OPINION: CA Republicans Need to Step Up and Back John Moorlach

The approaching recall election of Gov. Gavin Newsom includes two votes on election day: on the recall, and on this replacement should the recall proceed. There is no primary.

But there is an election before the recall in which the GOP hopefuls can prove their elephant bona fides: campaign for John Moorlach for supervisor in the 2^nd District in Orange County. It’s a dry run for the recall.

It’s ideal because OC still is the largest Republican county in the state. But that status is challenged by the encroachment of Democrats heavily funded by the public-employee unions and some (but not all) billionaires from Silicon Valley.

Last November, a Republican comeback in the Golden State largely began in Orange County. Michelle Steel and Young Kim ousted Democratic incumbents in the U.S. Congress. In 2020, two other Republicans also won back seats in other areas of the state, David Valadao in the San Joaquin Valley and Mike Garcia in the Ventura-LA area, holding a seat won earlier in a special election.

It was a start.

Moorlach’s race is Republican Comeback Round 2. If he wins, momentum will build. A pattern will be set.

Every Republican in California knows John. In 1994, he played Nostradamus with Orange County’s disastrous finances. In his race to unseat Democratic Treasurer-Tax Collector Bob Citron, Moorlach warned the incumbent was not a financial wizard – but an early version of Bernie Madoff. Few listened. Citron won. OC went bankrupt. The Board of Supervisors appointed Moorlach to fix the county, which he did.

He performed similar stellar financial achievements as a member of the board himself from 2007 to 2015. Then he ran for the state Senate and worked for key reforms to prevent wildfires and provide more nurses at the onset of COVID-19. Sadly, Democrats rejected those common-sense, pro-science reforms.

But the majority party did pass mental-health reforms, a lifelong Moorlach passion.

In his new race for county supervisor, Moorlach’s real opponent again will be the unions and the millions of moolah grabbed from the dues of members’ salaries, ultimately funded by taxpayers. Yeah, they use our money against us!

His main opponent, Democratic Costa Mesa Mayor Katrina Foley, is a Stepford Mayor for the unions. When they shout “Jump!” she bounces 20-feet high on a pogo stick. Her victory on March 9 would make Democrats gloat how the 2020 Steel-Kim-Valadao-Garcia victories were a fluke. It would sour everyone on the success of a Newsom recall. Might as well start handing out the Valium.

By contrast, a Foley flop – and Moorlach triumph – on March 9 would propel the GOP faithful all across the state toward the recall. They would wake up on March 10 with smiles under their COVID masks and vim and vigor in their veins, ready to march to the polls and boot from office a disastrous governor.

But let’s face it, there was another reason Moorlach lost last November: Republican apathy. It was because Republican donors didn’t step up to match them by funding replies to the lies. It was because Republicans didn’t realize Orange County is the lynchpin of California success, or failure, for Republicans.

This also is a time to emphasize traditional Republican fiscal responsibility. And backing Moorlach – the Fiscal Conscience of California – is just the way to do it.

First, you guys who are running for governor, either next year or in a potential recall, need to step up for Moorlach. Yes, John Cox, Kevin Faulconer, Darrell Issa and Tom McClintock, I’m calling on you.

Besides, if Moorlach loses his supervisor race, he’ll become the leading candidate to run for governor with the GOP label. Could someone who lost twice go on to win? Richard Nixon did just that in 1968, in what’s called the “Greatest Comeback.”

Best make sure Moorlach stays in Orange County.

As OC goes, so goes CA. And as CA goes, so goes the USA.

Reclaiming CA for the Republican Party begins in the trenches, the voting booths and the ballot harvesting of Orange County’s 2^nd Supervisorial District.

If Republicans don’t support Moorlach, they might as well just pack the bags and fly to a low-tax state right now. Even freezing in Texas with no electricity will be better.