Assemblyman Todd Spitzer terms out in 2008. His 71st Assembly District stretches from Norco to the north and Rancho Santa Margarita to the south.
Last week Neil Blais, a founding member of the Rancho Santa Margarita City Council officially announced his candidacy. He has hired Johnson/Clark as his consultants and Desiree Mouzoon (Dez and Associates) as his fundraiser.
Although I have not seen anything from him, I know Jeff Miller, a councilman in Corona and chairman of the Riverside GOP is also running and has GBWA on board. He is the only non-OC candidate at this point.
Also in the race: Irvine Councilman Steven Choi (at whose pleasure I serve on the Irvine Planning Commission), Mission Viejo Councilman John Paul Ledesma and Orange Councilman Mark Murphy.
Murphy has a close association with retired Senator John Lewis and his business partner Matt Holder (Lewis Consulting Group) they are very successful campaign consultants having elected two members of the OC Board of Supervisors and the Sheriff, but they don’t tend to run legislative campaigns.
With so many candidates from Orange County, there is ‘fear’ that a candidate from Riverside County (Corona or Norco) could win the seat. There is also a general feeling that all the candidates are fairly conservative and that perhaps any one of them would be a good vote in Sacramento. This could hurt them in attracting attention to their campaigns.
This scenario also advantages a candidate like Dr. Steven Choi who could draw significant resources from the Korean-American community while the other candidates dike it out among the local donor types.
Another reason to like Jeff Miller…he supports a tunnel under the National Forest between Riverside and Orange County that would be an alternate route to the 91 Freeway. If he positions himself and this issue well, he could achieve front runner status quickly.