In politics, memories are short.

So here’s a walk through memory lane.

Back in 2018, Dave Min squared off against fellow Democrats Katie Porter and Brian Forde in the 45th congressional district, then represented by Republican Rep. Mimi Walters.

At the time, Min was the favorite of the California Democratic Party and believed he was the rightful choice to be a member of Congress because of his experience working under Sen. Chuck Schumer and at the Center for American Progress.

So, Min went on the attack against his fellow Democrats in a surprisingly negative campaign, including denouncing Katie Porter as the preferred candidate of “Washington Insiders” in a television ad.

In one mailer, headlined “What Katie Porter says is not what she does,” Min attacked Katie Porter for misrepresenting herself as a consumer protection attorney, saying, “Porter is NOT a licensed attorney in California, has NOT passed the California bar, and is not allowed to represent clients in the state.”

This was a line of attack Min emphasized in a television ad attacking Porter for not having a California license or passing the bar, and attacking Brian Forde for once having been a Republican (expect this line of attack from Min now that he’s running against Harley Rouda).

Min’s campaign also highlighted a Katie Porter ad in which she allegedly claimed, “I won $18 billion for homeowners and helped thousands of families keep their homes.” Min’s campaign countered, “Porter was a monitor for California’s share of the national mortgage foreclosure settlement. 49 state attorneys general negotiated that agreement. Not Katie Porter.”

Porter responded in a statement denouncing Min’s attacks on her as “sexist.”

Yikes.

Then consider this recent CalMatters summary of the race between the two, “The two Harvard-educated law professors battled it out for the Orange County congressional seat in a bruising 2018 primary that included Porter campaign staffers accusing Min of ‘intimidation,’ insinuations that Porter’s political opponents were using her past domestic abuse against her, and attack ads the likes of which are rarely seen in intraparty contests.”

Yikes.

“These tactics make Dems look like GOP thugs,” political consultant Douglas Herman said of Min’s “intimidation” of female Porter staffers.

Yikes.

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I have trouble imagining why Katie Porter would endorse Dave Min to succeed her four years later. It’s not like Dave Min has been some courageous progressive fighter in the California Senate. He’s been anything but.

As I previously wrote, Dave Min is just a “tool of the California prison guard union.” He became a state senator in 2020 with nearly $1 million of their help, and in 2021 voted to give hundreds of millions of dollars to the prison guard union as a political favor, despite the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office warning for years that there was “no evident justification” for such giveaways. He’s also either voted against or abstained on crucial criminal justice and police reform efforts.

That’s politics for you, I guess.

Orange County Democrats can do better than Dave Min. Anyone who isn’t on the take, or profoundly vacuous, can be honest about that.

Sal Rodriguez can be reached at [email protected]