The fight for the GOP nomination in the 71st AD continues to shape up as a Jeff Miller v. Neil Blais contest, with dark horse Mission Viejo Mayor John Paul Ledesma lurking on the fringes and pitch black horse candidate Irvine Councilman Stephen Choi lurking beyond that.
Jeff Miller has been using his Riverside County sanctuary to mount repeated forays behind the Orange Curtain to build up support. The latest is a fundraiser next Thursday, June 28 at the Newport Beach home of Christine & Bob Iger.
Still, the invite is light on OC names, with some noticeable exceptions like Hadi Makarechian.
Rancho Santa Margarita Councilman Niel Blais has lined up some pretty hi-powered OC mover-and-shaker names behind his candidacy, such as Dale Dykema, John Saunders, Mark Bucher, Wayne Lindholm, Bill Doddridge, Mike Ameel, Donna Varner and Rod McDermott. They've signed an endorsement letter inviting recipients to a Neil Blais fundraiser on Tuesday, June 26 in Irvine.
Click here for details on the Blias fundraiser.
This one is going to be a scorcher. I can feel it in my bones.
What do you mean no OC names for Miller. The Iger's are hosting and there is no bigger name in the OC name then Jeff Gibson. Plus some minor players like Duane Roberts, Ali Sahabi and Gorden Youde are alos supporting.
Posted by: Phil Paule | June 19, 2007 at 09:20 AM
There is no bigger name in the OC then Jeff Gibson?
Not to be impertinent, but that is preposterous.
Posted by: One Who Knows | June 19, 2007 at 10:02 AM
Choi is a darkhorse for good reason!
Recently, as Chair of OC Library Board he pushed an item to build his "grand vision". His "dream" library. He would graciously call it the OC County Regional Library, he envisioned 350k sqft + facility. Of course it would be in Irvine at the Great Park.
He expected member cities to pay for it, and the land be donated by the County.
When the plan was shot down on many levels by both administration and the board, he posed the threat that he would have Irvine leave the advisory board and he would take Irvine's tax money with him. Choi did not understand that the monies are controlled by the Supervisors. Any city can drop out, but their tax money stays. Additionally after some checking, the Irvine Council never authorized him to make such a threat.
Choi might be a great guy, but he doesn't understand how to work with agencies or boards. Irvine is a tough place to be in the minority, but wouldn't one expect some skills on diplomocy or concensus building to come out of all those issues?
Posted by: just..asking | June 19, 2007 at 11:27 AM
A clarifcation regarding tax money for cities withdrawing from the County library system. The supervisors would actually determine how much of the yearly collection earmarked for Irvine libraries would be passed on. A likely scenario: if the library portion of Irvine property tax collections was, say, $20 million, the supervisors would more that likely vote to retain a sizable portion ($6-8 million, best guess) for ongoing overhead and administrative expenditures in the County library system; expenses that wouldn't be affected by Irvine's withdrawl.
Posted by: Rifleshot | June 19, 2007 at 12:30 PM