Hot off the press: Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez issued a formal endorsement for Jose Solorio as her choice in the 34th State Senate District. Sanchez’s endorsement is key in the district which includes a large portion of Congresswoman Sanchez’s district. Congresswoman Sanchez’s district includes all or parts of Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Anaheim and Orange.
“I’m supporting Jose Solorio because we both believe in fighting to protect everyone’s right to a good education. Jose and I believe that higher education should be a real option for all students. As a State Assemblyman, he wrote laws to help eliminate price-gouging on school textbooks. He also fought to protect $35 million for local schools and championed efforts to cut college tuition up to 40% for middle-class families,” says Congresswoman Sanchez. “I recently introduced the ‘Middle Class Chance Act’ to combat increasing college costs by helping students pay for college with a strengthened Pell Grant.”
Sanchez adds, “Everyone should be able to reach the American dream of accessing quality and affordable higher education. I am proud that we have that shared goal and I wholeheartedly support Jose Solorio for State Senate.”
“I’m proud to have the endorsement of Congresswoman Sanchez. She’s always advocated for the needs of students and working families in Central Orange County,” says Solorio. “She also brings fresh energy to everything she backs, and I’m excited to have her as part of Team Solorio as we get-out-the-vote this November.”
The 34th district includes all or parts of the communities of Anaheim, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Long Beach, Los Alamitos, Midway City, Rossmoor, Santa Ana, Seal Beach and Westminster.
Jose Solorio is the President of the Board of Trustees for the Rancho Santiago Community College District, which oversees Santa Ana College and Santiago Canyon College, and represents 700,000 residents in the cities of Anaheim, Garden Grove, Irvine, Orange, Santa Ana, Tustin, and Villa Park. Prior to that, he represented the cities of Anaheim, Garden Grove and Santa Ana in the State Assembly for six years. He holds a bachelor’s degree from UC Irvine and a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University. To learn more about Jose Solorio and his State Senate Campaign, please visit Facebook.com/Solorio4California, Twitter.com/JoseSolorio, and SolorioForSenate.com.
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Wow. Just wow.
Kidding.
The only news here is that Loretta Sanchez’s endorsement of Mr. Solorio comes 7 weeks before the General Election. As the De Facto leader of the Orange County Democratic party by both Seniority and position, it is says a lot that it took this long to endorse Mr. Solorio, especially as he has been the sole Democrat running for the 34th.
This is likely a last minute attempt to shore up a badly needed base which Mr. Solorio alienated long ago. This is ironically reflected in Mr. Solorio’s comment that Ms. Sanchez “brings fresh energy to everything she backs”. That is something the Solorio campaign has lacked from its inception.
I miss when Loretta used to come to our 4th of July Huntington Beach parade and dance along with the Democrats’ float. She does indeed “bring fresh energy.” (No irony intended!)
BFD.
At tonight’s Truman Awards dinner, Mr. Solorio’s reception underscored the concerns I previously raised regarding Mr Solorio’s candidacy. While Sharon Quirk-Silva received a rousing, extended standing ovation, Mr. Solorio received a very mixed response. I spoke with multiple people throughout the room who were not politicos to get an unbiased perspective on his reception. Each person responded with the same word, interestingly enough: Tepid. In past posts, I have expressed the opinion that Mr. Solorio has so splintered and alienated the base that he needs to win in the redrawn 34th that I fear he has no chance of prevailing against Ms. Nguyen. This will be a tragedy, as the cost will be both the hopes for a democratic supermajority and the loss of a Senate seat held for 16 years by the democrats. A tremendous amount of money and resources will be spent on Mr. Solorio which would be better spent focusing on ensuring Ms. Quirk’s ongoing success. The silver lining is that it will allow a reexamination of the qualities and values of democratic party candidates in Orange County. Should we continue down the path of candidates like Mr. Solorio, we will compromise and risk the gains we have made in the past 16 years.
I thought Jose gave a fine speech; I think everyone was hungry and the “tepid” response had more to do with empty tummies than his candidacy. He is a vastly superior candidate to Janet Nguyen period.
Also, the timing of Loretta’s announcement has more to do with mindshare for the voters. Was there any real doubt she’d endorse him?
In my opinion, Ms. Nguyen is so deeply in bed with private interests that she has abandoned any semblance of public policy dor personal and business profit. I am confident if elected she would propose and advocate legislation that would be very bad for the State of California . She would have as much chance of passing such legislation as Todd Spitzer or Diane Harkey: None.
Sadly, I am of the same opinion regarding Mr. Solorio. If he in fact is elected, he will be have the leverage as the supermajority vote to push through very harmful legislation, and worse, he is likely to leverage a committee seat I which he can trade favors for donations which, in my personal opinion, is what he has done in the past for personal gain and to undermine progressive bills. This is the nature of his past committee work as an Assemblyman, as well as the reason he has a Labor rating for committee votes below that of many Republicans (40%) while he boasts of his floor rating as “100% labor”. When the record is examined, he often holds his vote until after passage, as he wants to avoid being the deciding vote. This is what many leaders in Labor know, and why he has such a different relationship and reputation amongst different factions of labor, and statewide labor (or national, for that matter) vs. local membership. Much is based upon an understanding of how he operates, and sadly those who are aware of his machinations and modus operandi as a legislative leader are not fans. Similarly, many of his colleagues in Sacramento feel the same way.
I anticipate you will counter with “but he has all the labor endorsements and money contributions. ” He has. Did you think they would go to Ms. Nguyen, essentially an openly sworn enemy of Labor? Similarly, you may raise the point of monetary and logistical support from the party. This is no surprise: they are fighting for a supermajority. They believe it will make all the difference, forgetting President Obama’s supermajority in his first two years.
Ms. Nguyen will be impotent: Mr. Solorio will be dangerous, and not in a progressive way, but in a legislation as personal advancement way. Compromise for personal power, not policy integrity: that is Mr. Solorio’s reputation and legacy. I believe it will die off this election.
Returning to the Truman Dinner, Mr. Solorio followed Ms. Quirk-Silva directly. Your explanation for the tepid response he received is not explained by the delay in getting food out; Unless you think the crowd used up all its energy with extended standing ovation they bestowed upon Ms. Quirk-Silva immediately prior. The crowd simply wasn’t that old, and remember, this is the big Democratic Event of the year in OC.
Solario is a weasel.
Horay for the Tag Tax Team. Liberal leaches.
what has loretta sanchez done in 20 year? someone please tell what she’s done.
same with Jose.