repeatedly – her move to support Bustamante is ill-advised and it hurts her, not me. I had hoped she was made of different stuff, but apparently politics comes first for Supervisor Nguyen. In my world the people come first, not the politicians.
Why would I support Bustamante after he endorsed Mayor Pulido two years ago?
Why would I support Bustamante after he supported the fraudulent Measure’s D & G?
Why would I support Bustamante after he has voted to increase water rates twice in 10 months?
Why would I support Bustamante after he has lied about making sexist comments?
Why would I support Bustamante after he led the charge to remove me from the EPIC commission despite public support for him to not remove me?
Why would I support Bustamante after he NEVER supports Republican candidates for office, instead co-chairing campaigns for Democrats?
What has Bustamante done about crime, or graffiti or gang killings or our blown out streets or our lack of police officers, parks and libraries?
Thomas,
Those are all good questions you should be asking janet.
Paul why do you support Van Tran
Why did you support Gang Banger Hoa Tran
Why do you support and hang out with Dina
Why do you put up signs with Mr. Photo Shop
Why do you hang out on Main Street with Dina Nguyen
Why do you put home town pride on your signs when you don’t live here oh yes you do your neighbors with Lan Nguyen…. Yes Paul we know….
Paul why don’t you have a real Job and then say I can’t work at Costco because it’s too hard…..
anon 9:38 –
I’m pretty pissed-off about his BS campaign signs and slogan as well. And the fact that they’re all 4×8’s is ridiculous. Paul really thinks he’s Vietnamese, doesn’t he?
DUDE! YOU. CASPER THE DUMBASS GHOST! Nobody is whiter than you and you have ZERO integrity. Every time I see one of those signs I visibly cringe. Calling you honest is like calling W. compassionate.
Art –
‘And one final word to Vern and Sarah – our readers deserve respect, period. We should be able to disagree with them without resorting to firebombs. Save your ire for the political hacks like Busty.‘
Again, Paul Lucas deserves not a shred of respect and is a political hack. Just because I have made a guess that he and jose s. are the same person doesn’t mean that my attacks aren’t against Lucas, who clearly does deserve to be on the receiving end of them… and quite often.
Paul has foot in mouth disease. Period. And I realized that I can do more to embarrass him by continuing to let him comment than to ban him.
SMS
PS: Paul, my mom and I are BOTH abuse survivors. Seriously. If you see me in public, run away fast. You just made this even MORE personal, and frankly I didn’t think it possible. Only you Paul; only you.
Sarah,
I agree with you re Paul. He is in a downward spiral.
Art,
Only you and your buddy SMS can spin my observation of your total and complete devotion to Janet even after she burns you time and time again, into a swipe at victims of abuse.
I think you and sms need re-examine yourselves for making that leap.
I simply observed that you keep your digital lips securely fixated to Janet’s pixilated behind, as put by Chris Prevatt and Dan C, even after time after time; she exhibits the same behavior that you admonish other electeds for.
That type of insanity exhibited by doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results are the classic symptoms of addiction. The type of addiction that battered women exhibit towards their abusive spouses.
Oh he’ll change. He won’t do it again. He would never do that.
And yet Janet keeps doing the same things you portend to abhor. And yet you still expect different results. Like an addict. So you see, I am making an observation, and even an intervention if you will, that you need help to separate yourself from this abusive relationship.
You need the type of counseling and recovery that is utilized to treat battered spouses. That is not a swipe at battered women. I’m simply telling you that you are in an abusive relationship and you need an intervention.
If anyone not using a fake sn would like to retort or disagree with me on this, I welcome your debate. Otherwise, fake screen names lend no credibility.
Paul, please start taking your meds again. It might help you regain your clarity rather then the psycho land you currently live in. You never grew up in Garden Grove. You grew up in Orange. You got fired from COSTCO, you didn’t quit. And you don’t take physical or emotional abuse seriously, instead you mock it and those who went through it. You are a horrible candidate and don’t deserve to be elected. You are rude, mean, dishonest, selfish disgusting person.