Finally to the end of the ballot!

There's only one race in Irvine, for a short-term seat on the Irvine Unified School District board.

There's a few judiciary elections. Judiciary elections are dumb. One of these races is important, though, because it offers a chance to get rid of Derek Johnson.

A Southern California judge is being publicly admonished for saying a rape victim "didn't put up a fight" during her assault and that if someone doesn't want sexual intercourse, the body "will not permit that to happen."

Johnson made the comments in the case of a man who threatened to mutilate the face and genitals of his ex-girlfriend with a heated screwdriver, beat her with a metal baton and made other violent threats before committing rape, forced oral copulation, and other crimes.

"I'm not a gynecologist, but I can tell you something: If someone doesn't want to have sexual intercourse, the body shuts down. The body will not permit that to happen unless a lot of damage is inflicted, and we heard nothing about that in this case," Johnson said.


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That's an argument we don't need our judiciary making. Please vote for Helen Hayden for Superior Court Office 20.

IUSD Governing Board

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This is a special election race on the primary ballot, not a primary election. Candidates are:

  • teacher Carolyn Inmon; the Agran/Krom candidate in this race, who I've been getting mail from. I'm glad I'm a likely voter in somebody's turnout model!
  • lawyer Ira Glasky, appointed not-quite-incumbent, Republican. Register endorsement.
  • Bob Vu; describes himself as a "scientist" or "rocket scientist" and "entrepeneur" but I think clearly isn't? He has a bachelors in CS management and a night-school MBA. LinkedIn says he does project management for Raytheon and has for seven years. He also calls himself a "parent" which, I don't know, is probably true? Says STEM and STEAM a lot.

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These names are all familiar; Inmon and Vu were both on the ballot in 2012 and neither won election, coming in as the 1st and 2nd runner-ups for the three seats open on the board. Glasky was appointed in November when Gavin Huntley-Fenner stepped down but forced to resign after Irviners gathered enough signatures to force a special election -- though not out of any particular animus, I don't think. The winner will hold the seat for five months and then we'll go through the whole charade again in November. Good work, everyone. Agran and Krom supported the special election.

The biggest issue before the board in the next few months will be the location of Irvine's new high school. The IUSD board has endorsed Site A, near the Great Park. Inmon, Agran, and Krom are pushing this absurd map emphasizing how close the school is to the Musick jail (spoiler: not that close? though Musick will be expanding) and "toxic contamination" (spoiler: it's cleaner than the state's rigorous standards and Site B looks comparable). "Anomaly area 3" sure sounds spooOoOooky though!

IUSD has their own maps; this map shows Site A and B with respect to streets and Superfund designations and this map shows the school district boundaries with the new school included.

Site B is closer to current urban development in Irvine but neither site is presently walkable. Site A will be nestled in a housing development near a jail; I'm not sure if that should bother me. I'm not happy about the Agran/Krom "toxic waste" disinformation campaign or forcing a special election to open a seat for a five-month term to deal with a single issue. IUSD seems to be mostly concerned about making their 2016 timeline for opening the school. They're running the environmental review process for site B in parallel with site A but it's basically already complete for site A, as far as I can tell. Site B is still partially RCRA-listed as a contaminated site but I think we can expect it will be found to be clean before building commences.

I think we can presume that Inmon will vote for Site B and Glasky will vote for Site A. You know as much as I do; the choice is yours.

Judge of the Superior Court, Office 14

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This is an open seat. Candidates are:

  • Kevin Haskins, assistant DA
  • Kenneth C. "KC" Jones, deputy AG. Labor Federation endorsement.
  • Thomas E. Martin, attorney
  • Fred Fascenelli, attorney

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Greg Diamond says that Martin probably isn't really in the race. He suggests voting for Jones.

I don't know how I'll learn anything about these candidates, so that works for me.

Judge of the Superior Court, Office 20

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Candidates are:

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Discussed above; please vote for Hayden.

Judge of the Superior Court, Office 27

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Candidates are:

  • incumbent Joanne Motoike. UCI alumna! Appointed by Jerry Brown last year after many years as a OC public defender and service at the Hague. Registered Democrat. Backed by the establishment. OC Register endorsement.
  • Wayne Philips. Website includes important footnotes "Please note: Wayne Philips is not a licensed contractor/a current member of the judiciary."

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I think incumbents should generally win in judicial elections because I don't think they should be elected positions and Motoike seems popular! Diamond calls her "[the] single most impressive candidate I’ve seen: wonderful background, temperament, intelligence, and communication skills." Nice to have a public defender on the bench, too, I think.

Judge of the Superior Court, Office 35

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Candidates are:

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I'm voting for Luege because wow, look at Ferguson's glasses.

Kidding, probably, but Commissioner is a judicial role so Luege already has experience from the other side of the bench, and Diamond says that the judiciary supports her.