Our choice in CA-47

I’ve spent some time reviewing previous coverage in this blog of candidates who “carpetbagged” – moved into a district in order to pursue a higher office.  And we’ve been pretty consistent in not being a fan of it, because so many Republicans do it all the time (Michelle Steel, Young Kim, Mimi Walters).  The exception to the rule is a candidate who represents most of the constituents in another elective office but moved to run for higher office.

This was true of then-Anaheim council member Lorri Galloway’s rental home in Anaheim’s Colony neighborhood, which was fully moved in.  And even then-Irvine council member Steven Choi’s 2010 move into a one-bedroom apartment in Irvine’s Woodbridge neighborhood from a spacious home in Woodbury was understandable until you realize he and his wife and two adult children were not living there. There were folding chairs for furniture and there were signs he had not moved out of his lovely Woodbury home.  Then, Tustin Mayor and Assembly candidate Jerry Amante used our post to file a voter registration fraud case against Choi.

When Mimi Walters ran for State Senate in 2012, she rented a 575-square foot studio apartment in Irvine.  Her Democratic opponent, Steve Young, sent Walters a floral arrangement and it was left on the front step.  He took photos of the dying arrangement every day until it was dead and was removed.  It was a brilliant way to show Walters’ deception.  Walters then re-registered to run for Congress from her massive Laguna Niguel domicile.  Katie Porter made an issue of this in 2018.

It’s completely legal to run for Congress while living in another district.

Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Walters’ South Los Angeles district was redistricted and she’s a five-minute walk from the new district line; she was living in the district before the line moved.  Tom McClintock represented Santa Barbara in the state legislature but now represents the Sacramento area in Congress…quite a long distance.  Both Rep. Young Kim and Rep. Michelle Steel do not live in the districts they represent, a fact their Democratic opponents tell me they are going to make hay with on the campaign trail.

Which brings us to CA-47.

State Senator Dave Min lives in the district and has a solid legislative record in the state senate.  He also has a DUI from early May which carries a grainy black and white video from the back of a police car.  Min made a mistake.  There’s little evidence he has any sort of serious drinking problem.  He’s lost no endorsements.  And he raked in more than $400,000 for his Congressional campaign with about 60 days of the quarter coming in after his arrest, which says that Democratic voters didn’t punish Min for his mistake.  Min has sought treatment for any alcohol related issues and continues to have strong support from his family and friends.

When Min shares news on his social media feeds, he gets savaged by a few trolls regarding the DUI; Min can’t delete those from his official senate accounts.

Also raising $400,000 last quarter is Joanna Weise, the founder of WAVE (i.e. Women for American Values and Ethics).  Both the top two Democrats raised more than Republican Scott Baugh which shows the seat definitely leans blue regardless of which of the two Democrats emerges past the primary.

Weiss is a beneficiary of Min’s May arrest. She’s picked up several decent endorsements from former Congressman Harley Rouda, Supervisor Katrina Foley and Assembly Rep Cottie Petrie-Norris.  There’s a handful of other Congressional reps and Women’s groups as well.

The issue with Weiss is that she doesn’t live in the district.  Some members of the DPOC Central Committee have told me that Weiss told them she plans to move into the district without offering what exactly that looks like.

Weiss was born and raised in CA-47 (although she went to high school at Capo Valley which isn’t in the district) and started her family in CA-47.  She’s run her law practice here.  But Weiss has lived in a $3.5 million, 5,000 square foot home in San Juan Capistrano since 2015 according to data culled from several real estate sites.  One of her social media staffers explained that Weiss moved to SJC to “shorten a commute” but the question is whose commute?  Weiss’s husband has been a partner in a Costa Mesa Law Firm since 2012.  Weiss’s law practice was based in Newport Beach prior to her founding WAVE in December of 2016 and WAVE itself is still based out of Newport Beach.  There’s one link suggesting Weiss’s law practice now operates out of her home in SJC, but no matter how you shake it, San Juna Capistrano is 14 miles from Laguna Beach; its 19 miles from Newport Beach and 21 miles from Costa Mesa (by car) and the Weiss family has lived there for eight years.  The notion the move was to shorten a commute is inaccurate at best.  On Weiss’ social media feeds, those Internet trolls chide her for not living in the district in the same way they chide Min for the DUI.

So, let’s say Weiss *does* moves into the district.  Do she and her husband sell their home in SJC and buy something in the district?  Do they buy a second home in the district where Weiss registers to vote from as a primary domicile?  Does Weiss pull a Mimi Walters and rent an apartment or townhouse or condo? From photos of her family available online, her kids appear to be in high school.  If they are in a private school, a home move wouldn’t impact them much. But if they are public school students, yanking any child out of their school environment and network of friends on a possibility that their mom might get a new job is not smart (my wife was hired by a Bay area technology news site in 2015 and there was no way we were going to pull my daughter out of high school in her junior year…the Internet lets you work from home so it was fine). Driving kids from the District to a SJC public school would be tough too because of the long commute.

If CA-47 somehow included Fullerton, it’s not a stretch to see Tony Bushala-inspired signs of “No Weiss, Capo Carpetbagger.”

The subtle suggestion is Weiss is the safer pick because the Republicans will hammer voters with Min’s DUI charge and video.  If Weiss emerges as the primary victor, the Republicans will hammer her for carpetbagging while giving cover to Michelle Steel and Young Kim, because “It’s OK if You’re a Republican.”

But make no mistake, for every Democratic voter who won’t cast a ballot for Min because of the DUI, there’s another Democratic voter who won’t vote for Weiss because she hasn’t lived in this district for eight years.

No amount of “he’s a drunk” or “she’s a carpetbagger” is going to make any Democratic voter flip a vote to Scott Baugh who has four felonies and 18 misdemeanors.

If Donald Trump is on the ballot, Baugh has to defend why his party is best suited to lead behind a man with 71 felony counts (with more to come) and a possible criminal conviction or convictions.  And the list of Trump grievances won’t earn him votes from independents.  Baugh is going to smear Min on the DUI; he’ll smear Weiss on carpetbagging. And he’ll smear both for being liberal Democrats using all the culture war anti-wokeness he can muster.

For Democrats, your choice should be viewed in a more positive light.  Forget the DUI.  Forget the carpetbagging.  Which candidate (sorry Dom Jones) has the experience to be the most effective Democrat to claim Katie Porter’s seat?  That is your real choice.

And when the primary is over, we rally behind that candidate.