Former State Senator John Lewis has such a hold on the Republican Party of Orange County that he was able to force the withdrawal of Robert Hammond, their candidate for the 69th Assembly District, so as to pave the way for his Democratic pal Tom Daly. And Lewis also ran the failed campaign of Chris Norby, for the 65th Assembly District. With the loss of Norby’s seat, and the 69th, the California Republican Party ceded a supermajority in the State Assembly to the California Democratic Party.

But Lewis is not the only one to blame. OC GOP Chairman Scott Baugh (a political consultant) and OC Supervisor Janet Nguyen were personally involved in pulling Hammond out of the race for the 69th. And neither of them helped Jose “Joe” Moreno, the Anaheim Republican who, at the last minute, filed for the 69th rather than concede the victory to Daly. Moreno was however undone by allegations that he violated an obscure Federal law – the Hatch Act. Moreno, an employee of the O.C. Health Agency, was accused of this by labor, even though he is a longtime union member.

The argument some Republican made in withdrawing from the battle for the 69th, which is a majority Democrat district, was that they could thus focus their firepower on Norby’s opponent, Sharon Quirk-Silva. But their guns ran dry at the end and Quirk-Silva was very capably assisted by U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez.

Click here to read the rest of this post.

Art Pedroza Editor
Our Editor, Art Pedroza, worked at the O.C. Register and the OC Weekly and studied journalism at CSUF and UCI. He has lived in Santa Ana for over 30 years and has served on several city and county commissions. When he is not writing or editing Pedroza specializes in risk control and occupational safety. He also teaches part time at Cerritos College and CSUF. Pedroza has an MBA from Keller University.
Art Pedroza

Our Editor, Art Pedroza, worked at the O.C. Register and the OC Weekly and studied journalism at CSUF and UCI. He has lived in Santa Ana for over 30 years and has served on several city and county commissions. When he is not writing or editing Pedroza specializes in risk control and occupational safety. He also teaches part time at Cerritos College and CSUF. Pedroza has an MBA from Keller University.

View Comments

  • Whatever happened to that LOSER Art Lomeli???

    Haven't heard much from him since his philandering canidate Benavide's got crushed........

    Hanging with Bustamonte, preying on YOUNG girls.....Thats the NEW Santa Ana Spring way.....

    What a bunch of creeps. Lomeli should be ashamed.

    • It is a matter of time before Benavides tries to restore the PBID. Let's see how Lomeli reacts to getting backstabbed by his chosen one.

  • Hammond is the Steve Rocco of 2012. What an odd guy. He's got one term written all over his political future. Let's hope he does not rip off any Heinz 57 at Chapman!

  • A VERY experienced political consultant in Orange County listed Lewis and a handful of other GOP "leaders" as being closeted. Have you heard such rummors Art?

  • All politicians are closeted, you fools.
    Their closeted sexual sneaky-ness goes hand in hand with their political sneaky-ness.
    That is why some countries give up and say
    "to the hell with it!
    let's elect honest pimps and prostitutes.

  • I want to add to the list of rumored closeted homosexuals. Christopher Cox was rumored 10 years ago as being closeted gay and I've heard for years that Jose Solorio is also gay.

  • I can't say with any knowledge that any of the above are gay, but I know "GAYDAR" alarms go off far and wide when Jose enters a room.

    And as someone much funnier than I once said:

    "If you think it, it's true"

    • Sean Mill went to UCI when Solorio was there and remembers that Solorio was despondent after his then girlfriend left him, for a fellow who now heads up one of Santa Ana's public agencies. As the story goes, Solorio then met another gal at UCI, that he later married. Solorio remains happily married to this day.

      Solorio is a pretty mild guy but I don't think he's gay.

  • I was not aware that Sean Mill is a UCI grad! That is awesome. What year did he graduate? Was he a Social Ecology major? They have a great program.

  • I wish Sean was the Chairman of the Planning Commission. Do you believe he may take over in January? He's a heck of a nice guy as well.

  • I heard the same story about Solorio's break-up. I also heard the rumor that he was so upset he had a mental break-down and thrashed the Mecha Club office. Or was it the EOPS office?

Recent Posts

Tilly’s Life Center raised over $500K to support youth programs, at their annual O.C. gala

Tilly’s Life Center’s (TLC) recently raised over half a million dollars to support their youth…

51 minutes ago

A small plan crashed near the Fullerton Airport this afternoon

On November 25, 2024, at approximately 1:46 PM, Fullerton Fire and Police personnel responded to…

1 hour ago

Firefighters had to extricate victims from two car crashes in Garden Grove last Friday

OCFA fire crews responded to two significant vehicle accidents in Garden Grove last Friday, requiring…

6 hours ago

An SUV was totally wrecked after hitting two light poles and a tree in Newport Beach

On November 24th, 2024, at approximately 1:00 a.m. Newport Beach Fire Department units NE63, NT63,…

9 hours ago

The SAPD arrested a man suspected in an armed robbery at a gas station

‼️UPDATE‼️ Earlier today, our robbery detectives arrested November 20, 2024, #WantedWednesday suspect Izaya Cuellar (35)…

22 hours ago

Driver arrested for destroying the lawn of a Costa Mesa park while doing donuts with his vehicle

Late Friday night, police officers responded to Balearic Park regarding a vehicle doing “donuts” on…

23 hours ago

This website uses cookies.