Jose Moreno, Republican Seeking Assembly Seat, Announces He's Not in Partisan Race

I know this will shock--SHOCK!--you, but mistakes can creep into this blog, such as last week when I suggested the top Democratic vote-getter in the state Assembly 69th District race will face the top Republican vote-getter in the fall. Actually, the top two vote getters overall will square off in the general.

Republican Jose "Joe" Moreno says that's not the only mistake that's been reported concerning the race whose best-known candidates are Democrats Tom Daly, Julio Perez and Michele Martinez.

Blaming people close to Daly he does not name, Moreno says the word has spread that his candidacy violates the federal Hatch Act of 1939, which forbids employees of government offices from running for political seats that might subject them to influence. Moreno works for the county's Social Services Agency.

"While the Hatch Act's legislative intent was just, unfortunately over time this law has been increasingly misused as a political weapon against specific candidates, with no bearing on thwarting corruption," writes Moreno in a statement he emailed out today.

"The Hatch Act has been used against my candidacy, which has resulted in a significant threat to my employment, which is my family's main source of income and benefits. Shamefully, I have even been subjected to coordinated intimidation, which in my opinion has been unconstitutional and extreme."

Sounds like someone needs to lawyer up. But Moreno goes on to mount his own armchair defense, saying he's never used his job to benefit his candidacy and that he has no ability to render favors as a county worker. Do you know who does? "[M]y main opponent, who is a County official, has done so and he is continually allowed to do so with no repercussions," Moreno says of Daly, the county clerk-recorder.

Moreno ends by noting he's not running in a partisan race anyway, since it is not the top nominees of each party squaring off in November--as I'd falsely assumed--but the top vote-getters overall. That could be two Democrats, and looking at how that race has shaped up so far there's a good chance it will be.

Previous coverage:

• Tom Daly Gets Orange County Business Council Nod for Assembly

• OC Weekly Swinging 69th archives

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