If I'm Jimmy Pham, and I'm running for State Senate, I'm hammering Tony Strickland on one thing. Over. And over. And over again.
The Huntington Beach city councilman is against affordable housing mandates ... while living in affordable housing.
Tony Strickland is a member of the Huntington Beach City Council who is running for California’s 36th State Senate seat. There is a special election being held today (Monday)1, and the two (of four) candidates with the highest vote totals will square off in a general election on April 29. Strickland is a lock to be one of the finalists. His prime opponent will almost certainly be Democrat Jimmy Pham, an attorney and chair of the Westminster Traffic Commission.
Were this election a boxing match, it would be, oh, Sugar Ray Leonard (Strickland) v. Donny Lalonde (Pham). Like, if you study all the moves, and analyze the data, Strickland is the likely winner. Registered voters lean conservative (According to the San Clemente Times, Republicans make up 37.11 percent of registered voters, while Democrats make up 33.93 percent). Strickland has been involved in local politics since his 20s. He has plenty of friends in high-powered GOP circles, and will probably kick Pham’s ass when it comes to fundraising.
That being said …
In their 1988 fight, the underdog Lalonde became just the second man to ever knock Leonard down.
Which is to say, crazy shit happens if you take a shot.
If I’m Jimmy Pham, or I’m Jimmy Pham’s campaign manager, I’m running ad after ad after ad after ad and giving speech after speech after speech on one thing—and one thing only. And it’s this: Hypocrisy.
Good old-fashioned hypocrisy.
As we speak, Tony Strickland and his wife Carla live in a four-bedroom 1,800 square-foot Huntington Beach condominium on Breezy Lane in the snazzy (and gated) Cape Ann community, which—according to the Orange County Register— “was built for those who qualify to purchase units based on family income limits.”
And Strickland—again, to quote the Register—“led the charge against a (State of California)) lawsuit accusing the city of ignoring California’s affordable housing mandates.” This is from Scott Schwebke’s article …
To break it down into simpler terms: One of Tony Strickland’s two homes (he also owns a house in Moorpark in Ventura County) is in an affordable housing community. He, however, is against affordable housing mandates. Unless, cough, it involves his affordable housing. In that case it’s OK, Because, cough, um … eh … argh … um.
Strickland justified himself to the Register by stringing together a bunch of words that make little sense. He’s wrong. He surely knows he’s wrong. There’s actually zero argument for his crap behavior. But Tony Strickland exists in a time period when local media outlets have faded to dust, and political hackery like this is rarely called out. So he can try and skate by and hope nobody notices.
Not for nothing, Strickland is also one of the self-anointed “Fab 4” Huntington Beach wackadoo council members who recently approved the MAGA library plaque that led to Chris Kluwe’s arrest. He’s the proud (as he should be) son of an Army veteran who has never uttered a peep about Donald Trump referring to soldiers as “suckers” and “losers” or Trump’s remarks about POWs. Because, hey, that would take conviction.
Ultimately, though, tying Strickland to Trump probably won’t win an election for Pham. What can, however, is making clear that the dude who wants your vote won’t hesitate to take advantage of the system for his own gain.
Tony Strickland is a hypocrite.
Hammer him on it.2
Republican Janet Nguyen left the gig in December after taking over as an Orange County Supervisor.
Also, Strickland only relocated to Huntington Beach for, it seems, political convenience.