Despite its reputation as a right wing political stronghold, Orange County of recent times has been a hotbed of progressive activism.
You name the subject–war, gay rights, Islamophobia, corporate power, racism, animal rights and the environment–and local liberals have consistently hit the streets to make their views known.
Conservative activists, who dominate OC electoral politics, seem to be more inclined to spend their time shopping or fine dining.
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But tomorrow our local right wingers have a chance to demonstrate whether they can peel themselves away from South Coast Plaza, Fleming's Steakhouse and Fletcher Jones for an hour or so.
Gov. Jerry Brown
is coming to Irvine for a Democratic Party fundraiser in the wake of
doing something that Republicans claim will destroy California: Brown
signed into law the state's Dream Act on Saturday. In the future, undocumented students can qualify for state financial aid for public college expenses.
The
move is controversial to say the least, but will local GOPers back up
all their tough, sky-is-falling rhetoric by demonstrating Brown's Southland visit?
Or will the protest, if any, consist of Rev. Wiley Drake holding his trusty megaphone and shouting at himself again?
The
governor is set to attend a 6 p.m. VIP gathering at the Irvine Airport
Hilton and later give the keynote address at the annual Harry S Truman Dinner event thrown by OC Democrats.
The event is sold out.
–R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly
CNN-featured investigative reporter R. Scott Moxley has won Journalist of the Year honors at the Los Angeles Press Club; been named Distinguished Journalist of the Year by the LA Society of Professional Journalists; obtained one of the last exclusive prison interviews with Charles Manson disciple Susan Atkins; won inclusion in Jeffrey Toobin’s The Best American Crime Reporting for his coverage of a white supremacist’s senseless murder of a beloved Vietnamese refugee; launched multi-year probes that resulted in the FBI arrests and convictions of the top three ranking members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department; and gained praise from New York Times Magazine writers for his “herculean job” exposing entrenched Southern California law enforcement corruption.