HBRA Endorses Two City Council Candidates for HB City Council
The Huntington Beach Republican Assembly has announced its endorsements for
City Council. Of the city council candidates running, the HBRA has chosen to
back member Thom Doney as well as incumbent councilman Dave Garofalo.
The endorsements are significant for the councilman in that he has never
before received an endorsement from the CRA’s local unit club.
In June during the Republican Party Central Committee elections, which
Garofalo also ran in, Doney received an endorsement, along with other
California Republican Assembly members- but Garofalo did not.
“He (Garofalo) came to clear up some issues and the group as a whole felt
pleased that we could back him for the race,” President Mike Ragsdale stated.
Garofalo, a non-member, received the endorsement in a unanimous decision after
being invited to meet with the club Wednesday September 16th.
The Huntington Beach unit club’s membership includes members from other
conservative and Republican groups such as the Huntington Harbour Republican
Women’s Federated club and the Orange County Young Republicans as well as
membership from the National Rifle Association and the Republican State and
County Central Committees.
No other CRA unit club has the variety of membership and representation as one
would find in the Huntington Beach chapter.
“These endorsements are very important in that it says that the people being
backed have the blessings from individual members who are also part of other
Republican clubs here in Huntington Beach and Orange County,” stated President
Mike Ragsdale.
“It pretty much says that these candidates have the ‘seal of approval’ for
conservative voters here in Huntington Beach....our group isn’t a ‘single-
issue’ group like the Bolsa Chica clubs or the pro-environmental groups,”
Ragsdale said.
Thom Doney also received the endorsement by unanimous decision and had been
backed previously by the CRA in his Central Committee race. Doney, who also
received the Republican Party’s “Volunteer of the Month” award in August, was
happy to get the unanimous endorsement.
CRA rules state that the local city-wide unit clubs oversee their own city
council endorsements, as well as school board races as long as the entire
district falls within the city boundaries.
Roger Ho, a candidate for the Ocean View School Board also recieved a
unanimous endorsement.