On Monday, the Democratic Party of Orange County (DPOC) announced endorsements in various elections for this fall and not without some fireworks. It takes 60 percent of the vote to earn an official party endorsement. The two most interesting events were around a non-endorsement in the Santa Ana Mayor’s race and a “robust” discussion about endorsing the candidacy of Lorri Galloway for Anaheim Mayor.
For Santa Ana, officially, there was no endorsement. But council member Roman Reyna came within two votes of getting the party’s endorsement. Santa Ana Council members David Benevides and Michele Martinez spoke passionately on Reyna’s behalf. Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido brought out his heavy guns in the form of former party executive director Frank Barbaro and Irvine Councilman and longtime friend Larry Agran to speak on the Mayor’s behalf. Benevides urged Barbara to enjoy his retirement and said it was time for a change; Martinez suggested Pulido’s legal investigation might mean the Mayor wouldn’t serve his entire term if elected. And that’s as about as kindly as I can place her remarks for now. But Reyna clearly has some serious momentum headed to November with an energized youth GOTV effort and the ability to shed blog rumors about his education and background like a duck repels water.
The party firmly endorsed Lorri Galloway for Mayor. Galloway, who has never lost a race for Anaheim city council, got a rounding endorsement from Party chair Henry Vandermeir and a round of applause from the assembled members. Galloway had to withstand a challenge from ousted Party North Vice Chair Greg Diamond, who all but confirmed a de facto endorsement of Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait by referring to Galloway as “not a viable candidate” and suggesting the real race was between Lucille Kring and Tait and Diamond practically asked Galloway to step aside. The only problem with Diamond’s argument is that the DPOC should be in the business of backing and supporting Democratic candidates for office — not Republicans with a strong track record of being anti-union, anti-labor, hypocritical on votes that affect his city but not his business. Tait and Kring have been beating each other bloody while Galloway raises money, walks neighborhoods and talks to voters. Galloway has a proven ability to compromise on issues where Tait won’t and can’t. Galloway’s endorsement was further evidence that the DPOC did the right thing in ousting Diamond from his leadership post months ago. You cannot walk into the DPOC and advocate for a Republican candidate and expect to win. And Diamond further tarnishes his own reputation with Party members who still had the class to endorse him for a water district race he’s ill-equipped to handle even if elected.
Dr. Jose Moreno, a newly-minted Democratic who backed Republican Tait for Mayor in Anaheim, also secured the party endorsement for Anaheim City Council.
Before we list all of the DPOC endorsements, we offer our congratulations to all candidates and will remind them this blog is a great place to advertise your Democratic, Progressive and Liberal views to voters and we welcome your online ads for the remainder of the election cycle (yes, it’s a shameless plug). Your ad supports our hosting fees, technology and system upgrades and allows us to pay our taxes on time. Please contact me or Chris Prevatt to place your ad as soon as you can. Ask for a deal……
Here’s the complete list of endorsements:
School Districts
Anaheim City School District: David Robert Heywood, Jeff Cole, Ryan Ruelas
Anaheim Union High School District Area 1: Al Jabbar
Capistrano Unified School District Area 6 : Gila Jones
Centralia School District: Art Montez, Connor Traut
Coast Community College District Area 5: Joel Flores
Cypress City School District: Steve Blount
Fullerton Joint Union School District: Joanne Fawley
Huntington Beach Joint Union School District: Bonnie Castrey, Kathleen Iverson
La Habra City School District: Cynthia Aguirre, Ida MacMurray
Newport Mesa Unified School District Area 7: Fidel Mora
Orange Unified School District Area 5: Florice Hoffman
Rancho Santiago Unified School District Area 4: Lawrence Labrado
Santa Ana Unified School District: John Palacio, Valerie Amezcua
City Council/Mayor
Anaheim City Council: Jose F. Moreno
Anaheim Mayor: Lorri Galloway
Buena Park City Council: Greg Ferguson
Costa Mesa City Council: Katrina Foley, Jay Humphrey
Fullerton City Council: Doug Chaffee
Garden Grove City Council: Kris Beard, Quang “Mike” Tran
Garden Grove Mayor: Bao Nguyen
Irvine City Council: Larry Agran, Melissa Fox
Irvine Mayor: Mary Ann Gaido
Laguna Beach City Council: Toni Iseman
Santa Ana City Council Ward 2: Michele Martinez
Santa Ana City Council Ward 4: David Benavides
Santa Ana City Council Ward 6: Sal Tinajero
Stanton City Council: Kevin Carr
Tustin City Council: Rebecca Gomez
Other
Municipal Water District of Orange County Area 1: Greg Diamond
Municipal Water DIstrict of Orange County Area 5: Ron Varasteh