A long time ago I was told that in this business you are judged by your enemies. If your enemies are mostly democrats then you must be doing something right. They're willing to tear you down, especially people like Andrew Davey who posted on the Calitics page. He's just a punk with a computer.
(Btw, kudos to The Liberal OC for getting my attention on this matter yesterday. : ) - promoted by atdleft)
This just in from Brian Joseph of The OC Register, blogging at Total Buzz:
Orange County Sens. Lou Correa and Tom Harman ignited fireworks in Senate chambers this morning when they objected to the introduction of a delegation from the Vietnamese government.
The senators said it was inappropriate to welcome representatives of an oppressive regime that had caused so much pain for Vietnamese residents of Orange County. Ceremonial introductions like that are infrequently challenged.
"I don't believe this is necessary," Correa said.
So why were Vietnamese government officials allowed into our state capitol? Why would officals from an extremely oppressive regime be allowed into OUR HALLS of government? And why would anyone want to respect a regime that has absolutely no respect for its own people?
Follow me after the flip for more on what the heck happened at the Capitol yesterday...
OK, I know that there's an important election coming up. Pretty soon, California Young Democrats will be choosing their next President. But for me, there really isn't a choice. Tim Steed has what it takes to lead CYD, and to make it stronger than ever. He's always been a young progressive champion in Orange County, and I'm sure he'd do a great job as CYD President.
He started out working in Joe Dunn's office. That should be enough for us. But no, there's much, much more. He reinvigorated the Orange County Young Democrats as OCYD President. He put the pressure on Tom Umberg to support Leno's marriage equality bill. And in 2004, Tim coordinated the first Democratic precinct captain organization in Orange County in over 20 years with the Orange County Victory Fund. Tim and the other OCVF organizers raised $30,000 and organized hundreds of volunteers, which enabled them turn out countless new voters and impact local elections. Sergio Contreras won a seat on the Westminster School Board as a result of OCVF's precinct program, and the majority flipped from Republican to Democratic. That's the type of great results that came out of Tim's work with OCVF.
And oh yes, how could I ever forget the Peer to Peer program?! Last year, Tim ran the Peer to Peer operation for CYD in SD 34. I saw firsthand as he and other young activists in OC knocked on young SD 34 voters' doors, called their phones, and got over 1,100 of them to vote last November. Oh yeah, and let's not forget that Democrat Lou Correa won by 1,392 votes. Tim helped make the difference in keeping Central Orange County blue.
OK, so Tim has done some great things in the past... What does he plan to do with CYD in the future? Well, let me tell you all about it after the flip...
So are you scratching your head over my State Senator, Lou Correa, being locked out of his own office? Well, there's plenty of outrage from left to right in Orange County on this episode. And since I don't want to say too much more about this, I'll let you read what everyone else here in OC has to say about this nasty incident after the flip...
"This morning, I kissed my children goodbye, dropped my daughter off at school, got on a plane, got here, found out I was locked out of my office," said [Senator Lou] Correa, D-Santa Ana.
This is what Lou told Brian Joseph at The OC Register when asked about the lockout. Yes, you heard me right- Lou Correa, along with Sens. Gloria Negrete McLeod (D-Chino) and Ron Calderon (D-Montebello), were locked out of their own offices. And why? Because Don Perata was being a brat.
Follow me after the flip for more on this nonsense...
Well, now he responded to my original letter by sending me a letter. Here it is:
Basically, he said that he appreciated hearing from me about this. Good. I always appreciate legislators who listen to the concerns of their constituents. While I still disagree with Lou's vote, I certainly appreciate his willingness to explain it to me. And yes, I hope that this is only the beginning of the good news that I will be hearing from the Senator's office from now on. : )
I got a telephone call from State Senator Lou Correa today. He asked me to keep the conversation between the two of us and to not post it on TheLiberalOC.com, but he agreed that I had every right to share his reasoning if I chose to do so.[...]
Correa said that his "no" vote was a straight-forward thing. "This resolution missed the mark," he said. "We can't send the wrong message to our soldiers over there."
Until Congress makes the decision to bring home our troops, Correa thinks that we should do all that we can to support them-and opposing Bush's troop surge, in Correa's eyes, is not supportive.
"Are you going to be calling 250,000 people to tell them what made you vote `no' on SJR1?" I asked, referring to the number of voters that are registered in the 34th State Senate District. "I actually represent more that 850,000 people, Mr. Lawson. Thanks for the call," he said before hanging up.
Well, I am certainly glad that Lou finally returned Mike's call. And yes, I certainly appreciate that Lou was willing to talk to Mike, and to me, about this. But still, I would feel much better about this if Lou's office were to just give a public statement about this.
If you happen to live in Central Orange County, and you would like to talk to your State Senator about his Iraq vote, go ahead and give his office a call at (916) 651-4034. Senator Correa seems quite willing now to sit down and discuss this with his constituents. : )
(OK, so Mike Lawson has finally received a response! However, don't expect a public statement for all of you to see. The Liberal OC is keeping up with this developing story. - promoted by atdleft)
(You too should call Senator Correa's office: (916) 651-4034 - promoted by blogswarm)
I'm really starting to get frustrated now, especially after reading this from Mike at The Liberal OC:
At first, I was just expecting Correa's office to release some cowardly explanation of why Correa was the only dissenting Democratic Senator. Last week when I called Correa's Sacramento office I was told that I was the first call regarding the vote, and that they'd work on getting the senator's explanation. No promises.
I was curious why more people against a troop surge hadn't called Correa to seek explanation, so I posted a little something here on TheLiberalOC.com. When I called back, a staffer told me that they were working on a response, and she promised its delivery on Friday of last week.Now it's been eight days since Correa made that lousy vote, and when I called his Sacramento office to see if they were any closer to releasing a press statement, I was given the cold shoulder.
"Are you any closer to releasing the statement?" I asked.
"I can take down your number." I was told.
Come on now, Lou! I know you're better than this. We elected you last year because we knew that whether or not you agreed with us 100% of the time, that you'd always be listening to our concerns. But now, you aren't even listening. Please, please start paying attention. This isn't the way to treat your constituents, supporters, and activists.
(Now cross-posted at MyDD and My Left Wing... And thanks to The Liberal OC for the nice shout-out : ) - promoted by atdleft)
As you all know by now, State Senator Lou Correa voted against SJR 1. And as you remember, SJR 1 is the the resolution opposing the proposed escalation of the Iraq War. I wanted to know why my own State Senator would vote against this resolution. I wanted to know why he voted against a resolution that called for an end to this disastrous war that has hurt our community in Central Orange County in many, many ways. So I took out some time last night to write my Senator a letter. And since Senator Correa's office has still not responded to any of the previous calls and emails asking him why he voted the way he did, I figured that I might as well share my letter with all of you. And besides, I would like for everyone here to know how one of Lou Correa's own constituents feels about his vote.
OK, so I'm feeling tired today...
And I still have so many things to do...
So here's a new weekend tradition that I'm starting here...
Yes, I'm starting it just for you!
- "Youthful Spring: 25 Glorious Years!" This weekend, Little Saigon will be going all out for this year's Tet, or Vietnamese Lunar New Year. But why? Well, this one is extra special because this will be their 25th annual festival in Orange County! Get ready for a one million firecracker display, a traditional lion dance, a fantastic beauty pageant, and more. Oh my, this certainly looks to be fun!
As we continue to watch the still unresolved special election to replace Lou Correa on the Orange County Board of Supervisors, here are some questions that we progressives should be thinking about:
- So can we just get over it and learn our lesson? Huntington Beach small business owner and progressive activist Joe Shawsums it up perfectly for us:
Maybe I'm naive. I'm definitely a newbie to OC politics, but it seems to me Democrats in OC at the grassroots level spend a lot of time working on the high profile campaigns that don't stand a chance in hell, but little time working on the lower profile campaigns they can win. This one was winnable, but the candidate was not the right choice. Democrats should concentrate on developing strong leaders at the local level. Candidates with strong records of accomplishment locally can win these bigger races.
Right on, Joe! You said it much better than any of us could. I hope we get over our squabbling soon and take your advice. : )
So who are we to blame for yesterday's loss? Whose fault is it that we have lost our one and only Board of Supervisors seat in Orange County? Some are blaming State Senator Lou Correa. Some may want to blame Santa Ana DINO Mayor Miguel Pulido. I was about ready to blame Garden Grove Councilmember Mark Rosen as the Democratic spoiler...
But you know who is really to blame? WE ARE!
Want to know why... AND find out how we can get our groove back in The Land of the OC? Then follow me after the flip for more...
Would you like to see how OC Blog is wrong in its slam of OC Democrats? And is OC forever doomed to be "Red County"? Well, follow me after the flip to find out...
STATE SENATOR, 34th District
Completed Precincts: 377 of 377 Vote Count Percentage
LOU CORREA (DEM) 55783 50.1%
LYNN DAUCHER (REP) 54713 49.1%
OTTO BADE 907 0.8%
It looks like Lou Correa will be my next State Senator... But before I declare victory and start dancing in the street, I'd like to reflect over the not-so-ethical behavior by Republicans AND a few "Correa Supporters" that disappointed me... More on the flip
Yet more problems out of Orange County! This time, there weren't enough functioning machines at the polling places on Election Day... And to make things worse (and the wait EVEN LONGER), there weren't enough paper ballots for the voters either! Now while Lou may still be able to win, what would have happened had there were fewer voters in SD 34 who were patient enough to wait in line for several hours in the evening?
