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.

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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

 

WTF?  Is this for real?

September 14, 2008.  Nevada City, Northern CA.  

  Southern Californian career politician Tom McClintock, fresh from a 2 month gridlock in the CA State Senate, where he has led the Republican effort to bankrupt the state during the fiscal crisis by refusing to sign  any budget (entire career ) , and still advocating Republican style tax cuts for the wealthiest during a 17 Billion dollar shortfall,   was spotted at the Constitution Day Parade in the California Sierra this Sunday.    McClintock, who is terming out of the CA State legislative offices,  and is in between runs for Lt Gov and Gov,  is searching for another job in the public sector he has made a career out of disparaging.  Lucky us. The consultants picked our district.

Meanwhile, thousands of state workers and vendors cannot pay their bills because of layoffs and the state stiffing them.  (edited update from this morning’s original post)  Now Mr. “family values” has gone back to “work” to try to throw nearly a quarter of a million children off the Medi- cal rolls.

(more below the fold)

McClintock was last seen on the steps of the State Capitol in Sacramento, with a group of ersatz border vigilantes who run email scams, calling for the resignation of the mayor of one of California’s largest cities and saying the Federal Government should cut funding off to San Francisco and Los Angeles.    Way to balance that budget, Tom.

On to the parade appearance.  Shame how campaigning gets in the way of collecting funds for his next run for office.

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September 14, 2008. Nevada City,CA. The Constitution Parade.     Waiting for Godot.  Can you find the Republican Candidate in this photogragh?                  Yes, Tom McClintock.  This is a parade about the Constitution, with much historical content re the Civil War,  so we’re going to remind you that the Constitution  of the United States applies to all peoples of all races, all creeds, all beliefs, and all colors, and that Congress shall establish no religious test for office.   You don’t get to pick and choose.

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       Somewhere in Ventura, a village is missing its Umbrella.  We found it.  

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What, no Swiftboat?  No effigies?  Where’s Steven?  Where’s John?       Note.  That’s my caption, not a quote.  And that’s Charlie Brown (D, Roseville)  on the left side of the photo, watching the McClintock (R, Anywhere I Get a Per Diem ) entry come down the street .  Tom’s clutching the straw hat instead of the straw man here.  

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Walk on by.  

Surrounded by at least 6 supporters, Southern Californian Republican Tom McClintock is safely escorted past Democratic Candidate for Congress Charlie Brown, (USAF Lt. Col, retired,) at the Nevada City Constitution Parade on September 14, 2008.  Duty, Honor, Country.  Real Person vs. demogogue trying to scare people.  

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Peek- A – Boo !  I won’t debate You !

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Can we load him back into the moving van yet ?  

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What about the cut – out doll ? Will that fit in the bus ?

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Return to Sender. Address Unknown.  No Such Number.  No Such Home.

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And that’s what happened.  And now you know.   When I checked the Republican blog last night, the blogger was still insisting that people in Florida could see Chinese oil drilling rigs off the coast stealing all of our oil.  Along with the hanging effigy garbage.  You know who’s running for President.  You know what that implies.  Does this not make you sick ?  You know from my last diary who’s paying for Tom McClintock to try to take over our district.   Please help us send McClintock back to wherever it is he exists in his alternate reality universe.  Get the word out.  We need the truth.  

http://www.charliebrownforcong…

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photos by diary author.  

A mini-report:

• CA-04: I love this video from the Charlie Brown campaign.  They traveled 412 miles down to Thousand Oaks to talk to constituents of California’s Alan Keyes, State Senator and professional office-chaser Tom McClintock.  It’s really funny and drives the point home that McClintock is a do-nothing at best and a dangerous radical at worst:

And get this, McClintock is now running on the state budget, the Republican version of which has a 19% approval rating.  That’s like putting Nixon, Bush and Cheney in your campaign ad.

• CA-26, CA-45: Not one but two!  Both Russ Warner AND Julie Bornstein have been added to the DCCC “Races To Watch” list.  This is a prelude to being listed as Red To Blue candidates.  If the D-Trip comes through with some money, maybe threatened incumbents like Dreier will have to stop mouthing off about other GOP races and start paying attention to their own. UPDATE: Mike Lumpkin (CA-52) is on that list now too, which is a pleasant surprise.

• CA-46: When John Fund tries to target a Dem challenger, you know something’s going wrong.  Fund is sounding the alarm on Debbie Cook, as Dana Rohrabacher tries to greenwash himself with a scheme to build solar-power plants on federal land without environmental impact studies.  Fund says that Cook called this “an extreme position,” but he chopped the quote:

Democratic challenger and Mayor of Huntington Beach Debbie Cook agrees that the process of approving solar power plants is sluggish and needs to be sped up, but not at the expense of the environment.

“This is just another extreme position by Dana Rohrabacher. What we need to do is come up with a balanced approach that streamlines these projects, because they’re critically important to our energy future, but at the same time recognizes the impacts to the environment,” Cook said.

Rohrabacher’s doing the equivalent of saying he’ll grow jobs by hiring 10,000 federally funded serial killers, and then wondering why everyone’s worried about the mass death (“You wanted jobs, didn’t you?”).  There’s a sensible way to free up the bottlenecks and a rash one.  Rohrabacher chose door #2.

• CA-42: The internal poll results released by Ed Chau are intriguing (showing him up 44-38 after a mix of positive and negative information released on the candidates), but I don’t think candidates who have minimal bank accounts should do polls stating the numbers after a mix of information if they don’t have the money to get that information out.  But if Gary Miller truly has a 28% re-elect number as the poll states, he could be in trouble.

• 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.

Gentle Readers and Fans of Northern CA: Today, Monday, September 8, 2008, 2 things happened in CA- 04.  Charlie Brown, the Democrat running to replace Republican John Doolittle, the Abramoff- scandal encrusted retiring incumbent, released recent polling data that showed he has a lead over the SoCal Republican imported to the district to replace him. This is great news. http://www.charliebrownforcong…

And a former staffer of John Doolittle, as you may have heard by now, was arrested at his home and indicted, and pled not guilty to many different aspects of bribing and corrupting Congressional Representative Number 5.

This is just really interesting, so we’ll do a little background refresher.

August 4, 2006. Doolittle exits Coco’s Restaurant after an Auburn Dam Council meeting, to find a sea of protestors and media questioning him about the Abramoff scandal.   photo by author

This was a long time coming. Kevin Ring, who has made silence a lifestyle choice when looking at a subpoena,  the one who pleaded the 5th against self incrimination in testimony before the Senate, has now run out the clock.

http://deepbackground.msnbc.ms…

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/hom…

Our New Abramoff Indictee Factsheet:

Who:  Kevin Ring, Rep. John Doolittle’s former legislative director, and former lobbyist

What:   Ring arrested today Mon 9/8/08 at his home in Maryland

          indicted + charged with  10 counts of bribery, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy in federal court in DC.

Reaction Now:  Ring pled not guilty.  

Possible Chain Reaction Later:  If he doesn’t want to go to jail, he may implicate others involved and plea bargain. Given the number of people Ring worked with who are already convicted in the Abramoff scandal, the case against Ring is very serious.  John Doolittle is Ring’s former boss and a known beneficiary of his lobbyist talents. John Doolittle has always claimed in public that Jack Abramoff was a friend, and that he didn’t have to give the money back.  If Doolittle were to be indicted before Bush left office, Bush would pardon him to prevent him from testifying against others.

Where:  Federal Court in DC

When:   3 days after lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced to 4 more years in prison on Sept 5 for bribing government officials.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/…       Because of his cooperation with the Federal government, he received a reduced sentence in exchange for helping to convict 13 other people so far.  Abramoff pled guilty in January of 2006 to fraud and conspiracy charges in regards to his buying SunCruz floating casino ships, and was serving time in jail since then while working with federal prosecutors in the other conspiracy case against him of bribing government officials, in his job as a lobbyist for Greenberg Traurig.

Why  this matters:    Rep. John Doolittle (R, “Chevron”)  is the current  Republican Congressperson in CA- 04.  Doolittle decided not to run for re election in 2008 against Charlie Brown (D, Roseville)  after his polling numbers, campaign donations and influence abruptly nosedived after the FBI raided his Oakton, VA house April 13, 2007, as he was on his way to an Indian Casino in Oroville, CA, to give a speech to the local Oroville Chamber of Commerce.  On that same April 13, his former chief of staff, Kevin Ring, suddenly resigned without warning from the lobbying firm he was employed with.   Kevin Ring helped Julie Doolittle get a job with Jack Abramoff.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpoi…     That “job”  paid her $67,000 over 2 years.

What is wrong with having worked for Jack Abramoff? From Think Progress, Abramoff , the House That Jack Built     http://thinkprogress.org/abram…

CAPITAL ATHLETIC FOUNDATION – (JULIE)  DOOLITTLE RAISED FUNDS FOR ABRAMOFF’S BOGUS ORGANIZATION: “You get tired of dinners and receptions. This time we wanted to do a gala event to raise awareness for the Capital Athletic Foundation, and back that awareness up with funds,” said Doolittle in 2003. But, the Capital Athletic Foundation didn’t raise money for children, as it was advertised to do. “[T]ax and spending records of the Capital Athletic Foundation obtained by The Washington Post show that less than 1 percent of its revenue has been spent on sports-related programs for youths. Instead, the documents show that Jack Abramoff…has repeatedly channeled money from corporate clients into the foundation and spent the overwhelming portion of its money on pet projects having little to do with the advertised sportsmanship programs.” [Hollywood Reporter, 3/5/03; (Use the WAPO Link) Washington Post, 9/28/04]

From the Sept 28 2004 WAPO    Foundation’s Funds Diverted From Mission

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…

{{{ The Capital Athletic Foundation’s Web site portrays youths at play: shaking hands over a tennis net, learning how to hold a bat, straining for a jump ball. Its text solicits donations for what it describes as “needy and deserving” sportsmanship programs.

In its first four years of operation, the charity has collected nearly $6 million.    But tax and spending records of the Capital Athletic Foundation obtained by The Washington Post show that less than 1 percent of its revenue has been spent on sports-related programs for youths.

Internal records state, for example, that Abramoff and his wife, Pam — who are listed as the foundation’s sole directors — spent more than 70 percent of its revenue from 2001 to 2003, or $4.03 million, on a Jewish school that Abramoff founded in Columbia. The Eshkol Academy operated for two years and schooled two of his sons before closing this spring with unpaid bills, faculty members said.  }}}

Jack Abramoff also became a lobbyist for 3 Indian Tribes, the Saginaw Chippewa, the Mississippi Choctaw, and the Coushatta of Louisiana.  They donated more than 2 million to the same Capitol Athletic Foundation that Julie Doolittle was fundraising for.  The reason they did that was that the lobbyists and the politicians were playing them off against each other implying the other tribe(s) would get better Casino deals.  But there was something else going on, the politicians were doing money laundering of foreign funds thru these casinos.  There was also a lobbyist named Michael Scanlon doing money laundering thru these donations.

Remember this, and ask, will John Doolittle let Julie take the fall for him?

Julie Doolittle worked for Jack Abramoff.  Abramoff’s in jail.  Kevin Ring helped get her that job. Kevin Ring just got indicted.  All this time, she’s avoided the consequences. So did Ring.  Until Now.

Julie Doolittle also has a “business” called Sierra Dominion Financial Services.  She started it in 2001. That firm did fundraising for John Doolittle’s Superior CA LeadershipPAC.  She took a percentage. Another client was Greenberg Traurig, Jack Abramoff’s company.  Another client of SierraDominion was Abramoff’s restaurant, Signatures.  And the last client was an alleged non profit called the Korea- US Exchange Council. This was run by Tom Delay’s ex chief of staff, Ed Buckham.  (Tom Delay’s wife, Christine, also “worked” for it. ) The Korea- US Exchange was part of Alexander Strategy Group.  Brent Wilkes was a client of Alexander Strategy.  That means he hired and paid them to lobby for his business and bring him government contracts.   These are all the clients Julie Doolittle had.  Her husband. Jack Abramoff. Tom Delay’s ex COS, Buckham.

If you are writing a job resume, this would not look good.  Delay and Doolittle and Abramoff.  It’s like the Bermuda Triangle Trifecta of Tragic Lobbying Associations.  

During the fall 2006 election cycle, when Republican Doolittle, who was being challenged by Democrat Charlie Brown, had to rely on multiple visits from VP Dick Cheney, George, and even Laura Bush to prop up his sagging campaign, Doolittle repeatedly denied being under federal DOJ investigation since 2004, until it was revealed that he was paying legal defense firms thousands of dollars monthly by using his campaign contributions.  Doolittle did this in 2 ways, one, by paying his wife fees as a “fundraiser” and two, by claiming that since he needed legal counsel to give him advice on the campaign trail about answering questions about the investigation, he was entitled to use campaign funds and treat it as a campaign activity. (the advice was, of course, not to answer any questions. This is how law firms prosper).

Local Angle:  Kevin Ring was still a lobbyist for the city of Lincoln, CA, in the summer of 2006, because John Doolittle had recommended him for the job,   http://solongjohn.blogspot.com…                    and was instrumental in obtaining earmarks from John Doolittle for the fastest growing city in the state during the early years of Bush’s “War On Terror.”  (should have been called the War on Your Pocketbook )  John Doolittle gained notoriety during this time for not only telling local CA- 04 towns to “hire a lobbyist” if they wanted to talk to him, and expecting those “talks” to bear donations,  but for having his wife Julie Doolittle collect a  15%   percentage of every campaign donation as a “fundraiser’s fee”  including many from local Real Estate speculators and developers.  Many of these developers are involved in land use mitigation where they try to swap property they want to develop that contains endangered habitat or species for property to be set aside elsewhere, so properties end up being sold several times to different developers trying to get zoning and EIR approval. Zoning…  may be influenced by campaign contributions, as many cities in the district now hire lobbyists to work in the state capitol of Sacramento, as well as in Washington, DC.     Julie runs her “fund- grazing”   under the name of Sierra Dominion Financial Services.   John Doolittle, who said he was going to stop paying Julie   ” 15%”  percent of each donation after the 2006 election, instead continued to do so, according to his FEC financial filings from January 2007 onwards.  This is because he was using that portion of the family “income” to pay a team of white collar criminal defense lawyers for himself and his wife to fight his staff records being subpoenaed by the Dept of Justice.  One of those law firms was Wiley Rein & Fielding.  One of the names in that title is George W Bush’s White House Legal Counsel, Fred Fielding, who replaced Harriet Miers in January 2007. (Fielding left WR&F during this time)   Another of John Doolittle’s defense attornies, David G Barger, specializes in getting settlements between the IRS and clients in tax trouble whereby the client avoids jail time.  Barger worked for Ken Starr in the Whitewater Investigation against the Clintons.  Julie Doolittle has her own attorney, William Stauffer.  John Doolittle also established a Legal Defense Fund for his ongoing legal expenses, as he is heavily in debt.

More Local Angle: A local Defense Contractor in CA- 04 contributed money to that legal defense fund.   So did  Congressman Wally Herger(R) in neighboring district CA- 02, donating $5000 in Dec of 2007 as a ….. “neighborly gesture.”  So did Orrin Hatch’s (R, Senate, Utah) Orrin PAC, which cheerfully doubled the amount, to $10,000. OrrinPAC is heavily funded by Health Insurance lobbyists.  This is your health insurance premiums at work, folks.  Did I mention that the highest category of donation source to Doolittle’s would be Republican replacement, McClintock, is from the health insurance industry, per opensecrets?

Still More Local Angle: Do some of Doolittle’s former and current financial and political backers now support Republican Tom McClintock, who is trying to replace him after terming out of his southern California district ? You betcha.  

Gonzogate of CA:   http://solongjohn.blogspot.com…    http://www.dailykos.com/story/…    The Attorney General Firing Scandal, where 6 career prosecutors with the DOJ suddenly found themselves political targets being told to resign in , was sculpted in part by the need to keep DOJ  Southern CA district Atty General Carol Lam from filing bribery charges against Brent Wilkes, the federal Defense contractor who was bribing convicted Congressman Duke Cunningham (R), who is now in jail. Lam obtained a conviction against Cunningham in March 2006.   Atty Gen Carol Lam also did manage to indict Brent Wilkes and Dusty Foggo, ex CIA operative, on 2/13 before her forced resignation by former US Atty Gen Alberto Gonzales on Feb 15, 2007.  Gonzales would resign later over this scandal, after his underlings, such as Monica Goodling, testified before Congress.  Wilkes eventually went to trial in October of 2007 in San Diego, the trial was delayed by Southern CA wildfires, finally went to jury on Halloween, and  Wilkes was convicted on Nov 5, 2007, and sentenced in February 2008 of bribing Cunningham for a total of $46 million. http://www.signonsandiego.com/…    Other sources say the amount was closer to $80 million in government contracts in return for about $600,000 in bribes.    http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpoi…                                        SEE LINK HERE for Trick or Treat, Doolittle’s still not off the Hookergate Wilkes Trial:   http://www.dailykos.com/story/…

John Doolittle also earmarked $37 million dolllars in money for Brent Wilkes “Perfect Wave”. ( He also tried to earmark for Wilke’s “Mailsafe” technology after the anthrax contamination mail scare, but it didn’t fly.)  In return the Doolittles got donations from Wilke’s company, ADCS, totaling at least $118,000.   The San Diego Union Tribune estimated this meant $14,000 went into Julie Doolittle’s “fund grazing” business.   http://www.signonsandiego.com/…     Brent  Wilkes flew Tom DeLay, (ex Texas Congressman, used to be the Republican Majority Leader) to a Las Vegas Casino fundraiser for Doolittle at the Venetian Hotel in May 2004.   {{{{{{  see above “trick or treat” link, see also sign on sandiego link  }}}}.   John Doolittle also was subpoenaed to appear in the Brent Wilkes trial, but he had his lawyers tell them he didn’t need to show up.  http://www.dailykos.com/story/…      Mark Geragos, Wilke’s celebrity attorney, was going to try to use a defense that would claim that the defense contractors were getting abused by the Republican Congressional delegation that was shaking them down for earmarks and gifts.

Remember. Brent Wilkes hired Alexander Strategy Group as his lobbyist, which was Ed Buckhams’s company.  Buckham=Tom Delay’s ex COS.

Julie Doolittle, John’s wife, “worked” for Alexander Strategy, doing “fundraising” and “bookeeping.”

Christine Delay, Tom’s wife, also “worked” for Alexander Strategy.  Same deal. She’s a “consultant.”  1998 to 2002.

So, there is the wife of somebody on the House Appropriations Committee, a very powerful position, and the wife of the House Majority Leader, getting large monthly retainers for about 2 years for Julie, and 4 years for Christine, for “event planning” to raise money for Alexander Strategy, the Capitol Athletic Foundation, the US- Korea Exchange.  And it’s wasn’t hard work. It was barely work at all. Just show up at the lobbyist’s office and schedule opportunities to collect money from very willing donors.  And it was very lucrative.  One problem.  Not everyone in the world is allowed to give you money, when you work for the US government.

The government of Malaysia, using unsourced funny money, hires a lobbying/consulting firm called Bell Haven Consultants.

Bell Haven hires Alexander Strategy.   On September 27, 2001, only sixteen days after America’s 9/11 terror attack on the World Trade Center in NYC, this Alexander Strategy Group starts working for Belle Haven Consultants, seeking to “provide a better image of Malaysia to the USA.”  Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country.

Belle Haven, Jack Abramoff, and Alexander Strategy share the same office in Hong Kong.

Ed Buckham of Alexander Strategy also formed another non profit called the US- Malaysia Exchange.

John Doolittle will take a trip to Langkawi, Malaysia in February of 2005.  The trip cost $29,400, and was paid by front groups paid by…. Alexander Strategy Group. (long comment I left in another diary with sources)  http://www.dailykos.com/commen…

John Doolittle hid the fact that he had stock in Chevron Oil until he revised his yearly financial statements after the FBI raid.

Malaysia has a government owned national oil company named Petronas, a huge company with projects in 31 companies, some with Chevron.  (which might have been involved in funding Belle Haven Consultants )

http://au.answers.yahoo.com/qu…

Alexander Strategy will eventually go out of business in January of 2006. http://www.washingtonpost.com/…

We may never find out completely what John Doolittle was up to.  Nor what Jack Abramoff did.   But in the aftermath of September 11th, 2001, a national tragedy…. there was something really suspicious going on.  Would that war not be seen as just another business opportunity.

Remember, when all this started to unravel, the Bush administration insisted there were weapons of mass destruction, that we were going to fight the Terrorist evildoers, that Al Queda was funded by Saddam Hussein and Iraq.  And one of Bush’s most loyal supporters and rubber stampers of policy and legislation has been Rep. John T. Doolittle.

Because so much has been written so much more eloquently about the Marianas Islands (CNMI) and John Doolittle’s involvement in blocking immigration and wage reform in these Pacific Ocean United States commonwealth territories, I will recomend Dengre’s 2006 and 2007 diaries for that storyline. http://dengre.dailykos.com/

A recent story, “Abramoff gets 4 years. McCain should not. ”    has great info on how Jack Abramoff was hired by the CNMI to lobby specifically against human rights advocate Wendy Doromal and her efforts to change the system of labor abuse  which John Doolittle was protecting in return for campaign donations from people running sweatshops… and worse:    http://www.dailykos.com/story/…

And dailykos poster leveymg has written a very good piece in June, on the relationship between Sen John McCain and Abramoff & the GOP Foreign Money Machine

http://www.dailykos.com/story/…

In that commentary, I left a very long comment concerning John Doolittle’s  2005 trip to Malaysia, which was paid for by 2 alleged “non- profits” funded by South Korea and Malaysian lobbyists(think Oil money) using Alexander Strategy Group as the front.  

http://www.dailykos.com/commen…

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Tuesday morning update:  When I checked the online version and dead tree version of the Sacramento Bee this morning, it was edited so heavily and dumbed down enough to make it sound as if Doolittle was just taking restaurant meals and concert tickets from Ring and Abramoff in return for a few favors.  The lack of detail as to how sitting Congressmen were being bribed by lobbyists using foreign funds and defense contractors during wartime is appalling.  I am more convinced than ever that the Bush Administration (and the new management at SacBee) is handling Doolittle extremely carefully because if he testified against anyone, it would show that even the Dept. of Justice was compromised during this time period.

Links were also added.  

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Humor Angle:  According to the AP, Abramoff has written a book in prison titled “The Perfect Villain: John McCain and the Demonization of Lobbyist Jack Abramoff, ” which blames the current Republican Presidential nominee and the WAPO for his current incarceration.  Jack, Jack, Jack…. you still don’t get it.  But thanks. Every little bit helps.

Other Humor Angle:  I just lost my electricity Monday while writing this at 4:07 pm.  Typical.  Electricity back up at 6:10 pm.  

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editing update: more links added. cross posting at http://www.eenrblog.com and http://www.dailykos.com/story/…

Even though John Doolittle is not on the ballot this year, his presence in a district that he dominated for years is still important for Republican branding.  Much like in Ohio, where the Tom Noe Coingate scandal spelled doom for all Republican statewide officers in 2006, the stench of scandal around Doolittle has the potential to severely tarnish the Republican brand in CA-04.  And if yesterday’s indictment of former Doolittle aide Kevin Ring is as advertised, which it appears to be, the brand isn’t just tarnished, it’s out in the dumpster:

The indictment adds additional information to Doolittle’s already thick record with Abramoff. According to the indictment, Ring expensed at least one suite for a sports event, eight concert tickets (including tickets for Dixie Chicks and Faith Hill), and five meals totaling more than $2000 for Doolittle. For Doolittle’s staff and his legislative director in particular, Ring bought 29 sports tickets, four concert tickets, nine meals, and one gift from Macy’s.

But Ring and Abramoff were well accommodated in return. As the indictment describes, Doolittle proved himself “a good soldier” by chairing a hearing on the Puerto Rico statehood issue for an Abramoff client and held up his opposition to an anti-gambling bill among other favors.

And Doolittle’s staff was just as helpful. Doolittle’s communications director helped Ring out with tax legislation to “earn [his] Sigs Sushi ;),” and his legislative director was so “tenacious on the appropriations front” that he earned an esteemed compliment from Ring in an email: “You the man.”

Doolittle is referred to (as “Representative 5”) in the indictment over 100 times.  If he’s actually indicted before the election, that will be a boost for Charlie Brown, as the culture of corruption which helped him to a near-upset in 2006 would come back into play.  And with carpetbagger Tom McClintock trying to lie his way to victory (subs. req.), his claim to the ethical high road isn’t all that firm, either.

Before the June primary, Charlie Brown released an internal poll showing him up two points on Tom McClintock.  Three months later, the race has not fundamentally changed:

With less than two months to go before the November election, Retired USAF Lt. Col. Charlie Brown has released recent polling showing him leading Southern California politician Tom McClintock 43-41, and widening his lead to nearly double digits when voters were presented with the positive attributes of each candidate.

The survey of 500 likely General Election voters was conducted by the Benensen Strategy Group from August 21st-24th, with a margin of error of +/- 4.38%.  

Beyond Brown’s advantage on an initial ballot and following positive contrasts of each candidate, the poll reveals that Brown enjoys a higher net favorability rating than McClintock—despite the fact that McClintock is a better known career politician who has run for Statewide office four times.  Brown, who is a career military officer, has also built a 29 point advantage among Independents while capturing nearly one in five Republican voters.

This lead is obviously within the margin of error, and because the district is so Republican, even that 29-point lead among independents brings us to a tie.  But the fundamentals for Brown are pretty strong.  The right track-wrong track in the district is 23-67.  And after the policy positions are added in, Brown’s lead balloons to eight points, 50-42.

This is going to be about having the money to get the message out and inform the electorate, and having the ground troops to get out the vote.  Turnout will be the major driver of who wins this race.  But those who wrote off Charlie Brown when John Doolittle dropped out were very mistaken.

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…