Partisan Politics in a Non-Partisan Race

Living in Mission Viejo is sometimes like living in the political version of Peyton Place - it's all drama:

Mission Viejo Mayor Trish Kelley, a registered Republican, could lose an endorsement from the Republican Party of Orange County for supporting Mayor Pro Tem Dave Leckness, a registered Democrat.

Kelley is running on an unofficial slate with Leckness and Rick Sandzimier, a Republican serving as a planning commissioner in the city. Kelley attended a nomination meeting in late August seeking the endorsement, but was told she would not be recommended by the Endorsement Committee to the O.C. GOP.

Mark Bucher, chairman of the Endorsements Committee, said the decision not to endorse Kelley is only a recommendation; final decisions will be made public Monday night at the Hyatt Regency in Irvine, when Kelley will be at a Mission Viejo City Council meeting.
Though city council elections are nonpartisan races, Bucher said personal politics are important when giving endorsements.

“Our viewpoint is there are no nonpartisan races. Our perspective is we’re Republicans, and we’re looking at Republican office holders,” he said. “When someone’s supporting a Democrat, that goes against that deeply held value by ourselves, and I think most members of the Central Committee.”

Kelley said she did not get the endorsement because of city politics. She said Orange Juice blogger Larry Gilbert, a Mission Viejo resident who managed campaigns for council candidates including Kelley, and two other men came to block the endorsement.

You'll have a hard time finding anyone less bipartisan than me, but I supported Dave Leckness in the special election and will probably support him in November. Why? Because Dave has been a friend of mine for better than 20 years.  I know him to be an ethical businessman who has run a successful printing business in town for something like 25 years.  He printed a heckuva lot of stuff for me when I was in banking and later for the quartet.  He may be a registered Democrat and we may not agree on every issue, but I trust that he has the best interests of the city and small business owners at heart.

I'm not sure I can say the same for the Republicans on the city council.