🍊 OC Conservative Brief - 1.27.23

Welcome to the inaugural issue of the Orange County Conservative Brief!

The OC Conservative Brief, written by Andrew Clark (me) will be your weekly source for a rundown of the biggest and latest developments in Orange County's local politics...from a conservative perspective.

They say all politics is local. These days that couldn't be more true. Our mission is to help keep you informed about what our elected officials and candidates are up to, while giving them an opportunity to connect with the voters who send them there.

If we meet your expectations, please subscribe and forward to your friends! Now let’s briefly dive in…

There will be BIG news coming out of Orange County today... The Republican National Committee is in town, holding its annual Winter Meeting at the Waldorf Astoria in Dana Point. The party committee members will vote today for who they want to serve as the Chair of the RNC for the next two years, pitting current Chair Ronna McDaniel against California's own Harmeet Dhillon and MyPillow's Mike Lindell.

FRAUD, BRIBERY, AND CANNABIS, OH MY! Democrat political consultant and former executive director of the Orange County Democratic Party Melahat Rafiei agreed to plead guilty last week to attempted wire fraud with one of her firm's clients, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. She faces up to 20 years in prison.

• But that's not all... Number of the week? $225,000, which is how much Rafiei also admitted she agreed to give in bribes to two unnamed Irvine City Councilmembers in exchange for their support "introducing and passing a city ordinance that would allow Rafiei's clients to open a retail cannabis store in Irvine." Yikes!

Rafiei has been a big presence in Irvine municipal politics, and the guilty plea - which traces back to the corruption scandal that rocked Anaheim last year - is already shaking up Irvine's upcoming 2024 elections, according to the Voice of Orange County.

HUGE PROMOTION… Republican State Sen. Janet Nguyen (R-SD36), who represents coastal Orange County’s beach cities, was unanimously elected last week by her Republican colleagues in Sacramento to serve as Senate Minority Caucus Chair, the second-highest ranking position within the caucus. Nguyen will now work alongside Republican Minority Leader Brian Jones to run operations on the floor and set the Republican legislative agenda.

• Nguyen, who won her current Senate seat by nearly 15-points in 2022 against Democrat Kim Carr, is now the highest-ranking Vietnamese American elected official in California.

It's good news for Orange County Republicans, who now have one of our own leading the (handful of) Republicans in Sacramento.

“It’s truly an honor,” Nguyen said according to the OC Register, “and I pledge to ... use this decision to make sure we work together for a more affordable and safer state, so we all have the opportunity like my family did to achieve the American dream.”

🚨 CA-47 UPDATE... Speaking of promotions, Orange County Democrat Rep. Katie Porter's decision to run for U.S. Senate has set off a flurry of activity among local Democrats (and Republicans) hoping to take over her competitive House seat in 2024.

The latest Democrat to toss their hat into the ring? State Senator David Min (D-SD37), whose current state Senate district partially overlaps with Porter's. Porter herself endorsed Min shortly after he announced last week.

• You should probably know...Min is a former economic policy advisor to Senator Chuck Schumer and used to work for the Leftist think tank Center for American Progress, which tells you what kind of Congressman he'd be if he ever got back to Washington.

If you're feeling Déjà vu, it may be because Democrat Harley Rouda, who represented the area for one term before being thumped by Republican Michelle Steel in 2020, has also announced he is running again.

Why it matters... Porter's exit presents a huge opportunity to win the seat back in 2024. Porter, who spent millions to defend her seat, only won re-election to her seat by 3 points in 2022, narrowly defeating Republican Scott Baugh - who has announced he is running again - in one of the closest and most expensive House races in the country.

BIG MAC ATTACK! McDonald's USA President Joe Erlinger penned a satisfyingly scathing open letter aimed at California's Democrat leaders on Wednesday, not so subtly titled "California keeps looking for ways to raise prices, drive away more businesses and destroy growth through bad policy and bad politics."

Erlinger takes aim at California's FAST Act (AB257), a union-backed law that creates a 10-member "council" to set minimum wage and other standards for California's fast food industry. There's little doubt among Republicans that this bureaucratic council - which includes members appointed by the governor - would be under immense pressure from powerful Big Labor special interests to push through their agenda while creating an expensive regulatory patchwork for the food industry. Even some Democrats voted against the bill when it passed last summer.

But not so fast... the law, which was supposed to go into effect January 1, has been put on hold pending a ballot referendum in 2024, which means Californians will get a chance to vote on it. Expect the Democrats and Big Labor to pour everything they can into getting AB257 over the finish line, while food industry and business groups are lining up to defeat it.

• Businesses like In-N-Out, Chipotle, McDonalds, and Starbucks have formed the Save Local Restaurants coalition to share more information and fight back.

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Have a tip on a news item in Orange County conservatives should know about? Drop me a line at [email protected]