Red County/OC Blog News Roundup -- March 29, 2007

Today's top stories from behind the Orange Curtain:

Nguyen Fights The Power And Prevails -- OCR
Janet Nguyen saw key Republican leaders line up against her in the supervisors race, but the one-time boat person dug in to beat the odds.

Water Shortage Called Serious -- OCR, DP and LAT
With strong winds and warm weather predicted, officials plead with users to cut back, especially on yard irrigation.

State To Review Santa Ana Unified Enrollment Data -- OCR and LAT
Teachers say their class sizes are larger than what the district is reporting

With Land Sky High, Burials Go Upward -- OCR and LAT
Catholic Diocese of Orange dedicates its first mausoleum since its formation.

Foster Care Can Lead To Success -- OCR
After 12 years in the foster care system, Anaheim's Tonya Hightower is a success story, one she shares with lawmakers in the nation's Capitol.

Santa Ana Heights Scores Windfall -- OCR
Neighborhood near John Wayne Airport wins conceptual approval from county supervisors for millions in public improvements.

OC Deputy Investigated For Sexual Misconduct -- LAT
Prostitute says she was taken to a secluded area, photographed. Deputy is on paid leave during the investigation.

UCI Severing Ties With Orthopedics Office -- LAT
School says it has lost $1 million. The ex-office manager says she and her husband, who founded the practice, are scapegoats.

Villa Park Group Launches Recall -- OCR
Villa Park Citizens for Honest Government said it will attempt to recall Councilwoman Deborah Pauly.

Another Village Coming Along In North Irvine -- OCR
Stonegate will join northern Irvine's Woodbury, Portola Springs and Orchard Hills.

School Sites get Technology Windfall -- OCR
A one-time grant that state lawmakers gave directly to schools has allowed south-county schools to spend millions of dollars on computers and other technology this year.

Comments

[Give Me A Break]

Janet Nguyen didn't stand a chance.

Am I the only one who gagged at that corker from Martin Wisckol in his story today? I think Martin must have drunk a little too deeply from his bottle of Old Melodrama when he wrote that line.

Janet was ALWAYS considered one of the frontrunners in this race. Martin should read his own stories - he never painted this picture of Janet as a hopeless underdog.

On the contrary, it was Trung Nguyen who was routinely discounted as a candidate. It was TRUNG's strong showing that surprised everybody. The conventional wisdom was that Janet would finish a close second to Umberg.

Come on, Martin -- are you a news reporter or a screenwriter?

[Martin's Right]

Martin's right. Janet should not have stood a chance. While Carlos and Trung had major endorsements and GOP organizational support, Janet had Margie Rice and Bill Dalton and not much else. Her victory was a historic upset.

[Give Me A Break]

Funny how NO ONE was saying that at the time. maybe that's because Janet had $200,000 in her campaign account, something she loudly broadcast throughout the summer and fall of 2006. If you have $200K in the bank and are a sitting councilmember in the second biggest city in the district, you definitely have a very good chance.

Plus Janet started campaigning for that seat before it was even officially open -- I'm sure Lynn Daucher appreciated Janet's vulture watch.

So don't give me this "Martin was right" baloney. If Martin was right, why did he consistently report Janet as a front-runner throughout the run-up to the election and the campaign itself?

[Bladerunner]

The conventional wisdom(and the polling) showed Janet coming in a close third to Umberg and Carlos .

[Martin Wisckol]

"Janet didn't stand a chance." I see how this can be criticized as overstatement and melodrama. The line was suggested to me by an editor and after initially recoiling a bit, I thought, "Well, that clearly makes the point that the odds were against her -- and sets up the rest of the story for explaining her obstacles and how she overcame them." So I used it (and take responsibility for it -- I made no objections to the editor). And if that's the only line of the story that's being criticized, I can live with that. I appreciate the comments about my earlier reporting. I hope I was tracking the race accurately, but have to admit that I -- like many others -- was surprised to see the BOTH Nguyens on top on Election Day.