The results are in – and I must say I am very proud of our readers. They voted in huge numbers in our very first “Rotten Orange” Awards, which included numerous categories, such as “the Worst Orange County Congressional Representative.” That race drew the most votes, 199, and Republican nut job Dana Rohrabacher won in a squeaker, with 79 votes to 74 that were cast for the runner-up, Loretta Sanchez. Dana’s fellow Republican, Ken Calvert, was a distant third with 17 votes.
Be sure to click the “read more” link below to see the rest of the inaugural class of “Rotten Orange” Award winners…including the “Most Hackish Partisan Blogger!”
Former Assemblywoman Mimi Walters just won a seat in the State Senate, where she will be replacing outgoing Republican Dick Ackerman. And now she won again – she is the winner of the “Rotten Orange” Award for “Worst Orange County State Senator,” with 66 votes. Her fellow Republican Bob Huff, who is replacing Bob Margett in the State Senate, was the runner-up with 45 votes.
Over in the State Assembly, the clear choice for a “Rotten Orange” Award was Republican Van Tran. The runner-up was Red County blogger Chuck DeVore, who insanely announced recently that he is running for the U.S. Senate against Barbara Boxer. Sure Chuck, good luck with that! You’ll be the runner-up in that race too!
The race for “Worst Orange County Supervisor” was a tight one, but John Moorlach prevailed with 48 votes. The runner-up, Chris Norby, had 45 votes, and Bill Campbell came in third with 44 votes.
Now let’s switch to local politicians. The race for “Worst Orange County Mayor” wasn’t close. Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido won in a landslide, just as he does in Santa Ana every two years, with 130 votes! No other Mayor came close. Pulido got over 70% of the vote!
But “Papi” Pulido wasn’t the only Santa Ana politico to win a “Rotten Orange” Award! Santa Ana Councilwoman “Crazy” Claudia Alvarez ran away with the “Worst Central Orange County Local Politician” Award, with 79 votes. Her fellow Council Member Carlos “Space Commander” Bustamante came in third with 41 votes.
Fullerton Councilman Shawn Nelson was the surprise winner of the “Worst North Orange County Local Politician” Award. I really thought his fellow Council Member Dick Jones would win this one, but Nelson got 49 votes, while Jones got only 28 votes.
The “Worst South Orange County Local Politician” Award went to Irvine City Councilman Larry Agran, but his fellow Council Member Beth Krom was right behind him. Together they merited 70% of the vote! Their fellow Council Member Christina Shea came in third, making it a clean sweep for Irvine when it comes to “Rotten Oranges.”
The “Worst Orange County School Board Member” Award was also a bit of a surprise. It went to new Rancho Santiago Community College District Trustee Mark McLoughlin. I really expected SAUSD Trustees Rob Richardson and Jose Hernandez to vie for this award, but McLoughlin got 56 votes, which was more than the total votes netted by Hernandez and Richardson.
Last but not least, Liberal OC blogger Dan Chmielewski (who resembles Peter from “Family Guy – Dan’s real picture is below, for comparison’s sake) won the “Most Hackish Partisan Blogger” Award, with 50 votes. Perhaps fittinginly, Red County blog editor Matt “Jubal” Cunningham was the runner-up with 49 votes. These two guys are two sides of the same coin – one side is red, the other blue. Our readers obviously fingered them for the partisan hacks that they are.
A big thank you to all our Orange Juice readers for taking the time to participate in our first “Rotten Orange” Awards! We will be printing up nice certificates for all the winners and sending them to their offices via U.S. mail.
Who won “most embarrassing attempt to unseat
Carlos Bustamante on the Santa Ana City Council, but at least I got 1.5% more of the vote than Steve Rocco?”
Dave,
Why should I be embarrassed? I decided to run the week of the filing deadline. I raised ten percent of what Busty raised. And I still kept him under 50% of the vote. He got less votes than any of the incumbents on the Santa Ana City Council.
Rocco, BTW, won in Orange in part because your fellow Republicans opted to vote for him instead of voting for his Latino opponent. Same thing happened in Santa Ana this year.
So tell me Dave, when will YOU apologize to the community for supporting Mike Carona? You want to talk about embarrassing, your boy Carona takes the cake!
Art, I did not give money to Carona, nor did I campaign for him. So I will not be issuing any apologies. But congrats on getting within 6 points of getting half the vote Bustamante got. Good job using the race card to blame how close Rocco got to you, because I’m sure your latino surname didn’t win you any votes either.
Dave,
Nice backpedaling there. But the fact remains – you supported Carona. I spoke out against him at the OC GOP Central Committee, or have you conveniently forgotten that?
Now you are sticking up for your pal Carlos, who is every bit as embarrassing as Carona. Well, at least you are consistent.
The fact that I got over 10,000 votes, on a shoestring budget, is pretty good. In fact had Rocco and Busty’s plant, Valencia-Verdin, not been on the ballot I very well may have beaten your boy Carlos.
At any rate, the campaign is over and now Busty has to come up with solutions to a $40 million dollar budget crisis in Santa Ana. My guess is he has no clue what to do…
And I still kept him under 50% of the vote.
Ha! The ultimate in loser spin! I didn’t realize the goal of your candidacy was to limit Bustamante to 49.9%! Most candidates run in order to win.
The fact that I got over 10,000 votes, on a shoestring budget, is pretty good.
“Pretty good”? Have you ever asked yourself why, despite all the noise you made about your support in the community, you could hardly raise any money?
In fact had Rocco and Busty’s plant, Valencia-Verdin, not been on the ballot I very well may have beaten your boy Carlos.
Yeah…right…file that under ” and if pigs had wings”
Rocco, BTW, won in Orange in part because your fellow Republicans opted to vote for him instead of voting for his Latino opponent. Same thing happened in Santa Ana this year.
Sorry, Art, but telling a lie often enough doesn’t make it any less of a lie. Admit it: you don’t have a shred of evidence to back up your speculation.
Matt/Jubal,
Sorry you lost the “Rotten Orange” Award for most hackish partisan blogger to Dan C. I really thought you would win it!
As for why I found it hard to raise money, are you kidding? You know I am not a sell-out. So do the donors.
I don’t know what evidence you need re Rocco’s success in Orange other than the results. But you have admitted to voting for Rocco – so you are all the evidence we need…
As for why I found it hard to raise money, are you kidding? You know I am not a sell-out. So do the donors.
In other words, you’re saying any candidate who succeeds in raising money is ipso facto a sell-out.
Now, since we both know that is not true, the only reasonable conclusion is you failed to persuade very many people that your candidacy worth investing very much of their money in.
I don’t know what evidence you need re Rocco’s success in Orange other than the results.
The results were Rocco won, Phil Martinez one. It is impossible to infer anything from that alone. And you are unable to provide an iota of evidence to support your racialist speculation — not that that every stops you from presenting your lunatics theories as facts.
Jeez,
I tried to vopte for Dave Swanson AND Jubal, funny though, I have never seen their name on any ballot.
HYPOCRITES.
duplojohn, are you related to Art? I notice some common cognitive impairment.
Art,
I never posted a blog comment in support of Carona. I haven’t given him money, or campaigned for him. I voted for him, yes, but that was the extent of my support. So I’m about as much to blame as the rest of the 51% of the electorate. There’s been plenty of candidates I supported that didn’t turn out the way I had expected, but hindsight is 20/20.
Dulop,
I appreciate the support of your vote. Maybe next year I will win. Though I don’t think I blog enough to garner the support for that prestigious honor of being the most “hackish partisan.”
….I do however find the Peter Griffin/Dan C hilarious however.