The Best Choice

If you remember the old Remington Shaver commercial, it started out with the statement that he went looking for the best razor and he liked it so much he bought the company.  Well that is similar to what happened to me regarding the 74^th Assembly District.  I looked around and met with Allan Mansoor and had a long discussion with my friend, Leslie Daigle.  In the end I liked Mansoor so much I went to work for him.

Before I did though, I had a long discussion with Leslie Daigle.  I told her I was a Mansoor guy and I questioned her as to why she was running against the incumbent Republican.  Why not wait until Mansoor was termed out?  Daigle’s response was that the district was new and that she represented as much of the new district as did Mansoor, besides, she has been able to raise money and Mansoor is terrible at raising money (Mansoor has raised $50k more than Daigle so far).

The fact is, Daigle is termed out in 2014 and Mansoor isn’t termed out until 2016.  That would mean that Daigle would be a “nobody”, if she waited until 2016 to run.  She would have to run as a “Businesswoman” instead of a “Council Member/Businesswoman”.

So really, Daigle is an “Opportunist” not an ideologue, not someone interested in the best for the District, the best for the Republican Party, or the best for California, instead she is running because it is the best for Leslie Daigle.

So next, I thought that I would ask Daigle where she stood on the issues that pertain to the Assembly.  Now, I have known Leslie for over 6 years (I was on the Planning Commission) and we had talked about lots of things related to Newport Beach.  I had never talked to Daigle about the “GBT” test.

The GBT test stands for “Guns, Babies, and Taxes”.  In other words, “individual liberties” (guns), “abortion, marriage and other social issues” (babies), and “tax and government” (taxes).  The GBT test covers a lot of interesting and potentially controversial issues.  So does Daigle pass the test?

Where does Daigle stand on abortion?

She replied “Roe v Wade is the law of the land.”

Now for those that don’t know, Roe v. Wade was the 1973 Supreme Court decision that effectively legalized abortion at any time for any reason.  I still wanted to know what Daigle thought.  She again answered, “Roe v Wade is the law of the land.”  I wasn’t trying to trap her; I simply wanted to know what she thought.

Daigle answered the same way to the rest of my questions.  What about abortions for sex selection? Ditto.  What about abortions for disabled babies?  Ditto.  What about late term abortions?  Ditto.

OK, I guess I am a slow learner; Daigle is for abortion at any time for any reason.  I suppose that means that Daigle doesn’t play well with babies.

Mansoor believes that life begins at conception and that the unborn have as much right to “life liberty and pursuit of happiness as we do, and that it is government’s job to protect life.

Mansoor wins this round

So, are there any taxes that you can support?  Daigle thought that her record at Newport Beach was good enough (all I could think about was $200,000/year lifeguards and 3 percent-at-50 pensions that she implemented, giving Newport the highest unfunded pension liability per capita in the county).

Does Daigle realize that the Newport Council is made up of 6 Republicans and 1 Democrat?  Sacramento is filled with partisan Democrats, and Republicans are at the short end of a 52-27 split.  The only things that the Democrats need you to do is to assist them in getting the two-thirds (54 votes) necessary to raise taxes.  Daigle has NOT signed the No New Taxes Pledge.  So which tax is it OK to raise?  Daigle didn’t respond to that one.  Now it seems Daigle doesn’t play well with taxpayers.

Mansoor believes that the California has a spending problem, not a tax problem.  Mansoor has signed the No New Taxes Pledge.

Mansoor wins this round

We never got to guns.

Now, the OC Republican Party has gotten involved.  They’ve endorsed Mansoor.  That means that Mansoor had to get 48 of the 72 members on the county central committee to vote for him.  Mansoor won it unanimously, not an easy feat.  Rep. John Campbell did NOT get the party endorsement.  The party invited Daigle to speak, she never showed.  I guess Daigle doesn’t play well with Republicans, either.

Now Daigle has a patron saint.  The billionaire Charles Munger (his father is a partner with Warren Buffet) has dropped $400K into the race so far, to slam Mansoor and promote Daigle.  So maybe Daigle can play with someone?

Questions or Comments can be directed to scott.peotter@taxfighter.