The right man for the job

Even if you never checked a poll, you can usually tell the desperate candidate from the front-runner by their campaign literature.

The candidates in the lead want you to know about their accomplish- ments and their vision of the future.

The ones who trail are so busy telling you why you shouldn’t vote for the other guy that they never have time to talk about themselves.

And that’s a rare sight, indeed: a candidate who doesn’t want to talk about himself.

So it goes in the race for county supervisor for the 2nd District. The front-runner, John Moorlach, is one of Newport-Mesa’s own.

Moorlach, you may recall, predicted the county’s bankruptcy more than 10 years ago. Since that time, he has been the outspoken guardian of our money and doing an exceptional job.

When I spoke to Moorlach a few days ago, I questioned the wisdom of running a campaign on an issue that really, for all it seemed to be, had little day-to-day impact on the average Joe.

Moorlach set me straight. “We ended up with $1 billion in debt,” he said. “And we’ll be paying about $90 million [against it] until 2016.”

What that means to you and me is that while your trash is still being picked up and the roads are still functioning, the debt has made it difficult for people like Moorlach to do business and to put something away for a rainy day.

Now, Moorlach is again predicting some dire straits. That’s where the desperation by his opponent comes in. By reading the campaign junk mail, you’d think that Moorlach is a con artist, a nincompoop or both.

He is neither, but when you’re on top, you’re also the easiest target.

And Moorlach is on top. His latest poll showed him leading 37% to the desperate guy’s 11%.

“Where’s the other 52%?” I asked.

“They’re undecided,” replied Moorlach.

Undecided? You mean that half of the eligible voters haven’t already decided to vote for a guy who predicted one catastrophe and wants to get elected to a position where he can prevent another?

“Remember,” Moorlach said, “that if you are younger than 30, the 1994 bankruptcy doesn’t mean much. And if you are a renter, you don’t get a bill from me.”

“On its 10th anniversary,” he continued, “85% of the people polled didn’t remember there was a bankruptcy.”

None of that matters to his opponent, Stanton City Councilman David Shawver, who is using some of the sleaziest campaign tactics I’ve seen since Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign in 1972.

It’s fascinating to me how so many of the rules that govern so many other areas of our lives do not apply to politics.

In politics, you can say something as outrageous as you like and if you time it right ? that is, if you get in the hand of voters just before Election Day when a retraction or apology is meaningless and your opponent does not have time to respond ? you win.

Even the cesspool of television does not permit this type of trash. But write it on a postcard and it will be hand-delivered to you by a representative of the U.S. government.

Here’s what you need to know: John Moorlach is a stand-up guy. He is honest, hard-working, forward-thinking (rare in politics) and has more integrity than any 10 politicians who have run for office in Orange County over the years.

You should trust John Moorlach with the future of Orange County. He has the track record to support his financial acumen ? something that most supervisorial candidates lack. John Moorlach will not need any financial on-the-job training.

Here’s how badly we’re going to need a money guy like Moorlach.

“If the county proceeds along its way,” he said, “we’re going to have to figure out how to pay a new debt that could be twice the size of the bankruptcy debt.”

“We also have to worry about [work] experience,” he said.

In August 2004, he said, the supervisors gave employees at age 55 benefits that encourage retirement at age 55.

“We’re seeing massive migration out of the county of people who have many years of experience.”

I trust John Moorlach enough to let him have his way on an issue with which we disagree.

Moorlach would like to investigate the feasibility of a tunnel from Orange County to Riverside to carry both water and cars (uh, that’s, of course, on two separate channels). I think the car portion is folly and that the best solution is using computers instead of concrete by promoting more telecommuting.

“I believe we need to see what [the tunnel] costs,” Moorlach said. “If it’s exorbitant, then we back off.”

I’m game, only because I know that Moorlach will keep his word and not push a tunnel if the data shows it is a bad idea.

You are being told that John Moorlach is taking money from widows and orphans. You are being told that John Moorlach is anti-union.

None of that is true.

What you are not being told is that one of the reasons the 1994 bankruptcy has barely touched your life is because John Moorlach is a good steward of our tax dollars.

I support John Moorlach for county supervisor, and I urge you to vote for him Tuesday.