You’d be hard-pressed to slide a sheet of paper between the policy positions of the two veteran conservatives vying to fill the state Senate seat vacated by now-Congresswoman Mimi Walters, so slight are the differences.
The most obvious distinctions have nothing to do with ideology: Former Supervisor John Moorlach’s name is better known, but Assemblyman Don Wagner holds a ninefold edge in fundraising.
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First-time candidate Naz Namazi, who portrays herself as even more conservative than her opponents, rounds out the field….
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Wagner, who will be termed out of the Assembly in 2016, started laying the groundwork for his Senate bid in early 2014....
Wagner also had to run an Assembly re-election campaign last year, but he drew no GOP challengers and breezed past his Democratic opponent by more than a 2-to-1 margin. That enabled him to save his money and focus his energies on the Senate bid.
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“There’s a political-industrial complex among the Republicans here in Orange County, and they pick our candidates, and I don’t like it,” said the former Laguna Niguel resident [Naz Namazi], who moved to Irvine last month. That’s about the same time Namazi began working as a district aide to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Costa Mesa. Her candidacy is even more peculiar given her boss’ endorsement of Wagner….
