Atlas PAC Would Like to Preen in Front of You About the Election Results. You Should Endure It.

By
Greg Diamond
– November 8, 2014Posted in: Fresh Juice

 

Charles Atlas with fans of $100 bills

They are just happy to see you.

Those of us who are not on the right(-wing) political email lists may not be exposed to the celebrations of their big funders. Well, why not? Courtesy of the Winships, here’s what Atlas PAC is telling its donors and other interested persons about what happened in this past election. This will cheer some of you up — and clue others of you in. (I do like that in Anaheim they take a stand against “crony capitalism” — well, folks, let’s hold them to that everywhere else too! Like, oh — why are they so enthusiastic about Janet Nguyen, and why are they supporting the Developers’ Slate in Huntington Beach?)
ATLAS PAC Post Election Analysis                                                         November 7, 2014
What an incredible election!  The Obama agenda was soundly defeated nationwide, with Republicans picking up at least 7, and most likely 9, Senate Seats, and increasing their advantage in the house to 1920s levels!  (We’d gladly take Calvin Coolidge as President, too). Although the Republican wave did not wash over California as much as the rest of the nation, we were still blessed with a modest swell.   Atlas PAC’s message of economic opportunity for all, individual choice, and the taming of government largesse is slowly, but surely getting heard in California.
Carl DeMaio
Carl DeMaio

Every U.S. Congress race in California in which Atlas PAC issued an endorsement, the Atlas-endorsed candidate won or is an extremely close final vote count. This includes most prominently Carl DeMaio of San Diego, who was running to unseat first term Democrat Scott Peters in a heavily Democrat leaning district.  Carl’s race is extremely close, he was  up 752 votes yesterday, but is down slightly today. There are approximately 42,000 additional absentee and provisional ballots to count and we believe Carl will come out the winner.  Atlas PAC has supported Carl since his run for San Diego mayor and the beginning of his candidacy for Congress.  In addition, Atlas PAC circulated an independent mail piece in support of Doug Ose in the Sacramento area.  Doug won in a close race, 51.4% to 48.6% to unseat a sitting Democrat.  Atlas PAC’s prescience and support will culminate in two pick-ups of formerly Democrat seats in the House of Representatives from California.

Mia Love
On top of all else, every single Atlas PAC-endorsed candidate for state governor, U.S. Senate or Congress outside of California also won.  The highlights were Cory Gardner picking up a Senate seat in Colorado, Mia Love winning a Congressional seat in Utah and Scott Walker winning his third election for Governor of Wisconsin.
In California, Atlas PAC’s non-endorsement in the Governor and Lieutenant Governor races proved prescient.  In other state-wide races for Controller, Secretary of State and Insurance Commissioner, the Republican nominee and Atlas PAC-endorsed candidates lost in close races, but came much closer to victory than the less than inspiring Republican establishment hand-picked candidates running at the top of the ticket.  This shows how important it is to nominate an inspiring candidate at the top of the ballot presenting a real choice to voters. What passes as the brain trust of some of the Republican establishment got their way and backed Governor and Lieutenant Governor candidates who were completely uninspiring with a background of little or no achievement, leading to another sweep of state-wide offices by the Democrats.     Atlas PAC was right; the establishment was wrong. Again.  
Moving to California state races, the biggest stories by far are the victories of Atlas PAC supported candidates Janet Nguyen, Young Kim, David Hadley, Matthew Harper and Bill Brough.

Janet Nguyen.

As most of you know, Atlas PAC has endorsed and supported Janet since her first run for the Garden Grove City Council and through her hard fought (to say the least) campaigns and victories for Orange County Board of Supervisors.  This election, she vied for an open State Senate seat formerly held by a termed-out Democrat.  Turning this seat from Democrat to Republican would deprive the Democrats of a 2/3 super-majority in the State Senate that would otherwise allow them to raise taxes unilaterally and overturn vetoes (believe it or not, Governor Moonbeam occasionally vetoes the worst of the Legislature’s bills).  With stakes this high, it is no wonder her opponent, Jose Solario, and the public employee unions spent millions in negative attack ads.  Despite being massively outspent, Janet prevailed by a whopping 60%-40% margin!  A blowout!  Remember, this is in a district currently held by a Democrat with a +11% Democrat voter registration advantage!

 

Young Kim
Young Kim

In the other house, the State Assembly, the two biggest races were Atlas PAC-endorsed candidates    Young Kim and David Hadley, both seeking to unseat Democrat incumbents.  With Atlas PAC’s endorsement and support, Young Kim won by a landslide, 56%-44% against Sharon Quirk-Sliva, the now one-term Democrat who narrowly defeated Chris Norby in 2012.  Quirk-Silva was hampered by her vote to allow boys into girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms in schools.  If you do not live in the district, you can see ATLAS PAC’s independent mail piece educating the district’s voters of this disgraceful vote.

 

David Hadley
Equally important, David Hadley defeated an incumbent Democrat, Al Muratsuchi, by a slimmer, but still solid, margin of 51.4%-48.6% in a +6% Democrat district.  In another important Republican pick-up, Atlas PAC-endorsed candidate Catharine Baker defeated Democrat Tim Sbranti in the 16th Assembly district, located in the East Bay, by a 52%-48% margin.  The district has a +7% Democrat voter registration advantage and was held by a termed-out Democrat.  With these three pick-ups of Democrat seats, the Democrats will no longer have a super-majority in either house.  They will be forced to deal with Republicans in both houses.

 

Matthew Harper

 

In the fight for solid Republican, but open, Assembly seats, Atlas PAC was again ahead of the establishment group think.  Atlas PAC endorsed and supported Matthew Harper and Bill Brough against establishment-friendly, business as usual Keith Curry and Anna Bryson.  Both Matt and Bill won election to the Assembly.  Matt was facing Keith Curry in the general election, but soundly defeated the Newport Beach City Councilman, famous for opposing beach fire rings, raising the dock tax, and approving a $100 million-over-budget new City (Taj Ma)Hall, including

Bill Brough

$221,000 for a circle of rabbit statutes, by a whopping 59%-41%!  Atlas PAC was criticized by many Republican Assemblymen and some of the GOP statewide “leadership”(who will remain nameless) for endorsing Matt in the primary, but we knew the power of Matt’s grass-roots efforts, sterling track record, and voter enthusiasm would carry him to victory.  Way to go Matt!

 

Other Atlas PAC-endorsed candidates came extremely close in heavily Democrat districts, but came up just short.  In the State Senate, Mario Guerra narrowly lost to Tony Mendoza, 51.8% to 48.2% in a +21% Democrat district.  In the Assembly, Rita Topalian lost to incumbent Ian Calderon, 51.4% to 48.6% in a +20% Democrat district.  These close races show that, with the right candidates, Republicans can win in Democrat-heavy districts.

 

Finally, incumbent Atlas PAC endorsed Assemblymen Eric Linder, Don Wagner, Travis Allen, and Rocky Chavez, as well as Ling-Ling Chang, all won handily.

 

Michelle Steel

Moving to local races, Atlas PAC again dominated.  Michelle Steele handily defeated Allan Mansoor, 62.4% to 37.6%.  Michelle will be an aggressive tax fighter for Orange County residents, bringing her proven success from the Board of Equalization as a tax payer advocate to encourage and expand a business friendly climate to Orange County. Atlas PAC looks forward to many years working with Michelle. Allan, you are a friend and will continue to be friend, but entering this race was a foolish move and not the hill to die on.  Former Board of Equalization member Claude Parrish unseated Democrat incumbent Webster Guillory as the Orange County Assessor.  And Deputy District Attorney Kevin Haskins won his election as an Orange County Superior Court judge.  Only Robert Ming came up short, losing his race for Orange County Supervisor to Lisa Bartlett.

Tom Tait

 

On the City Council front, David Harrington unseated an incumbent and handily finished as the top vote-getter for Aliso Viejo City Council.  Now Mike Munzing will have some help!  In Anaheim, Tom Tait won re-election as Mayor and James Vanderbilt unseated a liberal incumbent, Gail Eastman!  The Tom Tait and James Vanderbilt win was extremely important to the future of Anaheim. Unfortunately Anaheim has become a hot bed of crony capitalism under the banner of some who call themselves Republicans. Tom Tait and James Vanderbilt will work tirelessly to benefit all the citizens of Anaheim, not just a select powerful few. In Costa Mesa, Jim Righeimer is currently holding onto his seat, although it is close and we expect a recount no matter the announced outcome.  This is a vital seat to hold, so please help out if you can.

 

Erik Peterson, Mike Posey, Barbara Delgleize

In Huntington Beach, two extreme “government knows better than you” liberals, Connie Boardman and Joe Shaw, were both voted out after voting to ban fireworks and plastic bags.  Atlas PAC’s full endorsed slate, Barbara Delgleize, Erik Peterson and Mike Posey, all won.  Huntington Beach also threw out its City Attorney, Jennifer McGrath, and elected Michael Gates.

Marshall “Duffy” Duffield, Scott Peotter, Kevin Muldoon
In Newport Beach, once again, Atlas PAC’s entire slate of endorsed candidates prevailed, Kevin Muldoon, Scott Peotter and Marshal “Duffy” Duffield. Atlas PAC’s  independent mail efforthelped these conservatives sweep the city council elections and take control of the council.   Turns out, voters did not like having the dock tax raised and a new city hall complex built $100 million over budget.

 

Turning to South Orange County, Ed Sachs beat out two incumbent candidates to win a seat on the Mission Viejo City Council.  San Juan Capistrano now has a conservative majority with the election of Kerry Ferguson and re-election of Derek Reeve.  Andrew Hamilton beat out two incumbents to win a seat on the Lake Forest City Council.  In Laguna Niguel, Elaine Gennawey finished first out of six candidates to win one of the two open seats. In Rancho Santa Margarita, two of Atlas PAC’s endorsed candidates, Brad McGirr and Mike Vaughn along with a third conservative candidate, Jerry Halloway, won election.
Jeff Lalloway, Lynn Schott, Steven Choi

The biggest story in Orange County has to be Larry Agran’s defeat in Irvine, and replacement by Atlas PAC-endorsed Lynn Schott.  Jeff Lalloway also won re-election, as did Steven Choi for mayor, giving Atlas PAC-endorsed candidates a 4-1 majority on the Irvine City Council!  Each race was very close due to Agran’s usual tactic of running a “dummy” “Republican” candidate to siphon away votes from the real candidates.  Again, Atlas PAC’s independent mail effort in support of Schott, Lalloway and Choi helped secure this historic victory.  Lynn, we couldn’t be more proud of your victory.  Steve, Jeff, Christina and Lynn, we look forward to you all working together for a better, and corruption-free(!), Irvine.

Overall, Atlas PAC raised and spent over $130,000 supporting these candidates, with many thousands more contributed directly by Atlas PAC members. We can’t be more thankful to our donors who with their generosity are what make the success of Atlas PAC possible. Atlas PAC does not employ “consultants” or any staff, and its directors do not get paid.  We all volunteer our valuable time in pursuit of electing pro-freedom, pro-business candidates.  The only money we raise that does not go directly to supporting candidates goes to pay Atlas PAC’s necessary administrative expenses.  When you give to Atlas PAC, you can be sure you will get the maximum bang for your buck.  As one unnamed State Senator has said,  “Atlas PAC is the only PAC that can’t be bought.”

 

Congratulations to all these successful Atlas PAC-endorsed candidates!  These results show, if youwant to be on the cutting edge, if you want to make a real difference, Atlas PAC is leading the way.

About Greg Diamond

Somewhat verbose attorney, semi-disabled and semi-retired, residing in northwest Brea. Occasionally ran for office against jerks who otherwise would have gonr unopposed. Got 45% of the vote against Bob Huff for State Senate in 2012; Josh Newman then won the seat in 2016. In 2014 became the first attorney to challenge OCDA Tony Rackauckas since 2002; Todd Spitzer then won that seat in 2018. Every time he's run against some rotten incumbent, the *next* person to challenge them wins! He's OK with that. Corrupt party hacks hate him. He's OK with that too. He does advise some local campaigns informally and (so far) without compensation. (If that last bit changes, he will declare the interest.) His daughter is a professional campaign treasurer. He doesn't usually know whom she and her firm represent. Whether they do so never influences his endorsements or coverage. (He does have his own strong opinions.) But when he does check campaign finance forms, he is often happily surprised to learn that good candidates he respects often DO hire her firm. (Maybe bad ones are scared off by his relationship with her, but they needn't be.)