Orange County Second District Supervisor John Moorlach said that he won’t run for governor of California. Moorlach announced the news on Monday, June 10. Moorlach’s term expires at the end of this year and made his decision public in an email “Update” that he sends to his constituents in place of a formal newsletter.
“After spending a good five months looking at what I should be doing next, I have taken a potential run for the office of governor of the state of California off the list,” Moorlach wrote in his update. “A component of the campaign strategy would have been to do a statewide ballot measure, providing better name identification and media attention on pension reform for the 2014 General Election. This ballot-measure-strategy is one that former Lieutenant Governor Abel Maldonado is currently trying to pursue.” “Consequently, I am making my official announcement. I am not running for governor of the state of California. Hopefully, this will stop the inclusion of my name in news reports of potential Republican candidates who don’t have a chance of beating Governor Jerry Brown.”
Moorlach first announced he was considering what he had called a Big Hairy Audacious Goal earlier this year.
“‘What are you doing next?’ This is a personal-management principal that was deeply ingrained into my psyche by my mother’s parent tape,” Moorlach wrote. “A parent tape is something that your parents say over and over again in order to drill something into you. My mother, when she tried to get us to do chores and found us sitting around, would say, ‘Don’t just sit there, ask me what you can do next.’”
“The consensus from my listening tour is that California is definitely a Blue State and will be for a long time,” Moorlach wrote. “As one of my dear Democratic friends politely asked, with this known fact, ‘why go on a suicide mission?’ Well, one would do it to get a fiscal message out. But, would the massive investment of time really make a difference? Fortunately, the public and the media are very conscious of the fiscal concerns that I’ve been expounding on for more than a dozen years. So I can count on that message being articulated without having to put an incredible strain on my family.”
While Moorlach has finally announced what he will not do next, his “Update” did not say exactly what he will do next, which apparently means he hasn’t decided yet.
The options include running for another office or returning to private practice.
Supervisor Moorlach’s Orange County district includes the cities of Seal Beach, Los Alamitos, Cypress and Huntington Beach (including the annexed Sunset Beach community), as well as unincorporated communities such as Rossmoor. Moorlach’s website does not mention any of the unincorporated communities in his District 2.
Locally, Moorlach is known for his efforts to move Orange County’s unincorporated “islands” into their nearest incorporated city neighbors. To date, the county’s efforts to move Rossmoor into Los Alamitos have met aggressive resistance. As a matter of California law, any attempt by Los Alamitos to annex Rossmoor would have to face a vote by residents. To date, Los Alamitos has made no effort to annex the entire Rossmoor community. There has been discussion of annexing the so-called “fourth corner” of Los Alamitos Boulevard and Katella Avenue—Rossmoor’s only business district, which generates roughly a quarter million a year in sales tax revenues for the Rossmoor Community Services District.
Moorlach has supported the annexation of the business district, arguing that it is the county’s to give to Los Alamitos. Rossmoor officials argue that it would be illegal to annex Rossmoor piecemeal.