Montebello's ex-mayor now works to root elected Republicans out of Orange County
Good morning. I'm Gustavo Arellano, columnista, writing from Orange County and watching my tomato seedlings grow. Here's what you need to know to start your day.
Frank Gomez was born to be an L.A. County politician.
His grandfather attended Roosevelt High with pioneering Eastside congressmember Ed Roybal and helped to fight off a proposed veteran's hospital in Hazard Park. His mother went to Belvedere Middle School with longtime L.A. councilmember Richard Alatorre. His father taught Chicano political titans Gil Cedillo and Vickie Castro in high school. When Gomez won a seat on the Montebello Unified School District board of trustees in 1997, Richard Polanco — the Johnny Appleseed-meets-Scrooge McDuck of Latino politics in California — helped out his campaign.
That's why people were surprised in 2013 when Gomez — by then a Montebello council member who had served a year as mayor — announced he was leaving L.A. County altogether to marry his current wife.
'I had the choice between politics and love,' said the 61-year-old during a recent breakfast in Santa Ana. 'It was an easy choice.'
Gomez couldn't stay away from politics for long
Today, Gomez leads STEM initiatives for the Cal State system and is also the chair of the Central Orange County Democratic Club, which covers Orange, Tustin, parts of unincorporated Orange County 'and a few voters in Villa Park,' Gomez told me with a chuckle.
He's headed the Central O.C. Dems since last year, and has grown them from about 60 members to over 300. Soft-spoken but forceful, Gomez likes to apply his background as a chemistry professor — 'We need to be strategic and analytical' — in helping to build a Democratic bench of elected officials in a region that was a long a GOP stronghold before becoming as purple as Barney the Dinosaur.
I knew Gomez's name but didn't realize his L.A. political background until we met last month. That makes him a rare one: someone who has dabbled in both L.A. and Orange county politics, two worlds that rarely collide because each considers the other a wasteland.
As someone who has covered O.C. politics for a quarter century but has only paid attention to L.A. politics in earnest since I started with The Times in 2019, I have my thoughts about each scene's differences and similarities. But what about Gomez?
From one cutthroat political scene to another
'In L.A., it's Democrats against Democrats,' he replied. 'It's not like I didn't know' what to expect when moving to O.C., he said. 'But it's the difference between Fashion Island and the Citadel.'
He thought his days in politics were over until 2022, when his stepson — who had interned with longtime Irvine politico Larry Agran — urged him to run for a seat on the Tustin City Council.
Commence Gomez's true 'Welcome to the O.C., bitch' moment.
Opponents sent out mailers with photos of garbage cans and graffiti and the message, 'Do not bring L.A. to Tustin,' a political insult introduced to Orange County politics that year by Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer.
'Those gated communities still try to keep their unsaid redlining,' Gomez said. 'It wasn't like that in L.A. politics because there was no place for it.'
Racist L.A. City Hall audio leak notwithstanding, of course.
Trying to topple O.C.'s last remaining GOP congressmember
Gomez unsuccessfully ran last year for a seat on the Municipal Water District of Orange County. He now plans to focus his political energies on growing the Central O.C. Dems and figuring out how to topple Rep. Young Kim, O.C.'s last remaining GOP congressmember. In the meanwhile, he will continue his political salons at the Central O.C. Dems' monthly meetings at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Tustin — I was on the hot seat in April, and upcoming guests include coastal O.C. Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, O.C. supervisorial candidate Connor Traut and former congressmember and current California gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter.
'It's like being in the classroom,' Gomez said as he packed up his leftovers. 'All I do is ask the questions and keep it flowing.'
He smiled. 'Johnny Carson on intellectual steroids.'
The Trump administration will investigate L.A. County
Newsom urges cities to ban homeless camps
How to understand the recent trade deals
Inside the investigation into faulty evacuation alerts during the wildfires in January
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Ibram X. Kendi is ready to introduce kids to Malcolm X: 'Racism is worse in times of tragedy' Ibram X. Kendi discusses introducing Malcolm X to today's young readers and the timing of his new book in light of President Trump's anti-DEI actions.
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Today's great photo is from the archives: Leonard Koren began documenting L.A. bathing culture back in 1976 with Wet magazine, which featured contributions from David Lynch, Debbie Harry and Ed Ruscha.
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Politico
29 minutes ago
- Politico
Jolly takes the plunge into wide open field
BREAKING LAST NIGHT — 'President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued a sweeping new travel ban for people from 19 countries, citing national security risks,' reports POLITICO's Myah Ward. The ban fully restricts people from Haiti and partially restricts entry for nationals of Cuba and Venezuela. Good morning and welcome to Thursday. Zero Democrats in statewide office. An electoral shortfall of 1.3 million voters. The home for much of President DONALD TRUMP's staff and his 'Winter White House.' The testing ground for MAGA. It's how Florida looks for Democrats. And running for Florida governor in that kind of environment, where fundraising is sputtering and the party has immense hurdles to overcome? Seemingly no one would rush to take that on. Except for DAVID JOLLY. The former Republican congressman, who was a politically independent voter since 2018 and registered as a Democrat in April, has officially filed to run for governor. The biggest challenger on the Republican side so far is Trump-endorsed Rep. BYRON DONALDS. But the Democratic field has been full of only crickets thus far. Those who openly expressed interest in running a year ago have since stepped back, underscoring just how bleak the landscape appears after Trump won Florida by 13 points in 2024. 'People who might have been very strong candidates would want to see the party infrastructure build up and be a better atmosphere to run,' said state Sen. TINA POLSKY (D-Boca Raton). 'But then it kind of takes someone maybe a little bit different, a little bit out of the norm — like David Jolly is — to upend the system. If anyone's going to do it, I think he has a better chance than a run-of-the-mill Democrat.' A lot could change ahead of the August 2026 primary. But the dearth of interest — or of candidates even at the very least floating trial balloons to gauge reaction — stands in contrast to what's happening at the national level, where Democratic hopefuls are already making moves to signal their 2028 presidential interest. The last time Florida had an open seat for governor, in 2018, seven Democrats competed for the nomination. But Jolly could help unify the party with an easy path to the nomination. He told Playbook in an interview that he's hoping the 2026 cycle will be a 'change election' in which voters are driven to outside-the-norm candidates given Trump's policies and how unaffordable Florida has become under GOP leadership. He said he's going to try to bring together not just Democrats but unaffiliated voters and Republicans. 'The ones we've spoken to have either indicated they're not running or they'll support us, either privately or publicly,' Jolly told Playbook of top Florida Democrats. While he does anticipate a primary, he added: 'What I know is we have to unify this primary early if we want to win next November.' Of course, the primary would have been contested early if state Sen. JASON PIZZO had remained a Democrat. Now, they'll just be delaying a showdown. Pizzo plans to run as an independent in a move that has many Democrats concerned he'll serve as a spoiler and deliver the governor's mansion to Republicans. But Jolly and Pizzo have had a chance to talk, and it seems there's no bad blood there. While Jolly didn't disclose details of the conversation, he said he respected 'anyone who follows their convictions,' and that he thinks Pizzo is 'doing what he believes he can do to change Florida.' 'You won't hear me say an ill word about Jason Pizzo,' Jolly said. 'I respect his decision.' Reached by text, Pizzo called Jolly 'bright' and said their conversation went well. 'I commend him for the endeavor,' he said, 'and wish him well.' WHERE'S RON? Gov. DeSantis will speak at the Florida Professional Firefighters convention in Palm Beach Gardens at 9:45 a.m. Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget that Playbook should look at? Get in touch at: kleonard@ ... DATELINE TALLAHASSEE ... FLORIDA'S NEW EDUCATION COMMISSIONER — 'The state Board of Education on Wednesday unanimously backed Anastasios Kamoutsas, the governor's deputy chief of staff who has long played a key behind the scenes role, to lead the agency. Kamoutsas, in accepting the position, pledged to follow through on Florida's reforms on parental rights and school choice that have thrust the state into the national spotlight,' reports POLITICO's Andrew Atterbury. 'During his time with the agency, Kamoutsas, who is known as 'Stasi,' helped the state carry out policies bolstering parental rights, quashing 'wokeness' in education and battling with school districts that pushed pandemic student masking.' TIME IS TICKING — 'State lawmakers forged through a second day of Florida budget negotiations Wednesday, reaching accords on several significant items including how much money they will steer into a program designed to help homeowners hurricane-proof their homes,' report POLITICO's Gary Fineout and Bruce Ritchie. 'Lawmakers are racing to wrap up their budget work in time for a mid-June vote — about two weeks before the end of the fiscal year. The two sides agreed to spend half of the $200 million proposed by Senate President Ben Albritton, a citrus farmer from Wauchula, to boost the state's ailing citrus industry. That includes $70 million for replacement trees, less than the $125 million he had proposed.' STATE PARK SLASHES — 'Florida's renowned state parks would suffer under state House and Senate proposals for the 2025-26 state budget, supporters of the public lands said this week,' reports POLITICO's Bruce Ritchie. 'Budget negotiators from both chambers met publicly Tuesday for the first time on a 2025-26 state budget. The House proposal that passed in April would slash 25 vacant positions in the Florida Park Service as part of a workforce reduction across state government.' RESERVOIR CLAW BACK — 'State House and Senate budget negotiators agreed this week to revert $400 million in spending approved last year for a controversial Central Florida reservoir to appropriations for the coming year,' reports POLITICO's Bruce Ritchie. 'The two sides also got closer on slashing funding from the 2023 state budget for the Florida Wildlife Corridor, a priority of then-Senate President Kathleen Passidomo (R-Naples).' NEW LIFE FOR AP AND IB — 'The Florida Legislature's latest budget proposal could relieve concerns of local schools that feared devastating funding losses were coming for top programs like Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate,' reports POLITICO's Andrew Atterbury. 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Politico
30 minutes ago
- Politico
Spiller super PAC spent $8.3M just on canvassing
Presented by Good Thursday morning! The super PAC that's unofficially running NJEA President Sean Spiller's campaign for governor has spent as much just on canvassing as his rival candidates' actual campaigns are allowed to spend, period. Yesterday, NJEA critic Mike Lilley's group pointed out an odd-seeming $8.3 million in expenditures on the financial disclosure of the super PAC, Working New Jersey, which is funded with $40 million entirely by the union. All that money went to AP Consulting Firm in Newark, which as far as I can tell is a tiny company run by former Newark Board of Education member Ariagna Perello that specializes in tax prep. That's actually payment for Working New Jersey's field operation, according to the super PAC's spokesperson Eddie Vale. He said it's run by James Souder, who was briefly Newark's director of neighborhood and recreational services but stepped down amid an alleged nude photo incident and general dissatisfaction with his job performance, and later served as a legislative director for the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, according to his LinkedIn page. Perello, he said, is administering it. Vale told me the canvassing operation is in all 21 counties. 'Working New Jersey's field program remains active in all of these counties as part of what is certainly the biggest GOTV operation, independent or otherwise, in the Democratic primary, especially now during early vote and the final six days of the campaign,' he said. 'Biggest GOTV operation' seems like an understatement. All five of Spiller's Democratic rivals are taking matching funds from the state, which basically limits them to spending $8.7 million. And while there are super PACs doing field work for some of Spiller's rivals, none of them approach $8.3 million. And that figure was with two weeks to go before the primary, so it will almost certainly be larger. By contrast, Ras Baraka's campaign has spent about $685,000 on canvassing through his brother Middy's consulting firm, and it broke down the expenses to include every person receiving the walking-around money. Or to make an even more stark comparison, Working New Jersey's field operation alone costs more than 24 times the roughly $342,058.84 Sean Spiller's campaign reported spending since he launched his campaign a year ago. Have I ever mentioned that our campaign finance system is absurd? FEEDBACK? Reach me at mfriedman@ WHERE'S MURPHY — In Hoboken at 11 a.m. for a Unilever headquarters opening. In Newark at 1:15 p.m. for a 'ratepayer relief' announcement. And in Oceanport at 6:30 p.m. for a New Jersey Theatre Alliance gala. 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On Monday night, just hours before the start of early voting, Trump held a dial-in telephone rally for the candidate he endorsed last month, a Republican former assemblyman named Jack Ciattarelli, who is making his third run for governor. Ciattarelli was at the front of a five-candidate G.O.P. pack long before he earned Trump's backing. Still, if Ciattarelli wins Tuesday's primary and beats the Democratic nominee in November, the president will rightly be able to claim some credit. Only New Jersey and Virginia are holding races for governor this year, and the contests will offer an early gauge of voter attitudes toward Trump, five months into his second term as president. He seemed to allude to that looming scorecard on the call, reminding listeners that the race was 'being watched, actually, all over the world.'' — 'New Jersey primary sets up the first major fight for the Democratic Party's future' EVERYBODY'S GONE SURVEYING. 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- Yahoo
How Dems will run on GOP's tax-and-spending bill
House and Senate Democrats' campaign arms teamed up on new internal polling that surveyed almost 20,000 voters to test how lawmakers can run on Republicans' sprawling tax-and-spending bill in 2026. The results: 'Messages that highlight GOP plans to cut key programs like Medicare and Medicaid … are consistently the most effective,' the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee wrote in a memo shared with Semafor. The firm that conducted the polling, Blue Rose Research, also found that only one in four voters think the bill will 'help them and their families.' The polling serves as a useful road map for how Democrats in both chambers plan to keep talking about the legislation over the next two years. Most have already seized on similar talking points even as GOP colleagues argue that changes to the programs are necessary to protect their integrity and reduce the deficit. 'Both House and Senate Republicans' cutting health care and food assistance programs, all to benefit the wealthy over working families is a potent negative attack,' the DCCC and DSCC wrote. 'Given these findings, it is key that both House and Senate Democrats continue to implement this message as far and wide as possible.'
