La Habra City Council candidate Daren Nigsarian had never attended a meeting of the Democratic Party of Orange County – but he did attend last night’s meeting. It’s a good thing he did! He came away with the DPOC endorsement – but getting it was no easy matter.
Nigsarian was there for another reason as well – La Habra Mayor Rose Espinoza asked him to vote in her stead as she was at a meeting of the OC Sanitation Board.
At any rate, Nigsarian was recommended for endorsement, by the DPOC’s endorsement committee, but then a fellow named Louie Contreras showed-up. He had filed for the La Habra City Council before he realized that he lived in a county “island” and was ineligible to run. So of course he immediately rented a La Habra apartment and got his papers in on time.
However I am told that Contreras has almost no qualifications for council, although he is a very persistent young man. He ran against Jerry Lewis for congress in ’06 and he got 17% of the vote.
Nigsarian thought that Contreras might make a motion for endorsement despite not being recommended, using the argument that there are three seats open (including Rose and Mayor-pro-tem Beamish), so there should be three DPOC endorsements. However in Nigsarian’s estimate such an endorsement would have only succeeded in pulling Democratic votes away from his base.
So Nigsarian waited patiently to the end, and sure enough, Contreras scraped together a few folks to speak in favor of his motion. Luckily, Susan Uballe, Monika Broome and Susan Freeze came to Nigsarian’s defense. Nigsarian then had a chance to speak. He explained the dynamics of his race – in particular that he is an emerging frontrunner who could still lose to Tim Shaw, a hard-right GOP lobbyist, if the Democratic votes get diluted. Fortunately for Nigsarian, when the vote was called, Contreras’ motion failed, although not by a huge margin.
Nigsarian was relieved to walk away with the DPOC’s endorsement, particularly on a night when two terrific Demcoratic candidates were not able to get the DPOC endorsement of their Garden Grove City Council campaigns – and when Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido also went home emptyhanded.
You can read more about Nigsarian’s campaign at this link.
Nigsarian sounds like a regular guy, no wonder this was his first DPOC meeting.
Let’s hope they can get some good city council members in La Habra. One’s who wont endorse the city illegally taxing residents, wont raise their water and trash bills while they reward their union employees with raises and retirement increases on the backs of struggling tax payers.
Like Santa Ana they also need to hold city employees accountable for their duties.
My mother has had a code enforcement issue with a neighbor for months and they still won’t do a damn thing. While they continue to build a new room (no permit/plan/code compliance) in the back yard after illegally tearing down a common fence that they refuse to fix. Great public servants! The guy (next door) has attempted to intimidate her and others while this building continues, even if the guy (a parolee) has an outstanding bench warrant and the PD refuses to do anything!
No wonder they call it Guada La Habra…
Cities do have their own flavor to them but if your public servants dont do the work – complain to the council. If the work still doesn’t get done recall the council and fire the city manager.
It takes a lot of organizing but its better to organize while you can than wish you could organize when everyone’s too intimidated to join you. Guaranteed if you do this once or twice your city workers will start responding to citizens calls.
One of the citizens you’ll want to talk to first is the city employees themselves. Likely they are understaffed and mismanaged if they cant get to an address in six months. If they are they will be good allies and will likely welcome any change that will correct their problems with management and staffing.
to my understanding on the ca sec of state website and the san bernardino register of voters office louie contreras lost by 17% of the vote not got 17% of the vote this incorrect info should be corrected!!..
Darin has been Rose Espinoza’s alternate to the DPOC since April. Darin has attended Democratic Club meetings and has been making the rounds to get Democratic support. He did not just show up to an endorsement meeting and expect an endorsement. He was endorsed because he put the time and effort into getting the endosement. Many should learn from his effors, it is not enough to have Gila Jones and Alicai Berhow command the central commitee members to vote for you.
First off his last name is Nisarian not Nigsarian and Cathy if your mom has a “parolee” with a warrant I am sorry. You can thank the state for that. The PD loves to arrest parolees. The code enforecment officer has a supervisor. If the supervisor does not help you, then go up the chain until someone helps you.
His name is Daren Nigsarian, check his web site.
He wrote the original blog himself….
I am sorry I caught teh correct spelling later. I guess the “g” is silent.
Sounds like this Nigsarian guy is wound pretty tightly, he should have let COntreras join in on the endorsement fun. Two thumbs down.
I can’t support his views about Measure T.
Most of my experiences with the government of the city of La Habra have been negative, and I’ve lived here for almost 40 years. I think it’s time for a change! But Nigsarian is more of the same bureaucratic mentality.
It doesn’t matter what party the candidate represents, it matters what his views are. We have too many Republican Council members and too many Democratic Council members, and too few council members who really care about the residents of the city.