This was a Presidential election year, with an incredibly high Democratic turnout.
Yet in spite of the largely liberal bent of the voters, Three Republicans won the three open council seats.
Good, solid, reform-minded, action-oriented conservatives.
Independent thinking is a must in Torrance.
We need to not just stop the Big Green agenda trying to work its way through the city.
We need leaders in Torrance who will stand up to the labor unions, demand the best for our local businesses, who will ensure that public safety and economic development remain top notch.
The success of the June 7th turnout was a real relief for me:
I had already shared about the signature victory of electing the first African-American to the Torrance City Council.
The greater achievement, however, rests in his service to our country and the ministry of the Gospel. What a wonderful combination we have received in Milton Herring!
Mike Griffith's victory is noteworthy because the mayor's political machinations were determined to remove him. Why? Griffiths had the smarts to call out the mayor, suggesting that he should have recused himself on account of the pro-McCormick spending big money on his election big in 2014. I have heard the store from a number of sources that ...
Mayor Furey attacked Mike Griffiths in front of his colleagues shortly after the McCormick vote. That was wrong. That is evil.
Furey still snaps and mocks people who do not agree with him. His time is short.
Griffiths received no union-backing, either, and yet he won! Good for him. We need common-sense fiscal prudence free of Big Labor interventions.
Also ...
LIE-lani Kimmel Dagostino bit the dust, big time.
I had long-standing contacts with her throughout the election cycle. Shortly after her untimely loss in 2014, when she was within a few hundred votes of making it into the Top Four.
Then she went to the dark side.
First, she started bad-mouthing other people in the city.
She told me that the other candidates running were saying nasty things about the police department, fire department, etc.
She gossips a lot.
Then she allied herself with Pat Furey. I learned so much about what was going on behind the scenes in the city through her.
She had informed me of the mayor's attempt coup to place Ray Uchima on the city council, even though he had not run for office, and was basically trying to buy influence through ethnic peddling.
For all her efforts to bring reform and balance in the beginning, all of it fell away within the last six months.
I saw her at the ExxonMobil meeting in January, and she walked passed me without talking to me. I told how snubbed I felt, and it seemed at the time that she understood how I felt.
Then the news hit the headlines about Pat Furey and son engaging in illegal practices with McCormick Ambulance, and the Fire Department PAC, too.
By then, I had asked Leilani what she was going to do next. She needed to drop Pat Jr. as her consultant and campaign manager.
She was very evasive at that point, stopped returning my calls, and even unfriended me on Facebook.
She drifted further and further away from any kind of principled leadership and campaign integrity at that point.
Then she posted this "endorsement":
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| Leilani "endorsed" by Maxine "Tea Party Can Go Straight to Hell" Waters |
This was too much for many, including me, although by this time I had given up on supporting her.
She was covering up for Pat Jr which according to the campaign filings was still working for her, but under a different company heading.
A lot of concerned conservative voices in the city feared that many women voters would vote for Leilani because ... she was a woman. A number of her supporters were convinced that she would do very well because of her gender.
I am so glad that the voters in Torrance were paying attention to all the facts.
The Daily Breeze even reported the disturbing facts about her campaign. Leilani had boasted to me that she would probably raise $60,000 by January.
She didn't. She had to loan herself a lot of money, and she depended on donations from outside of the city, too!
Now that's just sad.
It was good to see integrity and honesty win out in this election.
It also spells further doom for Pat Furey and his corrupt connections throughout Torrance.
He will probably not remain mayor for much longer, either.
