Assembly

Huntington Beach Councilman Matthew Harper, who has run a high-profile campaign for state Assembly since October, has dropped out of the race. In a Friday email to the Harper for Assembly mailing list, Harper said he had opted not to run for the newly formed 72nd District and plans instead to seek reelection to City Council. He was elected in 2010 and has already filed a candidate intention statement with the city to run in 2014. Reached Friday by phone, Harper said he initially entered the Assembly race because he saw no other candidate who shared his political philosophy.

Jim Silva, who served his last term on the Orange County Board of Supervisors this year, was sworn in Monday as the state assembly member from the 67th District at the State Capitol in Sacramento. "I have an awful lot to learn," Silva, 62, said after taking the oath of office. The former Huntington Beach mayor has already waded through more than 40 hours of classroom presentations, including lessons on how to set up office, hiring staff and, most importantly, an eight-hour briefing on how to get a bill passed in the assembly.

“[To] Me: Thanks for not doing it. [To] God: Thank you for reaching people that love me.”   Ocean View High School’s gym assembly Friday wasn’t the usual display of pep and enthusiasm. This is the fifth year the school has produced a Yellow Ribbon Week assembly on suicide. Four years of memorial posters spoke of teens’ losses and battles, like from the student who scrawled the above message on a poster last week. Other messages were in memory of lost friends and family members.

Lauren Vane At a Friday morning assembly at Harbour View School in Huntington Beach, the student body was a sea of red, white and blue. Goosebumps marked the arms of onlookers as the children waved miniature American flags and sang along to a recorded version of "God Bless the USA" that blared from the loudspeakers. It was a slice of Americana, and at Harbour View, it happens every month. On the first Friday of every month, since the Sept. 11 attacks, Harbour View has put on a patriotic assembly, with the students and staff paying tribute to their country in various ways.

It was a proud day for the students of Harbour View Elementary School. After raising almost $13,000 in donations for Hurricane Katrina relief, the students presented a check to an American Red Cross representative. A crowd of more than a thousand students, teachers and parents gathered on the school's outdoor basketball court to participate in a "Proud To Be an American" assembly. "This is a community that helps people," said Principal Roni Ellis.

Students of Harbour View Elementary School stepped out of the classroom Friday for their first lesson of the day as a patriotic assembly drew a large gathering on the school's front lawn. They came together to pledge their allegiance, sing patriotic songs and learn how to cope and move on, but not forget what happened to our nation on Sept. 11. Friday's assembly was a bit of "closure for our kids," Harbour View Principal Roni Ellis said. The school will continue to hold a patriotic assembly the last Friday of each month.

Students pumped their fists into the air and screamed at the top of their lungs as they sat cross-legged on the asphalt, bouncing around with excitement, as five guys flipped, spun and caught some serious air. Students at Agnes L. Smith Elementary School kicked off the first day of Red Ribbon Week on Monday with a special assembly by Gale Webb’s Extreme Sports and Air Show and learned what they could accomplish if they followed their dreams...

The story of “The Three Little Lizards” was brought to life Friday morning by a troupe of actors in paint-splattered overalls as the 9-year-old author sat in the audience. Fourth-grader Jaedon Bartling had no idea his short story would be performed when the Imagination Machine came to Robert Gisler Elementary School in Fountain Valley for a special assembly. The Imagination Machine is a group of actors who perform students’ short stories in front of them.

Alicia Robinson John Campbell has been interested in politics since he was a child stuffing envelopes for Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign. Forty years later, after four years in the state Assembly, Campbell says he still has work to do in Sacramento and hopes to accomplish that as the 35th District state senator. The 70th District assemblyman faces GOP opponents Ken Maddox and Joe Snyder in the March 2 primary. His fascination of politics led him to volunteer for campaigns for years, and eventually wanted to try his own skills in the field.

Shaina Maginot was 5 years old the day her world changed. In the early morning of Sept. 11, 2001 the young girl sat in front of the television and watched with her parents as airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center. On Monday, Shaina and a handful of Harbour View Elementary School students shared their memories during a remembrance ceremony held at the school in honor of the fifth anniversary of the terrorists attacks. In a poem she read at the assembly, fifth-grader Shaina described what it was like watching the events unfold before here thousands of miles away.

Huntington Beach Mayor Matthew Harper and Councilman Joe Carchio recently filed their campaign paperwork with the Orange County registrar of voters to run in the June 3 primary for higher office. Harper is vying for a place in the Assembly, while Carchio wants a seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors. Carchio hopes to succeed John Moorlach as the supervisor for District 2, which covers Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Seal Beach, Cypress, La Palma, Los Alamitos and Stanton, and parts of Fountain Valley and Buena Park.

Setting up a showdown with an official from neighboring Newport Beach, Huntington Beach Mayor Matthew Harper announced Friday that he plans to run for state Assembly. Harper, a Republican, wants the seat Assemblyman Allan Mansoor (R-Costa Mesa) is vacating in his bid for 2nd District county supervisor. Also in the 2014 race for the 74th Assembly District, which spans Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Irvine and Laguna Beach, are outgoing Newport Beach Mayor Keith Curry, 2010 Laguna Beach City Council candidate Emanuel Patrascu and 2012 Santa Ana City Council candidate Karina Onofre.

Travis Allen, a Huntington Beach resident running for the 72nd Assembly district, has denounced a complaint filed against him with the Fair Political Practices Commission. Allen said the complaint is nothing but an attempt to shift the focus from what he called opponent Troy Edgar's deteriorating campaign and from the fact that Edgar allegedly violated federal rules during his aborted congressional race earlier this year. Seal Beach resident Heidi Abel filed a complaint with the FPPC on Oct. 15 alleging Allen loaned himself an extra $100,000 and failed to report at least three late contributions.

The massive inflatable turtle shifted in the breeze that whipped across the Huntington Beach Pier on Monday afternoon, looking large and restless enough to crawl across the walkway for a hearty meal at Ruby's Diner. The environmental activists who set up their booth on the pier hadn't anticipated the wind. But the turtle's twitchy movements ended up fitting their message perfectly: that the ocean is full of living things, and that plastic bags are best kept out of it. With the state's two-year legislative session set to end at midnight Friday, members of the Surfrider Foundation, Earth Resource Foundation and Environment California set up a table and solicited signatures for a petition asking lawmakers to support Assembly Bill 298, which seeks to ban single-use plastic bags in many businesses across California.

Spoiling Newport Beach City Councilwoman Leslie Daigle's bid for the state Assembly, Democratic candidate Bob Rush looks poised to advance to the November general election. Rush and Assemblyman Allan Mansoor (R-Costa Mesa) won the most votes in the 74th Assembly District primary race Tuesday. Both were ahead of Daigle, who ran as Republican. The 74th district covers part of Huntington Beach. Mansoor took 43% of ballots and Rush 33%, with all precincts counted for as of Wednesday, according to the Orange County Registrar of Voters.

Five candidates are vying for the newly redrawn 72nd Assembly District. Though it's hard to call a frontrunner in the crowded local race, Los Alamitos Mayor Troy Edgar is raking in high-profile Republican support. Edgar, who was a registered Democrat until 2006, has gotten endorsements from a long list of conservative politicians, including Huntington Beach Mayor Don Hansen and Councilmen Devin Dwyer and Matthew Harper, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa), Assemblyman Allan Mansoor (R-Costa Mesa)

A Huntington Beach resident running for Assembly said a pair of campaign press releases that attacked another candidate for dropping out of the race were sent without his approval. Travis Allen, one of five candidates in the race for the newly aligned 72 District, attributed the March 9 and 10 emails to "an anxious campaign volunteer," who issued the statements without authorization. The releases, which feature the tag "Approved by Travis Allen for Assembly" at the bottom, strongly criticize Huntington Beach Councilman Matthew Harper for dropping out of the Assembly race before the deadline to file papers.

Huntington Beach Councilman Matthew Harper, who has run a high-profile campaign for state Assembly since October, has dropped out of the race. In a Friday email to the Harper for Assembly mailing list, Harper said he had opted not to run for the newly formed 72nd District and plans instead to seek reelection to City Council. He was elected in 2010 and has already filed a candidate intention statement with the city to run in 2014. Reached Friday by phone, Harper said he initially entered the Assembly race because he saw no other candidate who shared his political philosophy.

Huntington Beach Councilman Joe Carchio said Thursday that he has opted not to run for the 74th Assembly District, ending months of speculation after he voiced interest in entering the race. Carchio, who was elected to the council in 2006 and 2010, said he ultimately decided to remain in Huntington to finish the job voters had elected him to do. He had announced in January that he planned to run for Assembly but had yet to file his paperwork. "I still have three years left here, and we have a lot we want to accomplish, especially on the Beach and Edinger Corridor and other projects we have going," Carchio said.

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) has endorsed Huntington Beach Councilman Matthew Harper for the new 72nd Assembly District. Rohrabacher's endorsement was announced in a release issued Saturday by Harper's campaign. In the release, Rohrabacher describes Harper as a fighter who will defend America's freedom, restore economic sanity and push for tougher laws against illegal immigration. The newly redrawn district was created by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission late last year.