Former State Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva held a St. Patrick’s Day fundraiser tonight to raise money for her next campaign. That’s right she is going to try to win back her seat in the 65th Assembly District in two years – in 2016.
Quirk-Silva was soundly defeated by a former Ed Royce staffer, Young Kim, in the November, 2014 General Election. Kim got over 42,000 votes and Quirk-Silva barely cleared 35,000 votes.
The 2014 General Election was a tough one for the O.C. Democrats. They also lost in the 34th State Senate District, where Janet Nguyen trounced former State Assemblyman Jose Solorio. And the Democratics on the Irvine and Huntington Beach City Councils got the boot as well.
The Latino voters in Orange County did not vote in 2014 – in the Primary and the General Elections. And the Asian voters turned out for the GOP candidates. Other Asian Republicans that were elected in November included Supervisors Michelle Steel (Korean), Lisa Bartlett (Japanese) and Nguyen’s right-hand man, Andrew Do (Vietnamese).
It is likely that the O.C. Democrats will try to rally in 2016 behind their presumed Presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton. But she is now under fire for using a personal email to conduct State business when she was the Secretary of State.
And you have to wonder if Clinton can rally the Latino voters that President Barack Obama turned off over the past few years as he deported a record number of immigrants. Clinton’s husband, Bill, also had a terrible record on immigration when he was the President.
So can Quirk-Silva run on her record? I took a look at her votes and I found that she voted no on quite a few bills that her fellow liberals were supporting, including:
- SB 270 – The Plastic Bag Ban
- SB 1174 – Repealing the Ban on Bilingual Education
- SB 1010 – Amended Penalties for Cocaine Possession
- AB 1699 – Prohibited the Sale of Products Containing Microplastics (She did not vote on this one)
- AB 4 – Prohibits Law Enforcement From Detaining Individuals Based Solely on Immigration Status (She did not vote on this one)
And Quirk-Silva voted yes bills that were job-killers, including:
- AB 1522 – Paid Sick Leave for Employees
- AB 10 – An Increase in the Minimum Wage
She also voted for bills that angered many of her constituents, including:
- AB 60 – Driver’s Licenses for Undocumented Immigrants
- AB 1266 – This Bill Allowed Transgender Students to use any Public School Restrooms
And she voted against civil liberties:
- She voted no on AB 1894 – Establishing a State Entity to Oversee Medical Cannabis
- She voted yes on SB 27 – Requiring Certain Nonprofits to Disclose their Donors
- She voted yes on SB 374 – Prohibits Semiautomatic Rifles with Detachable Magazines
- She voted against SB 649 – Classifies Certain Drug Infractions as Misdemeanors
Don Wagner with Sharon Quirk-Silva
Quirk-Silva has also accrued terrible ratings from pro-job, pro-business and anti-tax organizations, including:
- California Chamber of Commerce – Positions – 50%
- California National Federation of Independent Business – Positions – 56%
- Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association – Positions – 32%
- California Taxpayers’ Association – Positions – 54%
And a look at Quirk-Silva’s campaign finances reveals that unions are her top donors. That is not a popular notion in Orange County!
So what about Kim? So far she is off to a nice start as she recently took a stand against the toll lanes no one in Orange County wants to see added on the 405 Freeway.
Safe to say that Kim won’t be doing anything particularly stupid between now and 2016. And she surely won’t be voting for controversial transgender bills! She will play it safe and raise a lot of money. And I suspect she will be more than ready to take on Quirk-Silva again in 2016.
Unless Clinton can recover and still find a way to lead her party in 2016, Quirk-Silva won’t be able to count on any help from her party. The O.C. Democrats are in total disarray. They couldn’t even get a candidate on the ballot in the 37th State Senate District Special Election, which is taking place this week on March 17. And the O.C. Democrats don’t even have an Executive Director at the moment.
Quirk-Silva should reconsider this folly and stick to teaching. But she won’t and I am fairly certain she will lose big again in two years.