I ran into two of the three candidates for the 34th State Senate District today at the Memorial Day event at Fairhaven Memorial Park and Mortuary in Santa Ana. Former Assemblyman Jose Solorio, who is currently the President of the Rancho Santiago Community College District’s Board of Trustees, was involved at the start of the program, when he introduced the young lady who won a poetry contest with an entry about Betsy Ross. Supervisor Janet Nguyen was there as well. She spoke later in the program.

Solorio was comfortable and relaxed. He sat in the RSVP area next to Santa Ana Chief of Police Carlos Rojas. Nguyen on the other hand was visibly nervous as she clutched the podium, and her speech was stilted and poorly enunciated. She kept saying, for example, “de-mock-acy,” instead of “democracy.” And she referred to “men and women” she repeatedly said “men and woman.” It was quite awkward.

Perhaps Nguyen was a bit nervous about the news that “Solorio has the money lead as of the end of the most recent campaign finance filing period, which extended from the March 18 through May 17. Solorio had about $580,000 to spend at the end of the filing period, whereas Nguyen’s campaign had about $283,000 on hand,” as reported by the Long Beach Press Telegram. Continue reading→