There are two types of movies.
There are movies like “Terms of Endearment” and “Shawshank Redemption,” that set out to stir the soul and change your life. You shed tears, you sit silently, you exit the theater and think, “That was absolutely wonderful.”
There are also movies like “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” that are purposefully big and loud and mindless. You eat popcorn, you guzzle Coca-Cola, you watch and you leave and you blink unusually rapidly. These films do not exist to evoke contemplation. They exist to be loud and obnoxious.
I bring this up because you are about to read my compilation of the 26 worst Orange County political figures of 2026. This is the byproduct of a good deal of research and outreach; of soliciting suggestions and debating merit. It was long and arduous and—in myriad ways—depressing. More than anything, I want people around here to be good, honest, compassionate stewards. I want folks with empathy and a sincere sense of civic duty. Party be damned. Hell, positions be damned.
The individuals on this list … sigh. I don’t believe most of them to be evil or even bad, in the Merriam-Webster sense of the words. I just think they’re all some mishmash of a) painfully dumb; b) woefully misinformed and misguided; c) corrupted by power and the maintaining of control.
And, as I thought and thought and thought about this, I came to the realization that the distinctions of those categories matter. For example, Will O’Neill, the Orange County Republican Party chairman, is an intelligent guy and a once-respected mayor. He knows right from wrong; knows Donald Trump is a grotesque pig of a man and that the Jan. 6 riots were an assault on democracy. Unlike a Lisa Davis or Jack Hibbs, he’s plenty smart. He grasps real vs. fiction.
And yet—O’Neill has chosen to ignore it all, in a quest for power. I cannot overstate how sad it makes me; the Vader-like plummet of a decent man into an icy stink hole of shame.
Alas, it is what it is—and this list is what it is. Some of the folks (like O’Neill) would rather watch decency crumble than admit many on his side are bonkers. Some, like Mari Barke of the OC Board of Ed, drank the Kool-Aid and savored the taste. Some, like the aspiring social media influencer Sophia Lorey, likely find the glow of a spotlight irresistible.
Twenty six journeys.
Twenty six pathways.
Twenty six sad political people.
Welcome to the freak show …
1. Will O'Neill, chairman of the Orange County Republican Party
There are plenty of people on this list who lack intelligence, who lack insight, who are as deep as a dime and just follow along with what Fox News orders.
Will is not that guy.
Bro is a former Newport mayor; a reasonable and compassionate local standout who, in his time leading the city, was known across the political spectrum as a decent dude who looked after constituents.
That Will O’Neill is, I believe, dead.
The new Will O’Neill is a political animal. Trump brags about pussy grabbing? No problem. Trump makes $2 billion as president? Ho hum. The Jan. 6 riots? Fun for all! Gracey Van Der Mark flashes QAnon signs? Wonderful! The Huntington Beach City Council plans on putting forth a MAGA plaque! Amazing!
But … a picture in the OC State Fair features a kid holding an anti-Trump sign? Oh my God! The horror! The indignity! We need an investigation! This is the WORST THING EVER AND I AM SOOOOOOOO ANGRY!!!!!!!!!
It’s pathetic. But, far worse than pathetic, it’s performative. It’s insincere.
Truly, I’ve never seen (up close) anyone like Will O’Neill, who matches intellect and experience with a ho-hum willingness to carve up democracy.
###
2. Mari Barke, Member, Orange County Board of Education
Ever meet someone, and you’re like, “Wow, she seems lovely.” And someone else goes, “Nah, she’s terrible.” But you go, “Haha. She seems great.” And the other person stops in his tracks, grabs your shoulders and says, “No, seriously, bruh. She’s cray.”
That’s Mari Barke.
Name a position, name an endorsed candidate—and Barke is always (and I mean always) on the side of cruelty and the asshole. Need proof? Here she is catching up with John Eastman. Here she is with Steve Hilton. Apparently Gracey Vander Mark desperately needed a friend. Would you rather eat a hemorrhoid than spend time with Sonja Shaw and Sophia Lorey? Barke chooses the gruesome twosome. Hey, Tom Cotton’s in town! Send Barke to kiss some ass!
And, of course, Barke is just another in the long line of RULES DON’T APPLY TO ME. Hell, just this year she was accused of violating the Political Reform Act by failing to disclose million in income and assets.1
Bright side: She’ll protect you from the neighborhood trans kids.2
###
3. Jack Hibbs, founding pastor of Calvary Chapel
If I could switch bodies with 1986 Mike Tyson for one day, I would head over to Calvary Chapel, ask for Jack Hibbs, be told Jack Hibbs isn’t there, wait outside the church, see Hibbs roll up in his 2027 BMW 7 Series3—and I would go all Marvis Frazier on his ass.
Obviously, I’m not hitting anyone. Or even spitting on someone. But Hibbs, more than any other local “religious”4 leader, is uniquely responsible for the regional phenomenon of right-wing ministries diving head-first into MAGA politics, and brainwashing their parishioners into voting for whichever loathsome flimflam artists Hibbs (as Godly a dude as the last pimple I picked and flicked off into the toilet) commands. Once, there was a very clear, respected separation of church and state.
Once, bread cost a dime.
The thing that kills me most. Like, really kills me most: All these “religious” leaders (like Hibbs) back Donald Trump. Despite Jan. 6, despite “grab ‘em by the pussy,” despite raw-dogging the porn star, despite the bankruptcies, despite the cruelty, despite the indifference to the poor, the battered, the struggling. Somehow, Jack Hibbs believes he has a line to God. And God wants the dude from the Epstein Files.
Men like Hibbs have, in the process, corroded the beauty and dignity of religion and faith.
Why follow the teaching of Jesus that you claim to live by, when you follow … him?
###
4. Todd Spitzer, Orange County District Attorney
Spitzer earns roughly $500,000 annually, and an argument can be made no one in America is better at allegedly retaliating against women in his office who bring forth sexual harassment claims.
David Rush once juggled for more than 13-straight hours.
Darrell Griffith had a 48-inch vertical leap.
We all have our talents.
Hell, what tells the SPITZER IS THE MAN story better than this 2025 Eyewitness News headline, JURY FINDS ORANGE COUNTY DA TODD SPITZER HARASSED PROSECUTOR INTO RETIREMENT, AWARDS HER $3 MLLION …
The good news? Justice sorta prevailed.
The bad news? Spitzer still has his job—and taxpayers are in charge of the bills (literally, we’re responsible for paying nearly $18 million in settlements related to conduct this crumb and his peeps).
Grr.
###
5. Lisa Davis, president of the Capo Unified School District board
So I’ve been pretty locked in on the local school board, and Davis is … hmm … I’ll offer some adjectives, and y’all feel free to pick which you opt to use (Tip: they all apply):
Sinister.
Nuts.
Manipulative.
Uninformed.
Phony.
She also happens to be a world-class hugger, which would be lovely were she not perpetually attempting to Mama Bear kids at graduation ceremonies (Lisa, seriously—stranger-danger).
In all seriousness: I’ve seen Lisa Davis in action, and what’s going down at Capo Unified is beyond disturbing. The board has been largely taken over by a Moms For Liberty-inspired approach to academics, which includes “leaders”5 who believe in more God in school, less science in school, less funding for public schools and a damnation of those who don’t share your wackadoo religious beliefs. I wrote extensively about Lisa here, and it’s worse than you think.
Don’t believe me? Read this.
###
6. Esther Kim Varet, failed congressional candidate
I think we’re all still experiencing the PTSD caused by Esther, an art curator/expert who came from Los Angeles to grace us all with her genius and a doomed-from-the-start run for the CA-40th seat. Besides being seven levels of Planters, Esther established herself as a uniquely cruel, vindictive, incurious plantar wart of a human with an unrivaled arrogance and a one-of-a-kind talent for pissing literally everyone off.
For a brief spell, she seemed like a legitimate contender to challenge Young Kim and Ken Calvert for a slot in the final showdown. But then she began to talk. And post on social media. And tell everyone why she was right, they were wrong and a vote against Esther was a vote for a Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva-spreading vampire apocalypse.
Think I’m exaggerating? Read here and here and here and here and here and here.
Congrats, Esther! You’re a Democrat, and you made this list.
No easy task.
###
7. Leandra Blades, President, Placentia-Yorba Linda Board of Ed
When it comes to cruelty, Blades is Kid to Sonja Shaw’s Play. A retired police officer, Blades is one of those thumb nubs who seem equate the term “restoring parental rights” with “allowing Christ-loving parents to stampede educators while removing any books they choose because of some warped sense of pornographic guilt.” Blades led the charge against ethnic studies in school, though I genuinely wonder whether she could define the words “gender” or “studies,” or properly explain what gender studies entail. She’s also a big ol’ ICE gal who got her ass kicked in this delightful exchange with Tricia Quintero.
Oh, and, she was in Washington on Jan. 6.
Seriously, she was there. But (cough) just checking out the monuments.
Cough.
###
8. Dr. Jeff Barke, Doctor, ex-Rossmoor Community Service Director
Every time you see a bunch of local GOP sprigs cheering the potential imprisonment of (85-year-old) Dr. Anthony Fauci, a baby dove soars past Barke’s kitchen window.
A right-wing acorn to the 100th degree, Barke is a former at-large member of the Los Alamitos Unified School District Board of Education who has used his medical background (he is, indeed, a doctor), white coat and stethoscope to convince the lemmings his unhinged and unmoored views are worth your attention.
Barke has authored at least 50 books, including, “Covid-19: A Physicians Take on the Exaggerated Fear of the Corona Virus,” “Unavoidably Unsafe: Childhood Vaccines Reconsidered” and “Barke: My Journey from Medical School to the Brothels of New Zeland.”6
During COVID, he famously pulled out a 9-millimeter gun during a Zoom interview to make the point a firearm offered more virus protection than a mask. Then he said: “What I do, Peggy, to protect you and to protect others when I’m in public—I think better than a mask—this is what I do. You know, I live in Orange County so I carry this wherever I go.”
He also advocated for utilizing unproven medications like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin to treat COVID.
Otherwise, the dude is friggin’ awesome!7
###
9. Tony Beall, mayor of Rancho Santa Margarita
This Lincoln-esque statesman, leader and Costco shirt patron has committed to giving ICE his “full cooperation,” despite the increasing number of awful, unlawful, cruel incidents involving the agency. Hell, he said he’d welcome them to the city. Which, if we’re being honest, probably isn’t necessary, considering Rancho Santa Margarita ain’t exactly lacking in ICE types.
Even worse (I suppose) is Beall is one of those politicians who—Benjamin Netanyahu-like—clings to power at all costs. As the Orange Juice Blog noted last year, Bealle was threatened with a recall in 2020. To avoid such fate, he promised not to seek re-election. then, of course, he sough re-election.
This, from OJB …
Beall has been mayor for more than two decades—which, like death and taxes and three wins from the New York Jets—feels uncomfortably normal by now.
###
10. Elaine Gennawey: Founding President, South OC Republicans
There is something delicious about the founding president of the South Orange County Republicans misspelling “Republicans” on her LinkedIn page …
… but there’s nothing delicious about Gennawey’s impact on local politics. And what I mean is this: By many accounts, Elaine is a nice person. She comes off as warm, as engaging. If you speak to her at the upcoming Sea Country Festival (she’s usually there, alongside a life-sized Trump cardboard cutout), you’ll most certainly find her delightful. And, back in the day, she was very involved in local schools, in helping young boys and girls better themselves, in showing the kiddies a bright and optimistic future. I really mean that: She was a gem and devoted community steward.
So how in the name of Fred Flintstone [I’m about to start yelling, people] DO YOU STAND IN FRONT OF A DONALD TRUMP CARDBOARD CUTOUT AT EVERY FAIR? HOW ARE YOU OK WITH THE RAW CRUELTY? THE MEANNESS? THE INSULTS? THE VULGARITY? THE LIES? WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU—AND DO YOU REALIZE YOU’VE NOT ONLY SOILED YOUR NAME, BUT SHOWN FAR TOO MANY PEOPLE THAT KINDNESS IS MEANINGLESS, AND THAT THE NICE OLDER WOMAN WHO ONCE VOLUNTEERED IN THE COMMUNITY IS JUST ANOTHER RIGHT-WING HACK WILLING TO SURRENDER HER KINDNESS TO A LIFELONG HUCKSTER WITH AN ORANGE GLOW?
SERIOUSLY, ELAINE. DID THE PUSSY GRAB COMMENT NOT CAUSE YOU SOME PAUSE? WHAT ABOUT THE PRISONERS OF WAR-AREN’T-HEROES LINE? THE FIVE DRAFT DEFERMENTS? THE BANKRUPTCIES?
How does a nice person—even one engaged in GOP politics—sit back and watch?
How?
###
11. Pat Burns, Huntington Beach City Council member
If you’re me, and you’re covering local politics with a bit of snark and attitude, nothing is better than having someone both vile and destructive whose head resembles an uncircumcised penis.
Thank you, Pat Burns.
Dickie is a retired police officer, which actually sucks—because he conforms to every negative stereotype of the gig. He’s mean. He’s crude. He seems pretty racist and sexist. He’s a small little man who walks with a Clubber Lang swagger—and Dickie would surely hate that comparison, because Clubber Lang is Black.
I’ve seen Dickie operate at myriad Huntington Beach City Council meetings, and the dude is just a bully in every … single … sense of the word. He’s also (and this is no exaggeration) an absolute moron who seemed troubled nary a bit by his fellow law enforcement officers being battered at the Jan. 6 attacks. Police brutality? What police brutality? Let’s build a Trump statue!
Dickie is a simple and small man with a a giant ego who reminds me very much of Bull Connor.
That’s not a compliment.
###
12. Brenda Lebsack, Santa Ana Unified School District Board Member
First, were I starting a band right now, I’d name it “Brenda and the Lebsacks,” and we’d kick some serious ass opening for Lit and Suicidal Tendencies at the House of Blues Anaheim.
Second, well, Brenda Lebsack is yet another (yawn) anti-trans warrior just scratching and clawing for Riley Gaines to step aside so Sean Hannity will finally put an end to her appearances on fringe right-wing podcasts and call “The Sack” up to Fox News.
And if you’re thinking, “Meh, Lebsack brings nothing new to the table,” you’d be wrong. Why, back in April she starred in a board meeting by abstaining from proclaiming April as “National Arab American Heritage Month” because … eh … eh … we need to keep boys out of girls’ locker rooms!
Also, there’s this gem …
Just another in the long, ugly line of hard-right lemmings occupying Orange County.
###
13. Ken L. Williams, Jr., Member, Orange County Board of Education
On March 11, 2023, Williams was allegedly involved in a Hulk Hogan-v.-Andre the Giant-level road rage incident, attacking a 20-year-old driver, throwing him to the ground and choking him.
This, from Angelina Hicks’ excellent Voice of OC recap …
The best part? When reached by Hicks, Williams said his political opponents were trying to destroy his personal and professional career.
Alas, it didn’t work. Dude still holds his gig.
PS: Included in his official bio: “Dr. Williams strongly believes in our nation's founding fathers' vision of our country being the "city on the shining hill." He consistently promotes our nation's Constitution, the spirit of the Declaration of Independence, and the reliable standards of Judeo-Christian values as the reason for our nation's greatness.” Google Translation: Look, I don’t love everything that happened on January 6. But …
###
14. Andrew Do, former member of the OC Board of Supervisors
So Andrew Do is literally in prison as you read this, serving five years after being found guilty of using taxpayer dough to buy all sorts of stuff for his own personal pleasure (houses, meals, cars, etc). Making matters worse, he funneled the loot through a non-profit run by … his daughter.
The FBI wound up raiding his house, leading toward Do’s resignation and guilty plea to—to quote Nick Gerda for LAist—”taking bribes to award tax dollars to people who diverted $7.9 million that was supposed to feed needy seniors during the pandemic.”
And here’s the crazy thing.
The truly remarkable and bonkers crazy thing.
I’d still take Andrew Do over Will O’Neill.
I’d just make sure my wallet was somewhere safe.
###
15. Garrett Dwyer, Aliso Viejo City Council member
There is dumb. There is profoundly dumb. There is historically dumb. There is sloth with a head injury dumb. There is a sloth with a head injury addicted to crack cocaine dumb. There is a sloth with a head injury addicted to crack cocaine while listening to a ceaseless loop of Rush Limbaugh dumb.
And then there is Garrett Dwyer, who was appointed in 2025 to represent the third district of the Aliso Viejo City Council.
To watch Dwyer in action is to understand why dogs sniff their own poop. An unelected member of the council who was appointed by the MAGA majority to replace a Black progressive man who moved away, Dwyer recently dazzled the masses by hijacking a meeting that was supposed to be—innocently—about Aliso Viejo traffic patterns. A pair of experts were brought in, and recommended to the council that speed limits be reduced by five mph in certain stretches (primarily by schools).
Dwyer responded by pulling out his tablet (always with tablet, this guy) and reading (in what sounded suspiciously like AI-generated slop), “Reduction of the speed limit is a restriction of the freedom of movement of the citizens of the United States.”
Seriously.
He went on to complain the the traffic standards were being adopted from Europe—and that it was Europe’s attempt to get Americans out of their cars.
If you’re wondering what, precisely, Garrett Dwyer knows of traffic patterns, he works as a mortgage broker.
###
16. Melissa Crew, Creator of Moms on the Ground
OK, I have a dream.
Here it is …
It’s, oh, 60 years from now, and Melissa Crew dies peacefully in her sleep (to be clear, I’m not wishing death upon anyone. She’ll be around 100—so a nice long life). Melissa is surrounded by friends and loved ones, and as she drifts off she somehow comes to the realization that literally e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g she worked for … every battle she fought … every trans kid who felt ostracized and every parent of a trans kid who felt attacked and battered … was bullshit.
Maybe it’s God. Maybe it’s Satan. Maybe it’s former Blind Melon singer Shannon Hoon. Whatever the case, a spiritual entity greets her and says, “Hey, Missy, bad news. All that shit was nonsense, and I’m here to tell you there’s no heaven. You’re just dead. Ciao.”
Crew is a junk-ball mixture of warped and determined. She heads an operation, Moms on the Ground, that was initially registered under an already existing for-profit tech company called MJC Innovations. Four years ago, MJC morphed into Moms on the Ground and Crew teamed up with a gaggle of local loons to bring forth the magic.
According to an old LinkedIn page, Crew’s background is as a cosmetologist and health care company owner. But, hey, even skin care professionals can find Jesus. These days, Moms on the Ground is all about trans kids. Trans kids in sports. Trans kids in bathrooms. Trans kids in bathroom sports. Oh, and they’re also about “faith, families & freedom.” Though, like all the other hypocrites here, they had no apparent problem with Jan. 6, with Trump cheating on his wife with a porn star (No condom! Just sex!), with Trump calling people retarded and ugly and stupid.
Faith, families & freedom.
###
17. Don Wagner, member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors
Like Will O’Neill, Wagner is a former mayor (of Irvine). Also like Will O’Neill, Wagner is a MAGA-foaming zombie who does as his masters insist and downplayed actions related to Andrew Do’s corruption scandal.
If you wanna have some fun, hang out in Irvine and ask the OGs about Don Wagner. The top 3 words you’ll hear are 1) Corrupt; 2. Soulless; 3) Owned. There’s a long and sordid history of Wagner using his position to better himself and his peeps, with little regard for the general/greater good.
There’s also this gem of a reaction to the Capitol Insurrection, which oozes top-shelf bullshit …
Lastly, bruh is just a coward. Which seems contagious these days.
###
18. Gracey Van Der Mark: Huntington Beach City Council member
This one is like shooting fish in a particularly small barrel. Gracey is a first-generation Latina woman who is all in on MAGA, loves everything ICE is doing, rolls with the QAnon crew and worked hard to demonize librarians and keep non-porn porn out of schools. As we speak, she’s now running against the great Chris Kluwe for Assembly—and there are enough folks not paying attention that she may well win.
I can’t overstate this enough. Plenty of people on this list ate conspiracy theorists or are vindictive or are xenophobic. Gracey merges it all together in one toxic stew.
I’m pretty sure she’s 95 percent crazy, five percent asshole—but it could be 90-10. Just a warped and vile person who Will O’Neill would normally have nothing to do with.
###
19. Young Kim, CA-40th Congresswoman
As a longtime sports writer, I’ve seen the demise of athletes who—because of age or injury or some extraneous circumstance—fall apart, fade away and are never seen again.
This is the fate about to meet Young Kim, who will likely get her ass kicked by fellow Republican Ken Calvert in the redrawn 40th.
And here’s what’s particularly pathetic about Young Kim: Deep down, she’s a somewhat sensible moderate who (even in these modern times) was liked by all sides. She was agreeably, decent, reasoned, kind, chipper. You could talk to her and feel heard. You could make points as a Democrat and have her consider your stance.
Then, as a survival mechanism, she abandoned all principles and went full MAGA. It was a ludicrous rightward shift; a selfish-yet-misguided move that will result with her inevitable crash and burn and eternal banishment to Cameo, where she will spend the rest of her days peddling $5 birthday messages alongside Vanilla Ice, Bo Bice and Kyle Rittenhouse.
She’s earned it.
###
20. Amy Phan West: Westminster City Council member
Like all towns and cities across America, Westminster has its problems. Thankfully, Amy Phan West stepped up to lead the charge for …
Resources to alleviate homelessness.
Safe sidewalks.
An amazing Christmas tree lighting.
A new youth baseball field.
… a street to be renamed Charlie Kirk Way.
Seriously. And now there is a street in Westminster named Charlie Kirk Way.
Had Charlie Kirk ever visited Westminster? No. Did he have family there? No. Personal business interests? No. Is there any logical reason to have a Charlie Kirk Way in Westminster, Cal.? No.
Truth be told, this was yet another tired culture warrior moment brought forth by a woman with (apparently) little better to do than trigger the libs.
Well done, Amy. Well done.
###
21. Sophia Lorey, Outreach Director for California Family Council
Of all the people on this list, no one makes me as sad as Lorey, who works for the California Family Council and who seems to genuinely believe she is doing God’s tasks by speaking out against trans athletes and appearing on various right-wing news networks to amplify her message.
Youth, George Bernard Shaw said, is wasted on the young …
I hope Sophia reads this, because I wanna say to her—directly: I have no problem with you standing up for your beliefs. If you really, truly, deeply feel trans athletes are the issue of our time, go for it, I guess. Use your IG feed to spew and spew and spew. Bark away, girl. Bark and bark and bark some more.
But I ask you these two questions:
If your goal is (as you say) to honor God, why is your face everywhere? Being serious—why are you always posting your new shoes, your new dress, your fresh cut. Selfies in a mirror. Hugging your dog. Why is it all about you? And are you familiar with Philippians 2:3-8?
If you’re truly a protector of women (which you seem to aspire to be), why no words about Donald Trump (the man you voted for and support) cheating on wife 1 with wife 2, wife 2 with wife 3, wife 3 with a porn star he raw dogged, then paid off in hush money? Why nothing about all the sexual assault accusations? About E. Jean Carroll? You’re pro-woman, Sophia. Do you think they’re lying? All of them? Every single one? Going back four decades?
Did the “grab ‘em by the pussy” line bother you? At all? Even a little? What about all the times he calls women fat and ugly? And since we’re here, I haven’t heard a word from you about Max Miller. Literally nothing. You’re pro-women, right? Fighting for your gender, yes?
Where are you?
The truth is, Sophia, you’re being used as a tool by the old, white, perverted men who run your party; the men who conceal the Epstein Files; the men who hide Donald Trump’s grotesque treatment of women.
You’re young, and you’re social media savvy.
Now wake up.
PS: Have you ever thought to yourself—even for a second’s second—that maybe (just maybe) some of the stuff in the Bible is incorrect? Like, if God spoke to man, and man wrote down God’s words—perhaps he screwed some of it up. Maybe?
###
22. Janet Keo Conklin, City of La Palma Councilwoman,
failed Orange County assessor candidate
I mean, look, we all make mistakes, right? You put the butter knife with the bread knives You accidentally call your husband the name of your ex-boyfriend. You, eh, um, allegedly repeatedly use campaign contributions to pay for personal expenses.
There’s also this, from LAist’s Yusra Frazan …
Conklin lost the Democratic Party’s endorsement, then lost in the primary, but, like, what are we doing here?
Seriously, what are we doing?
###
23. Wendy Bucknum, Mayor of Mission Viejo
Top of my head, I just came up with a joke:
Knock knock.
Who’s there?
Bucknum.
Bucknum who?
Bucknum just sorta sucks.
And I admit—the joke isn’t funny. But neither is the Mission Viejo mayor, who was part of a three-headed monster (alongside Ed Sachs and Greg Raths) that simply decided to ignore the fairly straightforward term-limit rules and stay in power. Because, hey—staying in power is more fun than staying out of power. Or something like that.
Then, there was this.
One of the worst things about Bucknum and her GOP colleagues on the Mission Viejo City Council? The way they treat Cynthia Vasquez, the lone liberal on the five-person board and a genuinely good public servant.
For decades, the mayoral title has rotated from member to member, sans pause for political affiliation. Yet, without fail, Vasquez is always bypassed. To quote Laura Lacko: “You have one Democratic board member, Cynthia Vasquez, who’s basically marginalized by the rest of the board. They don’t take her seriously. Don’t really show her any respect. Bypass her for mayor They’re a bunch of MAGA weirdos who just want to ... take what’s happened on the national level and make it local and sorta act like you’re wrong, they’re right and that’s that.”
Just to be cruel.
Just. To. Be. Cruel.
###
24. Scott Baugh, Former Orange County GOP Chairman
A confession: Placing Baugh on this list in 2026 is a little bit like blaming Christina Aguilera for the state of modern music. Put different, Baugh is a dude who ran for office a bunch, lost a bunch, headed the Orange County GOP, threw elbows, kicked rocks, wasn’t particularly popular, vanished—and pops up every now and then like a gutter rat who smells your cheese. He’s brash and irksome and always seeking out leftover scraps, but he’s also increasingly irrelevant.
Which I enjoy.
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25. Jennifer Adnams, Capo Unified School District board member
As I noted in the Lisa Davis entry, I’ve paid far too much attention to Capo Unified. It’s a brain-draining, soul-sucking experience of the greatest degree.
But, since this is my list … Adnams is something truly special. She’s the perfect Moms for Liberty Stepford robot; a woman who seems to 100-percent believe she is here—on earth and on the board—to bring people as close to Jesus Christ as possible. It is her life mission—”I’m a Kingdom-first person.” It’s her reason for breathing and eating and pooping. If you don’t believe me, watch her crazy-ass podcast, which puts the White in White Christian Nationalism …
The worst part? She’s dumb. Just not smart. Dim. Limited. Chews the bubble gum wrapper. But too vapid to see it, and determined to make Christ-like changes to portions of the world not asking for them.
Lovely.
###
26. Mike Munzing, Aliso Viejo Mayor Pro Tem
First, I wanna say something important, and sincere: Mike Munzing has battled serious health issues for years, and I (truly) pull for his well-being. I do not wish badly for anyone on this list. I mean that.
However …
Mike Munzing is a hateful scrotum sack dipped in the vomit of 1,000 squirrels. He’s just another uninformed-yet-loyal MAGA foot soldier who did his absolute all to ban the Pride Flag from waving above City Hall (he failed) and irrationally targeted the Boys & Girls Club because it tries to encourage (gasp!) diversity.
It’s actually annoying, because I’m pretty sure Munzing is (like Lisa Davis) seven parts ignorant, two parts enjoyably cruel, one part daydreaming of weekends on the Love Boat alongside Gopher and Doc.
Alas, such are the meager pleasures.
#TOC
She denies the charges.
She also, to her credit, has good taste in when to get divorced from a crazy person.
This is a guess. He might rock a minivan.
Quotes intended.
Quotes intended.
OK, this one I made up.
He also, to his credit, has good taste in when to get divorced from a crazy person.
No problem with the list, but am deeply offended by the slur you cast on Costco shirts.
Yikes, that's a lot of work, Jeff, I'll have to set aside time later this morning to read through this.
Thanks for all the diligent effort in keeping us better informed. Take a mental health break today, you deserve it after this.