A senior adviser to Congressional candidate Stacey Dash wants to clear up a few things about the actress and conservative commentator, starting with this:
“Just because she was in ‘Clueless’ doesn’t mean she is clueless,” Anne Dunsmore said in an interview with TheWrap. “And she doesn’t live in Beverly Hills.”
Where she does live, Dunsmore said, is South Gate, one of several largely Latino cities in California’s predominantly blue-collar 44th Congressional District. The 70-percent Latino district leans Democratic and includes San Pedro, north Long Beach, Compton, Carson, Watts and Carson.
Dunsmore said Dash has told her it feels like home. She grew up in New York City’s South Bronx.
“This is an area of great, great pride,” Dunsmore said.
She didn’t know how long Dash has lived in South Gate, but she moved there well before she began considering a run for office, Dunsmore said.
As an actor, Dash is best known for “Clueless,” Amy Heckerling’s Beverly Hills-based retelling of Jane Austen’s 1815 novel “Emma,” in which Dash played the fashion-forward Dionne Davenport.
In recent years, she has reinvented herself as a conservative commentator who promotes the idea of an America so united that BET and Black History Month would cease to exist. She has also said transgender people’s rights “infringe upon [others’] rights too much.”
Dunsmore is a veteran consultant who has worked on campaigns for such prominent Republicans as President Reagan, both the elder and younger President Bush, and California Govs. Pete Wilson, Arnold Schwarzenegger and George Deukmejian.
Dunsmore also wants to clarify that Dash isn’t officially running yet. What she has done is taken the first steps toward running. Specifically, she pulled papers at the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters and completed Federal Election Committee paperwork.
The district has been represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán since last year. Asked Monday about Dash challenging her for the seat, her campaign declined to mention Dash by name.
“The Congresswoman is in Washington DC today fighting for protection for dreamers, for sensible gun legislation, and against the Trump administration’s disastrous policies. She will be introducing two bills this week–the Strengthening Local Transportation Security Capabilities Act and the Federal Contractor Anti-Harassment Training Act. This weekend the Congresswoman was in San Diego, where she received the endorsement of the California Democratic Party. She will continue to work hard to maintain her widespread support from the residents of the 44th Congressional District,” said Michael Soneff, a spokesman for Barragán’s campaign.