Aitken, Lal, Jabbar, Leon: The Register hits a home run!

It’s simple: the four candidates who support Campaign Finance Reform
are the ones you should vote for, and the Register agrees!

The Orange County Register hit a home run with their Anaheim Council endorsements Sunday morning, and we can only hope voters listen! That paper has always had it in for the corruption in OC’s biggest town. And Cunningham is hopping mad about these endorsements, but we’ll laugh at Matt later. I want to start with my favorite part, the Reg‘s enthusiastic endorsement of Hari Shankar Lal over Natalie Meeks (since Hari has been taking so much incoming lately…)

For Council District 6, we endorse Hari Lal. This choice is a no-brainer. Lal is an attorney who has been active in Anaheim neighborhood politics for years. He’s brimming with energy and ideas – including great ones such as creating a city ombudsperson. He is an passionate opponent of the pro-subsidy culture. He’s a delightful character who restores our faith in grassroots politics.

His opponent – former public works director Natalie Meeks – is a bland establishmentarian. When pressed, she couldn’t name a single idea to reform the city’s politics. That floored us. She spoke about the many times she oversaw the city’s use of eminent domain. The hotel and lodging association’s political action committee backs her. Blech.

Lal delightful, Meeks BLECH. NOT OUR WORDS. I can’t believe Natalie thought it’d be helpful to boast about her abuse of eminent domain. (That would be seizing private property to, for example, build Disney a publicly funded streetcar line from her other pet project ARTIC, a streetcar line which has thankfully been put on hold but could ALWAYS COME BACK if people like Natalie get elected!) Also, Nat’s pure, spotless-mind vacuum of ideas reminds me of District 4 candidate Gloria Ma’ae when she was first appointed. Nothing in that noggin! (Till someone gives ’em orders.)

Pringle’s & Meeks’ Folly.

The Register begins their editorial describing the “two schools of thought regarding [Anaheim’s May 2022] corruption scandal” – the Cabal’s preferred “shocked! shocked! How could Harry do this? Now let’s continue with business as usual,” versus those of us who saw this as an inevitable result of a decades-long culture of corruption that is still crying out for drastic reform. And the Register subscribes solidly to the SECOND school of thought, as does this blog.

Coming from that point of view, they also endorse Ashleigh Aitken for Mayor, over her cabal opponent Trevor O’Neil and the lesser candidates:

For mayor, we endorse Ashleigh Aitken. An attorney and long-time Anaheim activist, Aitken is a moderate Democrat committed to fiscal restraint. Most importantly, Aitken’s the genuine reform candidate. “The former mayor and his tightly knit ‘cabal’ were allowed to run roughshod at City Hall, and create a culture of intimidation for staff, management, concerned residents, and the smaller business community,” she told us.

Well said, and I’m an Ashleigh booster (although I didn’t realize she was an “activist!”) But I do believe she is an honest “moderate Democrat committed to fiscal restraint.” Someone needs to inform Galloway-besotted Liberal OC blogger Dan Chmielewski, who’s been trying to paint Ashleigh as the second coming of Bernie Sanders (just to sell his beloved Lorri as “the reasonable Goldilocks moderate perfect for Anaheim!”) But in case you doubt my enthusi-ASH-m, consult the following:

Her main challenger, Mayor Pro Tem Trevor O’Neil, talks a good game about his conservatism — on issues ranging from rent control to pension liabilities — but defends various giveaway deals and has a penchant for describing subsidies as incentives. Looking at the campaign donations O’Neil has returned is telling – from the Chamber of Commerce and leaders of the Angels.

Trevor does “talk a good game,” that’s for sure, and he can spew out those “conservative” talking points – good thing the Reg sees through that. Pension liabilities, really? This is the public-employee profligate who cheer-led an extravagant 2020 police/fire contract (at the beginning of Covid) that he ADMITTED would make Anaheim “dip into our reserves, but hopefully our revenue will pick up soon.” And yes, he “gave back” $2000 checks from the Chamber and Angels, and apparently that was effective theater, for a guy who knows he’ll be getting a hundred times that much in IE’s from the same sources. And there’s this:

The third candidate, Lorri Galloway, has raised little money and mainly will divert votes from Aitken.

There’s a lot worse than that they could’ve written about this sanctimonious charlatan, but it’s good they kept her down to one sentence – she IS just a spoiler candidate. (And 4th candidate Dick Lopez is actually a real nice guy with good ideas, and I hope we hear more from him in the future, but really any votes for Galloway or Lopez are votes that SHOULD be for Ashleigh, or you’re risking Mayor Trevor!)

[N.B. Register excerpts were edited to remove overuse of the word “unabashed.”]

District 3

(central Anaheim, currently Dr. Moreno)

For Council District 3, we endorse Al Jabbar. A member of the school board, Jabbar promises to focus on bread-and-butter community issues and on cleaning up City Hall. He emphasizes the need to make it easier for small businesses to set up and grow by reducing bureaucratic hurdles in City Hall. On the public safety front, he supports broader investments in mental health services and youth programs.

Wow, this Jabbar sounds like Tom Tait! Listen to the klepto mouthpieces and you’d think he was Che Guevara.

His opponent, Natalie Rubalcava, is the business candidate, and while we support the Orange County business community, we are swayed by Jabbar’s independent perspective.

I really wish they’d put “business candidate” in scare quotes like I just did. Natalie is the OCBC (OC Business Council) candidate. LITERALLY. She’s COO of the parasitical group. Far from helping any “businesses” aside from the HUGEST dues-paying members (like Disney) OCBC has been solidly in support of EVERY taxpayer ripoff in Anaheim, from the Stadium Giveaway, to the Disney Streetcar, to EVERY HOTEL SUBSIDY our kleptocrats could dream up. And there’s this:

District 2

The Near-west, currently represented by Gloria

For Council District 2, we endorse Carlos Leon. He’s more liberal than us on several issues, but is a solid City Hall reformer with similar sensibilities to Jabbar. “I want to make sure small business owners have the ability to fulfill their dreams of opening their own businesses, and make sure that everyone gets an opportunity to be successful in our city,” he told us.

His opponent, Gloria Sahagún Ma’ae, is an appointed city councilmember who sat on the pro-subsidy Support Our Anaheim Resort PAC. She remains a core member of the Old Guard.

And there’s much more that could be said, that’s really bad, about Gloria, and we have written it here:

But while we wait for our friends to make a good Gloria video, let’s examine:

A Tale of Two District 2 Fundraisers.

I was just perusing Gloria’s campaign Facebook page, and came across her last, August 19, fundraiser which was held at (drum roll?) Brewery X, the Cabal’s official brewery. Brewery X is 5 or 6 miles away from Gloria’s district – almost in the Hills – but it DOES have the distinction (such as it is) of having hosted Mayor Sidhu’s staggeringly expensive Feb. 2020 “SAVE THE MAYOR” dinner, which was his response when he heard we were launching a recall against him.

But, looking at Gloria’s pictures… really? Did nobody come? There are only five pictures posted, and maybe eight attendees visible, half of them identifiable usual suspects – Play-mayor Trevor speaking, former councilwoman Kris Murray speaking, and longtime Chamber of Commerce Board Chairman Ross McCune standing with Gloria at the bar – way to keep your distance from the scandals, Gloria!

Kris! Did you miss her?

Killin’ it… and he could be your Mayor if you’re not careful!

Put your hands together for Gloria! (Is that a low-tech teleprompter?)

The candidate kickin’ it with the Chamber’s McCune.
Damn, that looks like Todd Ament from behind, but… it couldn’t be?

“Hi, my name’s Gloria! Do you know if you live in District 2 by any chance?”

But, serio, I couldn’t help but compare that to the packed, energetic event Carlos Leon had a couple weeks later at Casa Garcia:

.

I don’t know, is it just me, or is there something of a contrast between those two events, Gloria’s and Carlos’?

Twilight of the Wordsmith

I would say these Register endorsements made Chamber husband Matt Cunningham apopleptic, but that would be a common inaccuracy, as “apopleptic” means you got so upset you couldn’t form words, whereas Matt came up with all of THESE words. Apparently this is the first election cycle in which he notices that our county daily values honesty over Party or supposed ideological bent.

Outraged, he reminds us that Al Jabbar is in a “public employee union,” and also that he’s hostile to that public employee union known as the police (presumably because he went to a Black Lives Matter rally during the post-George Floyd days – for shame!) And also he repeats his lying canard that Jabbar and his allies push “Critical Race Theory” on Anaheim highschoolers (something that only exists in certain colleges.)

And of course he reminds us that Hari Lal hadn’t paid his property taxes in three years, which is a common thing a homeowner does when they’ve registered a dispute with the assessor over the amount they’re being charged, which Hari has for three years (over Prop 60 and 19 which are supposed to lower rates for seniors.) If you lose, you pay penalties and interest, which Hari fully intended to do if he lost.

In any case, long story short, THE SITUATION IS RESOLVED NOW, and Hari has paid the disputed amount, “UNDER PROTEST,” and expects to receive the vast majority of the amount back if he prevails in court later this year. Not an issue any more.

Oh yeah. Exactly ONE person liked Matt’s post, which has been up a few days. I wonder if she went to Gloria’s big fundraiser at Brewery X?

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.