Should we expect a press release tomorrow from Mimi Walters touting the endorsement of Cavecche?

I hope Gina was not part of this decision. Any competent political operative can tell you that this would backfire, and it did!

You Trannies and Duanbos needs to get a life. This was smart politics and everyone knows the WOY awards is all about politics.
If this was Gina Zari's idea, she done good.

Let's not forget, Carolyn Cavecche isn't just the Mayor of the City of Orange, she's also the Immediate Past Chairwoman of the Orange County Transportation Authority. She was a very active OCTA Chair and her activities in that capacity had a good effect on every state legislative district in the county. In light of that, I think it's easy to make the case for her recognition as Woman of the Year.

From what I recall, Woman of the Year awards are given entirely at the legislator's discretion. There aren't any rules that stipulate the honoree live in the district (or even be alive; awards can be given posthumously). Cavecche is well-liked all around and wasn't being recognized (for better or worse) by her own Assemblymember (Bob Huff?). Walters only has to make the case that Cavecche's work with OCTA made a significant difference to the lives of the 73rd Assembly District's constituents. And, like I said, I think that's easily done.

Hmmm. I'm wondering who tipped Wisckol off to this. I mean, who outside of the legislative delegation and party insiders really cares about Woman of the Year?

(And no - you'll just have to take my word for it - I'm not Gina Zari.)

According to Harry's website, at least two Orange City Council members have already endorsed him: Dimitru and Bilodeau. One more and he'll have the majority . . .

http://www.joinharry.com/endorsements.asp

Ok, no offense, but I'm just curious as to how, once again, the "Trannies" were brought into this?

You folks must think very highly of the "Trannies"; you make them sound like a political army fighting on many fronts.

They are fighting many fronts and making many enemies. Van et al might try re-reading Sun Tzu.

BeenAround is probably one of the Trannies' enemies. I know that the Trannies usually do not start a fight, but they won't shy away from one either.

Funny how people are dragging Tran and his people into everything. Would not surprise me if they start accusing Harry Sidhu of being a Trannies too. LoL.

Tran is the ONLY State Assemblyman in Orange County who hasn't endorsed Walters AND Walters's Chief of Staff, Gina Zari, did support Supervisor Janet Nguyen's endorsement by the Republican Party Central Committee.

The meeting of these two facts would cause any reasonable person to deduce that much of the anti-Walters messaging going on at Red County, a blog that boasts (probably) more than one Tran staff member, originates from the Tran office.

Additionally, one of Tran's staff members is Senator Tom Harman's alternate on the Orange County Republican Party Central Committee. Senator Harman's campaign consultant is Coronado Communications, the same campaign consultant hired by Harry Sidhu to run his State Senate race.

These things are more than coincidental. Ever heard of Ockham's razor?

Both are very active in county transportation matters and CWLA. They work together on a couple of different fronts.

Congratulations to Zari and team for elevating this "handout" to someone that has complished something meaningful. It is too often handed out to community do-gooders and Republican Women Fed...no offense to either groups.

Van is making a big mistake by not controlling his staff, if that is, in fact, what is happening. He is losing friends fast and taking on the popular Mimi Walters this way is just plain stupid. One must wonder if it is Van himself who has no self-control.

This is why people despise career politicians like Walters. Turn your back on those who put you in office the first chance you get to move on. Way to go Mimi.

For lame and uncreative attacks, please see above.

Anonymous 1:35pm has it exactly correct. Carolyn's leadership at OCTA was very good for Assemblywoman Walters's district. Not residing in the district should not disqualify someone who has worked so hard for the district. To the cynics who think this is just a bribe for an endorsement, I say phooey! Neither of these well-repsected leaders, who happen to be women, would stoop to that level. Besides, it is well-known that Carolyn almost NEVER endorses outside of her own city or district. And with Ms. Walters nearly guaranteed a win, I don't see her tarnishing this distinction for little, if any, political advantage. Harry's website notwithstanding, "Meddlesome Nobody" should check with Dumitru and Bilodeau regarding those "endorsements." He might be surprised at what he learns.

This is where Mimi would be better served by a real Chief of Staff.

Why defend the indefensible?

Of course it has something to do with the Senate run.

Sure, Carolyn is also a leader in her own right, but to say it has nothing do with the campaign insults everyone's intelligence.

"Why?" -

Just because every activity undertaken by the Tran office is for political expediency, doesn't mean every other office operates on the same principle (or lack thereof).

Ok I'll bite.

I find it really odd that people keep talking about the Trannies in a post that has absolutely nothing to do with Van Tran.

I don't know who you are "Been Around" but I can suspect. You sound like you know your way "around" and you're probably in the business yourself.

With that said, I just want to make a few comments.

First, you state that Van's fighting in too many fronts and will get hurt. I would like to know how you get to that conclusion. This is the same Van Tran that was elected to the city council, the assembly, and has been fielding candidates for a myriad of positions without ANY help from the Orange County establishment. Just ask Janet's consultant; he's probably still trying to figure out how Van took a nobody candidate like Trung and turned him into a front-runner in 2 months, utterly humiliating Janet who spent twice as much in her campaign and had to cozy up to the Democrats and their lawyers to steal the election.

Second, if what the anonymous commenter says is true, then Mimi is the one who should watch how she treats Van. I don't see anyway in which Mimi can help/hurt Van get votes. On the other hand I would LOVE to see a figure on how many Asian/Vietnamese voters live in the 33rd.

People need to realize that Van's support/influence transcends his district. He has a shop that can go from "off" to "on" at the snap of a finger for someone, which is something that can't be said about any other elected in Orange County.

Something to keep in mind there..."Been Around".

One reason everyone immediately suspects the Trannies is that it is well known that one of the main anti-Walters posters on this site is a full-time Van Tran state staffer. He is also the main anti-Janet Nguyen cheerleader.

A quick check of the campaign reports from 2007 show that Trung Nguyen and Janet Nguyen spent almost the same amount. Considering that Trung has some big name endorsements (like Van) and Janet had Margie Rice and that's about all, it is Tran/Trung who should have walked away with that race.

But isn't this thread supposed to be about Gina Zari? Let's get back on topic!

First of all, there's been NO anti-Walters posts in this site. If anything, these people at Red County have gone EASY on her, while Jubal continues to attack Harry when he finds it appropriate, which he should. You're just trying to start a fight where there isn't one.

Second, only in the mind of an out of touch politico did Janet and Trung spend "almost the same amount".

Janet - $411,887
Trung - $243,860

So she didn't double him, but she came close. Oh and she was an incumbent Garden Grove Councilwoman; not an unknown school board member.

Oh and this post was never about Gina Zari. It was about Mimi Walters going outside of her district to find a woman worthy of the WOY award. "Been Around" was the one who threw the "Trannie" line in there as a defense for her stupid move. Tell HIM to get back on topic.

Do not make false accusationns against Van Tran and his people. It is not a good idea. Who really cares about the WOY nomination. Each legislator has this right each year and it is his/her perogative, period.

There are a numbert of people out there who would like to see an open rupture between Van Tran and Mimi Walters by disemminating flase info. Only the naive and feint-hearted would fall into this cheap herring.

Been Around and Fact Checker, aka same (im)poster,

You go out of your way to bring Van Tran into the fight when there is none. Give it a rest and get a life. Don't start a fight when you know that you can't win.

Mimi's very fortunate that Van Tran has yet to endorse and help Harry, despite the fact that she and her people are doing a lot of things to aggravate him.

BTW, 13% of the GOP households in the 33rd are Asian Pacific Islanders, primarily Chinese, Vietnamese, and Koreans -- groups that Van Tran and his team work very closely with for well over 15 years. Quite a substantial number. Anyone who can turn this group on is Van Tran and Mimi knows it.

Don't try to create division and chaos when none is needed.

And it's SO easy for Mimi Walters to stop this division.

All she has to do is stop listening to her consultant and tell Gina to stay home next month.

Mimi's team should ask this question to themselves: what does Mimi get out of this?

SO easy.

I, for one, think if we get back on topic we can agree Carolyn Cavecche was a worthy honoree. As a previous poster mentioned, there are no rules about who can be given the Woman of the Year Award. Where's the beef?!

This whole thing is stupid and "Viorel" (the Red County blogger) is responsible for starting it, for citing Wisckol in the first place and agreeing. So, who is Viorel? What is his/her agenda?

Wisckol, by the way, has an update now on Total Buzz:

http://totalbuzz.freedomblogging.com/2008/03/24/rebuttal-from-mimis-office/
Rebuttal from Mimi’s office
March 24th, 2008 · Post a Comment · posted by MARTIN WISCKOL

Gina Zari, the chief of staff for Assemblywoman Mimi Walters, R-Laguna Niguel, just called with an explanation for choice of Orange Mayor Caroyln Cavecche as “Woman of the Year.” As noted in an earlier blog entry today, Cavecche does not live in Walters’ Assembly district.

Zari started out by talking about the California Women’s Leadership Association, which Walters helped found more than a decade ago. Last year, Walters named the group’s president to be her “Woman of the Year.”

“Carolyn Cavecchi sits on (the CWLA) board and we had such a wonderful response to that,” Zari said. “That’s part of the reason (for picking Cavecchi). Another reason…”

Next, Zari explained that Cavecchi is past chairman of the Orange County Transportation Authority and that she spent 15 hours at the Coastal Commission hearing on the proposed extension of the 241 toll road. She spoke on behalf of the controversial proposal, which Walters favors.

“She was phenomenal,” Zari said. “Carloyn has been a star representative on traffic.

“‘Woman of the Year’ is not the person who does the most in the community. If it was, it would be called ‘Person of the Year.’ It’s a political statement and Mimi’s political statement is that Carloyn Cavecchi has done a lot for the district.

“This isn’t about the Senate race.”

SO ANONYMOUS 1:35 P.M., FOR THE MOST PART, WAS CORRECT.

Only the naive and feint-hearted would fall into this cheap herring.

"Cheap herring"?

Is that any relation to a "red herring"?

Jubal,

A "cheap herring" is actually a cheap "red herring". No color added.

This has to be a screw-up...or the staffers didn't think anybody would notice the honor/bribe would be called out. If the latter is true its very sloppy work by the staffers.

Mimi could have honored Cavecchi in a lot of other ways and shouldn't have slighted her district by bypassing a deserving woman.

And finally, I like Cavecchi but the project work was done before she took the chair. Measure M1 and M2 and Art Leahy set and are setting the agenda for many years. Carylyn was missing in action during the bus driver strike. This could have been settled much sooner had she taken a more active role. ...and she couldn't get the 241 done. As one of the leaders of the plan along with TCA she has to take some of the responsibility for the loss.

Ok, I admit this is waaaay off the subject, but Just Asking's comment that "Carylyn (sic) was missing in action during the bus driver strike" is so far off base that I just couldn't let it pass. She devoted most of her waking hours to the issue for its entire duration. Unless JA was living in a cave without internet or television access, he/she certainly knows better. And certainly the commenter realizes that (1) there is much more to OCTA than just Measure M projects; and (2) that the 241 extension was a TCA rather than OCTA project. So Just Asking, please give it a rest. You've lost all credibility.

Been Around,

Your posts on this blog sound really dumb. You don't know what you are talking about. You must have "been around" another universe for your outrageous comments that border on the stupidity. Get a real day job!

Slice,

Press release(s) and interviews were no way to negotiate a labor issue. She did not go to the table until the impact on bus riders was felt by many.

And I agree this was off track, but what did Carolyn lead that was not already in process when she acended? And as for the 241, which as I said was lead by TCA, but as chair of OCTA was transportation a leader as well. If it had passed don't you think she would have been at the party celebrating with others patting themselves on the back for a job well done?

You can't have it both ways...