Martin Wisckol

Incarcerated Ex-OC Congressional Candidate Sues OC Weekly For $75 Million

Here at OC Weekly World Headquarters in Costa Mesa we've known for eons that colleague Matt Coker is sadistic.Season after losing season, Coker--an award-winning, veteran journalist--periodically makes himself wear Oakland Raiders paraphernalia to the office as if he's permanently stuck in January 2 ... More >>

Delecia Holt, 3-Time Candidate for Congress, Loses Appeal of Felony Fraud Conviction

​UPDATE, AUG. 23, 5:18 P.M.: The state appeals court in Santa Ana rejected three-time congressional candidate Delecia Holt's appeal of seven of the nine fraud felonies that have her locked up at the state prison in Chowchilla (say hi to Omaima Nelson!). The 49-year-old Republican who has floated b ... More >>

When is the Orange County Register Going to Start Labeling the California Coalition for Immigration Reform as a Hate Group?

​Every time the Orange County Register does a story about the Reconquista and refers to local Know Nothings as "anti-illegal immigration activists", I laugh. Loudly. Nelson Muntz style. As we've documented in this paper since forever, it's never been about the legal part in our immigration wars--w ... More >>

Approved Redistricting Maps Favor California Democrats, Help OC Dems, Too

​Well, things are looking up for California Democrats. The latest round of congressional and state legislative redistricting maps, which the California Citizens Redistricting Commission approved this morning, favor Democrats--at least according to a couple of different news sources. In h ... More >>

Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez to Tie the Knot in Private Ceremony Tomorrow

​Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez is getting' hitched in Santa Ana on Saturday.​Who's the lucky dude? Attorney, lobbyist and retired Army Col. Jack Einwechter.The OC Register's political reporter Martin Wisckol reports that the press was not invited. (Way to crush the dreams of every newspaperman i ... More >>

Little Saigon Might Be Lumped With, Dominated By Long Beach In New Congressional Redistricting Plan

​In the ongoing struggle over which congressional district to put Little Saigon in, the latest proposal may end up lumping it in with Long Beach. The OC Register's political reporter Martin Wisckol reports that the recently revealed map puts Little Saigon and other parts of Orange County in a ... More >>

[UPDATED with New Sanchez Plan, Agendas Set:] Proposals Target Districts of Dana Rohrabacher and Loretta Sanchez

​UPDATE, JUNE 7, 1:56 P.M.: Orange County Register political reporter Martin Wisckol writes today that the Latino-heavy congressional district of Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove), which had been virtually wiped out under a previous redistricting proposal, has been largely restored under ... More >>

The Top 2010 OC Story That Didn't Make the Register's Year-End List

​Veteran Orange County Register reporter Martin Wisckol has named his "Top 10" political events of 2010.It's a thorough list, except for one thing: it omitted arguably the top local political story of the year.Oops.

Nativo Lopez Slammed by Court For Calling Frozen Food Company "Racist"

Nativo Lopez​Nativo Lopez, Orange County's most controversial political activist, helped organize a 2009 protest against a Southern California frozen food company and distributed leaflets branding the business a "racist employer" because it fired almost 300 warehouse workers who'd provided fake So ... More >>

Does Loretta Sanchez Have "Retaliatory Hands"?

Doesn't fear a tan​Poor Tan Nguyen. The only folks who pay attention to his perennial congressional campaigns are apparently in the local U.S. Attorney's office. Worse, nowadays Nguyen is proving better at collecting criminal charges than votes.According to Martin Wisckol at the OC Regis ... More >>

Lady Gaga is Orly Taitz? Old News, OC Register

OC Register screen shotGrounds for a RICO suit, we say.​Total Buzz, the Orange County Register's "insiders' hotline to politics in O.C.," posted an item over the weekend with an insider tip from a Register photo editor saying that Laguna Niguel Obama-suer Orly Taitz looks, kinda, like pop diva La ... More >>

Tan Nguyen's Latino Voter Suppression Case Inching To Trial

Nguyen to Latinos: Voting can be "dangerous"​In 2006, then five-term Orange County Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez faced yet another pathetic Republican challenger, Tan Nguyen, a candidate who equated plastering his campaign placards on every stick, fence and pole in the district with some sort of v ... More >>

[UPDATED WITH SENTENCE:] 3-Time GOP Congressional Candidate Delecia Holt Convicted for Defrauding Hotels, Stealing Car

Courtesy of Orange County District AttorneyDeleica Holt's booking photo.​Delecia Holt, the 48-year-old Aliso Viejo Republican who ran three times for Congress in Orange and San Diego counties, was released from the jail she's been sitting in since her Oct. 7, 2008, arrest for defrauding Orange Cou ... More >>

3-Time GOP Candidate for Congress in Court for Thefts From Hotels, Comedians, Phone Company and Mercedes Dealer

Not Deleica Holt's campaign poster but her booking photo.​Delecia Holt, 48, of Aliso Viejo, ran as a Republican in special elections to replace Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), who left Congress in 2005 to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-San Dieg ... More >>

Crank Trifecta: A Birther-Tea Bagger-Town Hall Crier Rolled Into One

Media Matters gets the scoop on this morning's Fox & Friends bringing together the living embodiment of the "grass-roots" Birther, Tea Party and Healthcare Town Hall movements--without acknowledging it, of course, because that would be embarrassing even to Fox News.

Racist OC Register Fustercluck of the Week: "Go Whites!"

This week's story is an Aug. 7 column by the Orange County Register's Martin Wisckol, "Whites a minority in California, but still a majority of voters." The story was based on recent Field Poll data that showed that while Whites make up only 43 percent of the state, they represent 65 percent of vote ... More >>

This Memorial Weekend Brought Us Gross Waters and Bland Cops

What did you miss by turning off the Internet and getting a sunburn this weekend? John Gilhooley / OCWDid Sandra piss off some more republicans this weekend?Honestly, not a lot. Something happened with North Korea, yeah. But in Orange County? Fluff fluff and fluff. Here's your recommended reading fr ... More >>

Will Little Saigon Bring Down Loretta Sanchez?

Sanchez Slayer?North Orange County state Assemblyman Van Tran announced thru the Register's Martin Wisckol today that he hopes to be the 2010 Republican challenger to OC's lone Democratic member of congress: Loretta Sanchez. The news is as surprising as a six-hour traffic jam on the 55 or four-year ... More >>

OC Republicans Satanic!

From a Martin Wisckol story in the Register yesterday:One indicator is that the county Republican Party pitched in $666,000 last year to help out campaigns, while the Democratic Party here came up with just $90,000, according to campaign disclosure reports.That's right, the Number of the Beast plus ... More >>

Orange County Entering Bizarro World

Dan Chmielewski over at The Liberal OC posted that Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama will hold a $2,300-per-plate fundraiser at Newport Beach's Balboa Bay Club but doesn't mention how much of a wrench it is to the county's political cosmology. Read the above again. Barack Hussein Obama. ... More >>

Register Atrocity of the Day

From the Reggie's In Your Face blog, which, as it says, is all about "Cosmetic medicine, celebrities, and you:" The world's most powerful Botoxed celebrities Y'know, I've just realized why so many of the Reggie's blogs are so hard to find -- this one isn't even on the main blog list on their site. ... More >>

Reg-O-Meter© -- Week Ending May 10

TUESDAY, MAY 6 ●A click-up of the Reggie’s website today, and what do we see? Pretty much the most-commented-on headline in Reggie history: MAN SHOOTS DAD IN BUTT. Well, it certainly grabbed our attention. Surprisingly, not one of the Reggie’s citizen pundits were offended, though it did ... More >>

Tony Rackauckas Hunting Commies in Little Saigon?

The Weekly never passes up on an opportunity to make fun of our favorite local lawman—favorite, now that Sheriff Mike Carona's out of the picture, that is—Tony Rackauckas. So when we saw this item on the fiesty and irreverent Bolsavik blog by ex-Nguoi Viet Daily News managing editor Hao-Nhien Vu ... More >>

Dina Nguyen Commits Godwin's Law!

Years ago, through the wonders of the Rotten.com Library, I learned Godwin's Law of Nazi Analogies. Per Rotten.com: Conversely, you can attack an opponent simply by declaring his position to be consistent with Hitler's. This tactic has long been a fixture of the Usenet newsgroups, which eventually ... More >>

Register Bootlicker Returns for Special Easter Sermon!

Holding a gun with both hands sent sensations racing down his spine to a semi-firm point between his legs. Gordon Dillow wanted to moan—purr, really—like he did in the privacy of his home. But he’d been warned twice before about fondling weapons inside Orange County Register headquarters. Ther ... More >>

Wiley Drake: Reverend or Ayatollah?

"It's not my hit list; It's God's hit list."

Tuesday's Headlines. No Surprises: More war money for Costa Mesa

Janet Nguyen to pay up: OC's newest supervisor recently admitted to collecting funds above the legal limit in the last election and trying to avoid disclosing them. Nguyen has agreed to pay $5,000 to settle state and county investigations into a legal-defense fun she improperly set up (and made $12 ... More >>

Tuesday's Headlines. No Surprises: Debbie Carona wants out

Debbie Carona wants out: On Halloween day, the Weekly sat in a crowded Santa Ana courtroom and watched the odd trio of sheriff, wife and mistress twitching as they sat cuffed and in uncomfortably close quarters. Debbie Carona sat a lawyer away from her hubby and did not so much as look at him the e ... More >>

Saturday's Headlines & Surprises: Meteor Showers Tonight!

LA vs. OC: The Southern California airport wars continue this morning in a Daily Breeze article detailing a Los Angeles official’s demand that Orange County residents pay for increasing the burden on LAX. “Share the burden or cough up the cash,” is how reporter Art Marroquin summarized the op ... More >>

Thursday's Headlines & Surprises: Darth Vader Chases Janet Nguyen

Monday's Headlines & Surprises: Ass Slapping Fun!

Worm Attack in Dana Point? TMZ reports that Orange County police are investigating former Los Angeles Laker/Chicago Bull Dennis Rodman for allegedly committing a “crime” inside the Hennessy's Tavern near PCH in Dana Point. The celebrity website says Rodman was accused of slapping a female custo ... More >>

Sunday's Headlines & Surprises: That Sneaky Chuck DeVore

Doctor No: The public hospital crisis has placed nearly two dozen private hospitals in Los Angeles and Orange counties “in dire financial straits and in danger of bankruptcy or closure,” according to a depressing report in today’s Times. Reporters Daniel Costello and Susannah Rosenblatt found ... More >>

Sunday's Headlines & Surprises: Register UCI Panic!

OC Gym Crook Arrested in LA: Police arrested Ronald James Navarrette Jr. of Mission Viejo Friday in El Segundo for breaking into men's lockers at the Spectrum Athletic Club not far from LAX. Gym employees had been on the lookout for the 45-year-old crook they knew from surveillance video taken at o ... More >>

Diary of a Mad County

Nov. 15 - Nov. 21

Down Goes Daucher

As of half-past seven Monday night, Lou Correa has over 50% of the vote, beating opponent Lynn Daucher by 1,302 votes and winning California's 34th Senate seat. He collected more votes than opponents Daucher and Otto Bade combined, ending speculation that Bade's last-minute write-in campaign is what ... More >>

Commie Girl

Cinco De Me! Of meat and mariachis, Vidal Sassoon, and (ladies and gentlemen) Arnold Schwarzenegger!

The Asian Persuasion

Great Asian restaurants, and the Asians (and Chuck Devore) who love them

Go Back to Thinking Less of Me

An open letter from the editor

Lockyer Dances the Dipsy-Do, Tricky-Lawyer Thing With DA

Did the attorney general really clear Rackauckas in corruption scandals?

Heavenly Creatures

Gene Autry, meet Paul Wellstone

Press Clips

Why did the Metro kill Hugh Hewitt's piece on Larry Agran?

Is It Time for Ted Crisell?

Well-informed, well-meaning, well-spoken and well-positioned on the issues, the Huntington Beach Democrat is going to get killed in his upcoming battle with Dana Rohrabacher

Send George Packing!

Dailies Praise Argyros as a Civic Leader, Ignore Allegations His Firm Ripped-Off Tenants

Fired!

Enemies new and old in the return of the Dark Ages

Fat Cat Nation!

Does this Party know how to party?

Jazz Hands, Everyone!

If Ray Cordovas hair were like Henry Rollins neckand could talk!

The Girl Who Peed Herself

And other tales of hilarity from election night

Law and Odor