OK, so it’s not OC, but this is great news.  Before you dismiss Al Franken, the man knows his issues and has context behind a number of incidents that have happened over the past six years.  His wit will cut Norm Coleman like a surgeon.  And unlike Sen. Coleman, Franken has made frequent trips to Iraq for USO shows over the past several years. 

I don’t live in Minnesota, but I want to know where I send a check.  Bill O’Reilly must be having kittens

MINNEAPOLIS (CNN) — Outspoken comedian and liberal radio talk show host Al Franken has told associates he plans to challenge Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., in 2008, a source close to Franken said Wednesday. Franken, 55, a Democrat who grew up in the Twin Cities and moved back to the state from New York last year, announced Monday that he was leaving his radio show on the Air America network after his Feb. 14 broadcast.

Franken has said previously that he was considering a bid to unseat Coleman, a moderate Republican and former St. Paul mayor who was elected to the Senate in 2002. During the 2006 midterm election, Franken’s political action committee, the Midwest Values PAC, raised money for Democratic candidates across the North Star State.

Franken has been a writer and performer on the NBC program “Saturday Night Live.” He is also the author of several politically tinged books, including “Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations.”

Filed under: Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

Another piece for Umberg from the OC Dems. It’s an oversized piece, 9″ x 14″.

I was a bit surprised to see Jose Solorio’s face on this mailer since Solorio hasn’t officially endorsed Umberg.

[PDF version of this mailer]

Filed under: Board of Supervisors, Democratic Party of Orange County, 1st District Supervisor | 3 Comments »

Representative Loretta Sanchez quit the Congressional Hispanic Caucus today because of inappropriate remarks made by Representative Joe Baca. According to Sanchez, Baca told people that Sanchez is a “whore,” and he has been known to disrespect other female colleagues.From the Politico.com story:

[Sanchez] said she was surprised and insulted when she learned that Baca had made the disparaging personal comment about her to California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and other legislators last year.

Nunez “is a friend of mine. Did he think he wouldn’t tell me?” Sanchez asked.

Sanchez voted against Baca in the election for chairman in November. Four other female lawmakers abstained from the vote, raising concerns about whether the election followed proper procedures.

The Sanchez withdrawal is a blow to Baca and his allies who have been trying to bring the caucus back together after a series of internal spats last year. Many of the more junior members and the women have butted heads with him and senior lawmakers.

[Link]

UPDATE: If you’re interested in writing a letter to Representative Baca send it to:
Joe Baca
201 North “E” Street, Suite 102
San Bernardino, CA 92401

Filed under: 47th Congressional | 11 Comments »

I’m heartbroken.  We’ve lost a wonderful common sense voice who was never afraid to speak truth to power.  Molly Ivins is dead of breast cancer at 62.  Godspeed Molly.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the Senate Republicans’ healthcare reform plan for California.

http://republican.sen.ca.gov/calcare/

Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »

Claudio Gallegos had the much-talked-about Janet Nguyen mailer translated by what he’s calling an “independent Vietnamese translator,” which I believe is his wife’s friend who has nothing to lose by being honest here.

First, the comment “She also has votes from other ethnic communities, women, seniors, Republicans who do not like Mexicans” is somewhat of a mistranslation. The translator believes what she is trying to say is that she has votes from people who normally would not VOTE for a Mexican-American candidate. OK so some are now saying it is not as bad as OC Blog claims.

Last night I was having a chat with a friend who is a Janet Nguyen fan.  This friend said that he thought this entire thing was getting blown out of proportion—politicians tailor their message to the audience they are speaking to, he said.

But as Claudio points out, Janet’s mailer is stirring the pot of anti-Latinoism in the Vietnamese community.

I really hoped she would not drink from the Van Tran kool-aid Lan Nguyen and Truong Nguyen have, but it appears she has. Even though the quote is not as malignant as presented, it still has a role in creating more tension between the Latino and Vietnamese communities. I think Janet owes us all an explanation and a promise to engage in causing tension between the Vietnamese and Latino communities. One more point, why did her original English translation differ so much from the original Vietnamese version.

Then again, her consultant is Dave Gilliard, who loves to play the anti-immigrant card in every race he does. Guess what Dave, being anti-Mexican is getting old and people are not going to continue to take it. Janet will lose next week and then will have to explain in her re-election campaign to east Garden Grove Latinos why she is proud to go after voters who hate Latinos.

There is a candidate’s forum tomorrow (Wednesday) at the Santa Ana Council Chambers.  Perhaps Janet will clarify the message of this mailer at that time.

[Claudio’s post at The Orange Juice]

Filed under: Republican mistakes, 1st District Supervisor | 3 Comments »

From the OCRegister.com

County CEO could stay put

Board of Supervisors meets Tuesday to counter L.A. offer to Tom Mauk

By NORBERTO SANTANA Jr.

The ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

They took the Angels name.

But Orange County supervisors say it might be tougher for Los Angeles to grab the county’s CEO.

Los Angeles county officials on Monday morning issued a press release stating they had hired Tom Mauk away from Orange County.

“The Board of Supervisors voted this morning to offer the job of Chief Administrative Officer of Los Angeles County to Thomas G. Mauk. Mr. Mauk has accepted the position and will assume his duties on March 12,” read the release from Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.

That drew a coy response from one Orange County official.

“You might have the fish on the hook, but until he’s in the boat, I would be kind of quiet about it,” said Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach.

Despite confirming the offer to lead the nation’s most populous county this weekend, on Monday Mauk would not comment.

Orange County supervisors have called an emergency closed meeting for Tuesday to issue Mauk a counteroffer.

Read the rest of the story here.

UPDATE

Matt/Jubal over at RedCounty is reporting that Mauk is staying. I have to wonder how he gets his info when the Board seems to be in closed session.

At any rate, If Mauk stays I think my post from Saturday will support his distaste for bloggers… or at least me.

P.S. Update posted from my Q, on a quick restroom break.

Filed under: Orange County Government | No Comments »

Phil Paule posted the following comment on Red County/OCBlog earlier today.

“The one thing that I can say with 100% confidence is that the only way Trung will get to the 5th floor is with the help of Photoshop.”

I couldn’t resist the temptation.

Filed under: 1st District Supervisor | 1 Comment »

GOP consultant Adam Problesky confessed publicly to something I’m sure Republicans do all the time.

Adam confessed in this post on the Flash Report.

He admits to going to the OC Democratic Party website to cast a vote for Rep. Dennis Kucinich, thinking he’d be one of a few votes at most.  Then Adam is appalled to see Kucinich leading the voting with 60 percent of the vote.

A reasonable person wouldn’t put too much stock in an unmonitored online vote or poll on the 2008 presidential race 21 months away.  But Adam does.  He writes:

I was embarrassed for my local rival party when I saw that my shill vote for Kucinich was joined with hundreds of others. No political professional considers Kucinich to be a real candidate for anything other than perhaps re-election and certainly a good shampoo and hair cut. (look in the mirror )  Yet it seems that the Dems in OC are excited about his presidential prospects. Are they that out of touch?  The answer is yes.  The Democratic Party in Orange County is out of touch with not just the everyday American, but certainly the average Democrat voters in their own back yard.
So, let’s review here.  Adam goes to the OC Democratic Party web site with a can of spray paint to skew an online poll as a joke.  When he discovers that the subject of his ridicule is really the prom queen, he’s appalled that a prettier girl didn’t win. And he uses this non-scientific poll to spraypaint the host’s party anyway.

Here’s some news for you Adam.  The Democratic Party in OC is far more in touch with”everyday Americans” than your party is.  Everyday Americans favor Democratic positions on the War in Iraq, the Economy, Healthcare, Corruption in Congress, Minimum Wage, Roe V.Wade and other issues of the day.  President Bush has a 60 percent disapproval rate and more than 80 percent of Americans (and a majority of those in the armed services) don’t approve of the coming Surge in Iraq.

The OC DP is very organized this year.  Sure, you’ll win your share of races but it won’t be easy.

But I’m really grateful to know that Adam, a professional political researcher, would take the time to attempt to skew results of a fun poll hosted on the OC DP site. 

I’ll bet he does all those online Fox News polls too.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 8 Comments »

As other OC blogs are reporting, GOP supervisorial candidate Janet Nguyen sent out a press release in Vietnamese with some pretty astounding racist content. (Click here for larger image.)
When Nguyen’s campaign was asked for an English translation of the press release, they provided some innocuous text about how Nguyen can win if the Vietnamese community unites behind a single Vietnamese candidate.

But an anonymous blog reader provided a more thorough translation of the original release:

In less than two weeks, the Vietnamese American will decide or accept a County Supervisor, either Mexican, American or whatever; to supervise an area in Orange County, which has Vietnamese as the majority population; or we will put a Vietnamese into an important, real power position; to mark a historic event of the Vietnamese community in Orange County for the last 30 years. For if the Vietnamese community is able to do this, then this would be a remarkable action which reflects the political maturity of the community.

Based on the statistic of 11,000 absentee ballots counted at the Orange County Central Registrar on January 23 2007, more than 43% are Vietnamese Americans, 10% are Mexican, 46% are made up of other ethnic groups. The statistics also reveal 51% are Republican, 33% and Democrat, and 16% are unannounced party. The absentee ballots came from 3 cities as follows: 43% Garden Grove, Santa Ana 23%, Westminster 25%.

Based on these numbers, the one who has the most hope to win and bring back victory to the Vietnamese community is the nominee Janet Nguyen. She will be the youngest Asian minority to become Supervisor of Orange County and California State, that is our community’s pride. Even though there are other Vietnamese opponents, based on the above mentioned numbers, professional campaign analysts have recognized it. With a very few absentee ballots coming from Mexicans, in addition to the low turnout in Santa Ana, compared to Garden Grove, the winning chance of the Republican Mexican [a reference to Carlos Bustamente] has vanished. The Santa Ana and Democratic voting percentage is too low compared to the Republicans, thus the Democratic candidate would not have any chance. [That’s because] the Mexican voters have divided up the votes, and because (of the former Democratic US President’s) [apparently a reference to Tom Umberg] cheating to the wife and kids, also lying about his military responsibility, thus the Democratic voters are disappointed and no longer want to vote.

The important reasons which nominee Janet Nguyen will win are: the large number of Vietnamese American absentee votes, which previous polls had shown Janet Nguyen won more than 60% of the [Vietnamese] community’s trust. Garden Grove is her territory. She also has votes from other ethnic communities, women, seniors, Republicans who do not like Mexicans, and similarly she (would) get votes from Westminster, in addition she has the endorsements from Garden Grove and Westminster Mayors. Also, during the campaign, several [Vietnamese] community issues have been brought to light, dirty campaign and shady integrity of the [other Vietnamese] nominees have caused Vietnamese distrust. Therefore they will vote for nominee Janet Nguyen. Her victory is obvious.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 24 Comments »

Mark Leyes over at Red County/OCBlog has been keeping everyone up to date on most of the 1st District mail. He has posted this one today.

1st SD Mailbox: Umberg Fights Back





I’m glad that Tom is finally countering the lies and distortions that have been sent out attacking him. I think, this mailing makes it worth the wait.

Filed under: Board of Supervisors, Elections, 1st District Supervisor, Umberg | No Comments »

Jubal over at Red County/OCBlog has this post that you’ve gotta see. It seems that Trung not only has many faces, but with the help of Photoshop, he can be anywhere he wants to be.

Trung Nguyen Photoshopped Into Picture With Schwarzenegger

Well, it seems that Trung has hidden, or removed, all of his photos from his website gallery.  Unfortunately for Trung that cannot stop the crack Photoshop team over here at TheLiberalOC.com from creating the one image he forgot to create for his 1st District campaign.

 

 

Filed under: Board of Supervisors, Elections, 1st District Supervisor | 23 Comments »