Kang Crosses $200K Mark for SD-29

July 1, 2015 Uncategorized 28

Sukhee Kang

State Senate candidate Sukhee Kang, a Democrat from Fullerton running in SD-29, today announced his campaign has surpassed the $200,000 mark — 40 times more than the previous Democratic candidate in this race — as the only announced Democrat in the race.

Kang’s Republican challenger is State Rep. Ling Ling Chang,a  freshman state assembly representative in North Orange County.

Greg Diamond, who opposed Bob Huff in 2012, raised less than $5,000 in his race while garnering about 45% of the vote while not aggressively campaigning.  Kang is already walking neighborhoods in the district and has garnered a number of significant local and state endorsements.

Here’s the announcement:

KANG RAISES MORE THAN $200K IN SIX WEEKS

Democratic Senate Candidate Demonstrates his FundraisingProwess

FULLERTON – Democratic state Senate candidate Sukhee Kang announced today that his campaign has raised more than $200,000 in just the first six weeks. Kang announced his candidacy on April 22, and the first scheduled campaign fundraising event was held on May 16. Kang is running in the 29th Senate District, now held by Senate Minority Leader Bob Huff, who is term-limited next year.

“I am delighted and gratified that the response to my campaign for the Senate has been so tremendous in such a short period of time, “Kang said. “The positive reaction I am receiving from people all over the district just reinforces my belief that we can win this seat in 2016, especially because it is a presidential year. And I will leave no stone unturned to make sure we have the resources to be competitive and successful.”

“We put everyone on notice from the very beginning that Sukhee Kang’s campaign would be a full-bore effort, unlike any a Democrat has ever put forward in this seat or its earlier iterations,” added Garry South, principal of The Garry South Group and the chief strategist for the campaign. “The Republicans have already changed out candidates in this seat because of Sukhee’s entry into the race, and they should know that we intend to win.”

Kang previously ran successfully for Irvine City Council twice, and for mayor twice. In 2012, he was the Democratic candidate in Congressional District 45 against incumbent Republican Rep. John Campbell. In those five races – raising money under contribution limits far less than in the state Senate race – Kang raised more than $1.3 million dollars.

In the Senate race, Kang has won overwhelming support from fellow Democrats, including Sen. Kevin de León, the current president pro tempore and Democratic leader of the Senate, Sen. Bill Monning, Senate majority leader, and Sen. Connie Leyva, chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus.  In addition, four past presidents pro tem of the Senate have come out in support of Kang’s candidacy, as has the Asian and Pacific American Legislative Caucus and dozens of other state legislators and local officials throughout Orange and Los Angeles counties.

Kang was a two-term city councilmember in Irvine, as well as a two-term mayor of the city, reelected overwhelmingly in 2010 with more than 64 percent of the vote. He and his wife Joanne, also a South Korean native who immigrated to the U.S. with him in 1977, have been residents of Orange County for 38 years and now live in Fullerton.

Kang has been recognized numerous times for his outstanding public service and community leadership, including receiving the American Diabetes Association’s “Orange County Father of the Year Award” in 2012, the Carnegie Corporation’s “Pride of America” award in 2010, and the International Leadership Foundation’s “Public Servant of the Year” award in 2010.  The Irvine Chamber of Commerce also recognized Kang in 2010 as “Business Leader of the Year.”

A veteran, Kang served in the South Korean Army, then graduated from the prestigious Korea University with a degree in agricultural economics, and in 2011 was awarded an honorary doctorate from Dongseo University in Busan, Korea.  He also has served a special advisor to the chancellor of UC Irvine, and as an adjunct professor and Chancellor Fellow at Chapman University.

The Kang children, Alan, 34, and Angie, 32, attended public schools in Anaheim, where the Kang family lived for 10 years. Alan, a graduate of USC’s Marshall School of Business, is a manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Angie, a graduate of Berkeley Law School (Boalt Hall), is senior counsel at Hulu.

 

28 Comments

  1. I hope this doesn’t get censored because of my commentary, but, given the climate it would not surprise me. My comment is this:

    “Who cares if Sukhee Kang served in the Korean army. THAT MEANS ZERO TO ME. I don’t care if his wife went to Harvard or made love to a MARTIAN. If this guy is for real and can serve the district (that he recently moved into) than he should be a player”

    Is the best hope for Democrats in North OC is to draft this guy? MAYBE?

  2. As I recall, I raised about $13,000 for that race, meaning that Sukhee has raised about 15-16 times as much. Good for him.

    I’d ask why you keep lying about this, but we both know why you do.

    To the best of my knowledge, both Brett Murdock and Josh Newman have also announced plans to run, but maybe it takes the news a while to reach Irvine.

    • By the way, does that include an up to $100,000 loan to his own campaign — money that he can get back if he doesn’t spend it?

      I know that some might think it impolite to ask, but some of us are interested in facts — and a loan to one’s own campaign is different from “raising” money.

      So … maybe 7.5 times what I raised. Still pretty impressive.

      • The fact is he has significant money and endorsements to run a campaign and will work about 1,000 harder for the job than you did in 2012. Again, you didn’t file financial disclosure statements on your 2012 race which means you raised less than $5,000. Happy to report you to the FPPC but let’s be honest — you can’t afford the fine. Even at $100K, that’s 20X what you raised. And how many endorsements does he have that you didn’t get?

    • If you raised $13,000 for the race, then I believe you are in violation of the state disclosure laws on filing financial form disclosures. There’s no paperwork on your 2012 race filed with the SoS office. Better check with your campaign treasurer.

      • Don’t publish this one, Dan.

        I understand you’re a special kind of person, but take a good long hard look in the mirror tonight and ask yourself if this little swipe at Greg’s daughter was worth it.

        There’s a big difference between being aggressive and fighting for a cause and just flat out being a dick. Guess where this comment of yours lands.

        • Ryan, your opinion of me is none of my business. But this blog has railed against nepotism when Christina Shea hired her daughter to work in her office in Irvine city hall 15 years ago. We’ve criticized Dana Rohrabacher for using his wife as a campaign manager so a significant chunk of money he raises for Congressional runs goes into her bank account. The situation with Diamond’s adult step-daughter receiving campaign money for work done for his failed campaigns is the sort of thing Liberals should rail against. Additionoally, Mr. Diamond is uneven at best in disclosing conflicts when his step-daughter works on campaigns of candidates he writes favorably about and others — even of his own party — that he seeks to drag down. As the case in SD-29 where we have a leading Democratic candidate who has already raised 8X the reporting requirement for the race for the electronic filings. It’s hard to criticize others for a lack of transparency when Mr. Diamond is inconsistent at best when it comes to being transparent himself. And to have a candidate from our party capable of lending himself six figures to run for office is somehow a negative given the deep pockets the local Republican party has is a good thing for my side. I have yet to see any formal announcement from Mr. Murdock on a state senate run, but I’m sure he’ll continue getting good commentary from Mr. Diamond even though he’s a “Business Democrat.”

          Again, your opinion of me is none of my business and is none of my concern.

        • Considering the swipes you and the OJ boys take at Dan and his family, you ought to shut your pie hole Ryan

      • Indeed. You believe LOTS of things that are not true.

        Have you ever, you know, TALKED to a campaign treasurer about this before flinging about accusations like an enraged zoo monkey? (OK, what they fling isn’t “accusations” — but unlike your accusations it does have a tendency to stick.)

    • I’ve seen no formal announcement from either man; but perhaps you should start disclosing your step-daughter was Murdock’s campaign treasurer and that places you in a sort of an ethical quandary when writing about him.

      • Well, you’re not very plugged into North OC politics. Maybe that’s why you don’t know what’s going on here.

        I realize that you “don’t read our blog,” so perhaps there’s no way that you would know that I have disclosed that business relationship repeatedly. I don’t know if she still is his Treasurer or if she will be this year, though. That’s (literally) her business.

        As for Murdoch — you know how I feel about Business Democrats — but it’s nice to find an honest one with some willingness to stand up to shakedowns.

      • There IS a filing with the SOS, Chum. Let’s see if you can figure out how that can be true when you can’t find it online. It seems impossible … unless …

        Hint: It reflects a decision made by my Treasurer — NOT my daughter, who did not even work on my campaign — as to how to file the report.

        Your ignorance on the point is excusable; I had forgetten about this wrinkle in the FPPC’s regulations as well until my daughter reminded me of it. Your persisting in it despite my denials to you is less so. You may apologize when you’re emotionally ready to do so, if ever.

        • Fab; I’ll file a request for the record. Do you really think $13K for a state senate race is something to be proud of especially when you’re criticizing the current state senate candidate for raising six figures and garnering endorsements you’d dream of? One can only wonder at what unattainable office you’ll run for next

  3. To: Dan C.

    I know you won’t post this, but at least you will read it.

    You are a very angry man. The comments you post are sad. I don’t know what drives your anger, but you might want to consider seeking help.

    • Bob, our commenting policy is simple. If it’s related to the post and doesn’t use bad language and doesn’t libel anyone or if you don’t try to pretend you’re someone else, it goes up. I am not an angry guy. I always have a smile on my face. I have a great family, lots of friends, a great career and many interests. The only help I need right now is getting over a summer cold I managed to share with my family. Thanks for writing

      • For a happy guy you seem to go way out of your way to attack people personally, including trying to get them in trouble at their work.

        A man secure in his own worth would never have even responded to Mr. Portman, let alone enumerate all his own great good fortune.

          • Your part in that Pettibone episode was the act of a sad, angry, despicable person. That smile looks a bit like a grimace.

            About stalking people at work, I would say that once the “rumors” keep piling up you have to wonder what fire all that smoke is coming from.

        • There was also a rumor that I threatened to cut the brake lines on Harry Sidhu’s car; it was a comment posted on FFFF with someone using a variant of my last name and it earned me a visit from Anaheim PD. I’m not really a car guy and wouldn’t know where the brake lines are in a vehicle to actually cut them, but like I said, I don’t believe every rumor that’s printed about me.

  4. Is it true that the Dali Lamma told officials:

    “I am OK having my Birthday in OC………Just keep me away from that Greg Diamond. The guy doesn’t know when to shut-up”!

    THAT WAS A JOKE AND AN OBVIOUS DEPARTURE FROM MY COMMITTMENT TO STOP TEASING THIS GUY. But, man what an easy target.

    Could you imagine what good he could do if he would learn some humility?

Comments are closed.