H/T to Orange Juice for this!

The California State Senate recently voted to pass SB 812, Lou Correa‘s (D-Santa Ana) legislation that would stop the type of “bounty hunting” that the Orange County Republican Party used to illegally switch unsuspecting Democratic and Independent voters to Republican against their will. Finally, something is being done to put a halt to this nasty practice!

Follow me after the flip for more on this important legislation, and how we can help it become law…

So what exactly would this legislation do? Here is how the Legislative Counsel explains it:

This bill would prohibit any person, company, or other
organization, except state political parties that reimburse their
central committees and clubs on a per-affidavit basis, from agreeing
to pay money or other valuable consideration on a per-affidavit basis
to any person who assists another person to register to vote by
receiving the completed affidavit of registration, would prohibit the
receipt of this per-affidavit consideration, and would make
conforming changes. A violation of these prohibitions would be an infraction, punishable by a fine not to exceed $500.

Wow, so that sounds good! So what happens next?

Now, this bill moves to the State Assembly. And if you’d like to end the type of bounty hunting that was part of the dirty tricks used by Orange County Republicans to win our competitive 34th State Senate seat (now Lou Correa’s), you can contact your Assembly Member and ask him/her to support SB 812. Now this type of illegal behavior occurred in Orange County last year, but this practice isn’t limited to Orange County.

We need to ensure that this illegal act doesn’t happen ANYWHERE in the state. That’s why we need Lou Correa’s legislation that would work to prevent this. Let’s help Lou get this passed, and let’s protect the voters in this state. : )

And if you’re interested in reading some fine examples of Environmental Left blogging against the 241 in which the level of exaggeration, misinformation and confabulation is matched only by the certitude with which they are asserted, then visit anyone one of young Andrew Davey’s posts on his blog or lefty-blog Calitics. But he tries.

At first I saw Mr. Republican Insider’s latest diatribe against me and against this community, and I was pretty peeved. These folks at Red County/OC Blog can’t even offer up their own facts and engage in honest debate. I had once considered these folks to be rational individuals, and I used to like going there (believe it or not). Well, I guess I was wrong about that.

But then, I started thinking about this. I soon realized that Jubal/Matt Cunningham was actually doing us a favor. Follow me after the flip for more as I explain why we should be thanking Mr. Republican Insider for this…

It dawned on me last night: These folks really do reveal the emptiness of today’s “conservative” movement when they have nothing left but personal attacks and payola as policy. They don’t have any new ideas on how to govern. They don’t have any facts to back up their “vision” of what they want to see in government. They just seem to have lost their way. Now that I think of it, I’m starting to experience sorrow for people like Matt/Jubal. They must feel awfully terrible to be stuck in a “movement” that doesn’t know what it really stands for.

Matt/Jubal might be hurling attacks at me and at the site, but I know that’s not really what this is about. Now that I think of it, it’s about far more than just a toll road to Trestles or a failed war in the Middle East. It’s about the emptiness of today’s “conservatism”. They used to believe that government should stay out of people’s private lives. Now, they want to examine EVERYTHING we do in our homes and in our bedrooms. They used to believe in fiscal responsibility. Now, they don’t mind complete fiscal insanity. Is this what “conservatism” has become?

Maybe this is why even the traditional “Roosevelt Republicans”, “Eisenhower Republicans”, and “Goldwater Republicans” are leaving this party. Today’s Republicans just don’t stand for what people used to call “conservative”. The GOP truly has lost its way.

But in the meantime, look at what’s happened here. Look at all the activism happening here. Look at all the intelligent policy discussions that we have all the time. We progressives seem to have no problem coming up with great ideas, sound policy, and factual arguments to back them up. And yes, people are actually excited about what we have to say and about what we want to do.

I guess that’s why I should be thanking Mr. Republican Insider. He can call me whatever names he wants. I don’t care. I just like the fact that he’s only proving the point that today’s progressives are the ones with the sound policy and grassroots energy. : )

Have you finally had enough of the bounty hunting? Are you sick and tired of seeing the Republican Party pay workers to illegally switch unsuspecting voters from Democrats and Independents to Republicans? Are you just frustrated over hearing about any more about these nasty misdeeds that only serve to prevent voters from truly making the choice that they want?

Well, help is on the way! Lou Correa, my State Senator, has written legislation to take on these nasty bounty hunts. And I’d like to tell you all about it after the flip…

So what exactly would this legislation do? Well, I’ll let the Legislative Counsel explain it to you:

This bill would prohibit any person, company, or other
organization, except state political parties that reimburse their
central committees and clubs on a per-affidavit basis, from agreeing
to pay money or other valuable consideration on a per-affidavit basis
to any person who assists another person to register to vote by
receiving the completed affidavit of registration, would prohibit the
receipt of this per-affidavit consideration, and would make
conforming changes. A violation of these prohibitions would be an infraction, punishable by a fine not to exceed $500.

Wow, so how about that? Here’s a simple solution to a prickly problem. If we just cut off the incentive for paid canvassers to agree to bounty hunts that illegally re register people as something that they don’t want to be, then we actually get rid of these illegal bounty hunts. How can we not agree to this?

And oh yes, who better to introduce this legislation than someone who has actually experienced the repercussions of these horrid bounty hunts? Lou Correa had a tough enough race last year, but his challenge last year was only greater as the Orange County Republican Party resorted to dirty tricks to try to prevent Lou from winning. And yes, one of those dirty tricks was a bounty hunt that illegally switched Democratic and Independent voters in the 34th State Senate District to Republicans against their will. Unfortunately, Lou had to deal with all of this himself as he ran for State Senate…

However, he is now taking action to ensure that these dastardly misdeeds never happen again. SB 812 is a good piece of legislation that prevents any more abuse of voter registration drives. No more bounties, and no more illegal switching. This sounds good to me, and this works great to ensure that our democratic process remains strong, healthy, and free of manipulation. Now that’s a good thing. : )

I’m not sure where to even being rebutting this post, which is a rich combination of paranoia and grandiosity that would make your hero Art Pedroza proud. […]
Andrew, if you really want to see a “noise machine” all you need to do is read your own posts: loaded with straw men, unsupported assumptions, jumped-to-conclusions, screechy rhetoric and paranoia.

Hey, looky here! Jubal/Matt Cunningham responded to my post, which was a response to Jubal/Matt’s response to Art Pedroza’s original “Chismes” post on Orange Juice that caused the entire Orange County Republican Party to explode. Ain’t it amazing how these supposedly omnipotent Republican insiders are shaking at the boots at the thought that their ridiculous scheme to allow someone who ran one of the most racist campaigns in Orange County history to run their “voter registration program” in minority-majority Central County is being exposed? And that the sheer stupidity of this plan of theirs is now out in the open, for all to see?

So why is Jubal/Matt still fuming over this? Well, he completely lost control. And why is he so angry about that? Well, I’ll tell you all about it after the flip…

So what’s the problem here? Well, the Republican Party’s master cyberspace spinner has lost control of the message. He tried so hard to save the OC GOP’s latest blunder from becoming a massive train wreck…

Smart move. There’s no shortage and wannabees and armchair consultants in OC politics. What there aren’t a lot of are campaign operatives with proven track records of success — especially in central Orange County. The OC GOP would have been remiss to pass up utilizing someone who’d been toiling in the central OC vineyards for the past year running very successful voter contact program. Saulo ran the most successful aspect of the Lynn Daucher campaign (the absentee ballot program), and then managed Trung Nguyen — who nearly everyone expected to do no better than third or fourth — to within 3 votes of victory in the 1st Supervisor District special election.

… But all that hard work and fast spinning of Jubal’s couldn’t save his party from the ultimate reality on the ground.

It looks like the first installment of this new column was quite a hit. The O.C. Register’s Total Buzz blog covered our chisme regarding the guy tabbed by the OC GOP to register new voters in central Orange County. That would be Saulo Londono, the campaign manager who sent Trung Nguyen to the border to stop the Mexicans. I’m sure that will go down real swell with the people of Santa Ana!

I love what Londono had to say about the story, over at the Total Buzz, “Although the blogs are heavily dramatizing the situation, the real reason for being quiet (about the new job) is quite simple: strategy.” Sure – great strategy. Maybe they can get Lupe Moreno and Tan Nguyen to help register new Reep voters too!

Red County/OC Blog stepped up to defend Londono, predictably. Matt Cunningham/Jubal referred to Londono’s successful track record. Last time I looked he LOST the last two campaigns he headed up. Maybe second place means first place in Jubal’s book?

Jubal is angry because Jubal can no longer control the message. In the bad old days, when OC Blog was really the only big kid in Orange County’s political blogosphere, Jubal/Matt can simply get the good word out on his clients and control what was said about them online. And since OC Blog was really the only big source for what was happening in OC’s political scene, everyone would just believe what Jubal and his minions were saying…

However, this isn’t the case any longer. Orange Juice now offers different perspectives on what’s happening throughout the county. The Liberal OC now offers a progressive point of view to counter the right-wing spin at OC Blog-land. And yes, now I’ve become a thorn on Jubal’s side as well. Basically, Jubal’s not the sole star of the show any more. The new kids on the block are finally growing up, and speaking out.

I guess this is the real issue here. Now it certainly is important in and of itself that the OC Republicans are hiring someone who was part of a VERY RACIST CAMPAIGN to head a minority outreach and voter registration program in Central OC. However, another major issue has entered into the fray. The Orange County Republican elite is no longer in control of what we say and what we think online. Competition has arrived, yet the supposed “champions of the free market” don’t seem to like the free flow of ideas and opinions.

Too bad for them. ‘Cuz this new diversity of thought is really letting some fresh air rush in behind the Orange Curtain. ; )

(Oh yeah, and before I forget… Horray for Orange Juice! They’ve been so courageous during this whole time in standing fast against efforts by the Orange County Republican Party to censor them. I only wish I had the tenacity of Art Pedroza, Claudio Gallegos, and the entire O-J Team! : ) – promoted by atdleft)

A long time ago I was told that in this business you are judged by your enemies. If your enemies are mostly democrats then you must be doing something right. They’re willing to tear you down, especially people like Andrew Davey who posted on the Calitics page. He’s just a punk with a computer.

That was former campaign manager for Republican Alan Uke in the 50th Congressional District, campaign manager for Republican Lynn Daucher in SD 34, and all-around insider in the Orange County Republican Party, Bryan Lanza… Speaking about little ol’ me. So why is the OC GOP political elite suddenly wailing over me at Red County/OC Blog? Follow me after the flip to find out…

Remember when I called out the Orange County Republicans for blaming Orange Juice blogger Art Pedroza for their own problems with Latino voters? Well, Jubal/Matt Cunningham found out about it… And he’s not very happy with me right now for shining some light on the OC GOP’s ridiculous decision to hire someone who was part of Trung Nguyen’s virulently anti-immigrant and anti-Latino campaign to head a voter outreach and registration effort in Latino-heavy Central County. So what is he doing about it? Oh, he’s just resorting to bashing ALL OF US who have the nerve to call out the OC GOP on their great mistake.

Of course, there are the inevitable detractors. ex-Republican Art Pedroza thinks it is bad idea because Trung Nguyen posed in front of the border fence for one of his mailers. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Let’s not hire the guy with the proven track record of success because of a mail piece (which Art terms “anti-Latino,” which I suppose it is if you look at it through MeCHista-colored glasses). And Saulo committed the cardinal sin of being a staffer for Assemblyman Van Tran, a stain not even Saulo’s previous stint with Lynn Daucher, the previous object of Art’s political affections, could wipe away. Too bad anti-Van Tran prejudices obscure the ability to render a fair estimation of Saulo’s talent and experience. And here’s some fan mail for Art’s post and Claudio Gallegos hyperventilation-disguised-as-a post/All-Republicans-Look-Alike-To-Me rant from local lefty Andrew Davey. It should speak volumes when the attaboys for attacking Saulo are coming from the Left Wing.

Oh, joy! So now I REALLY KNOW what these GOP insiders think of not just me, but of bloggers in general. We are supposed to be their tools, their mouthpieces, their vehicles to spread their propaganda… Kinda like what Jubal/Matt Cunningham and his buddies do all the time at OC Blog. And when we’re not doing a good little job of spreading the Orange County Republican Party’s propaganda, we’re just worthless “punks with computers”. Never mind that most of us bloggers consider ourselves to be independently minded individuals who are not beholden to ANYONE. In fact, I thought that the real goal of political bloggers is to take on the establishment. I didn’t know that we were supposed to be PAID SPINNERS FOR IT.

I guess this just reveals the true dilemma with Republicans and blogging. The blogosphere is meant to be a force of nature, something that no one can control or should control. Bloggers have minds of their owns, and they shouldn’t be forced or bribed into promoting someone else’s agenda. However, Republicans don’t seem to understand that. They think they can control what we say and do in the blogosphere. And when they fail in trying to dominate us, they whine and scream about our petulant, “punkish” behavior. My goodness, no wonder why Art Pedroza left the Republican Party. I complain when Jubal/Matt tries to rough me up every so often, but what if I had to deal with this all the time, and from someone who’s supposed to be my comrade in arms? No wonder why Art could not take any more of their disgusting consultant-driven, insider-incestuous, corruption-fueled extreme right-wing noise machine.

To them, we’re just “punks with computers”… Who are threatening their entire power structure.

The Executive Director of the OC GOP, some guy named George, called Ryan and complained about this post. He asked Ryan to remove my reference to the OC GOP voter registration effort. No go! Ryan was NOT my source for that information. And no, it is not coming down. If the OC GOP wants to put a guy in charge of voter registration in central OC, who ran perhaps the most anti-Latino campaign I have ever seen (i.e. Trung Nguyen standing at the border to “stop” the Mexicans), that is his prerogative. But it is a dumb idea!

So what exactly is going on at Orange Juice? Apparently, these little chismes from Art Pedroza caused screaming, wailing, and gnashing of teeth over at the Orange County Republican Party:

Here’s a shocker – my sources are telling me that GOP Assemblyman Van Tran is trying to talk Democrat (and former state legislator) Joe Dunn into running against Supervisor Janet Nguyen in two years. Tran is apparently still quite bitter over Nguyen’s victory over his Trannie, Trung Nguyen. This sort of thing is not new for Tran – he has worked behind the scenes with other Democrats before, such as Bruce Broadwater and Mark Rosen.

Rosen by the way changed a prior vote and ended up backing Republican Steve Jones to replace Janet on the Garden Grove City Council. I wonder if Tran had anything to do with that? Jones is a developer – watch and see if he either has contributed to Tran and his cronies or will do so in the near future.

While we are on the subject of Trannies, Trung’s campaign manager, Saulo Londono, was apparently tabbed by the OC GOP to conduct voter registration in Central Orange County. They didn’t even bother to ask Janet how she felt about this. The sense was that Van Tran has been successful at this and so they went with the Trannies. I cannot see how this is going to work out. The Trannies will make this work for them and will not try to help the most prominent GOP elected official in the area, Janet Nguyen. (Yes, she is ostensibly in a non-partisan office, but you know that is true in name only).

So what’s going on with those lovely Republicans? And why do they hate bloggers? Well, follow me after the flip for more…

Ah, so the campaign manager who devised this marvelous anti-immigrant mailer for Trung is now taking over the OC Republicans’ “voter registration” efforts in Central County…
A region with communities full of LATINO AND VIETNAMESE IMMIGRANTS!! And what, they don’t expect any harsh words for this latest bone-headed move of theirs? If anything, they should be thanking Art Pedroza for pointing this out as a huge error. Since I’m not nearly as helpful and courteous as Art, I’d just prefer to LAUGH AT THEM for giving Latino voters yet ANOTHER REASON TO BE ANGRY AT THEM.

I guess they never learn. They didn’t learn from Tan Nguyen and his errors. They didn’t learn from all the immigrant-bashing of the Special Election. And now, this. But instead of blaming themselves for repeating the same mistakes of alienating minority voters in Central Orange County, they blame a blogger for calling them out on it!

I don’t know what else I can say about this, so I’ll leave it to another Orange Juice blogger, Claudio Gallegos, to sort this out:

Absolutely stunning. So George over at the GOP took it upon himself to order one of our Republican bloggers to censor us, the very nerve. For all their flag waving, America loving talk, they once again show their disdain for the very basic right of all Americans, FREEDOM. Instead of obsessing over the second amendment, the OC Republican Party should look more into that 1st Amendment, you know that pesky Amendment that gave Art the right to post what he did.

If Art wants to out various voter registration efforts, he has a right to. And NO REPUBLICAN, nor DEMOCRAT for that matter, has a right to try and censor what we post simply because there is something written that makes them mad. Apparently Republicans feel a need to silence Orange Juice.

Which brings me to my next point, how Democrats support free speech. Several times on this blog, there have been commenters and posters who have made Democratic ED Mike Levin or Chair Frank Barbaro their personal blogging punching bags. Never has Mike Levin nor Frank Barbaro called me to ask that I delete someone’s post or comment. I am sure they don’t like some stuff posted on here, but they believe in the value of one’s right to free speech. It seems the Orange County Republican Party has a problem with free speech. Shame on them, Orange Juice will never be silenced.

Jeez. Remind me to never, ever try to help the Orange County Republican Party. Obviously, they don’t appreciate folks to point out their huge mistakes.

This just in from The Liberal OC… Chris Prevatt has had it with all the scandals, all the corruption, and all the sleaze that’s taken hold of just about every level of local government in Orange County:

In the case of Orange County, it is interesting how many instances of corruption or ethical lapses are prevalent in our government institutions. Whether it is Sheriff Mike Corona [link] and his “Coronies,” the Capistrano Unified [link] and Santa Ana Unified School District administrators, or senior managers in the Orange County Health Care Agency, it seems we cannot avoid the scandals and incompetence of these overly paid buffoons.

I received word the other day that the Health Care Agency was partially successful in their appeal of the $143,000 penalty they were issued for failing to properly manage a federal HIV/AIDS grant sub-contractor. The Orange County Register covered the story in a detailed investigative report “Misplaced Faith” released in March 2006.

It never ceases to amaze me how the powers that be here in OC are so willing to waste all of our taxpayer dollars on these dirty crooks… So what can be done about all of this? Follow me after the flip for more…

So what can be done about all of this? Chris offers some advice for the County on the Health Care Agency’s AIDS Scandal, of which he (unfortunately) has seen and experienced firsthand:

The Board of Supervisors needs to pay attention to the underlying problem that has been revealed. Specifically, County managers were willing to commit fraud, lie to federal grant managers, cover-up misconduct, and permit retaliation against the employee who spoke out about management misconduct in order to conceal the truth. More than eleven years after the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, the culture of Here no evil; See no evil; and Speak no evil, is alive and well in the halls of Orange County administration.

And what about Sheriff Carona and his never-ending slew of scandals? Why doesn’t this man have enough decency to resign? Why can’t the Board of Supervisors stand up and hold him accountable for once? Why aren’t more people outraged about this?

And what about the recent school district scandals? Why couldn’t the Capistrano Unified School District put the students, parents, teachers, and other faculty ahead of their own desire to waste taxpayer money on themselves? Why has Santa Ana Unified been allowed to get away with complete fraud for so long? Why have they been able to overcrowd our kids’ classrooms, and then claim to the state that they’re complying with state class size requirements? Why haven’t these folks been held accountable?

And why won’t the District Attorney do something about all of this? Oh wait, I almost forgot… He’s a part of it, too. Dammit, where are the ethics in the halls of government in this county? Does anyone have some?

(Go ahead and join the discussion on this topic on The Liberal OC… There are plenty more words of wisdom to be found! : ) – promoted by atdleft)

OK, get ready for this… I AGREE WITH A REPUBLICAN AGAIN! This time, it’s about SB 227. Senator Tom Harman (R-Huntington Beach) wants to mandate community service for high school graduation, and GOP consultant Adam Probolsky speaks out against this bill in “The Orange Grove” column in today’s OC Register. And you know what? I agree with him here:

The first thing that struck me about this legislation was its complete ignorance or misunderstanding of the high school student mind. Harman wants teenagers to learn to appreciate community service. So what does he do? He makes it an obligation. I don’t know about you, but my high school classes were monotonous, the homework was annoying, and I worked part time. Community service? Well, I left that up to the kids who felt they needed to supplement their otherwise unremarkable college applications. If I were required to complete community service, like one of my wayward colleagues avoiding Juvenile Hall, I probably would have resented every second of it.

Sure, it seems high-minded to require high schoolers to get out and learn some valuable lessons about community service… But does this really accomplish that goal? I doubt it, and I’ll let a good friend of mine tell you why after the flip…

People that support high school slavery programs like SB227 believe that service learning gives students a chance to realize the need of their community and helps the students appreciate the reward of charitable work. In truth, the forced servitude erodes the spirit of charitable work, and generates a disdain for community service in the hearts of young people.

I work as the Staff Development Manager for a non-profit in Garden Grove, and we team up with local universities and high schools to bring in “service learning” or “field study” students. Free labor for us, and college or high school credits for them.

When we get unmotivated students that are simply trying to fill a requirement, it usually turns out to be more taxing for our organization than it is worth.

We don’t have time to spend hours training and motivating someone who doesn’t believe in our mission. It would be cheaper for us to hire one (motivated) employee and pay them an hourly wage than sit around and convince an apathetic volunteer to care about our cause.

That’s Mike Lawson writing at The Liberal OC. Since he sees this all the time at his job in Garden Grove, I think he knows what he’s talking about. So if this doesn’t help the non-profits doing the community service, then why should we burden them with uncaring high schoolers who are doing doing this to check a box that needs to be checked in order to get a high school diploma?

And once again, why should we be forcing students to do something that they should want to do? This is simply preposterous. When I was in high school, I volunteered for my library because I wanted to. Sure, the “credits” I earned from my school for community service were a nice incentive… But ultimately, I volunteered at the library because I love books and I love learning. Now would it make sense for the state to force kids to “volunteer” (read BE SLAVES) at the library when they really hate being inside a huge building with a bunch of old books? Would they really put their hearts into their work? Would they really do the best job possible? And would they really learn the valuable lessons of community service?

I noticed that SB 227 was amended. Now, it offers elective credits for community service instead of a state mandate for it. That sounds better. I just hope that we remember that volunteering ultimately has to be voluntary.

OK, I just noticed this on Total Buzz… But I’m not really surprised:

Coming as a surprise to absolutely no one, the Consigliere Schroeder (see also: Darth Vader, Darth Schroeder, or any Godfather reference) says Trung Nguyen will appeal the judge’s decision this week that made Janet Nguyen the winner of the First District supes seat.

Mike told me that Team Trung is waiting for the transcripts from the trial in Judge Michael Brenner’s court and they will then file with the state court of appeals. Perhaps the higher court will agree with the “Schroederian view” of the state recount law and maybe Team Janet shouldn’t get too comfortable up on the Fifth Floor…

Please, court of appeals judges, PLEASE THROW OUT THIS SUIT! Team Janet got the recount that Team Trung didn’t even want, and then Team Trung got to cry its way to court to complain that the recount that they didn’t even want was “done wrong”. The judge listened to both sides’ arguments, and concluded that the County Registrar conducted the recount legally, and that Janet Nguyen truly was the rightful winner. Janet is now in, and Team Trung just needs to move on.

OK, sorry about my ranting. It’s just that I live here, and I am sick and tired of these GOP Machine scumbags whine and complain about “gaming the system” when they themselves have used some VERY ILLEGAL TACTICS to “game the system”. Unlike many of their possible victims, these GOP Machine scumbags got their day in court… And the judge ruled that there was no “gaming”. Team Trung need to let it go, and allow for Central Orange County to move on.

I hope they realize that soon, and that I can stop ranting about all this crap soon.