I’m here at the California Republican Party convention in San Jose where I just met Kevan Otto, the most recent candidate to enter the 59th Assembly District primary. The scoop on Otto’s entry into the hotly contested race belonged to FR’s Mike Spence a week ago. But ha, I’m first to get a photo of the guy (see right).
By the way, if you’re at the convention today you can hear more of Mike Spence’s wisdom, along with that of other FlashReport.org contributors, at a panel discussion at 4 p.m. (hey, that’s right now…) or at the "Congratulations FlashReport" party hosted by Congressman Darrell Issa later tonight.
Otto is president of the L.A. School Police Association. He’s also served as president of L.A. North PORAC and the state POST advisory committee. A resident of Sierra Madre in the San Gabriel Valley, Otto already has several law enforcement endorsements, even though filing’s still open for the race. The Sheriff’s Deputies in L.A. already endorsed Chris Lancaster and the San Bernardino Deputies are backing Anthony Adams.
Being from the San Bernardino County side of the 59th (the district is pretty evenly split between L.A. and San Bernardino counties), I let Kevan know I’m an Adams supporter but that I would like to help inform people about who all of the candidates are. He was cool with that, but seemed anxious to talk to Spence about his recent blog post. Read it here.
With regard to Spence’s comments, one of the things Mike had wondered was whether Otto’s candidacy could spell big labor involvement in the race. Otto said he’s not a wolf in sheep’s clothing. "Most people believe that law enforcement associations aren’t really ‘labor,’" he said, pointing out that he worked to get George W. Bush PORAC’s endorsement over Al Gore in ’02. "We took a lot of heat for that," he said. "We’re not just about pay raises and salaries." Otto has a point. In fact, the two leaders of San Bernardino County’s Sheriff’s Deputies association, Jim Erwin and Bill Abernathy, are both on the GOP Central Committee. But a lot of police unions have a habit of supporting Democrats. Mike suggested Otto needs to explain why his union gave $500 to Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy’s Dem opponent last year. Otto’s explanation: it was requested by the LaVerne POA.
Otto says he has a consultant but didn’t yet want to say who it is. His website isn’t online yet but will be soon. "I’ve only been in this thing for a week and a half," he explained.
So here’s my brilliant analysis: Otto’s candidacy hurts Lancaster and helps Adams by splitting the L.A. County vote (duh). Lancaster had appeared to be in the catbird seat over on the L.A. side after Bart Doyle of Sierra Madre dropped out. And while Adams does have two San Bernardino County opponents in Susan Slater and Barry Hartz, they appear to be minor players whereas Otto looks like he could be a more serious threat.
March 20th, 2006 at 12:00 am
I was reading a recent post by Mike Spence on the 59th Assembly race and clicked on a link to your February article. You discus that two members of the GOP Central Committee Jim Erwin and Bill Abernathy, are both also on the San Bernardino Deputy Sheriff’s Association. I went to the SBSO Association website http://www.sbcsea.org and was appalled. I could not believe who these so called GOP Committee members were endorsing. It looked like the Democratic super liberal starting line up. Phil Angelides, John Garamendi, Cruz Bustamante (Wow), Bill Lockyer, Jerry Brown (Unbelievable), Gloria Negrete McLeod, Nell Soto and Jeremy Baca. The only two republicans they supported were Bill Emmerson and Anthony Adams, however I now wonder if they aren’t closet libs, when they allow there names to appear side by side with the super left. I hope the check was worth it boys.
I’m disgusted that there are members of the GOP that take our name and then behind the scenes work so hard to fill Sacramento with the super left. A few words that come to mind are traitor, turncoat, defector, deserter, spy, double agent, etc… We have to root these folks out and send them packing.
Steve