"Not my time... Not my time..."
As far as I can tell, Pedroza’s OCPolitics Blog broke the news for the English-speaking world: Republican Assembly candidate for the 72nd District, Westminster Councilman Tyler Diep, has dropped out of the race. Press reports and rumors suggest different reasons – he was pressured by the OC GOP establishment which favors Matt Harper (or maybe the new candidate Troy Edgar); he believes (wrongly) that Vietnamese-Americans will have a better chance at keeping Van Tran’s old seat if there are only two Viet candidates instead of three; his new fiancee isn’t keen on losing him to the distant squirrel-infested Sodom of Sacramento.
So, I asked Tyler myself, having my ways of finding people’s cell phone number. And he insists, repeatedly but cryptically, that it is just “NOT YET MY TIME.” He emphatically states that “no person or group” pressured him out of the race, adding with a macho flourish that if someone had pressured him, he may very well have stayed in the race in defiance. “IT’S JUST NOT MY TIME.”
Ha. I still say he left because he was getting NO SUPPORT from the local Republican institutions – what else does “not my time” mean? I remember well the story we broke here of sweaty-palmed GOP bagman Jon Fleischman hectoring Tyler’s boss, Board of Equalization member Michelle Steele, to rescind her endorsement of Tyler. And lilywhite neophyte HB councilman Matt Harper has racked up ALL the big endorsements – Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, all the local GOP Mayors, all the Supervisors, the Young Republicans, the list goes on and on. (Even though Tyler ran circles around Matt in fundraising.)
And I still say Viets should be pissed at the Republicans for this slight, in the one Sacramento seat where they had half a chance at being represented – the seat (roughly) where Boss Van Tran reigned supreme for so many years. It’s just silly for Tyler or anyone else to say that they have a better chance with two candidates than three, when you take a look at the other two:
Diep out, Pham and Dovinh in, in AD 72.
Board of Education member Long Pham and Trannie husband Joe Dovinh. A couple of losers, Heckle and Jeckle. They both jumped into the Allan Mansoor – Phu Nguyen race in 2010, and both lost badly in the primaries, Long as a Republican and Joe as a “Democrat.” And then, even though they’d both told me they were mainly anti-Mansoor, they spent the remaining five months doing Mansoor’s dirty work on Vietnamese radio and TV, endlessly repeating the absurd lie that Phu is a “Communist.” (As usual, always thinking us round-eyed devils will never hear about it.) Neither has much base, money, or charisma. Theoretically, the district’s 31.6% Democrats should come out for Joe, but typically he’s playing DOWN his Party affiliation (much like Tom Daly is) not mentioning it on his website or any of his press releases or event invitations. I think this is a stupid waste of his one possible advantage in the race, and also confirms the longtime suspicion that he’s a squishy DINO.
The Chosen One.
So, the race would now seem to be Matt Harper’s to lose; Matt Harper, groomed by Supervisor Janet Nguyen and backed by nearly the entire OC GOP establishment; the budding career politician Matthew Harper, who has gone in just over a year from being Janet’s Deputy Chief of Staff [h/t bushala] to Huntington Beach Councilman and OC Public Affairs Manager and is now fixing to continue his relentless ascent, infuriating many grassroots Republicans who’d expected him to hang on in HB and keep fighting the good fight against public employees for at LEAST one full term!
In fact, I hereby make a very half-hearted and ambivalent endorsement of Mr. Harper. There’s really not much he can do in Sacramento besides wave around a rubber sword like Allan Mansoor and Don Wagner do, and the flip side is we progressives and environmentalists in Huntington Beach will be able to replace him with a better councilperson, someone in the mold of Joe Shaw and Connie Boardman.
But soft, what twist through yonder window breaks?
Troy Edgar. Why do all these candidates look so ... I don't know, what IS it about them?
It is Los Alamitos off to the west, the much-more-than-One-Horse Town that gave us racist Mayor Dean Grose and his Obama Watermelon Garden, and the twist is a NEW white hope, Republican Los Alamitos Councilman Troy Edgar, who has just downgraded his ambitions from a hopeless Congressional race to a real chance in this Assembly race, with his Ed Royce endorsement and serious boatloads of money.
$300,000 so far, Troy Edgar brings to this race – over ten times what the very lackadaisical fundraiser Harper has netted thus far. On the other hand Pedroza’s right that Los Alamitos is a very small base, all the Huntington Beach voters know who Harper is, and Ed Royce may as well be Santa Claus as far as most Surf City denizens know.
Here is Scott Lay’s analysis, but I know some things he doesn’t know, and I’ve told you most of them.
So maybe it’ll be a race after all – between the two white Republican councilmen! But… sorry, it’s not YOUR time yet, Vietnamese-Americans. Or, that’s what the OC Republican Party says!
So this might be a proxy war on Vietnamese territory between great foreign powers? Anything that bleeds Royce and the coastal GOP establishment dry (OK, less moist) is OK with me. I hope that younger Vietnamese are taking notes about how the local GOP is treating them — and I hope that Democrats in AD-69 take notes on their taking notes.
Vietnamese people really fought hard before the Redistricting Commission for a unified Little Saigon district, too. And, now, it will have been for what?
The OC Political blog broke the story, but my post was more analytical.
Dovinh is running a smart campaign. It is a red district. If he sounded too liberal it would cost him the race in this new open primary. He did well against Phu the carpetbagger.
Just be grateful I linked to your piece, maybe a couple of people will read it. (And you lie about Phu, but who’s surprised?)
Oh – my bad – you are the OC Politics Blog, and Emami’s pals are the OC Political Blog. How the hell are we supposed to tell you apart? I thought you were re-iterating that you broke the story, and bragging that your piece was “more analytical” than mine.
Well, still, you lie about Phu. Whom you once admitted was NOT a carpetbagger. And if Joe “did well,” so have dozens of losers you’ve ridiculed as “toast” and “failures” over the years.
I refer to them now as “Tical” (pronounced “tickle”) and “Tics.” Art is Tics.
John Tran withdraws from Assembly District 49 campaign.
Ex-mayor of Rosemead admits guilt in bribery case
John Tran, 36, admits to shaking down a developer for more than $10,000 while on the City Council. He also resigns from the school board and withdraws from an Assembly race. February 4, 2012
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0204-bribery-20120204,0,4791977.story
Bolsavik is good as always:
“…It’s unclear why it took 2 months for Diep to realize he’s got competition, but there we go.
“Diep did not mention the fact that his own mayor, Westminster’s Margie Rice, has decided to endorse someone else in this race: Huntington Beach’s Matthew Harper, an aide to OC Supervisor Janet Nguyen. Rice was apparently endorsing Diep before.
“Diep also says he’s hoping donors to the Assembly campaign “will understand” his decision. The $135,000 will now go either go to other candidates or to Diep’s own reelection campaign for the Westminster City Council, Diep says.
“Ah yes. $135,000 for a reelection campaign to the Westminster City Council. The Bolsavik is sure the people who gave Diep money to buy a cow will totally understand it, that he’s bringing home a handful of beans.”
http://bolsavik.com/2012/02/tyler-diep-collects-135000-quits-race/#more-3428
You know, I supported Phu in 2008 and I worked hard to see him win. For you Vern to come out and endorse Harper who has never done anything for the community is beyond my ablity to believe. If he is better than Edgar I fail to see it. Both have track records that put them in the extreme right of the Republican party.
So in this election I am supporting and helping Joe Dovinh, this is 2012, not 2010 and not 2008. So lets get over the past and move forward.
Like President Obama has often said we should not sacrifice the good waiting for something that is perfect.
I agree with our President so should you.
I think I was clear that I don’t like any of the candidates, but that I see a silver lining with Harper winning, which is replacing him on council. Wasn’t that clear?
And how is Joe going to get all the white Democrats in the OC to vote for him if they don’t even know he’s a Democrat? How does that work? I see how it works for Tom Daly, who’s going for Republicans and the centrist Dems who know him, but it doesn’t make sense in a majority white, 32% Dem district.
Oh, I see. Art contacted you. And you didn’t read my semi-ironic “endorsement” or you would have understood better. I think. Yes, of course Harper is far-right. This is an endorsement for “kicking him upstairs” where he can do less harm.
YOU claim that Joe has changed, transformed, and is no longer the backstabber of sixteen months ago. Well, even if that’s true – why is he not loud and proud about being a Democrat? NOBODY respects someone who’s ashamed or sneaky about what they are.
In his office where he works, at his business he has a large Obama 2012 sign up on the wall. On his work truck Obama for president stickers. Posted his endorsement by the young Democrats on his personal phone message for all to see.
I do not see Republican on our opponents sites or paperwork, Phu did not put that on his papers after the primary when everyone could vote. If it were the old system you would have a point.
But both sides need independant support to win it is an open primary and as you correctly point out the district has more Republicans than Democrats.
bluedog,
Vern’s semi-endorsement aside, what bothers me in the story is this:
I feel more negative about Vern’s “half-kidding” approach if this isn’t true. So — is this true? If so, how is it explained? I’ll support Dovinh anyway, based on my “whom would you rather lobby?” idea, but this makes it harder for me to convince others to do so if it’s true.
I think that this is worth addressing, because I suspect that the charge won’t go away.
It’s true. I was very involved with the Phu campaign, as was Bluedog.
Dude. I’m never “half kidding” about facts.
I meant “half-kidding” about the Harper endorsement here, not about the “calling Phu a Communist” fact.
Bluedog, do you know if this will be addressed? I actually don’t have a problem with the McCain endorsement, given the opinions of the Vietnamese community, but this is troubling. I hope that it can be explained.
How short-sighted. Whoever wins the 72nd will be in the catbird seat when Rohrabacher retires. You really want to send Harper to DC?
Well, that’s a bit of a point. I never said I was ENTHUSIASTIC about Harper winning. Just that there would be a silver lining.
I think what Obama said was more like, “We shouldn’t sacrifice a good corporate whore while waiting in vain for your vote for someone else to actually count (as long as I have my way).”
In fact, I hereby make a very half-hearted and ambivalent endorsement of Mr. Harper. Your words not mine!!!
You used the word Endorsement that seems quite clear, hard to take that back after it is written. But I will forgive you perhaps, as long as that standard of forgiveness is equally applied.
Joe will be listed as a Democrat on the ballot, which is a requirement for receiving the OCYD Endorsement and seeking the Dem party endorsement.
Art? I seen it myself, I have Google alerts, I do talk to Art I will not deny that, I also talk to you, Greg, Chris, Dan plus a lot of non blog people so what? I have no interest in taking sides in blog battles.
26% of the district are independants, 25 % of the Republican voters are Asian surmanes which equal 11% of the total vote.
32% + 26% + 11% = 69% of the vote Joe can potentially compete for.
NO wonder that some unknown councilmember or unknown Republican(s) talked an 89 year old hispanic surnamed person into running and perhaps a young never registered to vote non 72nd- resident white 23 year old into pulling papers. Who lives currently in Newport according to public records.
You may be right, the Republicans may not want any representative from Little Siagon to have a chance to be represented. They certainly seem to be making every effort to knock them all out. That should help the community realize that the current Republican party leadership of this county is only interested in promoting and protecting the big money special interests you say you oppose.
And you just let them play you like a violin with this post.
I’ll stop writing nasty things about Joe, since what’s the point. And I don’t want to undercut your valiant efforts to put lipstick on … never mind.
When it comes down to it, I’ll probably just write in someone I trust, who isn’t running. Like John Grace. Or Gus Ayer. Or Phu. Or Bao. Or someone from Huntington Beach’s Harvest Club. And let the chips fall where they may.
Typical Vern. Says he is a liberal but then he disses minority candidates. Just what I have come to expect from the Lib OJ.
Typical Art. Anyone who’s a “minority” must be revered. Doesn’t matter if they’re a backstabber, a DINO, a RINO, whatever. Worship the minority!
You think I believe that? Then you will love this post – http://ocpoliticsblog.com/julio-perez-endorsed-by-same-teachers-union-that-defends-molesters/
Wow, Art – Julio must be a molester! Stop the presses!
Thank God for OCPolitics or Political Blog or whatever.
Harper was Nguyen’s Deputy Chief of Staff. A typically useless repuglican hackling given do-nothing jobs at the County.
Unemployable yet somehow employed. Government as a jobs program.
What’s your view of Edgar of Troy? He comes Royce-stamped!
I know nothing about him. The Royce stamp is a real problem if Fullerton is any indicator.
Matt Harper is the second best city council person in the history of Huntington Beach, right after Joe Carchio, who was the best council person and mayor that Huntington Beach ever had and one of the best mayors, if not the best mayor, in the entire world, except for maybe Sam Yorty and Dave Garofalo.
Jeez, where do they find these idiots? Oh, yeah, see Royce comment, above.
Also, to give credit where credit is due, I should point out that Sam Yorty invented the Perpetual Motion Machine, which could have revolutionized physics if not for a few divisive skeptics.
Speaking as someone with a lot of enemies around here, I am puzzled by the whole “US vs. THEM” mentality being projected and carried out. The 72nd has to have a lot of people in the middle right?
The Sac Bee wrote about these destructive politics recently in the Central Valley, which typically runs 3-4 election cycles ahead of OC in dirty tricks, trends and bandwagoners.
Joe, Matt, Vu, Vo, Sanchez or Gonzolez: I have not seen anyone ask “who is the better canidate?” Certainly this is naive, but it’s most honest.
I thought I made it clear – I think they’re all bad.
Which is sad, but it’s very freeing as a writer – I don’t hafta be nobody’s shill! I can channel my inner Hunter Thompson or Matt Taibbi.
Art Pedroza – You seem to be hanging around your FORMER blog quite a bit. What is wrong with the conversation over at your crappy blog – your 4 or 5 looney commenters over there are not enough intellectual stimulation for you?
I may comment where I like. My new blog is doing quite well actually. Blogs take awhile to take off as one builds the library of posts. Yet we have had 5,177 visits since we began on Jan. 1, of this year. And we have 20 sites linking in to ours already. Those are good indicators. More importantly, we are exposing the rank corruption in both the OC GOP and the DPOC. I used to do that here, but this blog is now the Lib OJ – and while it is fun to poke Vern and company the only heaving lifting being done here is by Tony Bushala and his Fullerton Friends.
Yes you MAY! And nobody is saying you MAYN’T! If you MAYdn’t, we wouldn’t let you, right? But nobody is as fun to POKE as Pedroza himself (at least since the retirement of Cunningham/Jerbal!)
Well, look on the bright side if Harper wins, we the taxpayer will no longer be footing the bill for his double-dipping salary and retirement as a County employee (if that’s what you call being politically appointed to the Sanitation district) and a HB Councilman. Its pretty lucritive when you think about it (he gets a full-year service credit for being a part-time councilman 1-2 meetings per month in addition to his service credit for being a full-time county employee). This equals 2 years of retirement credits for every year he is in both positions. Look at why John “Orlando” Williams didn’t want to leave – and he has 3 retirements!
See, another silver lining to a Harper victory!
Vern and Art – which one of you is the Tweedle Dum?