0451_2 S.A. closeup
Why is this man standing in front of the Placer County Republican (and McClintock’s Campaign HQ) office building in Roseville last Saturday morning?
0449 distance, #2
Steven Arreguin, who says he worked for the PCRP this spring doing voter registration work and has not been paid for it, in front of the McClintock/PCRP offices on Eureka Rd in Roseville Saturday Aug 23.
August 23, 2008.
This past Saturday morning in Roseville, passerby could see a curious sight in front of Tom McClintock’s official campaign Headquarters located in the district he’s trying to take over. A set of Republican protesters. This is the photo of the one with the catchy sign I snagged as I drove by. I parked nearby and observed for awhile. The man in the photo did ask if I were a reporter for [“x”] and I said no, sorry.
This building, at 1700 Eureka Rd, also is the headquarters of the Placer County Republican Party, which is chaired by Tom Hudson. Since Tom McClintock, a southern Californian from Thousand Oaks in Ventura County, does not have an in- district office, they share. A man physically resembling Tom Hudson came out and yelled at the protesters during that morning. He did not sound…. pleased with their presence. But they didn’t go away.
The man in the photo, whom was introducing himself to other people as Steven Arreguin, and did not act in the least bit camera shy, claims the Placer County Republican Party and its Executive Committee owe him and his friend Joshua Kregger (not pictured but name was also on a handout being distributed) money for work they performed doing voter registration drives. They also claim other people have been paid for this work, but not them. They also claim that a person from Tom McClintock’s campaign “stated he would work to get us paid, even if it means he would go out and do the fundraising himself. That was 2 weeks ago, and we still have bills to pay” and they have not gotten their money, according to them, they are owed $3000.
Since the handout mentioned 5 names total, I decided to study the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) financial filings for the Placer County GOP and McClintock campaigns to see what they showed. I also discovered some interesting background on Mr Arreguin, who has been doing voter registration type activities for years.
This is a press release from the Shasta County Clerk’s office dated January 7, 2008 of this year. http://www.elections.co.shasta…
Cathy Darling, County Clerk, announced today Steven Arreguin, 33, of Marysville was convicted Friday, January 4 of negligently holding a Shasta County citizen’s voter registration for three weeks, instead of turning it in to the county registrar within three days, as required by law. Arreguin was convicted of one misdemeanor count of Elections Code 18103 and was sentenced to three year probation, five days of community service and ordered to pay $490 in fines.Arreguin is a petition and voter registration circulator active in Northern California that was working in Shasta County securing petition signatures for the Davis Recall. In Spring of 2003, Arreguin turned in 139 voter registration cards to the Shasta Registrar that he had been holding for as long as three weeks. An investigation by the Secretary of State’s Election Fraud Investigation Unit found that, in addition to being late, two of the 139 registrants lived in the Mayers Memorial Hospital District that had just held a Special Election on 06/17/03. By the time the county received the voter registrations for these two residents, the deadline to register for the Special Election had passed. As a result, the two would-be voters were disenfranchised from casting their ballots in this Special Election.
The office of Shasta County Registrar of Voters Cathy Darling first forwarded information about the late registrations to Secretary of State investigators in June 2003. At the time, Arreguin was under investigation for turning in late registrations in Placer County. He was subsequently convicted on 10/22/03 in the Placer case and sentenced to three years probation and ordered to pay $2700 in fines.
Shasta County District Attorney Jerry Benito originally charged Arreguin with two misdemeanor counts of Elections Code Section 18103, negligently interfering with transfer of affidavit to a county elections official in May of 2004. Arreguin pled guilty to one count on January 4, 2008 and the second count was dismissed. The delay between the filing of the charges and the plea of guilty was due to the arrest warrant being outstanding.
So, Steven Arreguin has been convicted twice of turning in late voter registrations, for activities:
in spring 2003 in Placer County, convicted, fined, probation Oct 2003
in spring 2003 in Shasta County, charged 2004, convicted, fined, probation Jan 2008
CA state election law requires the voter registration cards be turned in to the county registrar’s office in 3 days. The InterMountain News of Burney CA, and a Redding newspaper also ran the January 2008 press release.
Steven Arreguin was mentioned in an October 2007 Sacramento Bee story as a former assistant to a long time financial supporter of John Doolittle, R, named Ken Campbell, the former head of the Placer County Republicans. Campbell, a Lincoln real estate developer and the world’s most frightening ex- dentist, was at that point turning his attentions and efforts towards ditching the Abramoff scandal- plagued Doolittle and finding a less tainted Republican candidate for the CA- 04 district. I remember reading that article at the time and being astonished that Ken Campbell thought he could hide his distinctive writing style by trying to pass his anti- Doolittle website off on a surrogate. http://www.sacbee.com/111/stor…
It was in October of 2007 that other Republicans began admitting in public that they wished Doolittle would just quietly go away and not run again. It must have been the subpoenas.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/…
Have the Placer County Republicans paid Joshua Kregger any money before for voter registration? Yes. Here is a March 2008 FEC filing that shows he was paid $184 in February 2008. http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-b…
In January 2008, he received 2 payments, $391 and $251.
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-b…
In March 2008, Kregger recieved 3 payments, $172, $240, and $147 .
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-b…
In April, May, June, July 2008 I didn’t find any payments disbursed to either Arreguin or Kregger, although payments were being disbursed to others for “Voter Registration” .
Since a “Mrs Atterberry” was mentioned on the protest handout as having been paid to “process” the registrations, therefore the protesters thought they should also be reimbursed, I searched for her identity both as a politically involved Republican and as a person who was paid by either the Placer County Republicans or the McClintock campaign during this spring, or both.
On May 5, 2008, a “Karen Atteberry,” (one less “r” ) of Roseville was paid $500 by the Placer County Republicans for “administration support services. ”
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-b…
The next month, June 5, 2008, Karen Atteberry, Roseville, was paid $120 , with the notation “see memo.” (filings are made the subsequent month, so this is a July 2008 FEC document. )
Now look at this schedule H3 ( a detail of the different types of disbursements) for the same month. http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-b…
TRANSFERS FROM NONFEDERAL ACCOUNTS
ALLOCATED FEDERAL/NONFEDERAL ACTIVITY
FILING FEC-353502
Committee: PLACER COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY (FEDERAL ACCT.)
Name of Account
Placer County Republican Party
Date of Reciept:
06/03/2008
Total Amount Transferred:
3168.00
Administrative / Voter Drive
Administrative / Voter Drive Amount: 3168.00
Name of Account
Placer County Republican Party
Date of Reciept:
06/05/2008
Total Amount Transferred:
4761.71
Name of Account
Placer County Republican Party
Date of Reciept:
06/18/2008
Total Amount Transferred:
1951.74
What does this mean? It means, in June of 2008, The Placer County Republican Party was transferring thousands of dollars of money on June 3, June 5, and June 18 to pay Somebody or Something. $3168 was paid to Somebody to do Admininstrative/ Voter Drive activity.
Look at schedule H6 for same report, same month,June 2008
These people were paid for “Voter Registration Service” for a total of only $1327
Jim Dwyer Roseville 6/9/08 $146
Jim Dwyer Roseville 6/9/08 $ 96
Jim Dwyer Roseville 6/3/08 $471
John Anderson Fair Oaks 6/12/08 $253
Jim Dwyer Roseville 6/3/08 $361
There is a nearly $2000 gap between what the grunt walkers are getting and what Somebody is getting reimbursed for on June 3 for Voter Registration Activity.
Look at the Summary Page for this report June 1 thru 30, 2008 http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-b…
cash on hand $7988
cash recieved $9347
subtotal avail. $17,336
_____________
Total disbursements $14,721
cash on hand leftover $2615
For the next month of July, 2008, the Summary Page says
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-b…
CASH ON HAND $5440
DISBURSEMENTS $4248
___________________
LEFTOVERS $1191
So it does appear that the Placer County Republican Party has spent much, is still spending some, but is not receiving at this point. Historically, this account has supported just 3 candidates:
Rep. John Doolittle (R, CA- 04)
Bill Jones, when he ran and lost for Senate
Tom McClintock (R, Thousand Oaks) running out of district to replace Doolittle
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-b…
Steven Arreguin has been paid by the Placer County Republican Party in February 2006 for Voter Registration. It can be found on Schedule H4 for Report FEC 217404, Disbursement for Allocated Federal/Nonfederal activity. He would have been on probation from the first problem, since that conviction was in Oct of 2003, which was 2 years and 4 months back, leaving 8 months to go.
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-b… This is an amended report filed 5/12/2006 , covering period 2/1/2006 thru 2/28/2006
PAYEE STEVEN ARREGUIN
(former address. he has a lot of them )
CARMICHAEL CA 95608
Purpose of Disbursement: Service for Voter Registration Prior to Date of Event = 2/23/2006
AMOUNT DISBURSED = $756.00
Look who gave the Placer County Republican Party Committee money that month:
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-b…
Ken W Campbell Lincoln
Henry C Walther Granite Bay
John Doolittle for Congress
Friends of Bruce Kranz
California Republican Party
(A Local Restaurant where they held meetings is listed as an equivalent donation)
Rep. John Doolittle and Ken Campbell, former deep pockets financial supporter, former employer of Steven Arreguin, had not yet officially become ex- very best friends at that point. Doolittle went on to win his 2006 re election by a hair’s breath, winning by a few thousand votes over Democratic candidate Charlie Brown. That fall- out happened after April 2007, when the FBI raided Doolittle’s house in Oakton, VA, and Doolittle didn’t tell anyone about it for several days.
Was this payment to Arreguin a one- time deal? No.
AGAIN, IN JAN 2006, Steven Arreguin was paid to do Voter Registration by the Placer County Republican Party. (remember, Campbell is the former head of this group)
Look at Schedule H4, Disbursement for allocated federal/nonfederal activity filing FEC – 203217 Placer County Republican Party Federal Acct
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-b…
Payee: Steven Arreguin
(former address )
Carmichael CA 95680
Purpose of disbursement: Service for Voter Registration
Date of Event= 1//24/2006
Activity is Generic Voter Drive
Amount disbursed = $864
There was also $1132.45 transfered to the PCRP account 1/7/06 for Admin. /Voter drive
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-b…
During that same filing month of January, 2006, under receipts, the Placer County Republican Party received 2 payments, $2500 and $5000, = $7500, from the Superior California PAC. That is John Doolittle’s PAC. They had total disbursements that month of $4302.
~~~~Conclusion~~~~
• So, what do we know? From examining the FEC financial filings for this organization, The Placer County Republican Party was paying at least one of the protestors, Josh Kregger, in January, February, and March of this year, 2008, for “Voter Registration Drive” work.
•The Placer County Republican Party HAS paid a Karen Atteberry for “voter drive/ administrative” work. Somebody not exactly specified is getting paid thousands of dollars for “administrative/voter” work per the FEC filings. Another consultant is getting paid thousands of dollars for GOTV “management.”
•The Placer County Republican Party HAS paid the man in the photo, Steven Arreguin, in previous years for the same type of work, but is not logging it officially this year. During January and February of 2006, Arreguin was paid by the Placer County Republican Party for “Voter Registration” while he was on probation for a conviction for voter registration fraud. During that time, both Ken Campbell and John Doolittle gave money to the PCRP account. Steven Arreguin has also been convicted of voter registration fraud in January 2008 for activities he was performing in Placer County in 2003, during the time of the CA governor’s recall election (a race in which Tom McClintock ran in, placing 3rd behind the winner, Gov. Schwarzenegger, (R) and Cruz Bustamente, (D).
•Tom McClintock (R) is running for office again, this time only in this district instead of statewide. This is still an interesting coincidence.
•Steven Arreguin is claiming he has worked for the Placer County Republican Party THIS SPRING doing voter registration and has not been paid, yet he also says that 2 weeks ago the McClintock campaign also has promised to pay him and that has not happened.
•Steven Arreguin is not claiming he’s any type of angel. He just wants to get paid for work he claims to have performed so far. He is willing to ask publically why he has not been paid, when other people also working on this activity have been. This is a good question.
•As of June, 2008, the Placer County Republican Party had $2615 cash on hand. As of July, 2008, they had $1191. They are currently running low on money. They are also running solicitations right now on their Republican websites for voter registration workers. Notice how Karen Atteberry is mentioned on this page :
http://www.sacrepublicans.org/…
And on this one. http://www.placergop.org/offic…
•The Tom McClintock for Congress Campaign, from studying their FEC financial report filings, HAS paid the Placer County Republican Party at least $5000 (in May 2008) for GOTV type activities. There is proof of a financial relationship between the 2 organizations concerning voter registration activities. Doolittle’s Superior California Leadership PAC is also NOT DEAD YET. It has received donations recently this year from an El Dorado County Real Estate developer in May, and from Rep. Wally Herger (R, CA ) in March 2008. Doolittle’s Superior PAC has so far given money to the Placer County Republican Party account in Feb 2007 this election cycle, but it’s still solvent, up, and ready to donate with a $6000 + balance.
•If the Placer County Republican Party is using people to collect voter registrations and then there is no official acknowledgment of their activities, plus there are OTHER people getting paid to “administrate” such activities, it is reasonable for people to ask just what is being done with those registrations in the interim. We have a responsibility to each other to make sure that every registration of a voter makes it to the proper place on time and is not delayed or neglected, resulting in a loss of registration without the potential voter having any inkling as to what is really going on if it were to come down to the voting day when they found out. Or if they just didn’t receive their mail- in ballot.
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0451 last pic
“Republicans Not Paying Republicans. Why?” Now, that’s a good question.
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(photos by diary author. Disclosure. Nobody paid me to write this, either. )
cross posted at dailykos, EENR blog
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Links
http://www.theimnews.com/Archi… this is a pdf of the Inter Mountain News of Burney, CA January 2008 archives, had the article about Arreguin’s previous convictions on violating election law.
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-b… This is the FEC disclosure for Committee C00395590 Placer County Republican Party Federal Acct. (plug in this number into the electronic file retrieval for the documents I was working off of)
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-b… This shows this Committee has supported 3 candidates in the past and currently:
John Doolittle (R) Congressman CA- 04, not running again
Bill Jones, (R) failed Senate Candidate in 2004
Tom McClintock (R) candidate to replace Doolittle
Mama link page for Electronic filings by Placer County Republican Party Federal Acct
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-b…