Republicans are heartless, man. I guess they have to be. You think it’s easy going to work every day while your party openly embraces white supremacy, overt racism, and misogyny while bashing science, civil rights, and pretty much everything else that’s good and decent in the world? That kind of behavior is tough–not everyone’s cut out to be the kind of toad that will camp out in the comments section of stories like this, especially if you already possess things like a conscience and soul. But I guess that’s why we have Fox News running propaganda 24/7.
If I were a public official and member of the Democratic Party, I would never, ever help out any Republicans, ever. One, pretty much everything they want is usually either openly racist or an unjust giveaway to wealthy people. And two, they will never help you out in return. In fact, they might even do their best to run you out of politics, even after you’ve gone out of your way to help them in the first place.
Assembly member Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Laguna Beach) got a taste of this on Monday, Aug. 5 when her Republican challenger, Kelly Ernby, announced that she had just secured the endorsement of Orange County Assessor Claude Parrish.
“For too long, California individuals and businesses have suffered from overbearing government regulations and taxes,” Parrish said in an Aug. 5 news release sent out by Ernby’s campaign. “Deputy District Attorney Kelly Ernby is the best choice in the race for the 74th Assembly District to take on the over taxing and over regulating Democrats in Sacramento.”
Ernby was very happy to receive the endorsement. “I am proud to be endorsed by an accomplished taxpayer advocate like Claude Parrish,” Ernby said in the same press release. “As your Assemblywoman, I will work to advance taxpayer friendly legislation to give California’s hardworking citizens a much-needed break from decades of oppressive taxes and fees enacted under Democrat rule.”
There’s absolutely nothing surprising about Parrish’s endorsement, even given that it’s some cold back-stabbing. Because just three weeks ago, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 608 into law–a bill authored by Petrie-Norris that was exactly the kind of “taxpayer friendly legislation” Ernby said she’d champion. In fact, it was so “taxpayer friendly” that Parrish himself asked Petrie-Norris to introduce it, and she did.
“Holding government accountable to ensure our taxpayer dollars are spent prudently is my top priority as a State Representative,” said Petrie-Norris, who is also Chair of the Assembly Accountability and Administrative Review Committee, in a July 15 press release sent out by her office. “When the Orange County Assessor [that would be Claude Parrish] told me the taxes generated from small businesses are often less than the cost of assessing and collecting those same taxes I immediately sought a legislative fix. AB 608 will eliminate government waste and inefficiency, and is a common-sense fix that has received bipartisan support from my colleagues in the Legislature.”
Let’s be clear about this: Petrie-Norris talks to Assessor Parrish; Petrie-Norris finds out there’s a legislative fix Parrish would like; Petrie-Norris introduces a bill (AB 608) that does what Parrish wants; Parrish endorses said bill; the Governor signs the bill; Parrish endorses Petrie-Norris’s opponent.
I know this all falls under the heading of It’s Just Politics, but honestly, why do Democrats bother anymore? I mean, Democrats are gonna Democrat, but if they think passing bills backed by Republicans will get them Republican votes, support, or even just silence, they’re very mistaken.
Anthony Pignataro has been a journalist since 1996. He spent a dozen years as Editor of MauiTime, the last alt weekly in Hawaii. He also wrote three trashy novels about Maui, which were published by Event Horizon Press. But he got his start at OC Weekly, and returned to the paper in 2019 as a Staff Writer.