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Of the top five candidates for Clerk-Recorder, at least two – Dick Ackerman and Daly’s protégé Renee Ramirez – should be totally unacceptable. Hieu Nguyen stands out as the best choice, in this author’s estimation.
Of the hundreds of OC citizens who would have loved to take Tom Daly’s place in the powerful, six-figure post of County Clerk-Recorder, the Board of Supervisors yesterday narrowed the list down to eleven – the number of candidates who got the support of at least two Supervisors. I’ll narrow it down further here, to what looks like the top five contenders – the ones who got support of at least four of the five Supervisors. That would be:
- Hieu Nguyen – assistant clerk of Board of Supervisors, former chief deputy recorder, ran for clerk-recorder in 2010. Got unanimous support yesterday.
- Bruce Peotter – attorney, former assistant public administrator/public guardian, ran for clerk-recorder in 2002, ran for assessor in 1998. Got unanimous support yesterday.
- Renee Ramirez – assistant clerk-recorder, who is currently running the department. Got unanimous support yesterday.
- Chris Norby – retired teacher, former state assemblyman and county supervisor. Got support of all but Supervisor Moorlach yesterday.
- Dick Ackerman – attorney, former state senator and assemblyman. Got support of all but Supervisor Nguyen yesterday.
The case against Dick Ackerman
It’s disheartening that the former Senate minority leader has gotten as much support as he has so far; I suppose these folks have probably all been friends for decades, but since terming out at the end of 2008 Dick has been one of the more crooked and problematic politicos in the OC. Giving him another position of power would sure be the wrong signal to send in these troubled times at the County. I hope the Supervisors at least question him publicly about the following matters:
Lobbying for the Fairgrounds Swindle. The attempted sale and purchase of the OC Fairgrounds has been one of the most divisive episodes of our recent history, and it was very difficult and expensive to defeat. There would have been no danger of it taking place if the state legislature hadn’t passed ABx4-22 late at night, with language buried in that bill authorizing the sale. And that bill probably would never have passed without the (then-)respected just-termed-out Senate Minority leader lobbying for its passage, telling all the OC members falsely that the sale was something “Costa Mesa” and “the County” wanted.
Wait – lobbying? Dick had only been out of the Senate about seven months, wasn’t there some “Milton Marks” law against legislators lobbying until a year is up? Why, yes, there is, and so Dick’s apologists insisted he was merely “acting as a liaison” with the legislature. Meanwhile he was being paid for that – paid SECRETLY, with public, laundered money, laundered with FALSE CLAIMS – by Dave Ellis and his cronies from the OC Fair Board who had (with Dick’s help) formed a “Foundation” to buy the Fairgrounds for themselves. To help smooth out this crooked deal, Dick helpfully backdated his contracts. He has refused to answer any questions about this episode, citing “attorney-client privilege” – which is utter nonsense, as he was not hired as an attorney but as a lobbyist.
Our District Attorney Tony Rackauckas has stubbornly declined to take an interest in any of this, but ANY SUPERVISORS WHO ARE CURIOUS are more than welcome to all the evidence we private citizens have assembled – phone records from right before the vote, billing records, and more. Just give us a call – Todd? Shawn? John? Pat? Janet? Dial 714-235-VERN, I’ll hook you up.
Pretending to still live in Fullerton so his wife Linda could run for Assembly there. How hard it is for these career politicians to relinquish power, and follow the spirit of citizen-enacted term limits! How hard is it? So hard that they’ll try to insert their utterly unqualified spouse back into their old spot, and lie about where they live on top of it. Senator Ackerman and his wife had moved into fancy digs in a gated Irvine community a full DECADE before Dick’s failed 2009 attempt to foist Linda on the 72nd Assembly District, but they registered to vote that year at a friend’s Fullerton home, where Linda purported to rent a small room. Fortunately the shrewd citizens of that district caught on (thanks largely to Bushala’s blog) and instead elected local boy Chris Norby in the primary that year.
I could write more about Ackerman’s shady dealings of the past four years, but that should be enough.
The case against Renee Ramirez
In the only publicly extant photograph of Renee, she is hovering behind her mentor Daly.
The biggest reason Assistant (and currently acting) Clerk-Recorder Renee Ramirez should be considered unqualified is her destroying evidence pertaining to the questionable activities (and non-activities) of her boss’ cronies. Since one Supervisor I spoke to yesterday had only glanced at Monday’s blockbuster Voice of OC piece, and apparently not read all the way to the end, I’ll reprint the final damning paragraphs:
…yet who Brandman met and how that benefited the clerk-recorder’s office is unclear. Clerk-recorder staff purged Brandman’s public calendars, which is a regular practice when a department employee resigns, according to Ramirez. But according to open-government experts, that is a violation of the state’s laws on public records retention.
“Jordan’s [computer] hard drive, network account and email account were cleared out and deleted upon conclusion of his County employment. This is standard policy for those no longer employed by the Clerk-Recorder. I can’t say whether or not any calendar appointments ever existed,” Ramirez wrote in an email to a Voice of OC reporter.
As the story’s first commenter quickly retorted, “The county does NOT clean the hard drive etc. of staff after they leave. That work is transferred to the person who will need it for history or to take over the position. Unless…you have something to hide.” If we have an aspiring DA on the Board of Supervisors, I’d think he might want to ask Renee, is that REALLY the policy at the Clerk-Recorder’s office, to purge all records of a departing employee, and how long has that been the case? Or is this only done for special employees with special things that need to be covered up?
Tom Daly ran a Clerk-Recorder’s office rife with waste and cronyism, and make-work projects for insider pals like Jordan Brandman and Brett Barbre (Barbre who is busy now as head of MWDOC trying to make sure the whole County is on the hook for 30 years buying unnecessary overpriced desalinated water from Poseidon, but I digress…) Jordan’s price named in this article was a typical funny figure – $24,900 – calculated to avoid having to be reported and approved by the Supervisors – a regular practice, and how do they like that?
And Renee has long been Daly’s hand-picked successor. She must have blue balls by now, after all the times Tom’s planned to run for this office and that office and bequeath clerk-recorder to her, before he finally felt safe enough to make the jump to Assembly. But letting Renee continue to run things would mean a continuation of this waste and cronyism, and this purging of records really is inexcusable – either a criminal act or a criminal policy. Don’t you think, Supervisors?
[Ah, that’s what I get for taking my time writing these pieces. Asked and answered.]
The case FOR Hieu Nguyen
In stark contrast, former chief deputy recorder Hieu Nguyen was inspired to run in 2009-10 precisely to put a STOP to the cronyism and waste he observed in the Daly years. To recap that convoluted period for those of us whose memories have become hazy, Hieu did NOT rebelliously run against his boss Tom the way that Bill Hunt ran against Carona or Kevin Vann ran against John Williams.
In fact Hieu’s 12-year stint at Clerk-Recorder ended in 2006 when he moved over to be Assistant Clerk of the Board; it was three years later that he looked over at his old department and thought he could do a much better job running it. But at that time the indecisive Daly was seriously mulling a run for Supervisor, and Hieu believed he would be running against Chris Norby. THEN Asm. Mike Duvall had his “drippy” flame-out and Norby decided to go for the 72nd Assembly seat instead, and for several weeks Hieu’s opponent was thought to be Renee Ramirez. THEN Daly got cold feet regarding the Supe race and decided to stay in his old seat, so it was Hieu vs. Daly. But all along Hieu was speaking reformist sense, such as:
“I plan to review the mission of the Vital Records program and source of long-term funding of facilities and operations. I will conduct this review with the assistance of the CEO, Real Estate & Facilities Department. I will report the results to the Board of Supervisors in public meetings and request policy direction.
“Based on what I have read, I believe the purchase of the vacant office building for over $2.0 million was not a good decision and it is not feasible or cost effective to renovate it into a Vitals Records facility at a cost of $5 to $7 million. I also believe the scope of the collection needs to be limited to public records of historical significance.
“Tom Daly has awarded a number of consultant contracts to friends and political associates during his term. He has structured these ‘Sole-Source’ agreements to be under $50,000 thereby avoiding the requirement to obtain Board of supervisors’ approval. He has also split contract scope of work into phases to stay under the limit. He has also awarded contracts retroactively for work completed and has paid for services that were never delivered or of little value.
“This practice will STOP 100% under my administration. I plan to run the department in a fiscally conservative manner and follow the correct contracting and personnel procedures to accomplish the work of the office. The funds derived from user fees need to fund the services and systems used and should not be diverted to pet projects and work for friends as has been the current practice.”
Wow. This is what Hieu was decrying in 2009 – and just scroll up a bit in this article to see how all of that is still happening now – he sounds positively prophetic! I believe Hieu shows the kind of reformist spirit we need in County government right now.
I also like that Hieu is not a career politician hoping to use Clerk-Recorder as a stepping stone to higher office; he resisted blandishments last year to run for Bustamante’s old Santa Ana Council seat, having no interest in what you and I call “politics.” His eyes light up when talking about reforming the Clerk-Recorder office and running it happily until he retires – it’s his “dream job” – what a nerd! (Nor is he, as some fearful Democrats claim, a “Trannie” or acolyte of the terrifying Van Tran.)
Setting a new tone in Orange County Government
Unlike just about all the other smarty-pantses clogging the blogosphere, I’m not feeling cynical about our Board of Supervisors right now, and you don’t hear me saying “the fix is in” for one of their career pol cronies (or servant to career pol cronies like Renee.) Having become acquainted will all three male Supervisors, I think they’re sincerely sick and embarrassed of how terribly the County has been run for the last several years; this may also be true of Pat and even Janet. And this appointment is exactly where they can start turning over a new leaf, by picking someone honest, competent, and independent.
There’s more to say, but I better get this out now before events overtake me again. The public interviews next week should be a real show, we’ll be the first to let you know when they happen, and we will fuckin’ LIVE-BLOG!!!
Good job, though I hope that there may be more to say before long about Norby and Peotter as well. (For the latter, it may have to wait until the Fly buzzes in your ear.)
Let me explain the comment about Hieu Nguyen that seems to have chapped your butt. I said that my estimate of his prospects would depend in part on the current state of the Tran-Jan feud. You seemed to infer from that that I was accusing Hieu of being a Tranny. No, I wasn’t. My concern is whether the ethnic solidarity of the Vietnamese community was such that Janet — and any other Republican politician interested in currying favor with that community — would feel inclined or even obligated to support Hieu.
My first question to informed sources was: “is he aligned with Janet?” Answer: they thought that he wasn’t. Well then, “is he aligned with Tran?” They weren’t sure. No assertion was made that he definitely or probably was.
But the issue, given that there is /not/ always political solidarity within the Vietnamese Republican community, is “will Janet support — and thereby elevate the status and viability of — someone who is not “on her team” even if he may not be a supporter if her rival. That to me depends in part on the current level of the feud, because the lower the temperature the more likely Janet would be to support him even if he is not in her faction — because the stakes are lower.
So, no accusation made, and if “frightened Democrats” was to refer to my sources or anyone else besides me, it was misplaced. If it was directed against me, I shall have my satisfaction, sir, at our upcoming OJB annual awards dinner. (By the way, has Tony procured the horse meat yet?)
No, not directed at you, though I was aware you might take it that way and didn’t lose sleep (in the hour since I wrote it.) I envisioned some fella, some Jesus Silva or Dan C type, whispering with widened eyes, “I hear Hieu is … A TRANNIE!”
Trannies, FFFF – both Dem bogiemen of the past.
Nah. As I recall, I brought the question up to some people while I was preparing the initial story, to figure out which way Janet may go.
Now I want to know more about Peotter. The suspense is killing me.
My Public Administrator sources don’t remember much about him – his service was short and over a decade ago. But still his presence in the top echelon got some of them remembering an idea that was tossed around recently on the Board – the idea of combining Public Administrator with Clerk-Recorder. Could Peotter be an omen of that merger?
Shawn told me he didn’t see how that made sense. They may or may not attempt to combine those offices in the future, “but if anyone says they’re interested in the Clerk-Recorder position, they’d better be prepared to be happy with JUST the Clerk-Recorder position.”
And also, “The presence of someone on MY list means I think they’re worthy of an interview, not necessarily worthy of the job.”
Vern,
Thanks for defining Trannie. I thought I knew what that meant, and I had thought you had gone nuts.
I feel a little better now.
A long-ago coinage of Art Pedroza. As much as he pisses us all off, his immortality in the OC blogosphere is assured by this and other contributions to the discourse.
Uh, an unfortunate one.
Vern,
While I cannot speak to the Clerk Recorder’s IT policies, I can speak to the policies followed in my area of the County. Network drives, and user accounts are terminated with the employee. Wiping an individual hard drive could be a policy in the Clerk Recorder’s office. I know that in my office we do not store any files on the individual hard drive because they cannot be backed up, hence the purpose of the Network Drive. It is also routine to make sure the outlook file 9 (.pst) that may be on the individual PC is deleted before a new user is given the computer.
The data you are concerned has been wiped out, is likely stored on the agency daily back up tapes. The reality is though, if Brandman kept a calendar current, and not everyone does, you won’t find any smoking guns or a real reflection of his activities.
The only reason I know this is the at one point LiberalOC Requested calendars of senior executives/Supervisors. They were either empty, or so heavily redacted that the information was useless.
I can say that my experience with Hieu Nguyen in the last campaign leads me to believe he is far more comfortable running a Lee’s Sandwich shop.
I’m sorry, Chris, but I have to call you on that last witticism of yours. That looks like the observation about local political discussion that drives me up a tree. (I can’t even say that I don’t ever do it myself; I will say that, if and when I do, people should feel welcome to call me on it as well.)
You humorously suggest, without elaboration, that Hieu (avoiding “Nguyen” as ambiguous) was either or both (1) “uncomfortable” running the Clerk’s office and/or his campaign or (2) very “comfortable” running a Vietnamese sandwich shop. I have no real idea what you mean there, why you say it, or how much I should credit it. The desire to produce a derogatory witticism is what seems to be driving the bus.
If you have some serious criticism of Hieu to offer, now would seem to be a pretty good time to offer it. Did he run a sandwich shop after losing his 2010 election? I don’t give a damn and neither should anyone else — unless you’re trying to stoke some class-based prejudice there. He ran — or for all I know is still running — a sandwich shop? What does that have to do with his ability to run the Clerk’s office? In what benighted universe is running a sandwich shop after losing a race for a professional position supposed to more embarrassing than getting a contract for $100,000+ in public funds to do nothing of substance but meet future campaign donors?
If you have an actual case against him, make it. Right now, among the top five, I’m down to Hieu, Peotter, and Ramirez — and Vern’s attack on Ramirez as being part of a system where people proudly get public money for nothin’ (as opposed to doing something serious — like running a sandwich shop) seems to have bite. I can be convinced, but with this comment you’re convincing me that what cannot be won on merit should instead be won by ridicule. That stinks.
As to the substance: in the second paragraph did you mean “unless Brandman kept a calendar current”? If so — you really don’t think that any other extrinsic information is available?
As for getting empty public records requests: Gus Ayer’s last phone message to me — which unfortunately I didn’t hear until shortly before he died and so never got to talk to him about — was to suggest that I start going after public agencies aggressively on stonewalled responses Public Records Act requests. You’re helping to convince me that he was right; this stonewalling is intolerable. If you or someone else turns in a request for calendar information again; I’d happily sharpen my instruments.
Greg, if you care about carrying on Gus’ tradition, and if you do indeed have instruments to sharpen, you should be sharpening them like yesterday. Your meeting with Cynthia Ward and Jason Young can’t come soon enough, they are constantly being stonewalled in their Public Records Act requests by the City of Anaheim, and they need your help. Like, yesterday.
Wow. Chris Prevatt jumped the comfort of the LOC fence to actually discuss/debate something. YEAH! Chris has much to offer.
Unfortunately, his freshman attempt is horriffic. While he brings his “insider” knowledge as a county worker, he destroys any credibility with the whole “Lee’s Sandwich shop” thing.
Clearly he has a horse in tis race and has decided to melt issues.
Could you imagine Vern, if I commented Chris was better suited to work a Glory Hole on Garden Grove Blvd. as he was as a county employee?? This would be a clear swipe at his sexuality, which he vigorously (rightfully) advocated for with the recent parade parade (that’s OK right, gramatacly incorrect but in common terms, thats what that was). My point is, he completely dicredits himself with the cheap shot. I thought better of him.
I have found Hugh to be well qualified, well spoken, even keeled. For that reason I find it suspect that Prevatt would try so hard to discredit him. Who does chris want in place? Thats what this is really about is who Chris wants in place,
Thanks for reminding me why I stayed away.
Don’t pay too much attention to gormless. Recommendations (and insults) from anonymous writers don’t actually count for much.
Greg,
As I stated, I was speaking on how things are actually done and my personal experience with PRA requests related to calendars of executives and elected officials. It would be unusual, and frankly quite stupid, for someone to post their political activities on their county calendar. I seriously doubt that Brandman, if he was conducting campaign business while working for the county, would keep such information in a record subject to public request.
With regard to the sandwich shop comment, I forgot that you and your readers might not recall my coverage of the 2010 Clerk-Recorder Campaign. I was trying to avoid “blog whoring,” as Dan calls it, and not posting the link to the story I wrote on Hieu Nguyen and his Sandwich shop. but since you asked here is the link:
http://www.theliberaloc.com/2010/05/17/hugh-nguyen-collecting-full-county-pension-medical-to-run-his-sandwich-shop/
If someone want’s to get Brandman’s calendar, if it was on his local hard drive, then it appears that information is no longer available. There is nothing unusual about deleting such information once an employee leaves service of the county. If the Outlook .pst file was housed on the agency network, then in theory, that information should be available on the backup tape made just prior to his departure. His email messages are likely backed up on the email server tapes.
As I am sure you know, when it comes to PRA requests, it depends on what you ask for, and how you ask for it.
It is unethical to assert that something nefarious was done by Ramirez in following what is a common and well established process. Take note, that all of the actions related to Brandman’s contract appear to have occurred under Tom Daly’s watch. While Ramirez may have been the direct contact for the contract management, it is more likely than not that the decisions related to the performance of the contract were made by Daly and not Ramirez.
I do not think it is fair to hold Ramirez accountable for following the direction of Daly as the decisions related to Brandman’s contract were under his discretionary authoirity. An elected can department head has much broader discretion than a non-elected department head. If any laws were broken here, the evidence will be found by reviewing the contract correspondence.
Unfortunately, poor management of contracts is not a criminal offense, unless there is a clear act of fraud. Paying for shitty work, does not indicate fraud. It indicates poor judgment on the part of the person responsible for granting the contract. That person was not Ramirez.
I had asked Chris for input on the topic of deleting county employees’ records; I figured he’d know something about that since he’s a County employee. Maybe that was a mistake. I’d forgotten that he was a Tom Daly supporter, and did his best to attack Hieu in 2010 as a Daly supporter and partisan Democrat. I don’t wanna get in a big tiff with him over this, or an endless back and forth, but….
That 2010 Prevatt story he linked to is a cheap shot and BS. Hieu’s uncle and aunt own a Lee’s Sandwich shop, he often visits them on weekends and will sometimes get behind the counter to help out. This has nothing to do with his county employment THEN or NOW. But of course, Lee’s Sandwiches always sounds like a good punch line.
Also, that article trashes Hieu for working only three days a week during a tough budgetary time when County employees were asked to voluntarily take time off.
Did Chris mention that during that time Hieu voluntarily worked a FOURTH day each week, for free? Of course not.* It was a jihad on Hieu, partly for the benefit of Daly, partly because Pedroza and Mill were supporting Hieu and so the Liberal OC HAD to be against him!Fortunately, for better or worse, Hieu needn’t worry that any of the Supervisors are going to be influenced by anything Chris writes about him, now or in 2010. Still I appreciate his input on county policies.
*see comment below
Vern,
While it is true that I supported Daly in that election, none of what I wrote during that period was false or even a cheap shot. There is plenty of proof that Hieu Nguyen had a management interest in the business. He did not just occasionally help out behind the counter.
As far as the Mill/Pedroza positions, what those morons have to say is of no interest to me. An endorsement from Pedroza or Mill does nothing to elevate the standing of any candidate. It probably detracts from a candidates standing.
Um Vern, If I had been aware of such activity I probably would have written about it. There is no such record of Hieu working a fourth day for free, In fact, it would violate county policies for him to do so. But it would be difficult for him to do so since on the days he had off he was at the sandwich shop.
It is correct that I supported the Democrat in that race. It happened to be Tom Daly. I would not characterize my coverage of the campaign as a Jihad against Hieu Nguyen. I took the opportunity to point out his weaknesses. That’s kind of what a liberal blog does. I stand by everything we wrote about Mr.Nguyen. Feel free to review the links I placed in a currently unapproved comment to see for yourself.
As was demonstrated in the 2012 Assembly primary election for 69th State assembly, Tom Daly and I do have our differences.
OK, well stated. It was not clear to me previously that you were talking about a personal, off-hours calendar. Of course, the lines do blur there.
It may well be unfair that Ramirez would have to pay for some allegedly bad arrangement between Daly and Brandman. That’s what I predict will happen, though.
I’m happy to have the link to your article here. You raise some interesting questions re that sandwich shop, but none that I find especially alarming. It looks to me like he took advantage of an offered unpaid furlough because he could do other remunerative things in that time — and thus perhaps he spared other people who didn’t want the unpaid furlough from some difficulties. Yes, he still had access to full pension and medical — but that’s how these things are done, so so what? I don’t see the scandal there, nor reason to question his fitness.
Keep on trying, though!
Ahhhh, but I differ. I have worked at many county departments and agencies and the email and drive information is handled in different ways often depending on the circumstances. Sometimes entire email dumps from a prior staffer are TRO’s for the use of a new person working on the same assigment or projects. There are times when everything is wiped – on a PC where the data is not important/usable or is found elsewhere. But, again the situations differ based on the situation and the department.
Oh. I forgot to say……..
Lee’s is an AMERICAN SUCESS STORY.
Check them out. Good people. good food. (Diamond, try the baguette aren’t you from france?).
Each store things a bit.
Santa Jose does what his colleage Santa Ana can only dream of!
No, Tatar by way of Encino. Supposedly.
*This sounds like the Chronicle of Riddick……for one job…….at County. Bruce Peotter is just fine.
What do you want…egg in your green beer?
Happy St. Paddy’s Day!
Tell us more about this Hearry Peotter! What do you like about him; what did he do well (or less so); why did he leave the possition?
*Old time hockey guy….has been around a while. Met him a couple of times. If Moorlach and Toddy Boy like him…..how bad can he be? Don’t know….but the good
news is we have heard nothing that negative…..so that is a good starting point…we suppose. Hey, is there another Chriss Street out there waiting in the wings? Gosh,
we are just not that savvy …..hey, did not support Williams as Public Administrator…
just we were right on that one. A lot of this stuff is sort of: “Call the psychic network and wait…until the second shoe drops.”
I like it when people who haven’t worked directly for these goons (Daly, Ramirez) stand up for them like if their crap doesn’t stink.
Mr. Prevatt, have you ever worked directly for Renee or Daly during your county career? I don’t think so. They are as crooked as the people who tried to end your career at the Health Care Agency when you were monitoring the federal funds for HIV programs. If Daly or Ramirez were your bosses when you reported the misuse of those funds, they would have done the same to you as your old HCA bosses, perhaps even better and you wouldn’t be left “still standing”.
Take it from me, Tom is so desperate for Renee to be the boss because he knows she will cover for his f-ups. The Board should look into the 12D fund. Those are restricted funds and they were used to buy and pay for many projects that fall out of the “restricted” categories including the broke down building in the middle of Civic Center Drive. She is stupid enough to do it and all at her expense. Tom is gone and he left all the stink bombs for Renee. Renee is left with answering the hard questions and “I don;t know the answer to that question” is unacceptable. At least she will have to earn her six figure salary for once in her life at the County and judging from her answers to the voice of O.C. the County needs a refund and a salary adjustment for her.
So what if one of the candidates works at a sandwich shop? So will you be reporting if one of the other candidates works at a gay bar? A hotel? Bill Campbell had Taco Bell shops, Janet Nguyen has a Lee’s Sandwiches shop too (or her husband). Do you report if she ever gets behind the counter. See how foolish that sounds? Is the FBI investigating any of the current candidates? You should be more upset at this waste of money the rank and file that your are representing hasn’t received a raise or cola since 2005?
Shouldn’t you be more upset that the likes of Brandman get free money from Daly and Ramirez? Hey Daly may have started the contract but from the looks of the e-mails Brandman was delivering drafts to Renee and even thanking her for making sure that he got paid. Now tell me how in the world are you fighting for us rank and file employees?
Well said, sir. When Chris first made his puzzling comment about Lee’s Sandwiches above, I thought he was making fun of Janet, maybe suggesting Hieu’s too close to her, except that didn’t make sense because Janet’s not on the Liberal OC’s bad list.
Or how about the mediocre but labor-friendly Republican Harry Sidhu, whom Chris’ blog ended up supporting in his run against Shawn Nelson for Supervisor? If he’d-a got lucky then, or if he somehow gets lucky this week in the Clerk-Recorder sweepstakes, will Chris insist he sell off all his Pollo Locos?
PS. I made a mistake above, misunderstanding Hieu over the phone. He did NOT work a fourth day each week for free during that period. But his taking off TWO unpaid days each week WAS a sacrifice that he voluntarily took for the sake of the office. It’s twisted to try to make something dirty out of that.
Emami has a new thing up, with a LITTLE BIT of the info Greg craves on Peotter … Mostly it’s a list of what-all offices these characters have ever run for or held, and how much they won or lost by.
Emami says of Peotter, who ran for Clerk-Recorder against Daly back in 2002, that he “was the best chance Republicans have ever had to beat Tom Daly.” Really, guys? You gotta think of CLERK-RECORDER as a partisan post? Well, a lot of us Dems would rather have a competent honest Republican in there than a wasteful crony capitalist like Daly, as long as it’s not just a stepping-stone to some higher office. And that’s why I feel OK backing Hieu.
http://ocpolitical.com/2013/03/18/clerk-recorder-bios-statistics-and-occupations-oh-my/
Haven’t seen this mentioned elsewhere, so I’ll just dump this scoop into the comments here: Shawn tells me Clerk-Recorder interviews will be Tuesday April 2, starting at 9am (maybe he said 9:30.) You KNOW we’ll be there live-blogging!