A Tale of Two Ambitions: Personal Journeys and California's Political Evolution

Reflecting on the ripples caused by shifting from a well-established role to uncharted waters, I share my personal journey and the echoes I see in California's current political scene. From my move away from Cleveland, where I was flourishing, back to Los Angeles, I parallel my narrative with the recent, head-scratching decisions by politicians like Katie Porter, Adam Schiff, and Barbara Lee. Their leap into the vast ocean of higher aspirations leaves me pondering the fate of their hard-earned influence and the Democratic Party's future. The conversation takes a deeper turn when considering Gustavo Arellano's insights on Porter's pivotal role in coloring Orange County purple—a hue that might fade with her departure from a position of local power.

This candid dialogue explores what it truly means to lead with authenticity and the magnetic pull of political ambition. We speculate not only on Porter's potential trajectories within the realms of Newsom or Biden's cabinets but also on her capacity to remain a driving force on impactful issues from a more rooted stance. As your host, I draw from the well of my own experiences, serving up relatable tales that illuminate the strategic decisions we all face in our careers. Together, we assess the delicate balance between personal success and the greater good, considering whether being a 'big fish in a small pond' or a 'small fish in a vast sea' offers the most nourishment for our communities and ourselves. Join us for a thoughtful examination of the currents that shape our lives and the political tides we navigate.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

Morning. Bitches and dolls. No one told you. They love you today and I love you. It's the day before the Oscars, but that's not what this podcast is all about. It's about being a big fish in a small pond.

Speaker 1: 0:24

So I moved out to La La Land in 1976 to work on a project and fell in love with the city. Also fell in love with a man and he decided he wanted to go to Cleveland to work. What do you think happened? And he was married. So I was living with him, even though he was married, kicked his wife out needless to say, he was hot, it was great and so I moved to Cleveland. Well, that was one of the best things that happened to me, moving to Cleveland, because I got a lot of work there as an actor. I love Cleveland, I love the city of Cleveland, ohio. I'm just saying People used to call it the mistake on the lake.

Speaker 1: 1:08

I don't agree. It was freezing, there was a lot of snow, yes, but I created a career for myself, as I always had, because I am a hustler and I could create anything. So I sang in the nightclubs, I did voice overs, tv, you name it. I did it. I was a big fish in a small pond. Then he decided that he wanted to move back to La La Land. Guess what? I followed him back to La La Land in 1980. So this is where I've lived ever since. I was no longer the big fish in the small pond. I was a small fish and I'd given up some opportunities when I was in LA. Before, however, you know, I was here and I started working again and doing things like that. The reason I bring up the big fish in a small pond is because it was an article in the Times today. I supported Adam Schiff and I really liked Katie Porter.

Speaker 1: 2:06

However, as I watched her leave Congress, where she was doing incredibly well, especially in Orange County, because Orange County is Republican how the heck this happened? I have no idea. I'm a liberal Democrat. I live in La La Land, north Hollywood to be exact. Okay, but I thought to myself Katie Porter, what are you doing? You're leaving Congress. We need as many congressional Democrats as possible. And, barbara Lee, why are you leaving Congress as well to run for Senator? Think about it. Your ego, in my opinion, is pushing you in this direction. Why are you going there? What are you trying to do? I don't think that you can win, you cannot be one of the candidates. I really don't think so. So stay where you're doing the most effective stuff. Did she listen? No, she didn't know me, but that's what I thought. If I would have gotten the opportunity to talk to her and Barbara Lee, I would have said stay where you can be the most effective Democrat to all of us. But today in the Times from Gustavo Arellano, he writes an article which I think I said to my husband the other day why was she running? Katie Porter turned OC purple. Why'd she leave? Exactly Okay, so let's read the article. It's a long one, but you have to hear it, in my opinion. Okay, until Katie Porter won her congregational seat. No congregational, yeah, that's it.

Speaker 1: 4:06

In 2018, being a Democrat in Orange County was rooting for the angels. Someone has to do it, am I right? Republicans held a majority of my home counties. This is his home county's legislative, congressional and supervisional seats. For decades, they maintained a robust ecosystem of candidates, funneling activists onto school boards and party committees to learn how politics work Before moving on to higher offices. The GOP way took Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan to the White House, the latter infamously saying Orange County is where the good Republicans go before they die, and I worked in Orange County a couple years ago, so that is the truth.

Speaker 1: 4:59

Democrats did hold power in Santa Ana, irvine and other similar cities, but otherwise mostly went through elections like the butt of a joke in a Monty Python skit. Their luck began to shift in 2016 when Hillary Clinton won Orange County in the presidential election, the first Democrat to do so since FDR during the Great Depression. But there was no firebrand leader to make local liberals dream of a bluer Orange County. The quintessential leader remained Loretta Sanchez, a Republican turned Democrat, who made OC history in 1996 as the first Latino to win A congressional race, then went on to squander that moment with an undistinguished 20 year career that ended in embarrassment when Kamala Harris obliterated her in a 2016 US Senate race.

Speaker 1: 5:56

Another one Come on. The idea that Democrats could rule Orange County was so unlikely that I joked during a speech at the Laguna Woods Democratic Club which I probably would have joined had I been in Laguna Woods Okay, let's open the rest of it to you Just before the 2018 midterm elections that I would register with the party for the first time if it was able to get a majority of the congressional seats that year, things were not looking good for them. Of the Democratic Congress members, whose seats were mostly in Orange County, only incumbents Lou Carrillo and Alan Lowenthal had won their primary. I was proved wrong and remain a Democrat today. All of OC's congressional seats went Democratic in 2018.

Speaker 1: 6:49

For the first time, this charge change or charge was poor to the type of dem that OC had really seen. The IONA of a UC Irvine law professor was dynamic, funny, knew how to end fight and never apologized for her progressive beliefs. Orange County hadn't seen a Democrat like her since Netavo Lopez of Chicago, a Chicano activist turned Santa Ana United School Board member, who delighted in antagonizing Democrats and Republicans alike in the early 2000s. Porter, who beat incumbent Mimi Walters in an upset, quickly learned a national rep, earned a national reputation for her fierce interrogations, a bad embrace during congressional hearings, frequently using a white board to explain arcane concepts in a way we please could understand. So she represented a new purple Orange County where Democrats with something no one could have foreseen they were cool.

Speaker 1: 7:51

Democratic Party registration surpassed that of Republicans in 2019, a once unthinkable achievement. That same year, united he, a local 11 co-president, ada Briceano, took over the Democratic Party of Orange County and brought in people power, organizing and radicalism that local party leaders at Longshan. Porter was a loyal soldier. She helped candidates win through endorsements and made progressives in the redder parts of Orange County believe they could run and win. Democratic majorities bloomed where it once seemed impossible Costa Mesa, huntington Beach. The board of supervisors.

Speaker 1: 8:34

Porter was a transformational figure I thought would hold her seat for years and push Orange County even further to the left. That's why I was disappointed when she announced last year she would not see Greek election and would instead run for the US Senate. Mistake this is my opinion, big mistake. Katie Porter, figure that deep blue California would embrace her far easier than purple orange county. It didn't. Early returns from Super Tuesday show Porter in third place, far behind fellow Democrat Adam V Schiff and Republican Steve Gawby left these long fretted that she and a fellow traveler, representative Barbara Lee, would cancel each other out, but their combined vote total would even put them in the general election. Mistake, mistake, mistake. As I told my husband, ed, and I'm saying this again Katie Porter, that was your mistake, your hubris, whatever you want to call it. Hey, porter's expected loss comes in a bad time for Democrats in orange counties and Porter and her congressional class.

Speaker 1: 9:48

Oc Republicans have yearned for comeback in 2020. Young Kim and Michelle Steel, along with Washington States Maryland Strickland, the first Korean American women in Congress, won back two seats for the Republicans In Huntington Beach. A MAGA majority city council is showing that conspiratorial, retrograde politics can still win in the country that made them an odd form of the county hey. The grand prize for OC conservatives, though, is Porter's seat. Former County GOP's chair Scott Barr nearly beat her in 2022, and he's in first place by a wide margin in the race to replace the Democratic State Senator. Dave Minn stands in second in early returns and the third place finish at Joanna Weiss's conceded defeat. At Barbeats Minn in November, republicans will have clawed back the congressional majority, at least partially deflated the narrative of an ascended OC Democratic Party.

Speaker 1: 10:52

If that happens, porter should bear some of the blame. He says here Gustavo, he gets why she ran A US Senate seat. Doesn't come on to the electoral market often she owed it to no one to wait. Well, while she served a constituents. Well, she always struck me as the type of talent who didn't want to spend their entire career in the proverbial minor leagues. Sometimes it's good to stay in the minor leagues. Anyway, I just have to go on and on and on and talk about. She thanked every person who supported her over the last six years.

Speaker 1: 11:35

It's clear Californians are hungry for leaders who break the mold, can't be bought and push accountability in government and across our economy. A future is bright. She can always run for another office and or even go after bar. If he wins, the Newsome administration would be smart to hire her, or the Biden administration if he returns to the White House Not if he will, my opinion. At the very least, porter would make a great spokesperson for Toyota.

Speaker 1: 12:05

Who's the Anna Minivan? She turned into an unlikely symbol of suburban revolt. Her legacy as a GOP slayer is permanent. Her position in the Orange County history books is secure. I think Porter is awesome, he says, but I'll always remember her as a what if? What if? When Orange County needed her most, porter has run, had run for reelection instead of leaving us for the big time.

Speaker 1: 12:33

What if? I hope you heard this, katie Porter. I'm sad because we Democrats need a Democratic Congress, so remember that if you think you're moving up to the big time, stay where you are. You can do more help for people If you don't ride high to the big time and think you could make it. And this is your TikTok Bubby, staying here in my small little corner of the world in North Hollywood, because you know that I love you all. I hope you listen to this and I hope you hear what I'm trying to say in my message. In Cleveland I was a big fish in a small pond. My mistake a lot of times, I think, was leaving Cleveland and coming back to La La Land. My life was very different when I came back here. I was a small fish in a big pond. Don't forget, if no one told you they love you today, I love you because you're you.