The OC GOP laughs at Karina Onofre, but should they be crying instead?

Thomas Gordon, Member of the OC GOP Endorsement Committee

The OC GOP’s Endorsement Committee met last night to consider a handful of candidates.  They ended up punting on two races where Republicans are facing off against each other, but then their true colors emerged when they reviewed the candidates for OC Auditor-Controller.

It was of course never in doubt that they would endorse good old boy Eric Woolery.  That is of course disturbing since it is highly unlikely that Woolery will actual audit the Republicans on the Board of Supervisors or their handpicked agency heads.  But the worst was yet to come – after they announced their endorsement.

“Thomas Gordon noted that Mike Dalati (a Democratic candidate for OC Auditor-Controller) is Karina Onofre’s fiancee, to the laughter of the entire room,” as reported by the OC Political blog, which is essentially the new Red County blog.

Karina Onofre and Cecilia Iglesias

Onofre recently quit the GOP after she got tired of being bullied by the “good old boys” as she ran for the 74th Assembly District.  She also got fed up with the GOP’s continued attack on immigrants.

Should Gordon and company really be joking about losing Onofre to the Democratic Party?  Well it might be par for the course.  Consider this nugget:

The conservative advocacy group known as the Heritage Foundation recently “held a gathering of women of the right Monday afternoon to mark the final day of Women’s History Month — and the consensus was that women ought to go back in history. If Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg’s mantra is “lean in,” these women were proposing that women lean back: get married, take care of kids and let men earn the wages,” according to the Washington Post.

Who knows how many of the old white guys in the OC GOP asked Onofre out – only to find out she was dating an older guy who is a Democrat.  That could not have gone over well.

No this is not an April Fool’s column.  This really happened and Gordon and his pals ought to be ashamed of themselves.  It should be noted that Gordon lives in Santa Ana, a city where Republicans have absolutely zero pull.  Their only hope is former independent Ceci Iglesias, who was elected to the SAUSD School Board in 2012.  She is now running for the 69th Assembly District, which is held by a Democrat, Tom Daly, who won what is essentially a Hispanic seat after three Latino Democrats challenged him and split the vote in 2012.

Daly won by the way after the OC GOP did nothing to support their 2012 candidate for the 69th Assembly District, Joe Moreno.  Hopefully Iglesias won’t suffer the same fate.

The Republican Party cannot survive as a party of old white guys.  They should know that by now but they appear to be in denial.  Just look at their leading candidate for Governor – Tim Donnelly, the founder of the Minutemen and a guy who got busted for trying to carry a gun that wasn’t his onto an airplane a few years ago.  Nice.

Of course we should note that the GOP has gotten behind a slew of Asian women who are running for office – but will that just turn off Latino voters even more?  Does anyone really think that OC Supervisor Janet Nguyen can prevail as the GOP’s candidate in the 34th Senate District – against former Assemblyman Jose Solorio?  I don’t see how she can – particularly since Solorio has mounted a massive voter registration effort in the district.  That ironically will only hurt Daly, and help Iglesias, over in the 69th Assembly District.

The OC GOP might be laughing at Onofre now but they won’t be laughing after Solorio beats Nguyen and if Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva is able to fend off Ed Royce’s staffer, Young Kim, in the 65th Assembly District.