I was unable to attend Lorri Galloway’s kick off event the first full week of June due to a trade show, but her campaign forwarded her remarks for posting and just below this commentary, you’ll find them. These remarks are from her first fundraiser kickoff.
For other candidates out on the trail, I’m happy to post your prepared comments as well. Just send them to me at dchm@cox.net as a Word file (easier to cut and paste) and I’m happy to publish for you. And this includes Ashleigh Aitken who is running for Anaheim Mayor along with Ms. Galloway. It’s unclear if Republicans will even offer up a candidate, but we are hearing whispers of some possible candidates weighing a bid.
Here are Galloway’s remarks:
When I was first elected to the Anaheim City Council in 2004, if someone said the word “cabal”, I would have thought it was a city in the Middle East. I was the only female among four men who inducted me onto the council using the “Mushroom Method” – kept me in the dark and fed me a lot of crap.
Nevertheless, I found my way and I found my voice. Eight years later, I made my mark by leaving the city better than how I found it.
I left with a reputation of being able to reach across the aisle to get things done and of being fair and honest.
There is at least a two-year learning curve to understand the dynamics of how an influential city such as Anaheim operates with a multi-billion dollar budget, many departments and thousands of employees. The other candidate for Mayor, Ashleigh Aitken, has never been elected to public office and has no governmental leadership experience, yet she thinks she’s qualified to have the top office of this city.
Her wealthy father helped to bankroll her multi-million dollar campaign, which has more outside special interest money than anyone, even Harry Sidhu. We don’t need anymore people of wealth and privilege who think they can skip all the steps, move to the top of the line, and buy this election.
I am excited about running a transparent campaign and I’m looking forward to something novel in politics – being a transparent leader. I do what I say and say what I do. Too many politicians place political correctness ahead of transparency which I believe can lead to ineffectiveness.
I was an orphan at the age of 10. My mother died from breast cancer when I was 5 and my father died in a sporting accident when I was 10. I became a ward of the Monterey County court in my teens, not because of something that I did wrong, but because of what was done to me. It was for my own protection. My husband Mike and I married at 17 years old, right out of high school and headed to Southern California to start a new life looking at our old life in the rear view mirror. We went to college with a clear vision of success. Things seemed to come easy for us. In our early 20’s we had a home in Anaheim Hills and at the same time a beach home overlooking the ocean in San Clemente and drove a Porsche.
We had enough money to buy a bowling alley in Garden Grove. We, of course, did our homework and the business was making money. We were looking forward to it being the first of many future acquisitions. What we didn’t know was that the profit of the business came from LGBT leagues. It was the late 70’s and that kind of business was kept secret. But they were the kindest, most generous people and very grateful for our acceptance. We had wonderful new friends and we were introduced to world we didn’t know existed.
Then the AIDS pandemic hit in the early 80’s and, if you recall, gay people were blamed for all of it and hatred for them was at the highest level. They left for their own safety and we were left with a failed business. We were about to lose everything. We sought advice from anyone we could. Failure just wasn’t in our trajectory plans.
We found our way back to church and found our faith. A pastor told us about bankruptcy being the best option for us because we were still so young and we could start all over again instead of spending the next 10 or 15 years trying to keep things together.
Bankruptcy was the last thing we wanted, but turned out to be the best thing for us because it brought us to understand what the destiny of our lives would be. The Eli Home for Abused Children was founded shortly afterwards. The Eli Home is now in its 39th year of operation and over 43,000 children and families later, there are no regrets.
I have lived a destined life. Everything that has happened in my life brings me to this place, this space, and this time. There is no one better than me to be the next mayor of the Great City of Anaheim. It’s now my time. I will serve faithfully, with all of my heart and with all that I am. I humbly ask for your support.