With AD-72 done, we turn to a special election for the 4th District Supervisors Race

Congratulations to Assemblyman-elect Chris Norby, and don’t the let the door kick you in the butt on your way out of the County Office Building (and do try to stay for the entire meeting of every committee you’re on instead of bolting early). With Norby’s exit, a special election must be held to replace him and while Shawn Nelson will be the Republican choice, his weak record as a Fullerton Council member coupled with the middle class electorate of the 4th District means this seat is ripe for a progressive candidate – but which one.

Clerk-Recorder Tom Daly, Anaheim Council member Lorri Galloway and La Habra Council member Rose Espinoza are all candidates for this seat.  But three Democrats are two too many and uniting behind a single candidate is the only way this seat goes blue. 

Lorri Galloway (right) and friend at 2009 Truman Dinner (c) 2009, TheLiberalOC.com

All eyes are on Tom Daly to make a firm committment that he’s in the race to win or he’ll try to get re-elected to his Clerk-Recorder seat.  Technically, because the BoS seat is a special election, Daly might be able to run for both, but voters don’t like that sort of thing. Espinoza, who’s had an effective career as a council member in La Habra, trails in the money race.  Anaheim Council member Lorri Galloway maintains she has the strongest support when in comes to union rank-and-file families in her district and those families translate into votes. 

Any of these three excellent candidates would be superior to Nelson.  Which reflects well on the recruitment efforts undertaken by the DPOC years ago to develop a strong farm team.  It’s going to be a fun race to watch.

16 Comments

  1. Dan,

    The special election for the 4th District Supes seat will likely be held concurrently with the Supervisor Primary. If Daly were to run only in the special election to fill the remainder of Norby’s term, he would not be able to run in the general election for the full term. Daly’s only options are to run in both the special election and the primary for Supervisor, or run in the primary for Clerk-Recorder.

    • Chris is correct, Daly needs to choose a path and do it soon. County employee associates of mine tell me that Daly has openly indicated to those in the circles of the OC Clerk Recorders office that he will indeed be seeking another term as Clerk Recorder. It makes sense; by running for the OC Supes 4th at best he stands to split votes with Galloway, opening the door for the Republican – Nelsen to take it.

      Actually for Daly, the easier and more practical path is to run for Clerk Recorder. By challenging Galloway he has a fight and half on his hands and stands a chance of ending up out of office altogether.

      As in 2008, Galloway will be strongly supported by organized labor and grass root blue collar voters. In fact she’s received early endorsements from the Anaheim Firefighters, the Anaheim Municipal Employees and AFSCME. Also a fact is that Galloway in the Nov. 2008 election was the top vote getter in an astounding number of the Anaheim precincts in the OC Supes 4th; nearly 90% (Central/Colony and West Anaheim).

      In the last two years the Unions and the Dems have done a fantastic job of registering voters in the OC 4th; especially in Anaheim. This too works in Galloway’s favor, as the Unions and Dems worked hard to get the vote out in 2008 and those voters know Galloway and came out for her in a big way.

      Galloway has the best chance of winning the 4th and certainly I beleive she’s the best candidate.

  2. The key to a Dem victory in the 4th is voter turn out in Central and West Anaheim. Although Daly has ran here, Galloway has very recently cut her political teeth in these densely populated neighborhoods. Further, there are many Disney workers who live in the area who know Galloway by her name and face as she has been present (physically) throughout there battle.

    Just ask yourself two questions: (1) How long has it been since Daly reached out to voters in Central & West Anaheim in a competitive race ala the massive movement that was coordinated to turn out voters for Galloway in 2008? (2) How many voters in Anaheim were not living or underage when Daly was elected to his second term more than 10 years ago?

    If Labor leadership made the mistake of going with Daly, they would have to spend precious funds to undue the work they did for Galloway to, if possible, get the rank and file to go along with them. In what is set to be a difficult political environment in the coming years, this would be TERRIBLE for working famalies. Lets all hope they make the right choice.

  3. Daly is still wildly popular in Central and West Anaheim, as opposed to Galloway, who is despised for ramming social engineering programs into flatlands neighborhoods. Galloway’s special deals for developers who support her campaigns (or make donations to her charity with business before the City Council) have resulted in flatlands developments that are overly dense and underparked, creating more need for Code Enforcement and Police response. Folks in West and Central Anaheim know we can thank Lorri for these special deals that allow developers to destroy neighborhoods with their cut rate housing projects, and they will show their “appreciation” to Lorri at the polls. The number one thing I hear is people wish Galloway and Sidhu would have to resign their Council seats to run. Neither have shown they actually want the jobs they were just re-elected to. Daly is going to take this one.

  4. The above poster highlights why Lorri Galloway is the democratic choice and is best for working famalies…

    She is saying that Daly would oppose affordable housing, which is so badly needed to accommodate Anaheim’s heavy service sector.

    Further, when the poster above complains about dense population, what do you think her may concern is?

    • Actually Daniel, my objection is to low quality housing developments that line the pockets of Lorri’s donors while the neighborhoods go begging for improvements.

      • It is my belief, that such irrational sentiment is based upon a fear of minorities coming into “your” neighborhood. I really hope the people of this blog will come see the connection between you, redcounty, Tom Daly and a policy that is based upon a racist paranoia that is all to common in our history.

        • Daniel, my Colony neighborhood is already over 50% populated by immigrants, they are my neighbors, they are my friends, and I love my multi-cultural hometown. I routinely invite those immigrant neighbors into my home, we are a true community (and my husband is quite excited to be learning to make nopales and tamales that are the real deal, come for dinner sometime) How many non-English speaking affordable housing recipients do you think Lorri invited to her coffee hoot-nanny? Daniel you know nothing about me or my neighborhood, beyond driving through with your windows up and your doors locked on your way back to the Hills.
          My objection to Lorri has nothing to do with race, it has to do with watching her screw the working poor of this community by giving away their money on deals like the Elm Street project, where the developer big time banked on a 35% larger profit than other developers with the same DDAs. Galloway uses the money that should be going to Anaheim’s working poor to line the pockets of her buddies, and then goes out and claims to be their champion! It sickens me, and moving to a storefront and calling it home does not make my neighbors her “people”.

  5. Daniel-
    I reject the premise of your argument that Central and West Anaheim voters are the key to winning in Sup4.
    Furthermore, there is not an exceptionally high concentration of Disney workers who reside and vote in that area.
    And finally, I seriously doubt that these “many” Disney workers/residents/voters recognize Galloway by face and name as a part of “there [sic] battle.”
    You may WANT these things to be true, but you have no evidence to support any of your argument.

    • Great response Publius. It never ceases to amaze me how presumptious all the south county and hills folks are at times. They seem to think they are the experts on everything in Central OC and need to get elected to offices here to save us from ourselves. They think they are some sort of experts and know more about our own neighborhoods than we ever could, even though we have lived all our lives in the flat lands.

      Daniel, please lead us to the promised land. Us brown folks are doomed without your guidance. 😉

      • My statement were obvious and common sense. Neither of you factually contradicted any of them.

        And there is nothing more presumptuous than conceiving county politics as south county/hills v. central.

        Claudio, I am sure your heart is in the right place, but man please stop and think about what you are advocating…

  6. So what evidence is there to support the claim Daly is wildly popular?

    I am looking forward to reviewing the Q4-2009 financial reports on who raised the most money and how much of it came from within the district

  7. Did I make such a claim, Dan?
    You should take a refresher course on reading comprehension (as well as spelling and grammar).
    Money is certainly one sign of candidate strength, but there are many others.
    FYI – You can’t pay voters to care about where a candidate’s money comes from. For the most part, they are simply relieved that it’s not coming from the voter’s own pocket.

  8. Daniel asks: “How many voters in Anaheim were not living … when Daly was elected to his second term more than 10 years ago?”

    Answer: Zero

    All eligible voters were indeed living 10 years ago.

    • I love being quoted! It is clear I was referring to the large population of voters who moved into Anaheim or came to be of voting age since Daly last ran for mayor. Were you unable to grasp that?

      • No Daniel, you did not say how many were not living in Anaheim or old enough to vote. You said “Not living”, which means not born yet (or not conceived yet depending on your view) which indicates you think Daly was re-elected over 18 years ago. Splitting hairs I admit, but ignorance is an ugly track record for you.

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