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Wednesday, October 29, 2008.  8pm.  Tom McClintock addresses a group of potential voters at the McBean Park Pavilion in Lincoln, CA

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Over four hundred people stood in line outside at a fundraiser put on by the Lincoln Police Auxiliary and Lions Club, to donate canned goods to enter this Halloween Haunted House, also at the Lincoln McBean Park Pavilion last night, Oct 29, 2008, adjacent to the building McClintock was in.

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“Vell- come to my House of Economic Horrors” .  That’s McClintock campaign spokesperson Bill George guarding the door making sure the Democrats and other Subversives, like Independents and other people with notepads, don’t get in.  It worked, George.  There were 18 people.  At least 5 of them were campaign staff.  

Note the Igor force field effect.  He’s not in the viewfinder but within a few yards so the picture blurred again.

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Another view of the Secret Republican Political Meet Tom McClintock in Lincoln event. Peering thru the camelia bushes outside the building

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This is Team McClintock’s sentry standing in front of the local Lincoln Massage Parlor 2.5 hours before the Lincoln McClintock event that evening. It is across the street from the McBean Pavilion.  He whipped out that cell phone when I pulled into the parking lot.  I think it’s time to mention that the former Lincoln Planning and Zoning commissioner during the time Lincoln was approving every single proposed commercial development (during the early 2000’s, when Kevin Ring, Doolittle’s ex legislative aide,  was a lobbyist for the city )  was eventually  busted on prostitution charges and owned another massage parlor in town.   While we’re at it,  McClintock voted against regulating massage parlors while in the State Senate.  

It just writes itself, sometimes.   I can’t make this stuff up.   More pics to come.

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Roseville,  Maidu Community Center, 6:30 pm, Wednesday Oct 29 2008.  McClintock addressing potential Republican voters at his first event that evening. View from outside the room, looking  through the window.  McClintock is to the far left, light grey hair, suit, standing facing audience.  Doesn’t look too crowded in there, does it ?  Note door sentries.

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Roseville, Maidu Community Center, Wednesday Oct 29, 2008.  It is 7:10 pm.  They just had about 35 people total dribble out of the room, including the staff and others working as Republicans. The yoga class next door had more people.   McClintock is supposed to be in downtown Lincoln at 7:30 pm.   Is this going to happen ?  Not unless he teleports.  

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This is the fun part.  Meanwhile, back in Lincoln, at the main road into town from the south, there’s some serious Brown support going on !   A demonstration with at least 50 to 60 people is showing their public support for the local candidate.

McClintock is going to have to drive past this to get to his next event in Lincoln.  ( I was there very early and as it ended, but left to see what was going on in Roseville, so these are not my pictures )  

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Charlie Brown supporters waiting along the highway, Lincoln, evening of Oct 29,2008, during commuting hours, ready to give Travelin’ Tom McClintock that Big Lincoln Hospitality Welcome he deserves !

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This is one of the first people that was out there that evening. Veterans for Brown.  

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Young people for Brown.  

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Older people (“seasoned and sage” )  for Brown.

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10.29   Lincoln 65 + FR road 2



Working people for Brown  

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Ladies and Gentlemen of Lincoln for Brown

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Jumpin’ for Joy for Brown !

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And once McClintock and his crew got past that, they still had to go thru this .

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The families waiting in line to donate food to the Lions Club, and visit the Haunted Castle House in Lincoln, next to the McBean Pavilion building, Oct 29, 2008.  

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Happy Halloween from Lincoln, CA.  The Great Pumpkin has Arrived, Charlie Brown.  

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McClintock’s bloggers are making bizarre claims about having 3 thousand donors making over $300,000 in donations over the last 10 days-  this is bloviating nonsense, his campaign is still in debt, but  getting big money from outside the district via independent expenditures.  And you should see where some of the dough is coming from, you’d be shocked.  Well, maybe not, after all, it’s McClintock, running the Doolittle playbook.  Remember one of those Indian tribes involved in the Abramoff scandal ?  Remember some companies that Doolittle did earmarks for, then they contributed to his legal defense fund?   Remember how McClintock makes this stupid dig all the time, about how we can’t send somebody to Congress who would implement the same policies as Herbert Hoover ? So what does he do?  He takes a big donation off of a old Reaganite who works for the Herbert Hoover Institute.   Link to McClintock’s FEC filings, the F6 ‘s are the larger last minute filings which have to be reported within 48 hours,  and the F3 ‘s are the quarterly, primary or general filings (covers a longer period of time)   http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-b…

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For just one example, on the latest McClintock F6 filing,

http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-b…    there is a 10/27/2008 donation to McClintock of $2000 from the HERGER PAC, which is Congressperson Wally Herger’s (R, CA- 02) slush fund.  A look at the latest filing of the HERGER PAC show that they just received money from the Credit Suisse Securities PAC,  a  Swiss Investment Bank. From Opensecrets:    http://www.opensecrets.org/pac…

Here’s a list of the individual large donors for Credit Suisse Securities. Note all the New York addresses.  http://www.opensecrets.org/pac…

and from Wellpoint WELLPAC in Indiana.  (Wellpoint was based in THOUSAND OAKS CA, which McClintock uses as his current legal residence for collecting per diems from the state of CA-  what a coincidence )

This is an HMO health insurance PAC. From Opensecrets:   http://www.opensecrets.org/pac…

Now they’re in Indiana. Same business. http://www.opensecrets.org/pac…

Check the donors to this PAC, they’re the executives of this HMO administrator.

http://www.opensecrets.org/pac…

Foreign investment banks based in NYC and HMO’s are giving money to McClintock via Bush enabling Republican Wally Herger.  You’ll never hear McClintock bragging on this while he’s busy playing the “family values” card. He attempts to go to DC not to change anything but to preserve the Republican status quo of NO regulations and more tax cuts.   And this is one of the more pedestrian donations.   Don’t forget Jeff Morris is running against Herger in CA- 02.  

So much for all of McClintock’s alleged “local support.”  Here’s the pictures. Here’s the FEC filings.  Undeniable.  The polls are the 3rd key.  Charlie Brown has the support of the voters.  McClintock just has a PR consultant.

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Now let’s not let all the outside the district forces like ex- Congressman Richard Pombo, sworn enemy of the Endangered Species Act,  and his PAC/West Communications, a lobbyist group dedicated to the Drill Baby Drill mantra in the Artic National Refuge, buy out our congressional district.   Let’s keep Charlie Brown on the airwaves for the last 5 days.  

Charlie Brown for Congress  site  http://www.charliebrownforcong…

Actblue donation link

http://www.actblue.com/page/or…

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This year,  We are holding Charlie’s Football

Gentle Readers, volunteers, and fans of one of the most beautiful districts in the nation, CA- 04, this one’s for you.  You walked, you talked, you called, you organized, you typed, you wrote, you attended, you spoke, you applauded,  you got up in the morning and you did it all again. And again.

You saw what was wrong, you wanted to make it right, and that meant you had to pick it up.  You couldn’t let the the Charlie Brown down. And that meant volunteering.  It makes a difference.  (more over the fold)

He doesn’t look too happy, does he ?  McClintock’s 3rd Quarter fling from Oct 15 shows his campaign is broke and in debt.    Charlie Brown (D) and Tom McClintock(R, seated)  in Oroville on Oct 2, 2008.  

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Our District:

In 2006, the White House threw a life preserver to the last Republican in Congress who could have implicated George Bush in the Jack Abramoff scandal.  

In 2008, they tried to run a Fox Faux News and White House and Move America Forward guy in the Republican Primary, and the Republicans said no.

They tried to run an old retread from another district, who helped impeach Clinton, and the Republicans said no.  They tried running an ex state senator with enough baggage to fill a 18 wheeler, and the Republicans said no.  They tried running a Libertarian Ron Paulian Republican named Terbolizard, and the Republicans said no. Then they brought in the Republican Icon from a district 400 miles away in Southern California, who was terming out of state office.  And the Republicans said…..  yes.  We’ll take that one.  

Fox News and MAF,  Literally Looking Over His Shoulder, March 2008, Auburn

Because these fools don’t deserve any better.    

And a few of you worried, but you don’t win by worrying. You just get up, and you get ready, and you go out there, and you do it again, because all of you know somebody who is in a world of hurt right now, and these people are depending on us.  People who are hungry. And can’t afford to buy food. People who were downsized. People who lost their jobs. People who lost their houses. Or their rental place.  People who are sick.  People who can’t afford medicine. People who served their country overseas, but they got hurt.  People who are wondering what happens next.

So you looked that Republican Icon in the eye, and you said NOT THIS TIME. NOT HERE. NOT NOW.  ENOUGH.  We need a local Representative. We have to do this.  We can’t rely on the pundits or the experts.  We have a huge task ahead of us.

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Volunteers for Charlie Brown, April 26 Day of Action

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And now we’re in that home stretch.  Today is October 16.   We have 19 days to get this done.

And we cannot get complacent.   You saw the title.  Tom McClintock, the Republican Icon, is broke. He has more debt than cash on hand.    http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-b…  

By my rough estimate, only about 5% of his itemized individual donations come from inside the district on this latest FEC filing.  Schedule of upcoming events on his webpage today. None.    http://www.tommcclintock.com/e…

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 Will work for per Diem.

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Charlie Brown, the Democratic candidate for CA- 04,  is not broke.  And he’s busy meeting and talking to people.  http://www.charliebrownforcong…    Considering the district demographics, and the tough economic times, and the fact that he’s supported by so many individual donors instead of Big Money Interest PACs, it’s a miracle.

This does not mean it’s over.   Those out of state corporate interests are going to throw the kitchen sink AND the garbage disposal at us.  This is a BIG district geographically, and it’s so important because the mountains on the west side catch the winter snows and then that snow feeds us in the summer, literally. Water flows down to the areas of population and commerce to the State Capitol and to the Bay area and her port cities.  Where the water goes affects all of us.  And it effects all living things, plants and animals.  We cannot kill the delta without killing both the city and the fish and wildlife and farmland that depend on it having an inflow of fresh water.

When Charlie Brown first started running for Congress, he was running as a reformer against the corruption of the Republican Party.  He led by example and by hard work.  There wasn’t a lot of fancy rhetoric. You don’t get stuff done in the military by pointing fingers, bringing up wedge issues to try to divide people and make them mad at each other,  and hiring lobbyists to tell you you’re wonderful.  You define the problem, pick a solution, improvise if necessary, and just do it.  Charlie Brown wanted accountability in government, so he decided to run for office.  Just by the act of running, he forced the current Congressman to come out of Washington DC and interact with the district he was supposed to be representing.  Just by running, he helped other Democrats get elected, because the 50- state strategy works.  We stood there in the Opera House in Roseville in November 2006 and screamed ourselves silly every time an election return came back showing another Democrat had taken the lead, even if they were from out of state. I remember telling another kossack that Pombo was going down. She didn’t believe me at first.  I remember coming up the stairs at one point, taking one glance at the screen, and seeing the total number of House seats hit the magic number to guarantee a Democratic majority.  I knew right then we had changed things, no matter what the final count was for us.

This is what Dr Bill Durston     http://www.durstonforcongress….     (CA- 03, Lungren ,R) and Jeff Morris   http://www.jeffmorrisforcongre…  (CA-02, Herger, R) are doing for us now, by taking on these other Republican incumbents. And they actually do have a chance of winning. That’s what is so incredible.

In our district, the incumbent decided not to run against him again, after he won by only 3 percentage points.  They brought in the ringer. If you have read my past series of diaries, you can see that the ghost of Doolittle is still haunting Tom McClintock.  They may not have appeared together on stage anywhere, but McClintock took John Doolittle’s old playbook of hate politics, the one with the yellow highlights drawn over the talking points of creating fear and loathing, and tucked it under his pillow at night.  But even worse, he took his campaign financial technique of deficit spending, and he thought the lobbyists would come through for him, just like they kept coming through for John Doolittle.  And it seemed to work, at first. He forgot one thing.

Even John Doolittle has better people skills than Tom McClintock.   I hate saying that, but it seems to be true.  Look at him, he’s not in jail yet. That took some serious talent on his part.  

But Charlie Brown is still going to need our help to finish this task he started, of changing how we interact with government.  

As I said, the entrenched Republican establishment is going to throw the kitchen sink AND garbage disposal at us. They are using organizations with non profit tax status to push these horrible wedge issue propositions at the voters as hard as they can.  There has been a lot of ugly subtext going on under the surface.  

We need grace.  We need patience.  We need grit.  Because we can’t let up now.  And we need to run ads.  And these propositions have extraordinary amounts of lobbyist money supporting them.  They give it to the state assembly and state assembly accounts, and the state candidates go crazy paying for all these alleged non profits affiliated with politicians and consultants to run advertisements and slate mailers and the radio and the television and the blogger letters to the editor comment sections. That’s why I wrote about McClintock’s account yesterday.  http://www.dailykos.com/story/…  “Dear Treasurer” (McClintock’s)        People don’t see that.  They don’t see they’re being used.   They’re sincere, but this election is not about those issues.    And McClintock’s other campaigns have had a history of getting very large last minute donations.  Don’t take anything for granted.

It’s about the economy.  And the economy went into the drainpipe because George W. Bush didn’t learn a damn thing at college because he was too busy partying, and all of his life, when he screwed up, somebody related to the family bailed him out.  He thought our nation should be run like any other business.  But he has no business sense.  Screw up? Oh well ! Start a war, borrow some cash, take another mortgage, sow the seeds of fear and divisiveness. Terror alert.  Drown a city, blow away another.  Problems? Go shopping. No money? Too bad. You should have been a Republican.

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Summer 2008 in Lincoln. Get your free list of foreclosures here.

Enough.

Enough.

Enough.

This district is NOT going to send another Southern CA carpetbagger to Washington DC who is just using us as a mailing address with snowmelt.  We are going to send somebody who cares about the district because this is his home and these are his neighbors. And that person is Charlie Brown.

Now you know what we need to do.  Stay on the real issues. Volunteer.  http://www.charliebrownforcong…   Donate. https://www.charliebrownforcon…   http://www.actblue.com/entity/…     Talk. Walk.  Write.  Whatever.  Don’t give in to the temptation to be dragged into the muck.  The Republicans are frantic at this point.  They can’t see the future.  We can.  It’s going to be okay. A little rough, but okay.  Hang in there. Now let’s get out there and bring this one home.

Howie Klein has a look at the state of congressional races in California as voters are heading to the polls in what should be a tsunami year for Democrats.

Over the flip…

The most likely district to go from Republican to Democrat this year is CA-04 where corrupt Republican incumbent John Doolittle– along with the equally corrupt Mrs. Doolittle– will soon be headed for prison and the GOP is trying to slip in an ideological doppelganger in the form of L.A. right wing extremist Tom McClintock. First McClintock, widely seen as an interloper and carpetbagger, will have to get by the Democrat who came close to beating Doolittle in 2006, local boy Charlie Brown, a retired Air Force Lt. Colonel known for standing up for working families.

There are two other Blue America candidates running strong races, Russ Warner in CA-26 and Debbie Cook in CA-46, both awakening red districts represented by entrenched rubber stamp Republicans David Dreier and Dana Rohrabacher. No one ever mentions the two most glaring anomalies about the two Republicans: Dreier is a hypocritical, self-loathing closet queen who takes his lover/overpaid chief of staff on exotic vacations all over the world at taxpayer expense; and Rohrabacher is out of his mind and the biggest– probably only— supporter of Taliban terrorists in Congress. Instead, battles in both districts are being fought on familiar turf– both incumbents have taken massive amounts of “donations” from special interests like Big Oil and commercial banking and insurance and have always voted for their interests instead of the interests of the working families in their districts.

Three other California Democrats are making credible cases to displace out of touch incumbents. Up near Sacramento, far right extremist Dan Lungren is facing his stiffest challenge ever from Bill Durston. Meanwhile Mary Bono Mack, who doesn’t have any connect to her district any longer, is getting a run for her (big corporate contributors’) money from Julie Bornstein. The sixth challenger with a real shot at winning is Nick Liebham who’s taking on corrupt rubber stamp lobbyist Brian Bilbray in Northern San Diego County. This afternoon Nick talked with me about Bilbray’s shameful record concerning veterans. “Bibray’s voting record as it concerns veterans really speaks to his distorted priorities and values,” said Nick. “Irrespective of how you feel about the war, and I have called for a timeline to withdraw our troops, we as a nation have an obligation to provide for our heroes when they return home.  Brian Bilbray will send them to a war into perpetuity but wont send them to college.  He is a disgrace.” Nick’s campaign got a tremendous boost in the last couple of weeks when a local hero, former Marine Gen. Joe Hoar not only endorsed Nick, but started campaigning for him and cut a devastating TV commercial as well.

As Howie notes, the disgusting decision by Democrats to focus on an incumbent protection redistricting following the 2000 census means that we are in the second cycle in a row where it is unbelievably difficult for Democrats to take advantage of a nation that has realized Republicans are an awful choice. While it is important to talk to your parents about voting Republican, it is quite difficult to beat them in California. So if you live in a competitive district, please do all you can to help out. And since it is likely you don’t live in a competitive district, sending money is helpful. And hopefully, following the 2010 census, Democrats will follow a Burton redistricting model that is far more Phil than John.

Greetings, Fans of one of the most beautiful Congressional Districts in the country, still accursed by one of the most scandal- encrusted Congressman, who is trying to retire out before he gets indicted. Local  Democratic candidate Charlie Brown is running for this seat against imported Southern Californian carpetbagger and Republican “I Con”   (icon™, yes, that is what the Republicans call him)  Tom McClintock.

This is just a quick reminder that we here in CA- 04 are having a debate tomorrow night Thursday, Oct 2 between Charlie Brown and Tom McClintock in Oroville.   It’s a candidate forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Butte County.  It is at the Southside Community Center at 2959 Lower Wyandotte Rd, Oroville, 95966, at 8 pm. IMPORTANT TIME EDIT UPDATE: This forum begins at 7pm. Come early. Local candidates speak first, then Brown and McClintock start at 8 pm.  Questions are submitted beforehand, seating may be first come/first serve, REPEAT, FORUM BEGINS AT 7 PM

If you’re local, you can alway Tivo the other event and come see real live democracy in action.  

Democrat: Charlie Brown of Roseville is running for Congress to represent the district.  I do not know if everyone in the district has met Charlie Brown yet, but it won’t be for lack of trying on his part.

3 years ago Charlie Brown decided to run against John Doolittle, (R, “Chevron” not quite indicted) and nearly beat him in a shockingly close race in a district with a Republican registration advantage.  Charlie Brown took this on because he didn’t like seeing what was happening to the government as it treated the people of the district.

Ladies and gentlemen, children and pets, I am here tonight to tell you that PLACER COUNTY, THE MOST POPULOUS COUNTY IN DISTRICT, NO LONGER HAS REPUBLICAN MAJORITY REGISTRATION.  

They’re down to 49 percent and change.  Did you feel the earth move when I said that ? Probably not, but the Republicans sure did !  The reaction was hilarious.  It was “this doesn’t signify a trend.”   Yeah, sure.  And snow doesn’t fall on Mars !

From the Sunday Sacramento Bee, on 9/28/08

New Voter Registrations in Sacramento Region Tilt Towards Democrats, by Phillip Reese

http://www.sacbee.com/capoliti…

And no longer are most Placer County voters registered Republicans.

The party’s share dropped from 52.2 percent before the 2004 election to 49.7 percent today.

During the past four years, the Placer County Democratic Party has grown by roughly three registered voters for every two who have joined county Republicans, state figures show.

The SacBee has pie chart graphics under the story. Since they are a registration site, I’ll give you the percentages here.  Placer, 49.7% Republican.  El Dorado, 45.6% Republican,  Sacramento (a small part of CA- 04 includes Sacramento County ) only 32.7 %.    While Democrats are still smaller in number than Republicans, the INDEPENDENT, or decline to states, are growing.   A lot of those Independents used to be Republicans but don’t feel comfortable enough to go all the way and switch parties, but are very open to voting for Democrats if they like what the candidate offers.  Some of the Indies are more Libertarian trending, and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing because the Libertarians don’t care for George Bush’s pro war foreign policy.  But this is a huge sea change for the area. For years the Placer County Republicans have insisted the county is overwhelmingly Republican. No more.

Republican: Tom McClintock of (mailing address is Thousand Oaks, actual domicile is in yet another district), a lifelong career politician in the CA state legislature,   is running to keep fattening his wallet.  Oh, and those SoCal lobbyists for the Casino industry and the Real Estate speculators who buy “distressed” and foreclosed properties, and the various Big Oil and Big Pharmaceutical/Health Insurance donors,  have been giving him money via his state accounts all these years.  Tom McClintock can’t get out of the district fast enough, because he’s left the state budget in such a mess.  Tom McClintock is slightly more idealogically to the right of Attila the Hun.  As in invade, attack, destroy, savor the spoils, return the victor and leave the peasants in ruins.  We don’t need more of this in Congress.

Please, keep us in mind tomorrow night, and if you can’t come, wish us luck and watch for updates. Thanks!

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crossposted at dailykos and progressive blue

edited with time start 7pm update, see above

On Tues, Sept 16, the Tom McClintock (R) carpetbagging campaign for CA- 04 up here in Northern California, running against Democrat Charlie Brown, sank to a new depth akin to the stock market crash of 2008.

Sacramento News Channel 10, ( ABC ) ran a story about a swiftboat ad release by the McClintock campaign, and did not tell who the people were in the video nor who was involved in the making of it. (edit: added link  http://www.news10.net/news/sto…        )        They did not note that the “uniform” was just a jacket over a tee shirt and jeans.  They edited video in such a way as to disguise an incident of potential assault by a McClintock campaign advisor.  They did not say that the event was written up as a press conference by other sources, to imply open access, when the McClintock campaign decided to call security to prevent access by observers, and was not letting them see the event.  I witnessed the event (or rather, the closed doors, mostly except when they opened ) from the hallway but was prevented from recording it and was threatened with removal from the building by someone who would not identify themselves or their job title.

Regarding the video on the News 10 site, now that I have seen it:

The dark haired man in the suit facing the camera is John Ruiz, a “campaign consultant” or “advisor” for the McClintock campaign, previously associated with John Doolittle and Richard Pombo,  who also is financially involved with Southern California Casinos being financed by the Malik family of Detroit.  http://www.theverifiabletruth….        This Malik family has given thousands of dollars to campaigns of Tom McClintock.  He (Ruiz) had just previously committed what is known legally as “assault” upon another person in the photo, which has been edited out of the News 10 video, by grabbing the person’s arm and threatening them under his breath. He then made another comment out loud trying to provoke a fight.  Only the person’s reaction, saying “do not touch me again,”  is shown in the video.

The person in the print shirt with his back to the camera is a real veteran and did not assault anybody. The person standing behind Ruiz is a real veteran and did not assault anybody.  

Politico said it was a press conference.  ABC is claiming it was a private meeting so they had the right to restrict access.

(edit, to add) My previous story on that entire day is here: CA- 04, No Show Tom, Fake Schedule, Swiftboating and the Keystone Kops     http://www.dailykos.com/story/…

So where’s Tom McClintock? He knows and won’t admit it.    

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McClintock at the Auburn Gold Country Fair in flyer form touting his “virtues.”  Nope, not photoshopped.  photos by author.

The McClintock employee lied about McClintock’s whereabouts that day deliberately.  McClintock did not go to Lincoln that morning, where he was expected at the Chamber of Commerce, and where they already had the campaign handouts stapled to the day’s agenda.  The employee who said he didn’t know where McClintock was going to be that day was there at the “press conference” guarding the door to it and refusing entrance.   McClintock posted a phony schedule, claimed a budget victory when there wasn’t one, didn’t show up at places, including this “press conference,”  and ran off to the Elks lodge in Auburn (again, restricted access) to eat lunch with a bunch of mostly older while males while his surrogates were down at the Hyatt doing his dirty work.

The woman speaking in the ad they released was Debra (or Deborah)  Johns.  She is a member of Move America Forward.  http://www.moveamericaforward….                                         She is their “director of military relations” per their website.  She is a paid professional Public Relations person, not just a private citizen. MAF puts solicitations up on the internet made by “military moms” with pleas for money to “support the troops”  by funding an advertisement.   This money is then used to make hit pieces against certain Democratic candidates. Where the money goes is all to the same po box in Sacramento.   They pull the solicitations down after they get the money, but the ads remain online on You Tube.  Think of her as a media hit person, not as a “military mom,” her online persona.  

Move America Forward, aka MAF,  is the alleged non profit wing of “Russo Marsh and Rogers” Public Relations firm, which does media PR and swiftboating for Republican Candidates. Move America Forward a front group which claims non profit status based on issues advocacy.  I don’t see how they can claim to be non partisan, they’ve never, ever supported anything but right wing extremist Republicans and they do sleaze swiftboating.  They ask for money online to pay for campaign ads.  This is not non partisan.   The notorious right wing radio talk show host Melanie Morgan, who is shown wearing a camoflage pattern tee shirt under her suit jacket on her own website, is “chairman” of this MAF group.  Melanie Morgan   http://www.moveamericaforward….    

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M…          has an online store  http://www.melaniemorgan.com/               that sells tee shirts and mugs with religious and racially offensive slogans that extremist right wingers might find appealing or might intrepret as being an affirmation that advocating violence against an AA candidate is okay.  

It is not “okay.”  It is provocative and IMO, evil.

The “Rogers” in RMR  is  Ron Rogers, a former staff member of Rep. John Doolittle’s who was subpoenaed last September 2007 in the DOJ/FBI investigation of John Doolittle.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/…

Rogers bio on the RMR webpage is missing that aspect.  He’s a PR guy who has dissapeared the fact that he used to be Doolittle’s Chief of Staff.  

http://www.rmrwest.com/index.p…

As an ex COS of Doolittle, he has certainly been heavily involved in the ongoing coverup of Doolittle’s corruption investigation and alleged crimes,  for Doolittle has been fighting the subpoenas of his staff for a very long time.

Now, what happened recently?   KEVIN RING WAS ARRESTED AND INDICTED in the Abramoff scandal investigation.  Ring is another ex staffer, the former legislative director of John Doolittle,  who went on to become a lobbyist and work with Jack Abramoff and who had many, many interactions with John Doolittle, esp. concerning having Julie Doolittle go to work for an Abramoff sub- company being funded by laundered money from Indian Tribes and foreign governments.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/…

Ring, married with a young family, is being heavily pressured to flip and tell on his ex boss.  Surely he doesn’t want to go to jail.

Now, in ALL THIS FLAPDOODLE about the “effigy”  what else happened this week?  The AP reports that the Federal Prosecutors  are about to turn over “millions of pages” of documents” of evidence for KEVIN RING’s DEFENSE ATTORNEY TO USE.    This includes correspondence with former DOJ officials Clements and Ayres,  who used to work for former US ATTY GENERAL JOHN ASHCROFT.  Hey, guess what?  RING used to work for Ashcroft, too.   So did another convicted DOJ  employee, Robert Coughlin.

http://ap.google.com/article/A…

The charges against Ring include an episode in which he allegedly  

lobbied Justice Department officials for money to build a jail on a  

reservation for a tribal client. One of the officials involved –  

Robert Coughlin, former deputy chief of staff of the Justice  

Department’s criminal division – already has pleaded guilty to  

criminal conflict of interest in the case.  

So it’s time for a big DIVERSION.   No kidding.  People are sitting in jail cells because of this Doolittle coverup, and the roof is about to blow off.  

Channel 10 is an ABC affiliate which is owned by Disney.  Disney owns the radio station in SF where Melanie Morgan of MAF had her right wing talk show.  Disney/ABC ran the horrible “Path to 9/11 ” documentary full of lies, blaming the Clinton administration for the disaster.  

ABC is now allied with Fox News as part of the coverup party of the corruption of the Dept. of Justice under the Bush administration.

One of Doolittle’s and McClintock’s biggest local financial supporters is posting pictures from ABC Channel 10 on the Auburn Journal blog, making bogus claims about what happened Sept 16, 2008 at the Hyatt in Sacramento.  Great diversion.  Not.

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edited 8:20 pm 9/19  to add links, and photos by author  

Tuesday September 16 2008

No Show Tom, Fake Schedule, Swiftboating, & the Keystone Kops

Or how Termed- Out State Senator Tom McClintock (R, Anywhere for a per Diem), who is running against Charlie Brown (D, Roseville ) posts a fake schedule on his official campaign website while his campaign workers set up an assault on Brown’s field director  and the “press”  acts like the White House press corps.  

This was my day today.

1.  8 am Lincoln Area Chamber of Commerce  Government Affairs Committee , Holiday Express Inn, Ferrari Ranch Rd, Lincoln  

Tom McClintock, the guest speaker, is a NO SHOW.  Instead, an aide, Mark Spannagel, says that Tom can’t be there because they passed the budget last night (??)  After Spannagel’s spiel, and after the rest of the meeting, he comes up to me and says very sarcastically, “say hello to Todd.”   I ask him if Tom McClintock is going to be at any other scheduled events that were shown on his website, since he skipped this one.  He says he doesn’t know.  I ask him again (politely, in front of Jennifer Perreira )  if Tom McClintock was going to be at anything as shown on his site schedule. He says that they’re “going to roll with it” but that he didn’t know.

2.  The Surprise Super Secret “Managed” Press Conference.  In Roseville, I call Todd.  Does he know where Tom McClintock is going to be today?  Yes.  Supposedly there is a press conference downtown in Sacramento, at the Hyatt Regency at 12th and L street to announce that the budget has been passed, to start the campaign. They’re also announcing “something.”   When is this?  In a half hour.  Do you want a camera there? Okay. On my way.   I know what the Hyatt looks like.  That’s where Dick Cheney comes to do photo opps.  It’s across from the state Capitol building where Crazy Tom had his big ” BUILD THE WALL, DEPORT THEM ALL”  sign up when he was calling for Federal funding to be cut off to San Franciso and Los Angeles during the budget impasse during the Minuteman “Get Your Hate on for Latinos” rally.    

about 40 minutes later……

I ask at the entry where the McClintock press conference is, and they tell me upstairs. Then they don’t let me in the room.  The room is being guarded by Mark Spannagel, (fancy that! he doesn’t look too thrilled to see me) and an unnamed male person I will have to call “SpannaCompanion”.   Spannegel whips out a camera and takes my picture “for the file.”  (“File?” They keep “files?” )  So I oblige and take his again for my notes.   Nick P , Brown’s field director,  is waiting outside the room.  He’s been thrown out.  Several other veterans have been thrown out. Where is Todd?  He’s in the room.  Can I go in the room?  No.  But I am supposed to be in there. No. Can I give my camera to somebody in the room who requested it. No. Who the hell IS in there?  Todd and the press.  Who else ?  McClintock’s people. Is McClintock in there? Nobody knows.  

What the heck.  Take video camera out and start interviewing Nick P.  What happened? McClintock’s campaign John Ruiz grabbed his arm suddenly and told him to leave? That he asked him to let go of his arm, and instead Ruiz started yelling at him, “Do you want to beat me up?”  Nick said this, incredulously, in the way that someone does who just witnessed bat-chit crazy, and then added that he does not hit people.  (Nick is a very mild mannered person. This is beyond ridiculous)  How does he feel about being kicked out of the room? He wishes Democracy was a more open process.  Pan around with the camera.  Ask the door pugs Spannagel and SpannaCompanion what their names are, who do they work for, why are they doing this, and they both say NOTHING, get a “deer in the headlights look” and freeze up.  After a while, the door opens and a few people go out and in.  I start towards the door again and more people place themselves directly in front of me and block the open door.  Holy crap.  What the hell are they doing in there?  I try to hold the camera up and TALLER PEOPLE come and put themselves in the doorway.  I am only of average height.  This one blonde woman must be at least 6 inches taller than I am.

Another Taller Male Person in a dark suit comes and puts his hand over the camera lens and tells me I am not allowed to film anything. I tell him I was asked by a person who is in the room to come. He tells me (hand still over my camera) that I am not allowed to film anything as this is private property, a private meeting, and that if I do not stop, I will be escorted out of the building. He also makes me identify myself but will not tell me who he is or who he works for. I ask him several times to please identify himself. He won’t. I take this to mean he must be private security or imitating it, and I’m not going anywhere with him if I can help it.  This is creepy.   What if I want to enter the room without filming? Are not other people in there taking notes?  I can’t do that unless I go down to the office and ask permission. I am not on the list.  I have to turn off the camera now.  He is emphatic. I must turn off the camera now or leave.  I press my thumb on the button and put my hand down.

I return to the opposite side of the hall with Nick and the veterans and wait for the room to open up.  Eventually the room does open up, and Todd and the reporters come out.  They interview Todd in the hall.  I can tell by the issues and topics that Todd is speaking on, that whatever went on in the room must be complete ****ing bullshit.    The one reporter for the SacBee also talks to one of the veterans and to Todd.  We go downstairs and I then tell Nick P that one of the original door guards was Mark Spannagel, and that he was at Lincoln subbing for McClintock and refused to say where McClintock was going to be today.  

3.  The Auburn Rotary  at the Elks Lodge, Pine Street, Auburn.  When I had left the house that morning, I had no idea that I was going to be doing anything other than running an errand down to Lincoln and back, and then maybe sending an email of my notes and writing something.  But now I’m all the way downtown, and it’s easier to get on the freeway and go straight up north to Auburn than to try to go home.  So I head back to the parking garage, call my spouse, ask him to check McClintock’s website schedule to see if the next event is still listed, ask him to look at a map and tell me which exit, and head out of downtown Sac, back north towards the mountains.  This is going to be a bit of a push, as I have about a half hour to try to get there by noon.

Once I find the Elks Lodge, I take a picture of the parking lot full of cars, and then walk uphill, and there’s Spannagel again, probably on lookout point. I take his picture in the doorway quickly as he’s trying to duck back out of the viewfinder.   I enter the foyer.   A person asks if he can help me, and I say I’m looking for Tom McClintock and ask if he’s going to be here today….. and the man says he thinks he might be here.  Aha !  I peek in the doorway, and there’s Tom McClintock in the front of the room chock full of male Elks eating salads.  The entire building smells like cooking lunch.  I’m almost queasy after my previous encounter with “Friends” of Tom McClintock.  The man asks if I wish to come in and sit down.  Mindful of what happened the last time,  I tell him I am following McClintock as a volunteer for the Brown campaign today, based on McClintock’s published schedule,  tell him that McClintock was a no- show in Lincoln, and wouldn’t let me into a press conference in Sacramento,  and ask if there is somebody to ask for permission.   He goes and asks another person sitting in the room, who he identifies as an Elks official, and comes back and says very politely that perhaps it would be a good idea if I didn’t come in today, but I should come back next month when Charlie Brown is speaking, as today is “McClintock’s day.”  This person was wearing a name tag and trying to be very diplomatic. I told him I was thinking of maybe waiting out on the sidewalk on public property a bit, IF that was okay with him, and he said it was.   I did stay for the pledge of allegiance and the prayer, and I went ahead and snapped a photo from the doorway of McClintock sitting there in front of the roomful of Elks, having lunch, just after his campaign officials had used the Move America Forward people who specialize in Swiftboating pull up one of Rep. John Doolittle’s (R, not indicted yet)  old fabricated dirty work and try to rumormonger a bunch of paid reporters in Sacramento.  And had his flunkies refusing to say where he was going to appear.  At least I had the damned camera there if they had tried to mug a veteran.

Hey, it’s a living for some people, right ?  McClintock votes against veterans interests,  and then pays people to stop bloggers who figured out who’s paying for their smear tactics against his opponent the veteran.

I then go to the Auburn office of Brown for Congress and update them on who’s in town and the other stuff his campaign has been doing today.

I go and eat some late lunch.  I call my spouse, and tell him what’s up. He check McClintock’s site again.

4.  And then I get back on the road and head up to the last stop, the alleged 4pm Lions Club meeting in Foresthill.  That’s going to be about another half hour of mountain driving.  At least it’s a beautiful drive and I know where I’m going, thanks to the Auburn office.   I go to the Veterans Memorial Hall, a lovely big log lodge type building next to a park, where the Lions club meets, and there’s almost nobody there.  Once in a while a vehicle comes in, but leaves soon.  I take some pictures of the empty parking lot and park, and get back in the car.  It’s time to go home.  I stop at Wharton’s on the way back out, and other people stop as I rest,  and admire the view of the Canyon.  And then I drive the hour and 15 minutes home.  My car had nearly 200 miles on it today.

People, my experience today is going to be just like a McClintock term in Congress.  He’s beyond Doolittlesque.

____________________

cross posted at dailykos in a version I can’t edit right now.  crossposted at progressive blue.  photos by author.

this will start the photos, I will re arrange and add later

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Mark Spannagel (McClintock aide) at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Sacramento Tuesday 9/16    Look how he thinks it’s funny that they’ve locked veterans out of the room and Brown campaign staff and volunteers , and he’s lied about the whereabouts of his boss

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Tom McClintock in Auburn at the Elks Lodge eating lunch.  That is one of the Holmes brothers next to him.  (Auburn local government)  His staff had just held a private press conference at the downtown Hyatt hotel, and thrown Brown campaign staff and volunteers and veterans out of the room.  He also had hotel security prevent me from filming or assisting campaign staff while he had a known Swiftboating group passing out smears about Brown to the press.  

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This person bears a very close resemblance to the other McClintock aide who was there, and he was guarding the door with him.  This was taken July 4 in Lincoln.  On the float, Mr and Mrs McClintock, somebody else’s children, 4 flags, US, Christian, CA State Flag and GOP.  

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Locked Out.  Afterwards, a SacBee reporter talks to some veterans and Todd Stenhouse of the Brown campaign

 

• Arnold opens up to Der Spiegel. The interview ranges the gamut from his level of contact with the Republican party (little) to the appearance of the GOP VP nominee (“good looking woman”) to the fact that he’d dig being in the next administration after he finishes out his term.

• I missed this from a few days ago, but in CA-42, Gary Miller is in trouble. Ed Chau has an internal poll showing some pretty good numbers.

• Oh, this is just rich. Apparently Dean Andal, the Republican nominee in CA-11, thinks his campaign is going along swimmingly. Yes, because fundraising numbers that barely register and corruption allegations are all a good sign.

• Charlie Brown is pushing McClintock on the Doolittle corruption stuff. Interestingly, McClintock campaign consultant John Feliz is a former Doolittle aide who got busted by the FPPC.

The Center for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) does an annual Most Corrupt Members of Congress List. It's usually chock full of California's Republican Delegation.  Of the 19 California Republicans in Congress, 4 of them are on the list. For those of you keeping score at home, that's 21%. Ouch. The 4 Congressmen?

Ken Calvert
John Doolittle
Jerry Lewis
Gary Miller

That's a motley crew now isn't it? It's the same crew that we've seen on that list for quite a few years.  And, after Doolittle is replaced (hopefully by the always friendly Charlie Brown), we'll see one of the most corrupt, Doolittle, drop off the list.  It's probably for the best, as he's getting a little too close to the indictments for comfort.

Unfortunately, a California Democrat joins the list, which I'm pretty sure is a first. (UPDATE: Apparently Maxine Waters has been on the list in the past) Rep. Laura Richardson has joined the list as a “dishonorable mention.” CREW points to Ms. Richardson's very bizarre, and embarassing, real estate transactions:

 Because it is unusual for someone with such a deplorable credit history to be repeatedly approved for mortgages, the House ethics committee should investigate whether: (1) Rep. Richardson received a preferential loan in violation of House rules; (2) whether she had received other favorable treatment from lenders in the past; and (3) what, if any, official actions she may have traded to acquire these preferential terms. The House ethics committee should also consider whether Rep. Richardson’s failure to include her mortgages on her financial disclosure forms violates House rules.
    
In addition, the committee should examine the timing of Rep. Richardson’s most recent default and the $77,500 she loaned her congressional campaign committee.  By funneling money that should have gone to pay her mortgage and property taxes to her congressional campaign, Rep. Richardson engaged in conduct that does not reflect creditably on the House.

Well, here's hoping that this can be resolved in a way that lifts the cloud over the California Democratic delegation.