Former Anaheim Council member Lorri Galloway has decided to throw her hat into the ring and challenge conservative Republican Mayor Tom Tait in the 2014 election. The official story in Frank Mickadeit’s column hit online Halloween night but OC Weekly broke the news — with sources from the Register — Halloween morning.
Gustavo Arellano writes:
“…she’s already telling them that she believes she can win, viewing current Anaheim mayor Tom Tait as a lame duck who has little support from conservatives in the city and thinking she can peel off the liberals and progressives who have stood by Tait as he has emerged as the lone council voice against the Curt Pringle machine that rules the city. The move will shatter the strange alliance that has coalesced around Tait, and probably ensure that whoever Pringle gets to run against Tait and Galloway will win.
Her move is not universally loved by progressive activists who have sided with Tait, and must now publicly distance themselves from him once the unions start filing behind Galloway. Ooh, this is going to be fun!”
Galloway can win and here’s how.
It begins and ends with Tait being a weak mayor. Name another Republican mayor with a Republican council majority in Orange County that doesn’t follow his every whim? Tait can’t control the clown car of former jail birds, underemployed finger puppeteers, and bigoted non-profit spokesholes that make up his loudest supporters. The Pringle Jingles are not universally loved either. Anaheim has changed enough to move more to the left. If Council member Kris Murray is as disliked as Tait supporters say, then perhaps a good Democratic candidate can knock her out too giving a Galloway-lead city council a 3-2 majority.
Tait is on the short end of a 4-1 council majority and can’t get a thing done. Galloway was at the short end of a 4-1 majority for most of her time on the council and has a long record of accomplishment. In fact, even though she’s been out of office since December, her phone rings every night with Anaheim residents seeking her help. Galloway continues to offer it.
“What people have seen in the last 18 months is a city on the cusp of change,” Galloway tells the LiberalOC. “The city, for years, has progressed to the point where it is now. This is a working class city that feels very disconnected to City Hall and the City Council. In the very public things the city has done over the last year has alienated our leaders from the base of residents in the city. Anaheim is working class families and I’m running for Mayor because City Hall just is only listening to a select few.”
Arellano cites Galloway’s 2010 race for County Board of Supervisor as an example of hubris (which he certainly would know), but it would be a mistake to judge Galloway by that race alone. As a candidate for city council in 2004 and 2008, with more than 10 candidates running for open seats, Galloway was the top of the ticket garnering the most votes in every precinct west of the 57 freeway in both races including the very conservative Colony district. It’s believed Disney threw a ton of cash for candidates running against her in 2008 but Disney’s cash doesn’t beat well-informed voters. Galloway’s signature issue in 2008: affordable housing.
Galloway made a name for herself by running The Eli Home, which has helped abused children and shattered families for more than 30 years. Simply put, she and her family and staff have helped thousands of people at the lowest point of their lives.
“My campaign is about building a new sense of community in Anaheim and a new sense of family,” she said. “I want to inspire our residents to make the changes we need in Anaheim. I go into this race with my strong faith, the support of my family and friends, and my desire to continue doing the sort of public service I have demonstrated for more than 30 years. I love this city. I love this community. I still have a lot to offer and a lot to give.”
If Galloway wins, she will be the first female mayor in the city’s history and the first person of color to wield the gavel.
I think you are correct about Lorri’s ability to win. However, It will be interesting to see if a Democrat steps up to run for Anaheim City Council. Especially since three elected Anaheim Democrats (Correa, Daly, & Brandman) have already endorsed Gail Eastman.
Galloway could have ran for council alongside the Mayor, beat Murray, and brought Anaheim closer to a reasonable governing majority.
But no, she told Mayor Tait that HE should run for council and support HER for Mayor. What PRIDE from Galloway, who wraps herself in the Christian faith.
For her vainglory, the people of Anaheim, working families above all, will suffer.
Voters will see her blind ambition. They will see that she has stabbed her friend and ally in the back. Galloway will lose and her career will be over.
Before Dems and labor get behind Galloway, they should recall what she once preached to them….
From: Lorri Galloway
Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2006 11:01 AM
Subject: RE: Mistaken Identity
To My Dear Friends:
The reason that I cannot endorse Lou Correa is tied to the core of my being and to what I’ve dedicated my life’s work. Baby Samantha Rose Gutierrez was brutally beaten and starved to death because the system totally failed her. Agencies that were created to protect her did not share information, hid information or were not adequately trained to detect child abuse. The system was broken. I made an appointment with Lou in Sacramento to seek support or at least some advice as to what could possibly be done or who I could talk to. When I met him in Sacramento, he abruptly told me that he had no time for this, he was not interested in it and he was too busy fighting the goddamn Republicans to talk to me. To me, Samantha is mine. No one was there for her. We buried her. We cried for her. I attended every court hearing that mentioned her name when her own mother was convicted of her death. I still kneel at her grave. If any of you had a murdered child and Lou told you what he told me, I doubt any of you would rush to his support.
Now, the other issue is my support of Lynn Daucher. I am politically savvy enough to know what her victory could mean to the now Democratic held seat. I am so disappointed that our party does not have a candidate that I can endorse. However, more than anything, I measure candidates on the quality of their character and the integrity of their intent. I have spoken often with Lynn regarding her views. I have told her that her constituents in the 72nd and their issues are completely different than the issues of the 34th. She has assured me that she understands this and that her door will always be open to me to help her understand what is important to all of us, especially the poor, the needy, the underserved and the disenfranchised. She is one that I believe will treat all with dignity and respect.
No one knows what the future holds, but I do know that I am at peace with my decision and hope that you will all come to understand it someday.
With deep respect,
Lorri Galloway
You claim two opinions as fact: 1) That Galloway would beat Murray and 2) That Tait would beat Galloway and “her career will be over.” We will know for sure a little over a year from now, but please refrain from making such definitive pronouncements. Also, I seriously doubt that “working families will suffer” if Galloway is elected. Now, if you have polling data or a research study that can back up your claims, please share them with us.
Re your second comment. Democrats and Labor will most certainly get behind Lorri’s campaign. She is a progressive Democrat who has 8 years of experience on the City Council as a voice for the people.
Unfortunately, Mayor Tait doesn’t have any sizable base to appeal to. He cozied up to labor and then signed on to a pension reform platform that labor opposes, so bye-bye labor. He bit the hands (Pringle, et al) that fed him (got him elected in the first place) by opposing their pet projects, so, bye-bye Chamber of Commerce, Pringle, and their money machine. Who’s left?
Unfortunately, In order to be mayor you’ve got to pony up some serious $$$ to win. With these two giant spigots turned off, do you think the grass-roots will fill the $500,000 void? Seems unlikely to me.
I Iike Mayor Tait personally. He is a really nice guy and we work well together. However, he has been less than effective in articulating his positions and advancing his agenda. Additionally: He never endorses Democrats (even those he agrees with) so why should this Democrat endorse him? Especially a conservative Libertarian?
Re: Lorri should run because might makes right
First off, hello Lorri! Its nice to hear the actual argument for your candidacy, as oppose to the ‘people love me and I will part the seas’ version. Anyway…
The Mayor can raise enough money. The Mayor is a popular incumbent with better name ID. (See Galloway’s HUGE loss when she ran for Sup.) Lastly, Kring will run, so the woman advantage will be split.
Most important, with districts and all the drama as of late, the people are paying more attention than ever. And while its clear this is not a factor considered by the Galloway camp, right v. wrong will enter into the equation.
Might makes right is not the argument. Hence, the “unfortunately” before it. Again, unfortunately, money in campaigns is a big factor. That is not “might makes right” it is pragmatism.
You claim the current mayor can raise enough money. We will see. FPPC documents will bear that out and I’ll be checking them periodically, as I am wont to do. As far as being a popular incumbent goes, again… Poll Numbers?
The politics re: running for Supervisor vs. Council was already addressed in the main article.
I would also challenge the notion that Tait has better name recognition than Galloway. But, it’s just speculation because neither of us have the data. As far as Kring splitting the women vote: I think you are generalizing. Women are as politically savvy as anyone else. They will not split their votes. They will vote for the candidate that best mirrors their values. In my opinion: Advantage Galloway on that one. Esp. since Kring has been siding with Murray and Eastman lately.
Districts won’t be a factor because (as stated above) in BOTH of her last two elections for City Council, Lorri came in FIRST place in EVERY PRECINCT west of the 57. However it’s divided up, I don’t see that changing.
I did not say split the woman vote, I said split the woman advantage. As Mr. Practical you should be aware of that factor.
I said that districts were an issue as they are creating more interest in local affairs. But because you bring it up, anyone favoring districts should be saddened by Galloway’s move because she is seeking to remove the ONLY VOTE for districts. The truth is that Galloway thinks the city will win the lawsuit re: districts and has no real interest in the issue.
And Mr. Practical, if Lorri is really so pained over her running against her former friend and ally (ponying up the tears), shouldn’t she have the poll numbers to convince us of her of victory? Or a plan for what she will do in office? She has neither. This is exactly what Pringle and Disney want….
“split the women vote” vs. “split the women advantage” is a distinction without a difference.
Actually Brandman also voted for real districts. So that would be 2 votes not 1.
I think it’s a pretty good assumption that the city will lose the lawsuit.
To assume that Lorri has no interest in districts is presumptuous. I have spoken to her about this and can say that you are wrong.
As for your final paragraph: Can you source your claims? I think Lorri’s track record of winning CIty Council elections might have played a part in her thinking she could win this time. That seems like pretty good polling to me. Especially since it can be verified that she, you know, actually WON twice in a row.
Again, you seem to be privy to a whole lot of information about Lorri. You know for sure that she doesn’t have a plan, huh? I can’t wait to see you get evidence to prove that negative.
I know it goes without saying, but using snarky appellations to describe your debate partner typically shows childishness and weakens your overall argument.
If it is a pretty good assumption that the issue of districts will be decided by the council (referendum being an expensive sham) and not the courts. Then it follows that a vote for Mayor Galloway is a vote against real districts. Best case scenario: votes for real districts does not change. Worse case scenario: real districts lose a vote. No, she does not really care about districts.
As to stabbing her friend in the back and risking swinging Anaheim further in the wrong direction, one would think she’d have a plan. She was pressed on this point when she announced and she replied: “By virtue of who I am, I can change the dynamic on the City Council.”
What could change the minds of the current majority? Why didn’t she change the dynamic when she was on council? Has she since transformed into Jesus Christ?
I am just asking: What could she possibly be thinking with respect to what she hopes to accomplish? Why risk going backward?
There is no real answer; only that she wants to be Mayor.
What you leave out of this story is that Galloway and Pringle have had a good working relationship since she has been on the council. The reason is that although Galloway is a liberal, she supports projects that build more housing for poor people, without really worrying about density and she supports using tax dollars to bring businesses into the city if she thinks they will create jobs for low and middle income families. That is different than the Mayor who is a protect the neighborhoods elected official, but it is okay with Pringle who represents developers.
“Hubris” is living in Irvine and thinking you know anything about Anaheim politics. Galloway, like Los Amigos, was a Pringle pal…until she wasn’t. Just like the Bloviator, Dan: I was there; you, your pally-wally Matty, and all these other Johnny-come-latelys weren’t.
Hubris is you living in Santa Ana thinking you know anything about Irvine politics. Or you writing about baseball. Both are amusing. I do like your restaurant recommendations though.
“…your pally-wally Matty, and all these other Johnny-come-latelys weren’t.
I was there and am still there. I have forgotten more about Orange County politics than you will ever know, Gustavo.
I was never there …. just an FYI.
Me, I am going with Dan and Santoianni on this one, because this is the LiberalOC and I understand the audience,. So if the Democrats think that Galloway taking on a wildly popular incumbent Mayor is where they want to put time, money, energy, and partisan resources, then by all means, please, please, knock yourselves out backing Galloway. Really, how can I encourage more of this? Because every nickel spent on Lorri’s losing suicide mission is money not spent on races a lot closer to the Dem/Reep line of battle, so yes, I agree with Dan and John and I encourage all Democrats in the County to please focus on this one election campaign, disregard all reports of Lorri failing to maintain her Mayor Pro Tem title with the same people she now claims she can work with. Really, forget her pathetic failure to collect signatures even with the help of union seed money backing a ballot petition that nearly signed itself it resonated so well with voters, and please, please, focus your energies on Anaheim and the liberal attempt to unseat the incumbent whose only shortcoming is so inside baseball that the average voter has no knowledge of it. Yep, go Dan! Keep up the good work, Team Blue.
No kidding Daniel. We seem to remember you losing your sh_t when a former blogger wrote about it.
https://theliberaloc.com/2009/09/24/a-tale-of-four-democrats-episode-3-revenge-of-the-eli/
Cynthia: I’m not advocating focusing on this one particular race. It just happens to be the topic of this thread.
The pro-tem and garden walk signature issues are also way too inside baseball for anyone to care about. As is putting Jimmy Choos in a time capsule. (Actually I kinda liked that. Fashion is a form of communication after all and lord knows we could use more beautiful things in the world. That’s a nice statement to make. Heavy? No. But not horrible either.).
It will all boil down to who runs a better campaign. I still need some hard evidence that Tait is WILDLY popular. Popular? Sure. Wildly popular? I don’t know.
Matty: The amount of stuff you know about OC politics could fit into a thimble, which just happens to be the size of your ethics.
Dan: Just because you say you know about baseball doesn’t make you an expert. And just because you live in Irvine doesn’t make you an authority on the city’s politics. But keep pretending you know anything more than what your pals tell you to write!
RE: Consisteny
Truth is, I stuck up for Lorri all those years ago because I bought into her rhetoric. But a man changes a lot in his twenties. Things like fighting through a competitive law school and surviving a pitiful job market will bring on a different perspective.
Today, when Lorri talks of leading Anaheim to the ‘progressive promise land’, all I hear is bs bs bs.
Irrespective of party, the only way to improve people’s situation is to have a plan and a majority; Lorri, by virtue of who she is, will never have either.
Nobody tells me what to write. And I’ve never claimed to be a baseball expert but it doesn’t take one to know you have a limited grasp of what happens between the foul lines. Maybe Tom Leykis can teach you.
Cynthia, Lorri was well on her way to getting those signatures until officials told h she needed more. And Tait is hardly a wildly popular incumbent mayor. He’s weak. He’s indecisive. And he’s very beatable. Since I won’t post comments at OJ since they are so good at cutting and pasting what I write here, I fail to see why it’s so hard for Vern to understand how I can support both Galloway and Brandman. Both are Democrats. What I don’t understand is how Mr.Diamond, a DPOC officer, is still so supportive of Tait to encourage people not to bad mouth either Galloway or Tait. Zenger suggests Galloway faked an address to run for Sup. nope. I was in the house for dinner. Family portraits on the walls, lots of touches of home. The Galloways lived in the house. I fail to see how Zenger can whine about any taxpayer plan while failing to explain how he’s worth $1 million of taxpayer money in his unwarranted lawsuit against the county. Wonder if he’ll bk when he loses and the county makes him pay legal fees.
Dan which of her temporary addresses do you refer to here? The one at Lincoln and East? or the one on Center? You may recall she initially claimed to live at the LeDuc House, a wonderful old Craftsman home on Lincoln at East Street, owned by Bill Taormina, a property I am very familiar with because I did the rehab on it for Bill, (full disclosure) when we TURNED IT INTO AN OFFICE. Indeed I do not recall installing laundry hookups, are you telling me Galloway went to a laundromat? When her new address was outed as being zoned commercial office space she then went to another Taormina property on Center Street, and I can tell you that any designer (or imaginative candidate) can stage a home. Did she bring her furniture from Solomon? Or was it already furnished by Bill? Family photos are easy enough to place. Dan I live in this neighborhood, I have friends here (despite the comments at Matt’s claiming “everyone” hates me) and at the time they reported they had NEVER seen her spend the night, Someone would stop by during the day now and then, but there was no sign of life otherwise, no Bella barking at the mailman, no glow of the TV for Tonight Show before bed, nobody picking up the Register or Times from the driveway trying to hide bed-head and a bathrobe at 6 am no sign of the usual trappings of “someone lives here for real.”
I can even get past that, it is the smaller of my issues with her. I will be going over her voting records, I have some files already, files I was hoping to never use again, let’s see where her grand visionary leadership has been hiding because I have not quite seen it exhibited despite 2 previous terms on Council.
Ooops, I mean, by all means if this is where you want to spend your focus instead of backing a real candidate who offers a real threat to Republicans elsewhere, go for it, thumbs up, really. Great idea.
You tease me Cynthia! Who is the real Democratic candidate you speak of that “offers a real threat to Republicans elsewhere”? I can understand if you want to withhold. No sense in tipping your hand to the opposition. But, inquiring minds do want to know. 🙂
Cynthia,
I dug up a couple of Lorri’s old votes. You might like them:
June 21, 2007
LA Times
http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jun/21/local/me-ocbriefs21
The City Council voted 3 to 2 Tuesday night to continue funding the city’s Chamber of Commerce. Council members Lorri Galloway and Bob Hernandez voted against allocating $150,000 to the nonprofit group for the next fiscal year.
August 12, 2008
OC Register
http://www.ocregister.com/news/city-79974-chamber-contract.html
The City Council voted 3-2 Tuesday night to approve an annual contract with the Chamber of Commerce to pay for annual events and city promotional services.
Last year’s contract included a couple of $17,000 dinners for groups of business leaders and city officials – a point of contention for [Lorri Galloway and Bob Hernandez].
I don’t have attribution, but I do believe that she also negotiated a deal with the council majority she served with to gradually eliminate city funding for the chamber over a set period of time. I’m sure that took some doing. I need to dig up that one, though. I remember it because it surprised me at the time that such a thing could actually get passed.
For what it’s worth….
John, those votes provide invaluable insight into how Lorri thinks about legislation.
Here we find the origin of Lorri’s “philosophical belief that the city should not be subsidizing private business.” But we all know that the votes against the Chamber had nothing to do with her philosophy, and everything to do with her pet affordable housing project. (See http://articles.latimes.com/2007/apr/12/local/me-disney12).
Lorri was unable to get what she wanted, and instead finding a different place for affordable housing, she opted for a ‘screw-off and die’ strategy directed at anyone who opposed her. The affordable housing project nevertheless went nowhere and she has accomplished little else since. Her “philosophy” was blatant pretext that was fed to her by her conservative consultants.
Worse, she forced the hand of every liberal activist group and union into a all-out battle with the Chamber folks, which polarized city politics and ultimately solidified Pringle’s dominant position. Other than HER reelection, this struggle has been a fruitless.
Of course, working families and their representatives have suffered the most from being LED down this path of ruin, but, no one has benefited. (Exception: Pringle). Lorri has indeed showed much leadership, but for the love of god, Anaheim can not take anymore of it.
Lou Correa is not a real Democrat. Not even close.