Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait – whom the OC GOP named its Local Elected Official of the Year in 2013 – did his part to boost the Blue Wave by endorsing progressive Democrat Ashleigh Aitken to succeed him. Aitken posted this on her campaign Facebook earlier today:
The Aitken campaign also sent out this text message touting the Tait endorsement – along with her endorsement by government employee unions:
The surprise here is not that Tom Tait is endorsing Ashleigh Aitken – only that it took this long. Openly endorsing her earlier would have undermined efforts by Tait loyalists to prevent the OC GOP from endorsing Harry Sidhu for mayor. Sidhu was only a few votes shy of the endorsement, and the shock of a Tait endorsement of a left-wing Democrat for mayor might have caused the scales to fall from the eyes of even the most deeply in denial members of the OC GOP Central Committee. If any of those members are now having second thoughts about opposing the Sidhu endorsement – too late. You’ve been played.
At least Ashleigh Aitken recognizes something that eludes those recalcitrant OC GOP Central Committee members: this race is between her and Harry Sidhu.
Now they get to watch the Aitken campaign exploit Tait’s conservative credentials for the purpose of electing a progressive Democrat as mayor of OC’s largest city. Too late for a re-vote.
Some might be surprised to see the ostensibly conservative Republican mayor endorsing a left-wing Democrat, but Tait crossed that Rubicon years ago. He served as Republican wingman for the progressive Democrat political project to shift Anaheim to district elections. He unofficially support democratic socialist Jose F. Moreno for city council in 2014 before officially and enthusiastically endorsing Moreno in 2016. That same year, Tait also endorsed another leftist Democrat, Arturo Ferraras, against GOP Councilwoman Lucille Kring in District 4. He let the Palm Lane parents twist in the wind as Moreno’s school board allies litigated them for two years to prevent Palm Lane’s conversion to a charter school – only intervening late in the game to help Moreno’s gambit to gain influence over the charter formation process.
This year, Tait is supporting Mark Lopez for the Anaheim Elementary School District Board of Education in Area 4. Lopez is the candidate of teachers union and anti-charter school progressives. A few weeks ago, Lopez abandoned GOP to once again become a No Party Preference voter.
He’s also working hard to re-elect Councilman Jose F. Moreno – the most left-wing local elected official in Orange County.
So, really – is anyone who is actually paying attention surprised Tom Tait would once again endorse a left-wing Democrat?
Think about it: Mayor Tait has assiduously avoided taking a position on the attempt by Anaheim Resort unions to use local government to dictate wages and turn the city manager into a labor relations cop – but he can endorse a progressive Democrat over a conservative Republican for mayor.
Let that sink in.
The problem is most voters don’t pay such close attention to city politics. They’re busy and frankly – they have better things to do. They still view Mayor Tait as a staunch conservative – which would logically dictate endorsing other conservative Republican voters. Rest assured, the Aitken campaign will leverage that reality and try to use the Tait endorsement to pick up GOP voters under false pretenses. Will it work? That remains to be seen.
What this endorsement does illustrate – and vividly so – is how this obsessive, inordinate focus on tax incentives to attract luxury hotels has so deformed and distorted Tom Tait’s politics that he is campaigning for candidates who reject the principles of the Founding and believe government holds the answers to society’s problems.
Thank you Mayor Tait! Best mayor ever
I’m sorry, but please explain why. West Anaheim is worse than before. It’s parks are unuseable, the murders, needles, the crime, the homeless actually living in tents on sidewalks at night, and during the day they live in our parks. Watching transients do the most disgusting things near our homes is not worthy of praise. There will also be no hotel for jobs in all hotel related work,no angels, no improvement on the west side, especially beach blvd.
So, please explain your praise. We are curious.
I would love to know your reasoning. Is it that we are all held up in our homes while drug dealers & prostitutes scare us out of our parks?
I have lived here my whole life and cannot believe the absolute filth in our streets & lawlessness!
Tait should be personally sued for Negligence.
Anyone paying attention at the OC GOP??
This is why they’ve become irrelevant…
Are any of them planning to speak up against this sham?
Surely you jest Mayor Tait is a sellout. He will be remembered as the worst mayor Anaheim has EVER seen. He is a puppet for the Moreno/Matsuda leftist regime. Ashleigh Aitken has endorsed the needle exchange program that was a college project and will not work. This shows how out of touch she is. She is a Moreno comrade who wants to join with Moreno and co. to retain the majority and control Anaheim.
This control group has not worked and they have not moved us forward but rather backward. We have failing schools, a bigger than ever homeless problem (growth under Mayor Tait and Moreno), dilapidated neighborhoods, park encampments popping up, camping in the streets, and vacant buildings in disrepair.
Yeah thanks Tait.
Vote no on Moreno he is bad for Anaheim
Vote no for Ashleigh Aitken she is bad for Anaheim ( she is endorsed by those who have ruined Anaheim)
Vote no on Al Jabbar he has ruined our schools
Vote no on Ryan Ruelas he is proven to be bad for our students and schools
Vote no on Mark Lopez he is not qualified and is seeking election to further the Moreno regimes causes
Vote no on Annemarie Randle-Trejo who is a Moreno follower
Vote no on Juan G. Alvarez who is another Moreno follower.
This group has lowered the quality of life in Anaheim
He promised west Anaheim help. He promised.
Look around.
This is his legacy.
I wonder how Cynthia Ward will spin this……
I hope everyone will do the SMART thing…
Harry Sidhu for Mayor
Jordan Brandman in District 2
Mitch Caldwell in District 3
Trevor O’Neil in District 6
YES on J & K
NO on L
Don’t forget Dr. Coronado And Young Kim.
And YES on 6
The problem is, I don’t think we need to give money to Disneyland to build Hotels
Hotels are going to be built.
I know you will tell me they “Canceled” the hotel, but as soon as the election is over, if they win, they get the money, if they lose, they don’t, either way , they build.
Their not turning it back in to Orange groves
The city owns and operates the Anaheim Convention Center, a generator of lots of good jobs and revenue for the city.
The city of San Diego is having serious problems in expanding its convention center, which has been the long term home for Comic-Con.
Anaheim would love to get this very large convention that brings in lots of revenue, plus lots of exposure in the media.
We just finished another large expansion of the convention center.
The last key is off-premise meeting rooms and high end hotel rooms for the execs and celebrities.
So don’t give the money to Disney, but lets find a way to reinvest some Convention Center revenue to get more 4-Star business hotels near the convention center built.
We are a host city for the 2028 summer Olympics.
I was in Long Beach this weekend, and they have a set of 4 Diamond Hotels near its convention center that was hosting a couple of decent sized conventions (One was a STEAM conference) but most of the events were being held in the hotel’s meeting rooms.
Why let Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Laguna Beach take the high-end and high spending guests away from our convention center?
The more money the Resort Area makes, the more money flows into our city’s general fund.
And the more money that tourists pay in taxes, the less that we, the citizens of Anaheim have to pay.
Look at all the nearby cities with Sales Tax increases on their ballot. I don’t want to see that on an Anaheim Ballot.
But with Aitken, Moreno, Vanderbilt and Gaby in office, unfortunately I can see them over-spending and having a new tax on the 2020 ballot.
“…he can endorse a progressive Democrat over a conservative Republican for mayor.”
I too was dismayed that he endorsed Ashleigh over Cynthia Ward.
Oh wait…
You’re not calling Sidhu a “convservative” are you?
Yes he is. And isn’t that ridiculous. Apart from Sishu’s incompetence he is completely in the bag for his “pillars” of Anaheim.
Also I can only understand every other word he say. How would he even run a meeting?
Wow. Way to slip in some bigotry there. No wonder you didn’t use your real name.
Harry is a conservative Republican. Who died and made Vern Nelson arbiter of who is and isn’t a conservative.
Harry Sidhu immigrated to this country with nothing. Worked as a janitor. Earned an engineering degree. Started a successful series of fast food franchise. That takes intelligence, judgement, savvy, risk-taking and hard-work. Who among his petty critics can point to similar accomplishment in their lives?
Bigotry? It’s not my fault he can’t speak coherently.
Conservative? No.
Immigrated with nothing? Incorprect he had seven bucks. But what he fails to remind people is that he was a teenager who came over with his parents. Apparently there was no ethical test required for citizenship.
Did anyone say who came as an unaccompanied minor? The point is you’re trying to minimize his hard-wing immigrant success story, and it’s pretty obvious you’re also making fun of his accent.
Crawl back in your hole already.
I didn’t make fun of his accent. I just said he was incoherent. You used your own assessment of Harry.
What is a hard-wing success story? Does that story end with a poor schmoe who can only “succeed” by getting elected something, anything?
News from Nowhere: You are hateful to make fun of someone’s speech because he has an accent. Yes you did make fun of it by saying he is incoherent, can’t walk it back now.
It takes hard work to bring yourself from very little. It takes strength to work your way up by being a janitor to get an education. It takes courage to use that education to start your own successful business. It takes brains to sustain that business as well as expand them.
He did not get life handed to him, he should get respect for that. He is self made rather than others currently in office as well as running against him.
Tait can try with all of his might to try to split the votes but he for once is transparent. Vote for someone who cares for the people of Anaheim. A person who is not afraid to work hard. Vote for a person who will not condone lawlessness and a needle exchange program that is certain to bring more lawlessness. Vote for someone who will try to be fair.
Vote Harry Sidhu. Yes he has an accent and is an immigrant should he really be judged for that?
Let’s hope we see change with this election. We need it. I believe Harry Sidhu is the best candidate to actually positively change Anaheim.
See below.
Well that’s what I get for ever believing this blog. Mayor Tait has emphatically NOT endorsed Ashleigh.
He is still doing what he’s been doing all year – talking up BOTH Cynthia and Ashleigh as perfectly worthy candidates, whether you lean Republican or Democrat.
To Rick Reiff not long ago:
RR: “Let’s talk about Mayor, there’s gonna be a Mayor after you – do you have a horse in this race? Whom are you supporting?”
TT: “I haven’t endorsed anybody. There are some good candidates. I know Cynthia Ward has been with me on these issues for a long time, and fighting in the trenches. She is very good.
I also know Ashleigh Aitken – I’ve known her family for years, she’s a very strong candidate – she believes also that you shouldn’t pick winners and losers and subsidize these big hotels. So there’s a couple very good candidates out there.”
And even more recently on a mailer: “The taxpayers of Anaheim owe Cynthia Ward a debt of gratituted for fighting these hotel subsidies.”
So Ashleigh is not lying when she texts that Tom is “supporting her.” But that is not ENDORSING her over Cynthia. Nice try.
And union proxy Carina Franck Patine is putting herself out there for Ashleigh Aitken. Amazing what Carina will do to sink low to benefit clients. Sorry Jim.
What a load: Tom Tait talks both up to split the vote. Tom Tait’s word doesn’t mean much as Anaheim does not think much of him. Worst mayor Anaheim has ever had. He looks like a fool being played by Moreno and his comrades.
Vote them all out.
Oh come on Vern! Is this really the best spin you have? For all intents and purposes, Tait has endorsed Aitken. The average voter will see his facebook post or her text message and take that as an endorsement. Just because he did not officially used the word endorsement does not mean that it isn’t tantamount to one.
So either WARD got played by TAIT or she is choosing to be a pawn in his game of chess.
I am no fan on WARD but generally saw her as a smart woman who couldn’t be bought. Turns out I was wrong. I cannot wait until TAIT is gone. I hope and pray Moreno goes with him.
VOTE SIDHU, CALDWELL AND O’NEIL. RESTORE SANITY TO CITY HALL.
Ah…the old “I’m supporting you but not endorsing you” dodge. File under distinction without a difference.
…another murdered body found stuffed in luggage in a dumpster in Anaheim today. (See oc register)
Just mentioning this because this city of “KINDNESS” is getting laughable. Mayor Tait, will you address the crime, or only kindness? Ashleigh isn’t going to do it.
We need REAL help.
Tait can play games all he wants but he is all in on the Moreno Matsuda Jabbar Rueles agenda and it’s really sad. I liked atom Tait while he was here and wish him well in Laguna Beach.
I guess he has been warming up to leftist communist politics for a while.
Let’s review who he supports at every backyard rally and political event:
Jose Moreno: using Anaheim to enrich his family – believes in open borders, needles to homeless, no consequences for criminals
Mike Matsuda: also using Anaheim to enrich his family- big raise to himself (Thanks Al Jabbar) big pronation and raise to sister Jackie. Hired his son as high paid intern. Schools are imposing with discipline problems as he blames all problems on the teachers – no learning going on- serious students and parents that want safe environments are leaving the district in droves. Meanwhile his central planning balloon the downtown budget for all of his pet projects.
Ryan Rueles: a devout communist that names his leadership group the politburo until this blog exposed him. Cheated on AP tests, horrible scores, 100k per year no classes with live students. Brags about firing Linda Wagner Dale Hillyer and Anna Corral all are better people and more educated with doctorate degrees. But Ryan gets to play like he is big boy while he still lives with mommy.
Jose Lara: well documented problems – same old thing. Hates America – just google his name and you will scratch your head and say- wait Tom Tait is backing this guy? Yes he is because he wants you to keep Matsuda, Rueles , Moreno and Jabbar in power.
It’s time we all say… thanks for the memories Tom Tait- go enjoy the beach- we need to clean up this mess and it starts by voting this cabal out of office next week.
VOTE YES ON PROP 6 TO REPEAL THE GAS TAX
No, no, NO on AITKENS!!!!!!!!!!!
IF SHE GETS IN, IT WILL BE EXACTLY THE SAME AS WHAT WE HAVE NOW
No, no, NO on MORENO SD AITKENS!
IIF EITHER GETS IN, IT WILL BE EXACTLY THE SAME AS WHAT WE HAVE NOW
Don’t forget to attend Yesina’s “Dias Los Muertes” celebration tonight. In honor of Cynthia Wards campaign! DEAD!
Oh Vern. How did Donna get that black eye in 2014? Be honest for once in your alcohol fused life
Tom Tait is quoted saying he settled the case on homelessness. He says he’s going to make this right. Now we know it keeps getting worse. His brand of kindness has caused homeless camps in our parks, needle exchange in our parks, chases away jobs, Chandra away the Angels, can’t close the deal on anything, and crime is on the rise. His kindness is killing Anaheim. No more. Anyone he supports I won’t vote for. Please leave Tait. Get out.
It’s time to take our city back. Voting for Aiken or Ward is self destructive. Anyone Tait supports is nothing more than a puppet.
Vote Harry Sidhu for Mayor
Vote Trevor O’Niel for City Council district 6
Vote Mitch Caldwell for City Council district 3
No on measure L
Oh, come off it, it is not bigoted to call a guy incoherent just because he’s from another country, if he is plainly incoherent. The first reason Harry is incoherent and hard to understand is because his “thinking” is incoherent and hard to understand.
Every time I’ve seen him speak in public this year – and remember he’s only deigned to attend TWO “forums” – he has had the questions in advance, prepared his answers and read them off cards. And they’re still incoherent. Lorri Galloway does this too. Of the leading candidates, only Cynthia and Ashleigh are able to speak extemporaneously about any subject they’re asked.
Last of all, Harry’s speaking is much harder to understand than it was when he was last on council in 2012. Everyone who’s honest about it agrees and there’s nothing bigoted about noting that. My impression is he hasn’t been speaking much English these past four years. Perhaps, if God forbid he becomes Mayor, his English will come back, like riding a bicycle does.
By the way, let’s put an end to all this nonsense of Harry being a self-made rich man. Give us a break. He was cleaning firetrucks at Hughes Aircraft in Fullerton until he met his current wife, and left the mother of his daughter. Harry married into his fabulous money. Nothing wrong with that necessarily, but stop trying to make it something it isn’t.
The most disturbing part of that viral video where Cynthia makes a fool of him for not knowing we’ve had a public utility since 1895 which Disney has nothing to do with, is not so much his ignorance, but another thing he’s said a few times – that IF IT WEREN’T FOR DISNEY AND THE RESORT DISTRICT, ANAHEIM WOULD BE “NOTHING” – the worst town in the county. This speaks volumes about what he thinks of this town’s 352,000 residents and thousands of smaller businesses, and explains his philosophy better than any of his INCOHERENT statements.
Vern is often incoherent at Anaheim Council meetings during public comments.
If that’s true, maybe you shouldn’t vote for me for Mayor! DUH
Vern, why is Cunningham deleting my comments? What is he afraid of?
Are you the anonymous guy who wrote that I was naked at Downtown Disney or something? I guess Matt deleted it cuz he has higher standards than Dan does at the Liberal OC. Try over there.
No, I’m the guy that said Sidhu was incomprehensible.
P.S. I did post comments at the “Liberal” OC. They’ve all been censored. And as I understand it that slumlord will publish any slander but only as long as it slanders his personal enemies.
The blog is on moderation, after Vern, Greg,,Paul and Sean Mill started harassing Maddie at UCLA.
If I were Dan I would kill Vern.
If I were Dan I’d go get an education and quit stalking people.
My comments were “moderated” into non-existence. Creep obviously is addicted to censorship. Oh, well I doubt if anybody much reads that trash anyhow.
Who the hell is Maddie, you psycho?
Okay, sorry News from Nowhere, you sound like a sensible guy.
Vern, would you please publish the police report of your last DUI arrest?
I am certain Anaheim voters would like to know the sorrid details of what happened, and then we can ask Cynthia Ward, Jose Moreno and Duanne Roberts how they can in good conscience associate with you.
While you are at it, could pleade stste for the record that you DID NOT punch Donna in the face.
Pretty straightforward for a honest, transparent guy
Ryan Ruelas is a fraud. Jose Moreno is a hypocrite. Go on their Facebook. Ryan Ruelas tells us to vote for educator Mark Lopez? What credential does Lopez have? What scores has Ryan produced, basement low scores are his actuals. Jose Moreno is a fabricating hypocrite. He is only about himself. He is not a man of the people as he leads you to believe he is out for himself.
This pledge that Ruelas, J P Magcalas, Jabbar,,Moreno, Juan A. Gonzales,Randle-Trejo all highly publicize is A TOTAL JOKE and is an insult to the citizens of Anaheim and robs our kids of their education all the while our $$ goes into their pockets.
Get them all out of town, that is the way we can move forward together Jose. Best to beat Jose.
VOTE YES ON 6 – REPEAL THE GAS TAX.
GET THEM ALL OUT OF OUR CITY AND THEN WE CAN MOVE FORWARD TOGETHER. I PRAY FOR JOSE TO BE VOTED OUT.
I monitor the postings of Matsuda,Jabbar, Moreno and Rueles. The first thing that I always ask myself is where do these guys find the time to work? They spend all day posting pictures of themselves or reposting liberal b.s.
But we do know that they are very dishonest and will spend every last one of your children’s allocated money to hold on to power.
Case in point was the staged event at Katella High this week. It’s all about optics and they spend a crap load of money to make it seem like they and made some major breakthrough. Not!
The ideas that this guy Mark Lopez – as the previous post pointed out is another great example of their dishonesty. Mark Lopez is a politician that was inserted a long term substitute teacher at Magnolia high just so they could fool voters and call him an educator. What a joke!
Facebook spy: BRAVO. What education degrees does Mark Lopez have is the question. What qualifies them to appoint his as a long term substitute teacher. Don’t you need credentials to teach. This shows why are scores are so low, and who they really put first – themselves. They reason why our schools score so low is the Matuda, Moreno, Jabbar, group that includes Ruelas and their newest poser, Lopez, they put themselves before the students. They are consumed with their own welfare and power hold as opposed to THE KIDS. Mark Lopez ran for council in the last election. They are using this education post to raise his visibility to run again. He is a union guy I think. They have such huge egos that they think they can put an unqualified candidate up for a school trustee and we will just buy it… DONT BUY IT AND LETS GET THEM OUT AND SHOW THEM WE ARE NOT SO EASY TO FOOL. WE SHOULD EXPECT OUR OFFICIALS TO EARN THEIR PAY AND IT THEY DON’T THEY ARE OUT.
Getting this group out is a priority for Anaheim’s welfare. THEIR AIM IS TO CONTROL ANAHEIM.
VOTE NO ON AL JABBAR
VOTE NO ON RYAN RUELAS
VOTE NO ON JUAN G ALVAREZ
VOTE NO ON ANNMARE RANDLE-TREJO
VOTE NO ON MARK LOPEZ
VOTE NO ON JOSE MORENO
WHEN WE CAN WE NEED TO GET OUT:
MIKE MATSUDA
LORENO MORENO
JOSE LARA
DEBBIE SCHROEDER
AND ANYONE ELSE WITH TIES TO THIS REGIME.
WE NEED TO OVERHAUL OUR CITY AND ITS SCHOOL DISTRICT
WE NEED TO EXPECT MORE OF OUR OFFICIALS IN ALL AREAS OF OUR CITY
EXPECT DELIVERABLES …EXPECT IMPROVEMENTS
VOTE YES ON PROP 6 = IT REPEALS THE GAS TAX. It will not stop road repairs as our state already has the money.
Al Jabbar post: KINDNESS TO WHOM? Dedication of Kindness Way, Pledge Highway and AIME ave at Ball jr High! It was honor to introduce Mayor Tom Tait, some one who has supported our public schools throughout and initiated the City of Kindness program. As a result we are practicing Kindness all through our AUHSD schools!
ANSWER: KINDNESS TO THEMSELVES AS IT IS NOT TO OUR STUDENTS WHO HAVE BOTTOM LEVEL SCORES IN THE ENTIRE STATE…. MORE PROPAGANDA
Friday, the Mayor posted this on his Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/mayortomtait/
>>As your mayor for the past eight years, I have done my best to fight for the people of Anaheim. We have a huge opportunity to let the special interests know that they can no longer take from the Anaheim taxpayers.
The previous city council majority voted to give hundreds of millions of dollars to Disney and two well connected luxury hotel developers. Disney alone has spent well over a million dollars flooding our mailboxes and social media to elect their candidates who support those giveaways.
Fortunately, there are candidates that believe our limited taxpayer funds should be spent to provide vital public services and not to fund private luxury hotels.
I stand with those candidates that will fight special interests and truly represent the best interests of the PEOPLE of Anaheim. They are:
Patty Gaby
Dr. Jose Moreno
James Vanderbilt
Cynthia Ward
Ashleigh Aiken
Please let your voice be heard on November 6th. Thank you.
Sent from my iPhone<<
Posted on Mayor Tait’s Facebook Page Friday Afternoon.
>>As your mayor for the past eight years, I have done my best to fight for the people of Anaheim. We have a huge opportunity to let the special interests know that they can no longer take from the Anaheim taxpayers.
The previous city council majority voted to give hundreds of millions of dollars to Disney and two well connected luxury hotel developers. Disney alone has spent well over a million dollars flooding our mailboxes and social media to elect their candidates who support those giveaways.
Fortunately, there are candidates that believe our limited taxpayer funds should be spent to provide vital public services and not to fund private luxury hotels.
I stand with those candidates that will fight special interests and truly represent the best interests of the PEOPLE of Anaheim. They are:
Patty Gaby
Dr. Jose Moreno
James Vanderbilt
Cynthia Ward
Ashleigh Aiken
Please let your voice be heard on November 6th. Thank you.
Sent from my iPhone<<
Even with the spelling error, clear that the Mayor is openly supporting (Standing) Ms. Aitken
Scary:https://www.loscerritosnews.net/2018/06/05/radical-communist-organization-led-by-el-rancho-unified-board-member-jose-lara-trying-to-take-over-the-school-district/
Any chance of you releasing your arrest reports vodka guy?
Ugh. Enough. Believe me, I am no fan of Vern Nelson, but this is getting old.