Santa Ana Voter Guide for the June, 2022 Primary Election

• Attorney General of California – The incumbent, Rob Bonta, a Democrat, was appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. He has been a pro-criminal disaster. We recommend Nathan Hochman, who served as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California and Assistant Attorney General of the United States Department of Justice. Hochman is a Republican.
• 46th Congressional District – We recommend the incumbent, Lou Correa, who has consistently put the people of his district first. Correa is a Democrat who is pro-business and supports law enforcement.
• U.S. Senate – the incumbent, Alex Padilla, should win easily. There are a ton of challengers from all parties. The California Republican Party has endorsed Mark Meuser.
• California Governor – The incumbent, Gavin Newsom, has been inconsistent and financially irresponsible and has refused to suspend the gas tax. The California Republican Party has endorsed Senator Brian Dahle.
• Lt. Governor of California – The incumbent is Eleni Kounalakis, a Democrat. The California Republican Party has endorsed Angela Underwood Jacobs, the Deputy Mayor of the City of Lancaster.
• California Secretary of State – The incumbent is Shirley Weber, a Democrat. There are three Republicans running but none are endorsed by their party. Rachel Hamm, one of the Republicans, is a best-selling author, speaker, and the host of The Rachel Hamm Show.
• California Treasurer – the incumbent is Fiona Ma, a Democrat. She made headlines this year for trying to help the boss of the Santa Ana Police union to pad his pension. We recommend Andrew Do, a Republican who serves on the O.C. Board of Supervisors.
• California Controller – Malia Cohen is endorsed by the California Democratic Party. Lanhee Chen is endorsed by the California Republican Party.
• California Superintendent of Public Instruction – the incumbent, Tony Thurmond, is a Democrat. Lance Christensen is endorsed by the California Republican Party. Thurmond is not very supportive of charter schools.
• California Commissioner of Insurance – The incumbent, Ricardo Lara, is a Democrat. There are two Republicans in the race but neither has their party’s endorsement. One of the Republicans is Greg Conlon, a perpetual candidate for various state offices. Conlon is a CPA and was a senior partner in a Big Five accounting firm for nearly three decades. The other is Robert Howell, who personally owns and operates an electronics firm in the Silicon Valley. We are not fans of Lara who has over-politicized the office.
• California State Senate District 34 – the incumbent is Tom Umberg, who we support. He is opposed by a Republican, Rhonda Shader, who is endorsed by her party.
• California State Assembly District 68 – the incumbent, Tom Daly, is retiring. His Chief of Staff, Avelino Valencia, is running for the seat. Valencia is also a member of the Anaheim City Council. Both Daly and Valencia have been supported by the same political cabal in Anaheim that is currently in hot water for various shenanigans involving the Mayor, Harry Sidhu, and the sale of part of the Angels Stadium. We are supporting Mike Tardif, a Republican from Santa Ana who has a long history of community and neighborhood involvement. He is also endorsed by the California Republican Party.
• Orange County District Attorney-Public Administrator – We are supporting the incumbent, Todd Spitzer, a Republican. He has many issues but is consistently tough on criminals. His main opponent, Pete Hardin, a Democrat, is similar to the L.A. District Attorney, George Gascon in that he is generally in support of the criminals, not the general public.

• Orange County Superintendent of Schools – the incumbent is Al Mijares, a former SAUSD Superintendent. He is opposed by Stefan Bean, an independent. Bean was born in Vietnam and lost his wife to breast cancer. He is the Superintendent of the Aspire Public Schools, in Los Angeles. Mijares is paid $441,213.00 a year, which is ridiculous. As such we are voting for Bean.
• Orange County Assessor – the incumbent, Claude Parrish, is widely known to be a few sandwiches short of a picnic. We are supporting Larry Bales, He has worked in the Assessor’s office and most importantly is not Claude Parrish, who we feel might be one of the most ridiculous office holders in Orange County. Rick Foster is the candidate endorsed by the Democratic Party of Orange County. He does not appear to have any relevant experience but his website noted that he has worked in both the finance and mortgage sectors and obtained residential real estate and broker licenses.
• Orange County Auditor-Controller – the only candidate on the ballot is Andrew Hamilton, an independent with many Republican endorsements. He is a CPA.
• Orange County Clerk-Recorder – we support the incumbent, Hugh Nguyen, who has cleaned up the mess left behind by his predecessor, Tom Daly, who overly politicized the office. Nguyen is endorsed by the Republican Party of Orange County. Nguyen has found many ways to improve services while reducing his office’s budget.
• Orange County Sheriff-Coroner – the incumbent, Don Barnes, is running unopposed. He is endorsed by the Orange County Republican Party.
• Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector – the incumbent, Shari Freidenrich, an independent, is unopposed.
• California State Board of Equalization District 4 – the incumbent, Mike Schaefer, is a Democrat. We do not like two of the Republicans who are running, Dennis Bilodeau and Matthew Harper. We are supporting Erik Peterson, also a Republican, mostly because he is not Bilodeau or Harper. Peterson serves on the H.B. City Council.
• Orange County Board of Supervisors, District 2 – The Democratic Party of Orange County has endorsed Vicente Sarmiento, who is the current Mayor of Santa Ana. We are not fans of Sarmiento. If voting for a Democrat is important to you we recommend Kim Bernice Nguyen, who serves on the Garden Grove City Council. Nguyen has the support of several Santa Ana City Council Members including David Penaloza, Thai Viet Phan and Nelida Mendoza. There are two Republicans in the race including Jon Dumitru, a member of the Orange City Council, and former Santa Ana City Council Member Ceci Iglesias. Of those two we prefer Iglesias. Another former Santa Ana City Council Member, Juan Villegas, is also running. He has worked in law enforcement for over 25 years. If addressing crime is important to you he is the one to vote for. We support both Iglesias and Villegas for this seat.
• OC Superior Court Judge, Office #5 – Remember former Santa Ana City Councilwoman Claudia Alvarez? She has been a prosecutor at the OCDA for years and is now running for this judicial seat. She is a Democrat but is very pro law enforcement, in fact she has the support of popular OC Sheriff Don Barnes, a Republican. She is also endorsed by many judges and by Congressman Lou Correa. We are supporting Alvarez as she is most likely to be tough on criminals. Her opponents include Daniel Espinosa, who is endorsed by former L.A. District Attorney Gil Garcetti; and Kimberly La Salle, who is endorsed by about a dozen judges. She has has served as both a former Deputy District Attorney and Deputy Public Defender, which is unique.
• OC Superior Court Judge, Office #9 – Christopher Duff is backed by the Orange County Republican Party. The other candidate is Joe Dane, an independent.
• OC Superior Court Judge, Office #11 – Shawn Nelson is backed by the Orange County Republican Party. Marc Gibbons is backed by the Democratic Party of Orange County. Nelson has our support.
• OC Superior Court Judge, Office #21– Ray Brown is backed by the Democratic Party of Orange County. The other candidate is Erin Beltran Rowe. We support Rowe as she is a prosecutor who will be tough on criminals.
• OC Superior Court Judge, Office #22 – Brahim Baytieh served as a Senior Assistant District Attorney but was fired during an evidence scandal. Fred Fascenelli is an attorney and has his own firm however he has no experience in prosecution. Craig E. Kleffman has prosecuted more than 70 jury trials. His website notes that Bayieh was fired from the OCDA’s office.
• OC Superior Court Judge, Office #28 – Jessica Cha ran for the Santa Ana City Council a few years ago against then Councilman Vicente Sarmiento. Cha is endorsed by the Democratic Party of Orange County. Eric Scarbrough is her opponent. He is an O.C. Senior Deputy District Attorney who has tried more than eighty (80) cases to verdict including a case against a serial killer. Cha’s background is in family law. We like her but suspect Scarbrough will be more focused on trying and sentencing criminals.
• OC Superior Court Judge, Office #30 – Peggy Huang is backed by the Orange County Republican Party. Michele Bell is endorsed by the Democratic Party of Orange County. We support Huang for this seat.
• OC Superior Court Judge, Office #33 – Steve McGreevy is backed by the Orange County Republican Party. McGreevy has tried 115 jury trials, 42 homicides and currently heads the Orange County District Attorney’s Homicide Unit. Thomas E. Martin is an attorney who co-founded American Legal Technology Awards Gala and is the CEO and Founder at LawDroid, Intelligent Automation for the Legal Industry and ABA Legal Rebel. Brett Wiseman has been with Madison Law, APC since 2016.  His practice focuses on construction law, employment law, and complex civil litigation. 
• OC Superior Court Judge, Office #45 – The two candidates are Israel Claustro, an OCDA prosecutor; and Kevin Brian Jones, a Superior Court Commissioner. Claustro is endorsed by many judges and OC Sheriff Don Barnes.

Resources:

• Orange County Democratic Party Primary Election Endorsements
• California Democratic Party Primary Election Endorsements
• Orange County Republican Party Primary Election Endorsements
• California Republican Party Primary Election Endorsements