the irish lass

Who's Running in March?

Just checked the Declaration of Intention list at the Secretary of State. This is where the potential candidates for the California legislature had to inform the public that they might run for office in March. The deadline was November 5th.

I was surprized to see that the list looks kind of boring. The only snappy new name I saw on it was Jeff Gorell. He'll be a candidate in Ventura County for the seat that Tony Strickland currently holds.

There are lots of good incumbents running for re-elect, or moving on up, but I thought we'd see alot of action, people running in districts where the reg numbers weren't that great, etc.

Does anybody know anything good about any other candidates?

Update: Oops, I forgot. If the incumbent does not file for re-election, there is a five day grace period for additional candidates to file. Or something like that.

Another Update: I asked my friends from the Bear Flag League to fill me in on the legislative candidates. I got the following e-mail from the Angry Clam

I know one of the dems running in the primary for my district.

His name is Richard Groper. Yes, Virginia, there really is a Dick Groper.

Here's a blurb on him:

RICHARD GROPER, 36, is white and a full-time professor of political science at CSU Fullerton. He also teaches part-time at UCLA. Groper is Political Action chair and public policy advocate for the California Faculty Association and a delegate to the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. He has a bachelor's from UC Santa Barbara and a master's and Ph.D. from USC. He is a life-long resident of the Assembly district, active in his community and local synagogue, Congregation Mogen David. Richard Groper for Assembly (ID# 1253586); Democratic consultant Fred Register is managing the campaign.

However, apparently he sucks as a professor, as evidenced by the sheer number of bad reviews he's received:

My favorite passage from the quotes:

Professor Groper is UCLA's biggest shame. Any positive comments made on this page were probably written by Professor Groper himself in attempt to salvage any sort of reputation as a serious teacher. Professor Groper is an irresponsible fool who has somehow gotten to the position where he can ruin other people's GPAs and academic progress. Lecture: Two hours of Professor Groper somehow working in alcohol and pornography jokes when discussing "research methods" What very very little research concepts he does mention, could be summed up in less than 15 minutes each lecture. Instead you sit and watch him ramble off inappropriate "jokes." This would be fine if he graded accordingly.

TAC