Steve Rocco is an American politician, former elected board member of the Orange Unified School District in Orange, California, a perennial candidate for public offices, and a former public-access television cable TV personality. Rocco gained international attention by winning an upset victory to his board seat in 2004 with absolutely no campaigning and for being considered an eccentric.
Rocco previously ran for mayor of Santa Ana but finished third out of three candidates.
In 2004, Rocco was elected to Orange Unified School District despite making no public appearances or comments about his candidacy. Although some were not sure if he would even show up to the board meetings, he did so, and with a theatricality whereby he made speeches about conspiracy theories involving charter schools, his father's death, and a group of politicians and other leaders he calls The Partnership, which he claimed was trying to control the United States and kill Rocco for speaking out against them. Soon, an attempt to recall Rocco was established but failed to garner enough signatures to be put on the ballot. The board did vote to censure Rocco, to which Rocco responded by suing the board, but he lost the case in court.
In 2008, Rocco filed to run against incumbent Carlos Bustamante for Santa Ana City Council. Rocco won 18% of the vote, coming in third out of four candidates. In September of that year, he was arrested for stealing a bottle of ketchup from the cafeteria of Chapman University.
In 2014, Rocco ran for Orange County Clerk-Recorder. He ran for Clerk-Recorder again in 2022.
Life before politics
Not much is known about Rocco's personal life. According to his voter registration he was born in Italy and was 53 years old in 2004. He does not have any children. Neighbors claim that he would often show up to Santa Ana swap meets, or even hold his own garage sales, to sell records that were stamped as property of the public library, and would yell "No bargains!", "Don't touch!", and "I'm watching you!" as people tried to purchase the records. It is known that on July 20, 1980, Rocco was convicted of shoplifting several rolls of film and a sausage from a local grocery store. In response to that, Rocco distributed a series of pamphlets titled Hey Man, where he interviews himself to discuss a conspiracy theory involving Eastman Kodak, Albertsons Inc., and SmokeCraft Sausage. According to a neighbor, Rocco lived in his parents' house at Santa Ana, California, for at least 20 years. Several years before 2004, Rocco's parents became bedridden due to sickness. He was also known for leaving his home at nine every morning on his bicycle.
One of the most notable sources of information about Rocco came from his 1992 autobiography, titled ROCCO Behind the Orange Curtain, published by Mountain Sun Productions, where he talks about the "secret chronicles and public-record accounts of corruption, murder and scandal of corporate and political California, written by America's premier legal technician." In the book Rocco claimed that he had purchased the film and sausage on a previous visit to the store, and happened to have the film and sausage, but no receipt, with him when he went back to the store. In the book, Rocco discussed his conspiracy theory involving Eastman Kodak, Albertsons Inc., and SmokeCraft Sausage, and claimed that the son of an Albertsons executive is the "largest drug dealer in the West", and that the company participates in murder. Steve Rocco goes on to blame Albertsons for hiring a man to steal his bicycle and being behind a 1980 arrest for stealing records from a local library, which Rocco says was dismissed by a judge because of an illegal search. According to Rocco's conspiracy theory, powerful companies and politicians are also responsible for his loss of work as a substitute teacher and telephone operator.
2000 Santa Ana mayoral campaign
Rocco first entered politics by running for mayor of Santa Ana, California in 2000. Although Rocco declined to share personal information or discuss his campaign, he showed up at a candidate forum wearing camouflage and sunglasses. Rocco won 12% of the vote, finishing third out of three candidates.