Tustin resident Guy Selleck hopes to represent Orange County residents in Sacramento — but not for long.
Selleck, a U.S. Air Force veteran who runs a wholesale building products distribution business, is making a bid for the 37th Senate district. But he says he does not plan to run for multiple terms, if elected, because he does not want to make a career out of politics.
“Watching what’s happened in the last few years has taken me to a place to say whether I want to be a politician or not, I need to get involved,” said Selleck. “But there’s no part of this I want to make a career.”
The 37th Senate district — represented by Democratic state Sen. Dave Min who earlier this year launched a bid for California’s 47th congressional district — encompasses a wide swath of Orange County, including Laguna Niguel, Costa Mesa, Irvine and Orange.
Selleck said his top priority in the legislature would be advocating for more school choice options, meaning giving parents the option to send their children to schools outside of the ones they are automatically zoned into based on where they live.
He supports education vouchers, which are state-funded scholarships that can be used to subsidize a student’s private or religious school tuition. California does not offer such vouchers, and an effort to establish a fund for students who opt out of attending public schools was defeated in the legislature earlier this year.
“Parental rights for me is a big deal,” Selleck, 57, said. “The solution is charter schools and vouchers. You have to give competition to public schools and the unions.”
Originally from rural Indiana, Selleck said he moved to California in 1987 to manage a business, first settling in the Sacramento area. He then moved down to Southern California nine years ago, and in 2019, started his wholesale business BuildersMax, headquartered in Anaheim.
Selleck, who said his business is primarily in the Inland Empire, serves on the Board of Directors for the Lake Elsinore Valley Chamber of Commerce.
As a business owner, public safety is another priority, Selleck said.
“Crime and theft cause insecurity, inflation and problems for families and businesses,” he said. “People walk in and just start stealing off the shelves. I never thought I’d see this in my lifetime.”
High-end department stores and residences in Orange County this summer were hit with flash mob-style thefts and burglaries. In August, an estimated $100,000 worth of designer handbags were stolen during a mob theft from a Gucci store in Costa Mesa’s South Coast Plaza. That incident followed a string of similar robberies in July when representatives of Kay’s Jewelers in Irvine Spectrum lost over $55,000 worth of merchandise, and Jewels By Alan in the Irvine Park Place shopping center told police that it lost more than $1 million worth of merchandise during separate mob-style thefts at its stores.
Homelessness is another priority he wants to tackle in Sacramento, Selleck said. He sees it more as a mental health issue, rather than a housing issue.
“I’ve interacted with a lot of homeless people, and every time I come across someone, it’s mental health and drug addiction for the most part,” Selleck said. “We need more mental health resources. Certainly, we need to start involuntarily admitting people to mental health facilities because it’s not ok to have people on the street.”
“We round up dogs and take them to the Humane Society, but we won’t help people on the street,” he said. “That’s an issue.”
So far, Selleck will be up against Irvine resident Alex Mohajer, Santa Ana College professor Ali Kowsari, Villa Park Councilmember Crystal Miles, former Irvine Councilmember Anthony Kuo and former Assemblymember Steven Choi in the primary. Sen. Josh Newman, D-Fullerton, who was drawn into SD-37 during the redistricting process, is also vying for the seat.
Newman and Mohajer are the only Democratic candidates while Selleck, Kowsari, Miles, Kuo and Choi are running as Republicans.
Source: Orange County Register
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