Drunk On Politics

CRA Sgt Speaks Out – A View From Ground Zero at the CRA Convention

Sgt. York — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:03:24 +0000

Imagine with all the controversy of a CRA Convention and the allegations of endorsement fraud and Consultant Manipulation – and you’re the Sgt. at Arms.

This meant I was in charge of the election committee and the overall order of the convention. It was jammed with speakers, drama and delegates we’d never see at a Convention again…

Oh, and I managed to piss off three major statewide campaigns while I was at it…

Makes you want to read about the CRA Sgt Speaking Out, doesn’t it?

“Controversy” Over CRA Endorsement of Van Tran Clarified

Blackford Oakes — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 08:20:01 +0000

The California Republican Assembly (CRA) has earned the reputation of being the premiere grassroots conservative apparatus of the California Republican Party. As an officially sanctioned organization by the Republican Party the CRA endorsement is something highly sought after, especially in solid conservative seats. Endorsement meetings often pit two or three candidates against each other to try to convince delegates who deserves their votes for an endorsement. If no candidate receives an endorsement after round one, they continue into two more rounds of voting, often creating vote whipping exercises in between.

Even in more difficult seats for a Republican candidate the CRA endorsement is important, and highly sought after. Thus was the case two weeks ago when Assemblyman Van Tran won the CRA endorsement in Orange County, causing his GOP opponent to cry foul. However CRA Statewide President Ken Mettler released this statement today to assert the legitimacy of the CRA endorsement of Van Tran in his race against Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez:

VAN TRAN HAS EARNED THE CRA ENDORSEMENT

Candidates that participate in a CRA Endorsing Convention often ask for an appeal based on procedural matters, but after an extensive review, it is clear that Van Tran won the CRA endorsement for the Republican nomination in the 47th Congressional District on February 20th, 2010, in Costa Mesa, CA, by a 2 to 1 margin under every possible scenario.

JUST THE FACTS:

1. The standing vote required Mr. Tran to have at least 16 votes – he had 17.

2. If for some reason the vote from one of the Stanton CRA Unit delegates, Paul Hegyi, could be disqualified, the 2/3 threshold would have been 15 votes and Mr. Tran would
have still won the endorsement with 16 votes.

3. Lastly, even IF the Stanton unit would have not been permitted to vote, Mr. Tran still would have won the endorsement as the 2/3 threshold would have been 13
votes. Mr. Tran received 13 votes from among the 4 remaining Units voting, as there were only 4 votes from Stanton to begin with.

Anyway you look at this race, Mr. Tran rightfully and honestly won the CRA endorsement over Quang Pham, the other Republican candidate.

“Assemblyman Van Tran reflects our conservative Republican values and is the best man to represent the 47th Congressional District. We need Van Tran in Congress and the CRA is proud to give him our endorsement,” stated Ken Mettler, CRA President.“

CA GOP Voters Deserve To See A Debate

Blackford Oakes — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 06:35:29 +0000

CA GOP Voters Deserve To See A Debate

For the past week I have been trying to think of a reasonable defense for a candidate for any office to refuse to appear in a debate or at least a campaign forum. If you’ve frequented the Flash Report (www.flashreport.org) you may have read that by a 10-1 margin members of the California Republican Party want to see a debate for key statewide races at the convention next month. It seems however, that two of the major candidates are responsible for holding these debates up.

The two candidates who are bending over backwards to avoid a debate and actively trying to shut down an effort to organize a debate? Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina. Apparently the dynamic duo who have been MIA at the polls until recently apparently have no eager desire to join in another cherished part of the American democracy…discussing and comparing ideas with your opponents!

Steve Poizner responded to the “debate or not debate” question by offering t surrender his slated speaking appearance at the CRP Convention to make room for a debate with Whitman. To up the ante a little more the Poizner Campaign sent out an email today uging voters to sign a petition to have a debate at the CRP Convention. You can find the petition here:

http://stevepoizner.com/debate-petition/?tr=y&auid=5959384

From the looks of it Whitman has not offered much of an explanation other than she doesn’t want to debate.

Similarly the other diva making their political debut, Carly Fiorina is dancing around the same issue. Fiorina however, is a multi-talented debate dodger. Everyone’s favorite failed CEO is not only dodging the CRP debate, she is now refusing to attend a debate that was being organized by Chapman University. Clearly the organizers of the Orange County debate aren’t too please with Ms. Fiorina either, this scuffle was chronicled in today’s OC Register Total Buzz Blog:

http://totalbuzz.freedomblogging.com/2010/02/18/is-fiorina-ducking-o-c-debate/30437/

If Whitman and Fiorina are serious about representing California they should not treat interest voters as subjects. The spirit of representative democracy finds its soul in an open disscussion of ideas by those who hold and seek power. Carly and Meg should repect this tradition. Their refusal to debate sadly is not surprising, but what should we expect from candidates who have just recently figured out how to vote, only to ask for ours a few years later?

BREAKING: Assembly Minority Leader to Republicans – Confirm Abel Maldonado or Else!

Sgt. York — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 03:02:52 +0000

This is fresh from a caucus meeting this afternoon – and about two hours old.

Read here for more

Martin Garrick is in his first day as leader and he takes a faceplant right out of the gate. No wonder the Tea Party out polls the Republican Party…

Red County Blog’s Financial Compromise / Credibility Compromise

Sgt. York — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 04:10:09 +0000

If you’re a Republican – here’s a list of don’t do’s:

1. Parade around as a Conservative while nailing a lobbyist (Duvall, et al)

2. Bloviate on your blog about ethics while getting paid off by a campaign (Chip Hanlon / Matt Cunningham)

3. Ask people to put fake posts up on your behalf (Hanlon)

4. Delete posts of contributors on behalf of people you’re supporting (Cunningham)

When emailed about his hypocricy – Hanlon’s response was “you can quote me here: “Yawn”.”

That’s Red County – folks, the home of Bush-McCain-Whitman squishes…

Want the details – read my latest post on www.rightondaily.com

The CA GOP Gubernatorial Race Gets Heated and A Demon Sheep Appears in the Senate Race

Blackford Oakes — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 06:22:01 +0000

The CA GOP Gubernatorial Race Gets Heated and A Demon Sheep Appears in the Senate Race

If you’re entertained by politics in California, then you should have your popcorn ready watching a few statewide races on the GOP side this past week. Gubernatorial hopeful Steve Poizner lopped the first grenade of the week by holding a press conference accusing Meg Whitman of unethical, and even illegal campaign tactics. The accusation stems from an email that was sent by a Whitman campaign official Mike Murphy directly to the Poizner campaign. In the email Whitman’s camp urges Poizner to drop out of the race to preserve political capital that would be better spent on the US Senate in 2012. The email also pretty blatantly vows that Meg will drop $40 million in negative expenditures against Poizner in the primary should he stay in the race. During the press conference Poizner indicated that he was filing a complaint with the FBI, US Attorney and California State Attorney General’s Office. Of course the irony with this complaint being filed with the AG’s office brings the 3rd major candidate, Jerry Brown, into the mess as well.

Not to be outdone entertaining us political spectators, while the Poizner was conducting his press conference, mailmen around the state were delivering complimentary signed copies of Whitman’s new book “The Power of Many” to California Republican Party members. The reason Meg’s campaign is trying to get in the good graces of the CA GOP faithful may be because of the news on Tuesday that she wouldn’t be participating in a debate with Poizner at the coming CA GOP State Convention in March. For those CA GOP members who didn’t appreciate the gesture from Meg, there is now a Facebook group for them to consider should desire to cash in on Meg’s gift:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=451343800471

And then there was the Demon Sheep…

This disturbing image that would make Freddie Krueger blush is brought to you by the Carly Fiorina campaign. In her new ad she criticizes Tom Campbell for being a “F.C.I.N.O” (pronunciation still unknown). The ad has generated a huge internet buzz, not for its substantive content, but for the ridiculous imagery. In fact, late last night #DemonSheep became a trending topic on Twitter. A conservative activist reportedly from North Carolina has started a twitter profile for the Demon Sheep (http://twitter.com/demonsheep) and had over 1,200 followers in under 24 hours. The updates are actually quite hilarious. In fact US Senate GOP rival Assemblyman Chuck DeVore’s campaign has already capitalized on this buzz by vowing to eradicate Demon Sheep from our political discourse and has set up http://www.demonsheep.org to advance that objective.

This ad is incredibly embarrassing for Carly’s campaign despite the what her campaign is proclaiming. Fiorina campaign spokeswoman Julie Soderlund acknowledged the avalanche of attention the ad has received when the National Review quoted her today: “It has taken on a life of its own. We produced it with the intent of breaking through the clutter, but it has exceeded our expectations. It seems to be everywhere online. Some people call it the best ad ever, some say it is the worst, but everyone is talking about it.” Really Julie? Some are saying the best ad ever? Apparently denial isn’t just a river in Egypt in Fiorina world. Successful political ads usually garner attention and drive a message home, all the attention surrounding this ad has been focused almost exclusively on the bizarre “Demon Sheep.” Furthermore, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is urging the Fiorina Campaign to make more video “preferably featuring farm animals.” At least the Fiorina creative team received a vote of confidence from the enemy.

For those who have not seen the now famous ad, here it is: (Warning characters in this video may cause nightmares and is not suitable for children)

Demon Sheep

Supervisor Benoit linked to indicted donor Holgate

The Pen Is Mightier — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 08:00:04 +0000

There’s a very suspicious tie Supervisor Benoit has with developer Stephen Holgate, who along with four of the five San Jacinto city council members, are facing charges including vote buying, bribery and campaign kickbacks.

In doing research I found that Inside Riverside has done some of the investigating for me, and has spelled out some of the suspicious ties. The blog, whose author remains anonymous found a report in The Californian, reporting that:

John Benoit at first denied receiving a campaign contribution from one of the donors, Accurate Business Services, that was reimbursed by Steve Holgate for contributions to indicted San Jacinto City Councilman Jim Ayres when Ayres ran for the State Assembly.

According to The Californian:

“After initially saying he did not receive a contribution from a key figure in the San Jacinto campaign money-laundering case, Sen. John Benoit, R-Palm Desert, acknowledged Wednesday that a Temecula woman gave money to his 2008 state Senate campaign through her bookkeeping business.”

The blog explains how Holgate spent over $100,000 last year to help get John Benoit elected to the State Senate:

While state contribution limits prevent a single donor from giving more than $3600 to a candidate for the legislature, there are ways around the law.

One is the illegal way of laundering money to candidate through other donors as it appears Holgate did in 2006 for Jim Ayres’ Assembly race. The alleged money laundering scheme between Jim Ayres and Steve Holgate is at the heart of District Attorney Rod Pacheco’s corruption case against them, three other San Jacinto City Councilmembers, a San Jacinto School Board Members, and three other local businessmen.

The other way is a legal way where a major donor can contribute money to another campaign committee separate and apart from the official campaign. These are called Independent Expenditure Committees. The First Amendment prohibits the State from placing contribution or spending limits on these types of campaign committees. However, these committees are prohibited from coordinating their activities with the candidates they are supporting.

Last year Steve Holgate bypassed state contribution limits and provided an additional $100,000 of support to John Benoit’s State Senate campaign by giving the money to a front group called “The Conservative Leaders of America.”

Conservative Leaders of America then paid the Sacramento-based Republican political consulting firm of Gilliard, Blanning,Wysocki and Associates $95,222 to campaign for John Benoit and against his opponent, Republican businessman Russ Bogh.

The Riverside DA’s office refuses to comment on whether Benoit has been investigated, or has been cleared.

Red County Blog Founder Chip Hanlon Revealed to be a Fraud / Democrat Donor

Sgt. York — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 05:45:58 +0000

Sgt. York here – actually, I am blogging under my given name Aaron F. Park now. Amazing how time flies – about seven weeks ago I was ejected from Red County… now called the Meg County blog system for (gasp) being a paid consultant working on behalf of Steve Poizner.

Well – guess what? Chip Hanlon’s other job – greenfaucet.com was paid $20,000 for “Information Technology and Email.” by the Whitman for Governor Campaign – Whitman was busy writing checks by the way, as a few firms were paid between $20K and 40K for the same stuff.

For all the self-righteous bloviations of Mr’s Hanlon and Cunningham about the integrity of their blog – they are revealed t0 be paid whores also guilty of hypocricy. At least this blogger was honest about it when confronted. (More on that, soon)

Stop by my new blog and check out the Democrats Chip Hanlon Donated To… he is the consumate businessman.

Meg County – where principle goes to die.

Keep America Safe Produces New Ad

Brian Thomas — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 06:56:41 +0000

Liz Cheney’s group, Keep America Safe, has already come out with a ad attacking Obama’s State of the Union Address. Politico is reporting that the ad will be running on Fox News and MSNBC.

Watch the ad below:

Senator Harman Leads All Challengers in California Attorney General Race

Brian Thomas — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:50:41 +0000

This press release from Senator Harman’s campaign just hit my inbox.

It is interesting to note how far Steve Cooley’s numbers drop once the public is informed that he is opposed to California’s popular three strikes legislation.

Press Release below:

Harman Leads Cooley by 6 Points in Latest

Attorney General Poll

FIRST BALLOT

California Senator Tom Harman 21.3%

District Attorney Steve Cooley 15.1%

Republican Senator and Attorney General candidate Tom Harman leads Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley 21.3% to 15.1% in a new statewide poll of Republican likely voters conducted last week. “Basically, Steve Cooley is unknown outside of Los Angeles County, L.A. is only 19% of the Republican vote, and Mr. Cooley is by no means universally loved there,” said Harman strategist Wayne Johnson.

The poll results prompted Johnson to strongly re-affirm Harman’s commitment to win the Republican nomination for Attorney General. “I find it disingenuous that the rumor mill of an opponent who is trailing in fundraising, trailing in endorsements and trailing in the polls would suggest that the frontrunner should consider leaving the race,” said Johnson. “These numbers should put to rest any notion that Tom Harman is not only the frontrunner, but that he is in this race to stay. He will be the nominee.” In the same internal poll, Harman led Chapman law school dean John Eastman, another rumored candidate, by a margin of 27.9% to 11.7%.

FIRST BALLOT

California Senator Tom Harman 27.9%

Law School Dean John Eastman 11.7%

“We’re very confident that Tom Harman will be the Republican nominee and that he will be the best match-up, by far, against any of the potential Democrat nominees,” added Johnson. “California Republicans, particularly primary voters, are looking for a candidate who will defend the Three-Strikes-and-You’re-Out initiative to keep repeat felons off the streets. Tom Harman is that candidate.”

Harman has been endorsed by Three Strikes proponent Mike Reynolds. Reynolds has recently criticized Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley as “the most prominent opponent of California’s ‘Three Strikes and You’re Out’ law.”

“In 2006, Steve Cooley teamed up with pro-prisoner rights Democratic Senator Gloria Romero to promote legislation that would have devastated ‘Three Strikes,’” Reynolds reminded voters. “Serious violent criminals would be released and put back on the streets only to commit more crime. In fact, under his [Cooley’s] plan over 2,400 convicted felons would have been put back into our neighborhoods.”

When voters are informed that Cooley has been a leading opponent of Three Strikes, Cooley loses to Harman by a margin of 57.6% to 17.1%.

SECOND BALLOT

California Senator Tom Harman 57.6%

District Attorney Steve Cooley 17.1%

The statewide survey of 500 likely California Republican voters was conducted by Val Smith, PhD. Field dates were January 13-15. Margin of error +/- 4.4%.

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