Tran, Marquez, Min – our standard-bearers for November!
First a big congratulations to our friends who ran the recall of the awful trustees Madison Miner and Rick Ledesma of the Orange USD – despite low Democrat turnout and apparent lack of interest countywide for education races, it looks like they pulled off their blessed coup, and we should study their success!
At the same time, our fine challengers to the OC Board of Education once again hit a brick wall of public indifference and Charter School dough, despite the best efforts of this blog AND the DPOC. We are sad for Bea Mendoza, Nancy Watkins, and David Johnson. And also for the great Allyson Damikolas, whom we hope to see a lot from again.
Adam Schiff‘s Garvey-boosting gambit paid off, and Adam won’t be such a bad Senator. A lot better than Dianne Feinstein was. I guess Katie Porter‘s Congressional career is over – at least that’s what she’s been saying! For the hundredth and last time, we’ll say that she never should have left her Congressional seat, which now we have to work really hard to keep. Oh well, she’ll probably have an MSNBC or CNN show called “The Whiteboard.”
Congratulations to Dave Min, Frances Marquez, and our good friend Derek Tran, who will need all our help in the fall to beat the corrupt Republicans Scott Baugh, Janet Nguyen and Michelle Steel in November, and help us get back the Congress and – for probably the first time ever – have an honest Board of Supervisors. (It’s harder to think anything good about Joe Kerr, but I shall hold my tongue henceforth.)
And congratulations to Senator Josh Newman, who should have a pretty easy time beating the mumbling reactionary Steven Choi and getting another term. Sharon will be running against Republican Beth Culver (which is what she told me she prefers), and the Cautious Cottie vs. Crazy Scotty race is on, which should be amusing.
The majority of HB voters, sadly, seem to prefer voter IDs, banning pride flags, and continuing to have legal fights with the state, wasting money but keeping commissar Mike E. Gates in a job and in the headlines. Sad, the sane people of Surf City are still outnumbered and outgunned.
That’s about it. ONWARD!
Senator Adam Schiff.
PS And from here on out….
I hope Derek Tran wins but it would look d have been fun to watch the Jannie’s V Trannies part deux.
Looks like old Van Tran is a has-been. New Year’s Pastries or not.
https://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2010/04/meet-joe-dovinh-phus-democratic-challenger/
Did I mention I’m a Franny?
I am extremely disspointed on Nancy Watkins not defeating Ken Williams for the OC Board of Ed in my area. But I think all of us volunteers in Region 3 “left all the cards on the table” as far as lit drop and canvassing. My only hope is that State Senators Dave Min and Josh Newman can finally get enough support from their fellow Dem reps to pass legislation to move the Board of Ed election to the general in November where there is a much higher voter turnout.
That’s an excellent idea!
Porter cries foul overlooks her critical miscalculation.
https://twitter.com/politico/status/1765268132334039456?t=mMPrrW-eqBdpIWM9rMvH6Q&s=19
With all of this hoopla, I’m afraid we’ve all been overlooking what is truly impotent, er, important:
Uhhh, don’t give the trolls an excuse….
Garvey didn’t use any trick at all.
Schiff basically used one trick: going into general election mode to make Porter look irrelevant.
The rich assholes didn’t use much of a trick either. That was just standard high-density lying about her.
Hopefully, she’ll be running some nice programs within the Biden Administration next year. But she also needs to take acting lesson so she can vary her act more.
While I’m doing videos, Colbert was great on Leap Day re. the Supreme Court’s delays:
Porter obviously put her personal ambition above party and even national interest. I guess she figured the opening wasn’t going to come again any time soon.
However, the term Senator So-and-So doesn’t carry the prestige it once did.
I woulda liked to see Barbara in for one term, Katie shoulda waited a few more years for that and stayed in Congress till then – what would she have been, still 50-something?
But the two progressive ladies bled votes from each other.
The screws were already tightening on Porter in her district. This was the one moment for her to pivot and she didn’t succeed. Hoping she gets back into the game soon, although she might need some time to recoup.
Since it’s a slow morning, care to comment on those tightening screws? What were those?
The truth is that once Schiff hit on this strategy, Katie was going to be in difficult straits. That’s why I thought that she had to treat this as an emergency and response with desperate (high-risk and high-reward) measures that may have seemed weird, but were probably her only shot.
Schiff and Padilla could be in the Senate for another 30 years. Supposing we still have a Constitution.
I just wanted to say thank you so much for this blog, I rely on it for information for every election! I’m super bummed about Nancy Watkins and the rest of the decent candidates for the Board of Education.
Unlike a lot of people in my neighborhood, I actually have young kids in public school, one in special ed, and I want elected officials who believe in the mission of public education and don’t waste time on book banning and culture war nonsense.
We’re pleased that you’re satisfied!
The Watkins campaign has not yet thrown in the towel. We need around 58% of the remaining 50,000 votes. Stranger things have happened. We crept a little closer yesterday. Nancy is not yet ready to make her concession call to Mark Bucher.
Keep hope alive!
Allyson releases a statement thanking her volunteers, touting their successes, and pointedly not mentioning Joe Kerr.
“…Our work isn’t over—I ran for Congress to be an advocate for marginalized communities, from people of color to struggling families to women fighting for their rights. I will continue to push for change and to secure a future for our children as the president of the Tustin Unified School Board, and I’ll work to elect more women to public office throughout Southern California,” said Allyson Muñiz Damikolas. “We will work every day to strengthen our communities, push for positive change against Republican extremism, and secure a Democratic victory in November.”
I guess that last phrase could be taken as a nod to Joe.
Any money or effort spent on Kerr in this race is stealing from winnable races. Sorry to have to slap Democrats across the face with the Truth Fish.
As the late Democrat votes come in in CA-45, Kim’s and Derek’s totals continue to grow, but Derek remains 1.6% over Kim.
Update Friday: Now 1.4%. Uh-oh! *toes curl*
I think that someone has brought this up elsewhere, but don’t be fazed by Steel’s having over 50%. This is a primary; a general election will have many more voters! (Although perhaps fewer than there would be if Katie had made the runoff.)
Farrah Khan got more votes during her inaugural campaign for mayor in 2020. Her popularity is waning.
Ya think? And we bit our tongues thinking she’d at least be an improvement from Wagner.
The DPOC did look long and hard for another viable candidate though.
Now we really REALLY need to get Frances Marquez in this November! Or it’ll just be Chaffee Wagner and Janet running things the way Chaffee Wagner and Do are now.
The DPOC had for years to find someone and than backed into an endorsement of Farrah who threatened revenge on the county from the dais during a council meeting for their withdrawal from the OCPA in addition to the controversy regarding her enabling of Turkish Nationalist genocide deniers. So the DPOC was ok with her threatened campaign of harm to the county, a-ok.
Ada and her minions should be ashamed of themselves on several accounts with respect to this race and others. By my calculations, Min, Newman, Marquez and Levin have tough sledding ahead.
One problem with your narrative, you’re using the word “county” to refer to both the County Board of Supervisors and the County Democratic Party (COPD.) The latter never withdrew from OCPA. Conflater!
(PS I love how Sloppy Dan lets you comment on the Fib OC, lets folks respond to your comments, then deletes your comments but not the responses so that nobody knows who’s talking to whom about what. Does he even look at his own blog? No wonder our masthead now reads “The OC’s Only Political Blog.”)
Now I’m using the county as the county. The DPOC is only a “silent” member in the OCPA. Lol. But, if I were the DPOC, I would be afraid of the wrath of Khan. Isn’t it enough already?
https://youtu.be/wRnSnfiUI54
If people in the DPOC want to fit hatefulness and hate speech, they should stop going after Huntington Beach and Van der Meek and direct their attention here on Farrah’s endorsers and her. They are normalizing Turkish Nationalist genocide deniers.
https://www.farrahnkhan.com/supporters
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farrah_Khan
Shorter Eric: People should focus on my obsessions and ignore everything else.
Be fruitful and multiply, Eric. To some extent, the pain and humiliation of the Armenian community is contemporary tragedy beyond a historical one, but it’s not one that the U.S. can or would do much about and certainly not one that affects present-day democracy and voting rights. What Gracey and her ilk are doing is both rooted in a vicious history that destroyed many more lives and that does affect both democracy and voting rights — as well as being one of the most flagrant examples of public corruption (and special interest capture and self-dealing) around.
Do you think that the U.S. should have armed Armenia against Azerbaijan to protect Artsakh? (That was Putin’s job, after all.) Do you think that it would have done any good if we had? I literally cannot understand what your grievance is here beyond reminding everyone that the historical massacres exists (which is fine) and perhaps saying that “if Eric ain’t happy then nobody should be happy.” Being obnoxious and dogged can get you far, as I’ve seen in a recent MCLE on dealing with toxic lawyering, but why Vern lets it drive people away from this blog mystified me. But keep flattering him, you idiot, even if it’s transparently transactional on your end.
We need to notify that Press Group that was once giving him awards back in the day so that they can breathe a sign of relief at stopping.
Dan is a racist loser that donated to Farrah Khan. I think he is oblivious to how he comes across. Newgent wiped the floor with him. I could be mistaken but from what I recall, he needed someone else to write a check to save his hide from legal disfigurement. He is a putz. Never forget it. Can’t have a robust debate or meaningful discussion because he is a narrow minded, weak brained tool.
Do you think Newgent is a pseudonym? New guy in town?
Nah, Newgent’s a real guy, a right-winger who had a radio show or podcast or something or still does. A relatively honest chap.
He’s a decent guy concerned with our bringing translators and other allies of ours who aided us in our long war, along with their families, back to the U.S., as was apparently promised long ago as part of our war effort. We disagree on a lot, but he has a real good heart, even if it’s now deep in Texas (or somewhere outside of CA.)
Newgent won a defamation lawsuit involving Dan. Dan had to send a large check, I think mostly if not fully for attorney fees, to Mark through Dan’s attorney Mark Rosen. This raised the question of: where did the money for the check come from? Dan has at various times said that it was not from him, and that it was from him, and the truth is somewhere in between … a tire and a burned out sedan at the bottom of a large bog.
Khan accuses Porter of anti-Muslim sentiment
During her introductory remarks for Congresswoman Lee, Mayor Farrah Khan described her interaction with Congresswoman Porter when she canceled a meeting with the community saying, “I’ve seen the face of our Congress folks. In my very own district, I’ve seen the face of a Congresswoman that does not respond. That shuts her door. That basically makes us invisible.”
https://www.mpac.org/statement/statement-regarding-congresswoman-katie-porter/
They deserve each other.
In other news, CDP chair rusty hicks isn’t gonna make the runoff for his race. Looks like that carpetbagger slur stuck.
https://electionresults.sos.ca.gov/returns/state-assembly/district/2
Word on the street is Ada is angling for his CDP spot. You heard it here first!
Glad all voices were heard in the OUSD Recall!
The voice of the Revolutionary Communist Party was heard in the OUSD Recall.
Tardif is apparently talking about this story:
https://news.yahoo.com/orange-unified-board-approves-parent-100253017.html
This protest was not, by any means, part of the recall effort.
The communist protesters were opposed to the conservative majority’s Parents Rights proposal – same as the 3 progressives who walked out of the meeting. To say the communists were not necessarily in support of the Recall is disingenuous. There is a reason communists support chaos.
That’s funny, there actually were some self-styled “Communists” there? How quaint, right out of the 70s! And catnip for the Tardif types.
Now Mike can say dumb things like “The voice of the Revolutionary Communist Party was heard in the OUSD Recall,” and it’s technically true!
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-03-15/orange-unified-school-board-members-who-embraced-culture-wars-are-ousted
This, by contrast, was part of the recall effort.