7 vie for DeVore’s seat

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore is being termed out of his 70th Assembly District seat and running for the U.S. Senate, and there is a crowded field of candidates vying to replace him.

They are four Republicans, two Democrats and a Libertarian. Among them are three well-known, well-connected public officials and a two-time Democratic challenger to DeVore.

The 70th District, which has been reliably Republican, includes most of Newport Beach, as well as all of Irvine, Foothill Ranch, Laguna Beach, Laguna Woods and Lake Forest, and parts of Aliso Viejo and Tustin.

Republican Jerry Amante

Mayor, businessman

Tustin

Jerry Amante is one of three elected officials in the race. A Tustin councilman since 2004, Amante also serves as a deputy chairman for the Orange County Republican Party and chairman of the Orange County Transportation Authority.

A conservative Republican, Amante says he favors balanced budgets, lower taxes, pro-business policies and tough enforcement of immigration laws.

He owns a law firm specializing in advocacy, strategy and government relations and a commercial and residential real estate brokerage firm.

Amante also is conservative on social issues, favoring laws restricting abortion and a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

For more, visit jerryamante.com.

Republican Steven Choi

Councilman, educator and businessman

Irvine

In his 12 years as an elected official in Irvine, Steven Choi has established a reputation as a staunch conservative who is not afraid to speak his mind.

Choi drew criticism last year for wearing a photo depicting Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) as Joseph Stalin, and he has proudly participated in protests against the health-care-reform bill.

A self-described conservative Republican, Choi served six years as a trustee of Irvine Unified School District before being elected to the Irvine City Council in 2004. As a state lawmaker, he wants to cut government regulation, taxes and spending and eliminate some state government agencies and commissions.

Choi says his experience as a Republican on the Democrat-controlled Irvine council has prepared him to work effectively as a political minority in Sacramento.

Choi, a Korean American, has a doctorate in library and information science and runs Dr. Choi’s Academy in Irvine, which offers tutoring and academic enrichment programs.

For more, visit stevenchoi.org.

Republican Jay Ferguson

Contractor and real estate agent

Newport Beach

A Newport Beach resident since 1970, Jay Ferguson is running for the 70th Assembly District seat held by his father, Gil Ferguson, for 10 years.

But unlike his father, Ferguson, 51, says he is a political newcomer and outsider.

Ferguson calls himself a conservative Republican and says his top priorities if elected would be cutting spending and taxes and improving California’s business climate.

“Just making everything a little more friendly for people to have a job,” he says. “When I was a builder, it was just crippling. … It’s like fee and tax upon fee and tax.”

Another of Ferguson’s goals would be to privatize some government functions, such as prisons.

“I’d … be into anything we can privatize and get the government out of,” he says. “That would be a big help.”

For more, visit fergusonforassembly.com.

Republican Don Wagner

Attorney, trustee of South Orange County Community College District

Irvine

Like the other Republican candidates, Don Wagner promises to cut taxes, reduce government spending and create a business-friendly climate that he says will lead to job growth.

A trustee of the South Orange County Community College District since 1998, Wagner also has made education a plank in his campaign platform.

“I know what works and what doesn’t in education,” his website states. “I have fought hard to craft sound and successful education programs, and to oppose the inefficient education bureaucracy that stifles real learning in California.”

For more, visit wagnerforassembly.com.

Democrat Melissa Fox

Business and tax attorney

Lake Forest

Despite the fact that the 70th Assembly District has been reliably red, Democrat Melissa Fox thinks she is the candidate most in step with the district’s politics.

“I am socially progressive and fiscally moderate, which I think represents this district,” she says.

Fox, an attorney, is putting education at the forefront of her campaign, and she says one of her top priorities in Sacramento will be to secure more funding for schools.

Like nearly all candidates this election cycle, Fox says the biggest issue politicians need to address is creating jobs. One way she proposes to do that is continue working for funding the Orange County Great Park in Irvine.

The O.C. native also says the district is poised to take the lead in the emerging green technology sector because of the presence of UC Irvine and many high-tech companies.

For more, visit votemelissafox.com.

Democrat Mike Glover

Worker’s compensation attorney

Lake Forest

Mike Glover is making his third run for the 70th Assembly District seat, and this time there’s no Chuck DeVore standing in his way.

A worker’s compensation lawyer, Glover is the only candidate who has state legislative experience, having served eight years in the Kansas House of Representatives. Glover moved from Kansas to Orange County in 1987.

Glover’s top issue is education, and he proposes to restore adequate funding so school districts can hire enough teachers and staff and buy classroom equipment.

On jobs and the economy, Glover says he favors eliminating unnecessary regulations, streamlining the state permitting process and providing affordable health care.

For more, visit michaelglover.org.

Libertarian Debbie Tharp

Student

Irvine

Libertarian candidate Debbie Tharp says she is running for office because she has had enough of career politicians running the state into the ground.

“I’m not part of this system,” says Tharp, 36. “I’m not a career politician, and I don’t have any connections with anybody. I’m basically an angry soccer mom.”

Tharp, a UCI psychology and social behavior student, doesn’t think the government should provide social services, but she says it is unacceptable for Sacramento to cut those services before eliminating its own waste.

Tharp says she favors limited government and, if elected, will propose a bill nullifying the federal health-care-reform law in California. She also says she will create a website that exposes the corruption of state lawmakers.

Consistent with her belief that the state should not intrude in citizens’ personal lives, Tharp says she supports legalizing marijuana.

For more, visit debbieforliberty.com.

ERIK HOLMES writes for OCLNN.com.