lorri galloway at rallyThe Democratic Party of Orange County (DPOC) voted Monday evening to endorse former Councilmember Lorri Galloway for Mayor of Anaheim. It would have been startling if the DPOC failed to do so since Galloway is a viable candidate, a Democrat in good standing and the only Democrat running for mayor.

Nonetheless, I am told that former DPOC Vice Chair Greg Diamond tried to derail the endorsement. Diamond is a vocal supporter of Mayor Tom Tait, a conservative Republican. At the same time, the DPOC endorsed Jose F. Moreno even though he has endorsed Tait over Galloway.

Dan Chmielewski has more over at the LiberalOC.com:

The party firmly endorsed Lorri Galloway for Mayor. Galloway, who has never lost a race for Anaheim city council, got a rounding endorsement from Party chair Henry Vandermeir and a round of applause from the assembled members. Galloway had to withstand a challenge from ousted Party North Vice Chair Greg Diamond, who all but confirmed a de facto endorsement of Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait by referring to Galloway as “not a viable candidate” and suggesting the real race was between Lucille Kring and Tait and Diamond practically asked Galloway to step aside. The only problem with Diamond’s argument is that the DPOC should be in the business of backing and supporting Democratic candidates for office — not Republicans with a strong track record of being anti-union, anti-labor, hypocritical on votes that affect his city but not his business. Tait and Kring have been beating each other bloody while Galloway raises money, walks neighborhoods and talks to voters. Galloway has a proven ability to compromise on issues where Tait won’t and can’t. Galloway’s endorsement was further evidence that the DPOC did the right thing in ousting Diamond from his leadership post months ago. You cannot walk into the DPOC and advocate for a Republican candidate and expect to win. And Diamond further tarnishes his own reputation with Party members who still had the class to endorse him for a water district race he’s ill-equipped to handle even if elected.

You can read all of Dan’s post here