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Parra won't endorse senator's mom

Assemblywoman may support Republican

BY JAMES GELUSO, Californian staff writer
e-mail: jgeluso@bakersfield.com | Thursday, Feb 21 2008 10:25 PM

Last Updated: Thursday, Feb 21 2008 10:27 PM

Party loyalty can't beat a family feud.

Retiring Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, would rather support a Republican than a Democrat named Florez.

That works well for Danny Gilmore, who is running as a Republican for Parra's 30th District Assembly seat. His most likely opponent is Fran Florez, a Shafter city councilwoman and mother of state Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter.

Gilmore challenged Parra in 2006, getting 48 percent of the vote and winning each county except Kern. "It was a brutal race," Gilmore said. "I said that night I would never run for office again."

But other people convinced him to reconsider, so he decided he would run for the seat -- if Parra didn't. When she announced in early February that she is retiring from politics, Gilmore immediately got on the phone to raise money for his campaign.

Parra told the Fresno Bee that she would consider voting for Gilmore, and she won't endorse Florez.

"I find it very interesting," Gilmore said of Parra's almost-endorsement. "I'm honored that she thinks I would make a great representative for the district."

Parra declined to speak to The Californian, but her chief of staff said she isn't endorsing anyone yet.

Fran Florez said Parra is directing her move at the wrong target.

"I think she has a problem with Dean," she said.

Dean Florez said Parra's move is a slap in the face to local Democrats.

"I thought she was going to support the very people who have kept her in office," he said. "I think it shows, you know, a lack of maturity, political maturity."

Florez said Parra is continuing a feud that has long ceased in his mind. But she can't get over that he supported Michael Rubio's successful run to unseat her father, then-Kern County Supervisor Pete Parra, in 2004.

The two sides were feuding long before, though, and both sides have offended each other.

The 30th District includes parts of east Bakersfield, Lamont, Arvin, Shafter and northern Kern County, plus Hanford and Coalinga. Most of the district also is represented by Dean Florez in the state Senate.