Murphy for 71st Assembly District ??

The widely popular OC BLOG, which I understand most of the Orange Politicos read, broke this interesting story earlier.....

71st Assembly District Watch: Neil Blais Gearing Up

I ran into Rancho Santa Margarita Councilman Neil Blais at today's OC Public Affairs Association luncheon, and asked him if he was running for the 7ist Assembly District in 2008 -- when incumbent Todd Spitzer is termed out.

"I'm definitely running," he replied. In fact, he's about to ink a contract with JohnsonClark Associates to be his campaign consultants and plans to start fundraising.

JCA is a top-flight consulting firm with a strong win record in Orange County. Hiring them sends a strong message to the political and donor community that Blais is a serious candidate for this seat.

I understand long-time Orange Councilman Mark Murphy also plans to run for the seat. Orange used to be the anchor for this Assembly District, but was carved up the between three Assembly Districts in the last re-districting.

I'm not sure what percentage of the AD71 is comprised of Orange, but Murphy is very popular in the city and would be a strong candidate. Former Sen. John Lewis -- who represented much of the district for 20 years in the Assembly and Senate -- has run all of Mark Murphy's council and mayoral campaigns and presumably will run his Assembly effort.

Corona Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Miller is also taking a hard look at the race. I believe about 40% of AD71 is in Riverside County. Miller would be in an advantageous position if several candidates carve up the OC vote and he is the sole Riverside County candidate.

I know there are some other OC candidates looking at this race, but their names escape me at the moment.

I also read the comments and saw there was another name of Ledesma, at 1st thought it was our OUSD Board member, however it was a Mission Viejo Councilman.

Also, I have some thoughts on others that may run for that seat.... how about Carolyn Caveeche, the current mayor of orange.

OC Register Stories

Some interesting news the last couple of days dealing with some wannabe’s in Orange. The 1st is the wife of Orange City Council Candidate Frank “The Heat” Finn.

Apparently, she has decided that OC Sheriff Mike Carona doesn’t deserve to be in elective office any longer…

The following is a quick blip from the OC Registers’ Martin Wisckol:
Now Karen Finn, a Carona critic and wife of a policeman, has launched a Web site with a petition calling for a recall election. She faces a long haul, though – valid signatures of 150,000 voters registered in the county are needed.
Finn's site is www.ipetitions.com/petition/RETRIBUTIONS/

Also there is another portion of a story from the OC Register dealing with the County Supervisors Race, apparently everybody is upset about a former State Assemblyman (Tom Umberg) and that he doesn’t live in the area covered by his elective office. Why I find it interesting that they are watching this so closely, it also listed numerous other folks in the recent year that also had an issue with residency.

Here is the part of the story that focused on Carol “Beach Bunny” Rudat.

There was more of an uproar when Newport Beach's Carol Rudat bought a house in Orange and ran for City Council there. A lawsuit challenged whether the Orange home – much smaller than her Newport Beach abode – was her primary residence.

There seemed to be a stronger case against Rudat than Umberg. A Rudat spokesperson had earlier given a move-in date that turned out to be after she had re-registered to vote.

That could have disqualified her, but there was enough ambiguity that the judge in the case declined to intervene.

While I feel that the this last election in the City of Orange was just plain silly with Rudat’s spending a personal fortune only to be slapped around badly by the voters, then you have Denis “The Insider” Bilodeau, getting caught and arrested with his hand in the cookie jar. You had the outsider candidate like Jeremy “The Kid” Wayland so far over his head he was spinning around like a top.

Where are the days when we got somebody we could actually vote for and not against somebody else!!!!

OC BLOG, takes a shot at City Council

This entry from the very popular OC Blog takes a shot at the Orange City Council. This blog is watched by all the politicos in Orange County and should be interesting to see if anybody changes direction now that there is some interest against the idea.

Beware of children with sparkles, glue and markers

The Orange City Council is set to make it a crime for children to have "graffiti tools".

This a perfect example of government going overboard. They are trying to solve a limited problem with a over broad solution.

CALL TO ACTION: I encourage every kid under 18 to buy the biggest marker you can find at one of those evil trafficker of "graffiti tools" like Kinko's, Office Depot or Wal-Mart and carry it prominently in your back pocket.

For every straight-A student who gets popped (actually arrested) by the Orange PD for carrying any kind of marker considered a "graffiti tool" yours truly, Roscoe will donate $100 to the Kaitlyn Ambriz Scholarship Fund.

Mayor Cavecche, Mayor Pro Tem Dumitru, Councilman Murphy, Councilwoman Smith and Councilman Bilodeau, COME ON!

Something I find interesting is that the story, not one of the "Leaders" of Orange are quoted...why do I find it interesting....they are ussually so quick to run to the media for the attention they feel they deserve.

City Council Meeting of 1-9-07

Well, I was able to attend the meeting of the Orange City Council, as I was interested in a couple of items.

The meeting ran along the lines of the past, only a couple of items were talked about in length....

1st, Smith...talked about the Hart Park Pool and its remodeling and cost. It was interesting to me in that I had no idea the City owed a pool, I called the City today and actually found out where Hart Park is located and plan to go down there later today for the kids to play.

2nd, was a thing called "Council Reorganization", which is a fancy way of saying, a vote to appoint a Vice-Mayor. Jon Dumitru was nominated and voted on and he was accepted by the Council.

3rd, Dumitru...had a report on campaign contributions, but he gave this speech on 1st amendment and how limits of donations to candidates violates free speech. WHATEVER....in the end, he came out with what he was looking for....a total elimination of contributions limits.

4th was a talk on trash, and where it will be dumped. Really got lost on the issue, I don't get it at all. In the end, WHO CARES.

5th, was dealing with graffiti, and a new ordinance to crack down on kids doing it. INTERESTING.

That was the high light on the night.

Well off to Hart Park.