Your OJ June 7 Voting Guide – Now Go Do it!

As I write on Saturday, only 9% of ballots for this very important election have been mailed in – and how much easier could it have been made for everyone? But I know – you are waiting till the last minute to make sure you make all the best choices, aren’t you? Of course. You have three TWO and a half more daystill 5pm today Tuesday to postmark or 8pm to drop off at a vote center – and the Orange Juice Blog is here not just to give you a hard time, but to HELP.

FIRST, if you have the time and interest, click HERE to read my colleague Greg Diamond’s mammoth explication of how we came to endorse the folks we’re endorsing. (We? Well, we agree about 90%.)

SECOND, I suggest you start with page 3 and 4 of your ballot, as there is almost nothing on the first two pages that makes any difference (with the exception of David Dodson for Board of Equalization on Page 2.)

THIRD… Let me start with the MOST IMPORTANT RACES:

Most Important Races for the Whole County

DISTRICT ATTORNEY. The most important thing is to vote for someone other than the incumbent Todd Spitzer so that he doesn’t break 50% Tuesday, in which case the race is over – and any of the three challengers are better than Spitzer. Vern endorses Hardin, Greg endorses Chehock; we liked Mike Jacobs a lot until it turned out he is a 2020 election denier. [Non- author’s note from Greg: I like Jacobs a little less for this because I think that the position is ridiculous, but I’ve also said that I don’t think it matters that much in a DA, and that I think that conservatives who agree with Jacobs should support him, because they won’t vote for anyone I like anyway. The rest of us, obviously, should not!]

EDUCATION. This is the ONE AND ONLY election for the future of OC Education. It is NOT A PRIMARY. It’s vital that you vote for incumbent County Superintendent Al Mijares, because Dr. Stefan Bean will bring us back to the 50’s while draining public education resources for any and all charter schools good and bad. Also these three women need your vote for the BOARD of Education, if they are on your ballot:

  • Sherine Smith
  • Martha Fluor
  • Paulette Chaffee. (Yeah, I know.)

WE GOT THE JUDGES! Again, look at the work Greg and I have done coming up with these recommendations:

  • Office 5: Kimberly LaSalle!!!
  • Office 9: Joe Dane!
  • Office 11: Marc Gibbons!!! (great guy! NO Shawn Nelson.)
  • Office 21: Ray Brown
  • Office 22: Fred Fascinelli! (NO Brahim Baytieh!)
  • Office 28: Jessica Cha
  • Office 30: Michele Bell!!!
  • Office 33: Brett Wiseman
  • Office 45: (doesn’t matter, it’ll be Claustro.)

COUNTY SUPERVISORS: We strongly feel that we’d have a TEN TIMES BETTER Board of Supervisors if it included incumbent Katrina Foley, and newcomers Vicente Sarmiento and Sunny Park! We urge you to vote for any of those three who are on your ballot – they’re all nearly certain to make it through the “primary,” but if any of them manages to get over 50% on Tuesday, and avoid a runoff, that’d be a lot of stress off of us!

And finally, simply, RICK FOSTER for Assessor!

Important PRIMARIES

The races for Congress, State Senate and Assembly are open primaries from which the top two will move on to November; in many of them there’s not a lot of suspense over who’ll make the top two; the real race will be in November. But there are just a few races in which we really want to encourage you to help these candidates make the primary:

  • Mike Ortega, Congress District 46 (Santa Ana, Anaheim, some Orange & GG) – because Lou Correa needs a progressive challenger!
  • Bulmaro “Boomer” Vicente, Assembly District 68 (Santa Ana, Anaheim, some Orange) – because this area deserves a progressive fighter, not a chosen successor to Tom Daly!
  • Dr. Asif Mahmood, Congress District 40 (Yorba Linda etc) – because how depressing would it be if the district were left with the choice between Young Kim and Greg Raths? (We Democrats are rooting for a surging Raths, not because we want to see him in Congress, but because just maybe Dr. Mahmood could beat him easier than Kim.)
  • Henry Bouchot, State Senator District 30 (some Brea, La Habra & Fullerton) – because he’s that much better than corrupt Democrat incumbent Archuleta!
  • Catherine Blakespear, State Senator District 38 (south County) because she’s that much a better Democrat than Joe Kerr!
  • WRITE IN LEON SIT against Philip Chen, Assembly District 59 (North County) – see our exclusive interview here!

OH! And get DAVID DODSON for Board of Equalization, on page 2 of your ballot!

AFTER THAT, do what thou wilt. Everybody else should be fine till November, just please consider the above. And again, here’s my short simple guide from last month, and here’s Greg’s encyclopedic guide. Thanks for your time!

About Vern Nelson

Greatest pianist/composer in Orange County, and official political troubadour of Anaheim and most other OC towns. Regularly makes solo performances, sometimes with his savage-jazz band The Vern Nelson Problem. Reach at vernpnelson@gmail.com, or 714-235-VERN.