Yesterday was the annual Mexican Independence Day Parade in Santa Ana, and the festivities will be going on all weekend.
Orange Juice Blogger Art Pedroza posted about the OC GOP presence at the event:
The OC GOP, Assemblywoman Lynn Daucher, who is running for the 34th Senate District, and Congressional candidate Tan Nguyen together purchased a booth at the Fiestas de las Americas, which was held today in downtown Santa Ana …
Event organizers assured one of my associates that the Democrat Party was not there, nor were any of their candidates – with the exception of those in the parade.
My assumption is that the Democrats take the Latino vote for granted, whereas my party has to work a bit harder in this community.
I know that Tan Nguyen wasn’t actually at the parade, but could you imagine how that would have went? I would have loved to see Nguyen show up to a Mexican Independence Day event with his campaign literature that all but says “Mexicans have ruined Orange County.â€Â
But back to Art’s post: OC Dems take the Latino vote for granted. While I don’t entirely agree with his assumption (look at how much time, money, and effort is being pumped into the 34th State Senate race from our side), Art has a decent point: where the hell were the Democrats this weekend?!?!
The Young Democrats were looking to launch the Peer to Peer campaign this weekend, so I fired off an email to the director and found out that the launch was pushed back because of some hiccup with printing errors.
[Art’s post @ The Orange Juice]
[Orange County Register]
Surprise surprise…
As a member of the Democratic Party, this did not come as a surprise to not see the DPOC show up. Then again, the DPOC doesn’t have any money and has not done any outreach in years. Maybe their new executive director could cough up some of that huge salary of his next year for a booth.
Oh wait, that would be too much to give up for the him. Can’t wait to see him and DPOC start outreaching for all that has been given.
But wait!
We had a booth at the OC Fair in July…
We had a float in the HB FoJ Parade…
But we miss a gran fiesta in the most Democratic city in OC?
What the f**k were they smoking??!!
I have to agree here, at least a little bit.
Loretta Sanchez, Jose Solario and Lou Correa should have sprung for a booth. Santa Ana is the place they have the greatest home court advantage and it looks like we’re taking the Latino vote for granted when we fail to have a strong presence at such a high profile event.
I know that Lou and Jose were at the Orange County Labor Coalition Breakfast in the morning. I have to presume that they at least showed up and worked the crowd, but a booth would have been a visible show of support for the community they claim to best represent.
The ball was dropped, but not by the DPOC. If anyone should have sprung for a booth it should have been Loretta, with her huge warchest and cry-baby challenger, she can afford it.
Mike,
Do you just make stuff up as you go? Tan has never said that “Mexican have ruined Orange County.” Come on, are you drinking liberally before you Blog?
You’re right, Mike.
Year after year events like these come and go with no effort by the Democratic Party to have a booth. Someone at the DPOC dropped the ball once again. They should have talked to the local candidates and electeds to make it a group effort. Where were YDs and their Peer to Peer?
Instead, the Chair is focused on raising money to pay his new lap dog (Executive Director). As far as I know there was no open job announcement, no interview process, and still no job description. Hope all of his lunch meetings are productive, but something tells me they won’t be.
This is the last straw for many of us who have supported the party for years.
Reality check time boys. Do you really think that because the GOP had a booth at this event it is going to change the mind of voters who know this party doesn’t give a rat’s ass about them? Would it make you change your vote? Think!
Dan,
I think that continuing to be a no-show at events like the one held all weekend will eventually make people think that OUR party is the one that doesn’t give a rat’s ass about them.
That was my the point I was trying to make.
With that said, I agree with you Dan that not hosting a booth at this one event didn’t sway anyone.
Makes you wonder how many people registered as Democrats at the Republican Booth?
They had a nice crowd out there this morning when I went to get a cup of coffee.
Dear Anon 11:04PM
Before you start casting stones at Frank Barbaro, I dare you to come out from the shadows and show yourself.
There are few Democrats who have stepped up to the plate and delivered financially to the Democratic Party of Orange County as much as Frank. I doubt that you have contributed as much.
Frank is funding a staff person to help raise the funds necessary to do the booths and other activities that we need to participate in. We need to keep our office operational and effective. Mike Levin is helping us do that.
Stop bitching from the shadows and do something productive. There is work that needs to get done and Frank has stepped up to help get it done.
What are you doing?
for Mike R, I would actually wonder how many Democratic registrations were even mailed in. More filed filed in the circular bin after having been shreaded given the track record of other voter registration drives conducted by the GOP.
The one risk of the DPOC or any of the electeds doing a booth is the spectre of Art Hoffmann and fellow LaRouchies demanding to run the booth, and at this point they do have a valid claim. If anything that would hurt the Dems more than help them, who wants to see a bunch of crazies singing about Mag Lev Trains and plots to bomb Detroit. That would help the Republicans register more people than they could ever imagine.
What needs to be done is Jose, Loretta and Lou need to take an active roll in getting REAL delegates involved in the State Party, be actively involved in the Dem efforts and make them a real power. Unfortunately Loretta has never cared for anyone but her pretty little self, Lou constantly got chased off by angry activists because of one vote but Jose shows some promise about getting involved. Hopefully Jose can work with real sensible Dems in the area to build a real 69th AD delegate slate that focuses on action instead of mag lev trains. And hopefully Lou Correa will not be chased off again by angry activists. As for Loretta, I completely lost hope in her.
It doesn’t matter to me who dropped the ball…
Or who should or should not be a t the booth…
We just needed to be there!
Hell, if I had known this before i read Art’s post on OJ, I would hauled my ass back home and stood in the middle of 4th Street with voter reg forms and lit for Loretta, Lou, Jose, and ALL our other candidates!
Seriously, now, we need to stop the petty bickering that has plagued our party for WAY TOO MANY YEARS now!
LaRouche is a psychoass… We all know that now. Loretta may not be prefect. Lou may not be perfect. But seriously now, we need to fix our broken infrastructure in SA, otherwise Mike’s fear WILL COME TRUE:
“I think that continuing to be a no-show at events like the one held all weekend will eventually make people think that OUR party is the one that doesn’t give a rat’s ass about them.”
i had a fun time at the event though!
That’s nice, Ryan Gene.
I’m just saying that we should have been having a fun time at the event as well.
Chris,
Please know that I adore you and I admire your loyalty to the DPOC, but I don’t think it is Loretta, Lou and Jose’s responsibility to bankroll the party. It would be nice if the DPOC could hand over $100K to Lou Correa like Scott Baugh did for Daucher. (Sorry Ryan, but I still like you.)
Speaking on behalf of Loretta, she tries to do as much outreach as possible in OC on behalf of the party. She meets with every local candidate that she can, she donates to all the Assembly/Senate/Congressional candidates in OC, and has held forums on campaign issues at her expense – all for the benefit of the DPOC.
The DPOC is a political organization run by capable people who work really hard, but need to come up with a new strategy to be effective. That way, local candidates can come to Frank for help rather than Loretta. She is a team player through and through and I don’t like the insinuation that she owes the party her money.
And I agree with the poster regarding the new ED. The job wasn’t posted, there wasn’t an interview process and no job description. That was a bad decision on Frank’s part because there are some very capable people who did not even get the opportunity to apply and deserved to be interviewed. I hope to heck the new person does well because our local candidates deserve it as well as the constituents of OC.
Alicia,
I did not mean to insinuate that Loretta should bank roll the party. I do note however, that it was the Republican candidates with money who put together their booth.
Alicia, you know, as well as I do that most donors donate to candidates because it grants them personal access. In OC the Democratic Party cannot grant that access, and it is the candidates in the Democratic leaning districts that have the donors. I do appreciate all of the support that Loretta has given to other local candidates.
You are right, we need to come up with a different way of doing things, and I look forward to your ideas and those of others towards accomplishing that goal.
Actually Alicia, Dems with deep pockets and not facing a serious threat this election cycle should be cutting checks to Democrats who have a chance. Hillary is writing checks for example. Feinstein should be writing checks too.
Dan,
If you take a look at her FEC report, you will see exactly who she is writing checks to. You may not agree, but she is indeed a team player.
I got your back Alicia, even all the way up here in LA.
Here is Loretta’s contributions to federal candidates up until June, 30th, for the this cycle. Thats $188k. I would encourage you to check on it when the next filing deadline hits:
http://www.tray.com/cgi-win/x_cout.exe?DoFn=H6CA4603306
Alicia, when are you coming up?
p.s. if the Linda Sanchez/Loretta Sanchez contributions look confusing, that is because the have a joint committee, and that is just how the an individual contribution gets filed.
I am dissappointed that there was no booth but The Facts is right, the La Rouchies have a valid point at this time thanks to Art Hoffmann. That is about to change.
But in all fairness to Loretta, IT is not her job to fund the party. I wish she could have put up the money, but again, the LaRouchies still have a claim and will come singing kumbaya and about maglev trains. Hopefully with some real sane delegates from this area, Loretta may take more of an interest in helping foster the party infratstructure in her district. We need some real leadership from the Central OC delgates and some real sensible people.
Loretta has not had the most sane bunch of people to work with, maybe its time we gave her some. I am sure after that she would be happy to help when she can, but she cannot do it alone.
When all else fails, it’s time to blame Loretta.
Not like she is pretty busy doing all she can to take the House back for Dems. Or raising money for local candidates. Or getting herself re-elected. Now she’s responsible for the local party as well.
And the point about Art Hoffman makes no sense – is he a Loretta appointee? Art and his wife can be very productive as volunteers for local mainstream (non-LaRouche) Democratic candidates.
But the good old boys at DPOC HQ would prefer to bad-mouth Art and Elaine rather than show any appreciation for their contributions of time and money.
And Chris, most people who give money politically do not, in fact, contribute for personal access. They give because they believe in the work of the candidate/committee and the causes they champion. Perhaps if the DPOC would show more accomplishments, they would attract more donors.
Thanks, anon 1:48, for pointing out something that we love to do on the left… We love the “circular firing squad”!
Even though it does us no good whatsoever, we love to do it.
I know this. I’m guilty of it! : (
“Personally, as a progressive, I think I’d be extremely uncomfortable to be in the same room with [blank]. To me, [blank] represents all that went bad about the Democratic party in the 1990s. Remember this, if what matters to you is a fighting Democratic party.”
Does this sound familiar? Does it sound like something we’ve been saying for quite a while about Loretta?
Well, actually Micah Sifry wrote this about President Clinton on MyDD! Unfortunately, sometimes we seem more interested in attacking each other than uniting to take down the Rethugs.
Now yes, there are legitimate problems that the DPOC is facing. Yes, there are legitimate concerns with Loretta. Yes, WE ALL FAILED (me included) by not showing up at the Fiesta last weekend. However, we really need to get over the blame game.
Right now, we just need to focus on this next election. It would feel so great if we focus on what we need to do for November.
Alicia — sendthe link whenever possible. What I would really like is Loretta to use her influence with the DNC to get more arms and legs (and $$$) on the ground her in SoCal.
First and foremost: although we know about this annual event. Does anyone know who the go to person is to get the applications, etc? I have also heard that the expense is pretty hefty for a weekend. We have had the same issues and complaints regarding Tet. The OC Fair is the best deal in town.
Hence is the DPOC’s plan to professionalize and to do that, you have to pay someone what they are worth. As the third largest block of Democrats in the state, we need to do this. Alicia, I understand your frustration but I like the fact that Mike has no baggage. You and I and other possible candidates already have issues with the likes of “whatever”.
Let’s give Mike a chance to see what he can do. If successful, we may be in a better position to do what the grippers comlain about the DPOC not doing (Not that whatever would lift a finger – )
We need to stop attacking each other and turn that energy into helping our candidates.
BTW whatever. Have you volunteered or contributed… or are you only capable of throwing stinck bombs?
How does one go about determining the “worth” of a hire who has NO EXPERIENCE in this field?
Perhaps that is why he supposedly has no baggage.
Attending a handful of events in the last few months, writing a few checks, and forwarding emails does not qualify a person to direct a county party, in my opinion.
And the argument that the party did not know who to contact does not hold water. This ANNUAL event takes place a block from the HQ – How tough is it to pick up a phone and ask someone? Getting the info is a great intern project. It’s called being PRO-active.
As for the prohibitive cost, if the DPOC has the money to pay (an exorbitant amount, I’ve heard, but I’ll wait for the reports) for an Exec. Director, it should have the money for booths at every major community event in OC.
It’s called outreach.
Dan,
please refer to:
http://www.tray.com or http://www.fec.gov.
Denmother,
Mr. Levin may not have any “baggage” as you say, but that also gives him the opportunity leave after six months and not finish what he claims he will do.
There are those of us who have ties to this community and have done what we can in terms of volunteer recruitment, political outreach, etc. and without any encourangement from the party. More than anything I want this party to be great. I have been active with the party since 1997. I hope to high heaven that Mr. Levin will do a good job as our party deserves it. But I have seen his kind before. They leave when they have collected all the contacts they can, met all the appropriate people they need to meet and have supplied their resume with the fabulous job description they can use to get a better position later on.
Believe me, denmother I am hoping this is not just another climber. I will be keeping an eye on his progress, as will you.
Setting up brief meetings with local leaders does little good when they are merely requests for advice and contact lists. The people I’ve heard from are OFFENDED by this tactic, when the DPOC has done little for their struggling organizations.
And what has been the tangible RESULT from the “Make OC Blue” email to expand the monthly “Winners Circle” donors?
And my sources tell me that “whatever!” is a longtime donor, volunteer, and promoter of OC Dem activites.
To two anonymi:
There is a trunkload of work that can be done. I can’t wait to hear from either of you.
You are part of the solution or part of the problem.
“And my sources tell me that “whatever!” is a longtime donor, volunteer, and promoter of OC Dem activites.”
Okay, then… That could be practically any one of us!
Could we please end this ridiculous infighting?!
We’re never “gonna get nowhere” if we keep up with the circular firing squad. You can blame Loretta. You can blame the DPOC. Hell, you can blame me for this! However, this blame game ultimately accomplishes nothing!
So please, let’s move on! Let’s make sure this never happens again. Let’s make sure we’re at every big SA event now thru November, and let’s be the first ones to get a booth at next year’s SA Fiesta.
Now I don’t know about you, but I think that’s a good start for us! : )