from Sac today - "Mimi's run"

10/11/07

Looking ahead to June,
where Mimi Walters is facing a well-funded challenger in her run for state Senate.

"Harry Sidhu said the major event that pushed him to the Republican Party came in 1974,
when he was 17 years old and making $2.65 an hour cleaning a Holiday Inn.
About a third of his first meager paycheck went to taxes,
cementing the matter for the lifelong conservative.
Many other Indians have gone through similar experiences, he said.

"When they arrive in this country, they're Democrats," said Sidhu,
who came to the United States from India.

But over time, Sidhu says, many hardworking Indians migrate toward the GOP.
Now Sidhu is tapping into this community. An Anaheim city councilman for the last four years,
Sidhu is challenging Assemblywoman Mimi Walters, R-Laguna, for the 33rd Senate District seat next June.
The seat is currently occupied by none other than Senate Republican leader Dick Ackerman, R-Fullerton,
who is scheduled to be termed out next year, pending the results of the term-limits change on the ballot. The district is considered safely Republican