Sen. Walters Celebrating at Campaign HQ
Senator Mimi Walters has long been a fixture of politics in South County. Almost assured of victory, the state legislator is running for a seat in Congress left open by retiring John Campbell. The one-time-stockbroker appreciates the concept of risk. Observing her current campaign in the 45th district, I am convinced the virtue accounts for her consistency and a career of solid performances. Your typical work horse politician, Sen. Walters does not put her agenda on pause to comment on the issue of the day. The one recent exception being the historic drought in California; thus, it takes an act of God to break her attention.
Frankly, it would take a particularly severe act of God to keep Senator Walters from becoming Congresswoman Walters. A fact, assumed here in OC, and in Washington. Early in the race, Sen. Walters faced notable competition from Supervisor John Moorlach. A fixture in his own right, the termed-out Supervisor gained fame for predicting Orange County’s bankruptcy in the nineties. A root and branch conservative, Sup. Moorlach is an established taxpayer advocate.
The Legendary Sup. John Moorlach
Nevertheless, Sup. Moorlach was in a race that he could not win. Neither candidate actually lives in the 45th, which is legal as the representative need only reside in California. Sup. Moorlach, however, was fighting on Sen. Walters’ turf. Here is Moorlach’s 2nd district:
OC Supervisors – 2nd District
While anchored in coastal OC, the 2nd includes significant portions of the more urbanized central and north sections. Now here is the 45th congressional district:
US Congress- CA 45th District
Literally, the 2nd and 45th sit in opposite corners of the county; there is not a single overlapping jurisdiction. While the Supervisor is admired throughout Orange County, he would nonetheless be introducing himself to a majority of voters in the district.
In the securely conservative 45th, the winner in a typical (low-turnout) primary is chosen by highly educated, well-off, and elderly Republicans. Situated against the foothills, Sen. Walters has been courting these very voters for many years. Here is a map of her senate district, the 37th:
CA Senate- 37th District
As you can see, the 45th lies almost entirely within Walters’ present home district. Along with the voters in her old South County assembly and senate districts, the Senator has located and convinced the 45th’s GOP base many times. Along-side her potent fundraising potential, the facts of the race were daunting for Sup. Moorlach. When Sen. Walters thwarted an endorsement from the California Republican Assembly (CRA) (in full disclosure I am a member), the writing was on the wall for Mr. Moorlach and, shorty thereafter, he gracefully exited the race.
CRA’s vote to not endorse Sup. Moorlach was close and seriously contested. The Senator’s victory reveals an increasingly important factor for GOP electors and power players: identity politics. Because of Sup. Moorlach’s position on, for example, 405 Toll Lanes, he was favored by many within the CRA, and among other grassroots groups, as a fiscal conservative, no corporate welfare, kind of Republican. (No pressure Madam Senator!) Moorlach came up short; however, and that is probably because of his sex. Like the conservative movement generally, CRA is concerned with growth, recruitment and youth. Endorsing a woman certainly doesn’t represent a change in the culture towards women, I mean this is 2014 for goodness sake, but it does counter the Democrat’s false ‘war on women’ narrative. Beyond sex, in close contests a candidate’s identity can boost turn-out and make the difference.
Sen. Walters w/ state senate candidate Sup. Janet Nguyen
It is something of an irony that Sen. Walters would benefit from identity politics. While the heir apparent is in fact a woman, her legislative career does not reflect the thinking of a given sex. A review of her record shows an interest in property rights and spending issues. The mother of four is vice-chair of the Appropriations Committee and sits on other committees encompassing pension and budget issues. In Sacremento, she has been a voice of reason in a Democratic dominated legislature. In doing so, she provided a powerful critique of Governor Brown’s state-run retirement pension plan for private-sector workers.
Around the time of her CRA endorsement, an article highlighting her, womanness, predicted a Congresswoman Walters would be a rising star within the GOP. I have read more to that effect since that time. And being so young, her possibilities do seem endless. I agree with the fan-fair, but with respect to her rise, identity was more incidental than consequential. This is good news because it is not as if all Congress needs to function is a few more females in the ranks. No, Washington needs fiscally-minded members to move the ball forward on entitlement reform. To that end, Congresswoman Walters will be a celebrated addition to that body. Ignoring all frills, she will hold the line on spending and regulations like… a… rock.
Sen. Walters working alongside Sen. Bob Huff
I can’t tell if this post is parody or not. It reads a lot like the Winships, but with good grammar and spelling.
Walters showed her true colors with the fake irvine address – the typical politician’s “me me me uber alles.”
And showing pictures of her with the Redevelopment/CRA crony Huff and the completely crooked and greedy Nguyen just reinforces my negative opinion. But not living south of the 405 I don’t get a vote.
It’s misleading to say that Moorlach (whom me and Greg were rooting for as we’d gotten to know and admire him during the toll lanes fight) “exited gracefully,” or that it was all about the CRA endorsement. I don’t know if he’s become a good Party boy and come to endorse her since then but I highly doubt it, as his opinion of her is low as mine and Zenger’s, and he wasn’t shy about expressing it.
John left the race because he couldn’t take 1. the need for constant fundraising and butt kissing, and 2. Mimi’s constant false attacks on him. He’d come to realize that in his previous races (for Supervisor) he hadn’t had to deal with either of those things, that he wasn’t really cut out to be a POLITICIAN like her, that he preferred to focus on his job as Supervisor this year, and that he was looking forward to returning to the private sector (and a possible spot as an OJ blogger.)
One of Mimi’s lies about him that, according to reports I’d heard, helped tank his CRA endorsement, was that he favored immediate LEGALIZATION of marijuana, when in fact his position was simply that he supported California’s medical marijuana law. But Mimi is a inveterate serial liar.
Ah, I remember her racist
state senateassembly race against Harry Sidhu – back in the OCGOP’s golden age of immigrant-bashing – when all her mailers made Harry look as DARK as possible. (Mr. Lamb may have been in high school, bless his ardent heart.)Did we say anything yet about Mimi and her husband’s career of swindling and abuse of office, on a par with Diane Harkey’s? I could go look that up and get a link. Bad woman all around, sad that people like her, Diane and Janet keep rising to the top like scum because of their ovaries. LIKE … A … CROCK.
You should have titled your comment: Vern on Politics
Well I was trying to be clever when I said graceful exit along with posting the link. It did have a ‘I don’t need this crap I’m taking my ball and going home’ feel, but it was candid and I dug it.
Am I convinced he is sincere… not so much.
I just meant To say sex was a factor in the push for Walters at CRA. It could very well have put her over the top, in this one instance. Her run for, I believe it was state treasurer, probably helped too, as the Senator knew it would.
Florice and Reggie say hello! : Moorlach (whom me and Greg were rooting for as we’d gotten to know and admire him …).I get it that you like Moorlach’ stance on the toll lanes, but to admire this man who is obsessed with outsourcing county services….were you trying to outdo Sterling?
I was rooting for him to run against Mimi and knock her out of the race before she gets to Congress. (I’d be happier if a Democrat won, but it’s the 68th District, so that’s unlikely.)
Mimi would be just as bad on outsourcing; the main difference on that issue is that she hasn’t been in a position to implement these policies. I don’t judge politicians solely by what they’ve done, but by what they are likely to do. For people to be pissed off at Moorlach, Spitzer, and other Supes when they’re up against people who would be just as bad or worse is self-indulgent and silly. Mimi would end up being WORSE for workers because she doesn’t have a populist bone in her body.
The differences between Moorlach and Mimi that led me to prefer him in a prospective two-person race were that (1) he’s basically honest and she’s comfortably corrupt; (2) he’s sometimes willing to stand up to his party and she’s its willing tool; and (3) he DOES have some populist views and IS to a degree concerned with wise stewardship of public resources — although he overdoes it by a mile — and she simply wants her plush seat on the gravy train. So I admire him relative to her; I presume that that’s not too complicated for you.
And you’re wrong: Florice and Reggie never say hello.
I’m glad his draconian anti-labor moves have generally failed, and seriously salute you, Florice and Reggie for fighting the good fight on that front. No, seriously. Even though Florice is mean to me (and poisonous to Diamond.) But that district is not sending a Dem to Congress this decade. And I really wanted it to be an honest conservative who tries to do what he thinks is right and listens to his (occasional) critics (like me) instead of a lying wealthy insider crook like Mimi. It just makes me feel sick to see people like her constantly rising in this world and the more it happens the more it’s likely to happen.
Best of luck to this Drew Leavens fellow but I don’t see how he wins…
He has a chance to win if he makes a common front with Greg Raths, promising to make Raths his Chief of Staff, and thereby bringing in his Republican support (as opposed to the better Republicans resigning themselves to having Mimi in officer forever and ever.) Will he do it? Probably not.
Prefer this one:
http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2014/07/if-mimi-walters-were-from-la-shed-be-prison-bound-her-staffer-apparently-thinks-thats-good/
If we had a working DA, she’d be in jail. Like a Jailhouse Rock, I guess.
*Hey, DZ….always appreciate you giving us press….much undeserved of course. Mimi is cute, a cagey one and she never sent us our photo with her when we went to her office for the welcome meeting. But, if that turns out to be her only failing……we can live with that. She even occasionally sends us her Newsletter which plenty of these elected’s still don’t do. Will she do good as a replacement for Congressman John Campbell? We think so…….Pappa John was never built to become a Congressman. State Treasurer? Yep! How about Gavin Newsome’s spot when he becomes Governor? Yep! Not to worry Pappa John will “think and grow rich”. Mimi, will have a great challenge on her hands and have to rely on the likes of Ed Royce and even Dana Rohrabacher…….to lead her along the way. Calling someone that lives in Costa Mesa a “Carpetbagger” for running for office in Fountain Valley……”like….who cares…really?”
Where does Moorlach live? We have some Water Board seats still open!
Costa Mesa.
So I think that what you’re telling me is that — he could run against Shawn Dewane.
That would be interesting. Even just writing it down here, in the middle of the night, it’s almost as if I can hear the reverberations of the supposition all the way up here, miles away.
with all due respect to the author, this shows the fantasy land many of the hard core right wing tea party republicans live in…moorlach got no traction because, first, he could not raise any money. incumbancy, more than fund raising or people skills kept john in office. second, if john is such a team player, he would acknowledge the central role, chriss street, yeah that chriss street, played in uncovering the original citron mess, third, john, who claims to be a no government welfare kind of guy has spent almost his entire adult life at the public trough and, instead of saying thanks for the adventure and moving on to private life, is scrambling around looking for another government gig because he cannot make it in the real world.
john is a fraud, a bully and and idiot and i really thought you guys were smart enough to see past the smoke and mirrors despite the fact that, in testing the wind, he came out on your side with regard to the 405 toll road
I can’t speak to most of this, but I can attest that Moorlach was not “testing the wind” when it came to the 405 Toll Road. Diana Carey kicked off the effort, but Moorlach came on board (when Vern talked to him shortly after we learned from Diana about the situation) early and without hesitation — well before it became clear that his would be the popular position.
Fraud, bully, and idiot perhaps — but, as with the people running away from an angry bear, to be preferable in the prospective CA-45 primary out all he had to do was outrun Mimi.
the only reason moorloch is against the 405 toll road is because, by being termed out, he cannot use the lane for free
*TDM……on the chance you think we are defending Pappa John beyond reason….you are totally in error. Pappa John may have been the Designated
Rabbit for the Campbell seat…..and used as a blocking mechanism ….which
is the standard Scott Baugh Living OC Republican Party mantra….but….had
his efforts been in earnest….he could have easily garnered $250K as a drop
of the bucket. He dodge balled filing and then he dodge balled fund raising and he dodge balled moving into the district. As far as Pappa John’s position on the Toll Roads are concerned….you may want to go back and watch his May 2000 he did with us of the Cutting Edge. His position on Toll Roads is very straight forward and unapologetic. Even though he was against them, he favored the public re-purchase of the 73 and 91 Tollways because they were totally inefficient, on top of the fact that the construction of the 73 used inferior pavement and had to be completely replaced to meet Cal-Trans standards. There are lots of things you can beat up Pappa John about, but Toll Roads is probably not one of them. Want to beat him up about the proposed Annexation of Leisure World in Los Alamitos…….we told him you can’t beat those retired Navy types in Golf Carts. Didn’t like his takeover of Sunset Beach….willing it to HB as well. Haven’t liked his handling of the homeless that are living around the OC Supervisor Buildings too. Yep, lots to beat him up on. The list is long, but we must say….he has been productive and straight forward in his positions. You may not like his positions….but guess what? He actually has positions:unlike most of dearly dedicated always running electeds.
I presume that you are joking again, so I am looking at you and nodding my head before moving on.
*”You talkin to me….you talkin to me?”
and with that acknowledgement, i will crawl back under the rock from which i emerged
Given the title of this post, you’re generating disturbing thoughts about your relationship with Mimi Walters.
ok, since your crack investigative staff will figure it out sooner or later, i will tell you the whole story….we dated in high school and on friday nights we would drink till we almost drown….upon graduation, i took the rugby scholarship to brown and she stayed in california. we would see each other during summer breaks, late nights at the golden bear, weekends on the beach in north san diego county but neither one of us could make that final commitment. after brown i did what most of the people at brown did with a degree in east asian metaphysical philosophy, i got my truck driving license, bought an eight track and several asleep at the wheel albums and headed off on my first run to frisco. six days on the road turned into six years which turned into three decades.
when i finally got back and opened a diesel repair shop in dana point, mimi was married and wealthy. we would run into each other once in a while at olamendi’s and would say hello.
not able to trust any of her political or social friends, she reached out to me when the troubles started and i am proud to say that for the last couple of years, i have been her confidant.
as to the future, if i asked, i think that she would leave with me, but i cannot do that because, as one of her children said, mama hates diesels so bad
You totally had me going until you called it “frisco.”
I’m just sorry that you weren’t able to make an honest woman of her.