I am a true Orange native, 3rd generation, and a mother to a new generation. I feel that it is time to stop the "good ol boys" club downtown, and get back to serving our city. Comments are very welcome, and appreciated. It's our time, it's our city. and it's time we take it back from these charlatans!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Talk about Double Dipping, Meet Mrs. DUM I Tru
http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2010/03/riverside-d-a-raids-gop-consultant-dave-gilliards-office/
Congratulations To Jon Dumitru and Gina Zari
By Matthew Cunningham (DUM I Tru Stooge aka Jerbal)
http://www.redcounty.com/node/27035
My wife and I had the honor of being guests at the April 18 wedding of Orange Councilman Jon Dumitru and Gina Zari, chief of staff to Sen. Mimi Walters, (Now they have 2 pensions to live on!) and it was one of the loveliest, most enjoyable weddings I have been to in quite some time.
The ceremony and reception took place at the landmark Orange Hill Restaurant in east Orange. Jon and Gina were married in the evening on the patio overlooking the broad expanse of Orange, as well as the other cities that also occupy Orange County, exchanging vows before an intimate (by wedding standards) gathering of 140 or so friends and family.
Given the bride's and groom's extensive involvement in OC government and politics, the county politerati comprised a significant protion of the guests. Among them were Sen. Mimi Walters and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Tristan Krogius; Senator Bob Huff; Supervisor Janet Nguyenand her husband Tom Bonikowski; former Assemblyman and Supervisor Todd Spitzer and his wife Jaime; Paul Hernandez, senior government affairs hocho for The Irvine Company; Orange Mayor Carolyn Cavecche, Orange Councilmembers Mark Murphy, Tita Smith and Denis Bilodeau; veteran consultant Dave Gilliard, along with just about the entire staff of Gilliard Blanning Wysocki & Associates -- including Natalie Blanning Weber, who flew out from Minnesota with her husband Joe Weber; OCPFA Secretary and class act Tony Bedolla and his lovely wife Patricia; OC Water District President Steve Sheldon and his lovely wife Janice; Phil Paule, Rep. Darrell Issa's District Director and Director of the Eastern Municipal Water District, and his lovely wife and political fundraiser Julie (partial listing, as we say in the business).
The reception was held in the banquet room added last year as part of the restaurant's expansion. It is a beautiful room that gives off a sort of wine-cellar feeling, with the added bonus of an exceptional view of the OC skyline. Instead of the usual brightly lit room, tghe lighting was more subdued and cast in large part by abundance of votive candles on the dinner tables. In addition to the relaxed lighting, the reception featured an open bar, with which you can never go wrong.
Best of all was seeing the obvious happiness of the Jon and Gina, who should be embarked on their delayed honeymoon as I write. Many happy wishes of a lifetime of joy to two stellar, sterling friends!
Man are we miopic! DUM I Tru's buddy Julie Watson is classic case
In my response to Jon's work on Registered Sex Offenders
Blah Blah Blah, I don't know who Julie Watson is, but she is confused.
So, to clarify, I did a key word search on all agendas and municodes
for the Orange city council, and behold nothing with Darren Smith and
ANY city municipal code. Imagine my shock.
Wow, more useless crap from Jon's buddies.
Seems this buddy of Jon's sits on a couple of Orange City Boards (wonder how that happened?), but there was never anything linked to him. The hits shown in the picture are for work with CDBG and the Senior Center. So, tell me again that Jon is giving out the credit to my girlfriend that brought this up! He's not even giving credit, even on the record to his buddy, county slacker Darren Smith!
The ordnance went into effect in 2009? Ok, where is anyone's name? Like Megan's Law or Ambers Alert or Jon's Municode, where is the name??? No where, because there is none, Jon takes the glory and walks on the little people.
More BS!
Here is What Turd Boy wrote about this: I. I. I. I. No one's name Show me SOME PROOF!!! Not hear say! Just another stooge for Jon! Both Julie Watson and Darren Smith!
A Trashy Connection with Jon & Den (AKA DUM I Tru and Bilodeaud)
A Trashy Connection
Submitted by Orange Resident (not verified) on Sat, 2010-10-30 14:40.
Thank you Chip for your investigation here - it was thoughtful and well researched. As a resident of Orange i am deeply concerned about the connection you've uncovered between these horrible attacks on our Mayor and our new trash hauler, CR&R. Every resident should be up in arms about this dirty, under-handed attempt to sway the council election.
They lied in their application,
They were dishonet about our rates (which are not lower)
They had Mr. Dumitru in their pocket when it came time to vote.
They were dishonet about our rates (which are not lower)
They had Mr. Dumitru in their pocket when it came time to vote.
I don't think its a coincidence that their contract review comes up in December 2010 where they will be asking residents for a rate hike because they underbid the contract and tried to bait and switch us.
We need to stand up to this kind of garbage on every level.
Say NO to CR&R and Mr. Dumitru on November 2!!!
Say NO to CR&R and Mr. Dumitru on November 2!!!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Ninja Mutant Turtle Mike Fires a Shoot at Right Said Fred!
Freedom of the Press? Not in our town, stop writing the truth or I'll kick your A$$!
Funny the true colors of the boys when they are caught!
http://redcounty.com/content/strange-altas-pac-transaction-2-teaming-ocea
http://redcounty.com/content/strange-altas-pac-transaction-2-teaming-ocea
Why would I let a comment
Submitted by Chip Hanlon on Sat, 2010-10-30 01:08.
Why would I let a comment such as the one above go live here, even if edited?
So everyone here could see the immediate reaction: to threaten me. Someone--my, oh my, who could it be?-- wrote an explicit threat in the areas it says (redacted) that you see in the comment above. I saved a screen shot and our programmer will be pulling down the IP address on Monday, but no need to share the details of what we deleted.
Pretty BLEEPING chilling, though, the attempt.
Unguessable mystery person(s): you don't like what was written about you as an elected official so you threaten to harm the writer at the publication that uncovered it?
That's not how it goes. Ever.
I don't have to threaten back. I know exactly--exactly-- how others in the media would respond were that to occur. Check my own massive media rotation if you don't think I know what I'm talking about.
You seem to have pulled a scam with regard to election finance: explain it or own it, those are your choices as elected officials. Threatening publishers in order to silence reporting you don't like is not an option.
I'm sure you look a lot more attractive to readers here now for having threatened me, though. Well done.
Readers: they probably thought I'd delete it from the backend of the site so no one would see. Wrong.
Not the first time it's happened. Won't be the last.
Liars & Trash & Union Money! Oh My! The Crapola just hit the Fan!
So how will the Pep Boys get out of this? Great story of truth and money!
http://redcounty.com/content/strange-altas-pac-transaction-2-teaming-ocea
Strange Altas PAC Transaction #2: Teaming Up with the OCEA
By Chip Hanlon | 10/29/10 | 3:36 PM EDT | 17 Comments
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This story gets pretty twisty-turny, so I'll try to boil it down as much as possible...
As you know, yesterday I wrote about one odd transaction that ran through one of the county's leading conservative groups: Why Did the OCEA Funnel Money Through Atlas PAC?
Very Odd. Well, today we'll look at the other; here's strange Atlas transaction number two (open this document).
There, you have a simple excel sheet of information that's fully available, publicly: on sheet 1, you have the contributions Atlas has received during this cycle and on sheet 2, its expenditures.
Line 2 on each excel sheet shows the in-and-out flow of funds I described yesterday.
On line 1, however, you see the biggest single contribution Atlas has received-- $15,000 from Urban Street Properties, Inc. of Newport Beach on October 7th, 2010-- and the corresponding expenditure 6 days later. Actually, Atlas seems to have added $1000 to make it $16k that went out the door to a different PAC than I wrote about yesterday. This one's called California Homeowners Association PAC (CHA)... let's have a look:
CHA has received money from precisely 4 donors (see their filing here):
- Atlas PAC ($16,000)
- California Citizens for Fair Government PAC (CCFG), which I showed yesterday to be a front for the OCEA ($12,000)
- Committee for Improved Public Policy ($8,000). That's a new one I'll come back to.
- Elaine Raahauge, an individual business owner ($1000)
Technically, CHA received money from 5 sources, since that Atlas PAC contribution is really only $1000 from them and $15,000 from Urban Street Properties, as I mentioned.
Now let's put rubber to the road... let's look at each of these CHA funding sources and post the motivation behind why each might have a motivation to financially support, say, the mayoral campaign of Jon Dumitru in Orange:
1) Atlas PAC: Lee Lowrey confirmed on Monday when I spoke with him that he is a close, personal friend of Dumitru. Check.
2) CCFG: We know this PAC is funded entirely by the OCEA. Who's a member of the OCEA? Jon Dumitru (he's a "Shop Steward" there, in fact, and a negotiating representative on the OCEA's general employees unit). So, coincidentally, is his pal on the Orange city council, Denis Bilodeau. Check.
3) Committe for Improved Public Policy: Another PAC, one supported by many contributors I don't want to dig into too deeply because it could make the whole story too confusing. BUT, one $15,000 contributor to this PAC is a company called CR&R Waste and Recycling. When CR&R won its contract to haul trash for the city of Orange, Mayor Carolyn Cavecche voted against. Jon Dumitru and Denis Bilodeau voted for it. Oh, and the company's review comes before the council in December of this year. Check.
4) Elaine Raahauge: she and her husband own a variety of gun stores and shooting-related businesses. Their shooting range is leased from the O.C. Water District. Who sits on the OCWD? Denis Bilodeau. Check.
5) Urban Street Properties: why'd these guys give $15,000 on behalf of Jon Dumitru? I honestly don't know. Lee Lowrey refused to say. Jon Dumitru didn't return my Monday voicemail. Even the company's president, Robert Compean, refused, telling me this morning "I'm not going to talk about that." I've reached him twice this week and each time he hung up abruptly. Frankly, I don't need to give myself a "check" on this one because I think the record is clear; I'll leave it to some other intrepid reported to figure out the relationship between Compean and Bilodeau and/or Dumitru. I'm sure there is one and by now I'm sure you are, too. (to others, Compean's not hard to find... just Google his name... the 714 number you'll see is apparently his direct cell)
Now, I haven't even told you yet what all five of these contributions were for, I've only alluded to it. So, just to be perfectly clear, here is what CHA, the supposed "California Homeowners Association" PAC, spent its money on:
AN INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURE HIT PIECE on Republican Mayor of Orange, Carolyn Cavecche.
Ayyyyup... this means that in the end, the Atlas PAC and the OCEA pooled their resources to hit one Republican (Cavecche) on behalf of another (Dumitru) by mail. Talk about kicking the holy sh*t out of the Baugh Manifesto!
So, yes, people: Jon Dumitru went in front of the Orange County GOP Central Committee, preached his anti-public employee union bona fides so effectively that he nearly secured the Party's endorsement (over the sitting Republican mayor), all while having been cooking up the assorted union shenanigans I've outlined above. Good times.
I could go on and on, but your outrage meter is already at 11, I'm quite sure. It had better be.
Let me just say this: I don't think the Atlas PAC should take heat here. If you take a look at the spreadsheet I link to at the top of this post and look at that donor/member list, you see some of the finest conservative names this county has to offer-- great, great folks whom I think very highly of, personally. I sincerely don't like having to even bring the Atlas name into all of this, but there was no way around it. I've called around a lot this week and am 100% certain its members had no idea any of this was going on; it's pretty clear this was a short-sighted decision by one or two people at the top of the group who either:
- truly had no idea the OCEA was the source of all CCFG PAC funding
OR
- who did know and who carelessly put the reputation of Atlas at risk on behalf of a friend.
Either way, it is clear someone brought CCFG to Lee Lowrey and Atlas. At the end of yesterday's post, I said the shady OCEA funding trail lead to one person. Actually, it pretty clearly leads back to one of two (or perhaps both) people, both of whom happen to sit on the Orange city council. Actually, the question of "who set up this OCEA/Atlas PAC funding scheme all boils down pretty simply:
It's either Jon Dumitru who lined all of this up and who's violating all sorts of campaign laws regarding independent expenditures as a result
OR
It's Denis Bilodeau, and he is simply a bald faced liar on the topic of how he deals with public employees unions.
Which is it, fellas?
Either way, you look like a couple of self-proclaimed anti-public employee union holy rollers who are, in fact, anything but.
Strange Altas PAC Transaction #2: Teaming Up with the OCEA
By Chip Hanlon | 10/29/10 | 3:36 PM EDT | 17 Comments
ShareThis
This story gets pretty twisty-turny, so I'll try to boil it down as much as possible...
As you know, yesterday I wrote about one odd transaction that ran through one of the county's leading conservative groups: Why Did the OCEA Funnel Money Through Atlas PAC?
Very Odd. Well, today we'll look at the other; here's strange Atlas transaction number two (open this document).
There, you have a simple excel sheet of information that's fully available, publicly: on sheet 1, you have the contributions Atlas has received during this cycle and on sheet 2, its expenditures.
Line 2 on each excel sheet shows the in-and-out flow of funds I described yesterday.
On line 1, however, you see the biggest single contribution Atlas has received-- $15,000 from Urban Street Properties, Inc. of Newport Beach on October 7th, 2010-- and the corresponding expenditure 6 days later. Actually, Atlas seems to have added $1000 to make it $16k that went out the door to a different PAC than I wrote about yesterday. This one's called California Homeowners Association PAC (CHA)... let's have a look:
CHA has received money from precisely 4 donors (see their filing here):
- Atlas PAC ($16,000)
- California Citizens for Fair Government PAC (CCFG), which I showed yesterday to be a front for the OCEA ($12,000)
- Committee for Improved Public Policy ($8,000). That's a new one I'll come back to.
- Elaine Raahauge, an individual business owner ($1000)
Technically, CHA received money from 5 sources, since that Atlas PAC contribution is really only $1000 from them and $15,000 from Urban Street Properties, as I mentioned.
Now let's put rubber to the road... let's look at each of these CHA funding sources and post the motivation behind why each might have a motivation to financially support, say, the mayoral campaign of Jon Dumitru in Orange:
1) Atlas PAC: Lee Lowrey confirmed on Monday when I spoke with him that he is a close, personal friend of Dumitru. Check.
2) CCFG: We know this PAC is funded entirely by the OCEA. Who's a member of the OCEA? Jon Dumitru (he's a "Shop Steward" there, in fact, and a negotiating representative on the OCEA's general employees unit). So, coincidentally, is his pal on the Orange city council, Denis Bilodeau. Check.
3) Committe for Improved Public Policy: Another PAC, one supported by many contributors I don't want to dig into too deeply because it could make the whole story too confusing. BUT, one $15,000 contributor to this PAC is a company called CR&R Waste and Recycling. When CR&R won its contract to haul trash for the city of Orange, Mayor Carolyn Cavecche voted against. Jon Dumitru and Denis Bilodeau voted for it. Oh, and the company's review comes before the council in December of this year. Check.
4) Elaine Raahauge: she and her husband own a variety of gun stores and shooting-related businesses. Their shooting range is leased from the O.C. Water District. Who sits on the OCWD? Denis Bilodeau. Check.
5) Urban Street Properties: why'd these guys give $15,000 on behalf of Jon Dumitru? I honestly don't know. Lee Lowrey refused to say. Jon Dumitru didn't return my Monday voicemail. Even the company's president, Robert Compean, refused, telling me this morning "I'm not going to talk about that." I've reached him twice this week and each time he hung up abruptly. Frankly, I don't need to give myself a "check" on this one because I think the record is clear; I'll leave it to some other intrepid reported to figure out the relationship between Compean and Bilodeau and/or Dumitru. I'm sure there is one and by now I'm sure you are, too. (to others, Compean's not hard to find... just Google his name... the 714 number you'll see is apparently his direct cell)
Now, I haven't even told you yet what all five of these contributions were for, I've only alluded to it. So, just to be perfectly clear, here is what CHA, the supposed "California Homeowners Association" PAC, spent its money on:
AN INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURE HIT PIECE on Republican Mayor of Orange, Carolyn Cavecche.
Ayyyyup... this means that in the end, the Atlas PAC and the OCEA pooled their resources to hit one Republican (Cavecche) on behalf of another (Dumitru) by mail. Talk about kicking the holy sh*t out of the Baugh Manifesto!
So, yes, people: Jon Dumitru went in front of the Orange County GOP Central Committee, preached his anti-public employee union bona fides so effectively that he nearly secured the Party's endorsement (over the sitting Republican mayor), all while having been cooking up the assorted union shenanigans I've outlined above. Good times.
I could go on and on, but your outrage meter is already at 11, I'm quite sure. It had better be.
Let me just say this: I don't think the Atlas PAC should take heat here. If you take a look at the spreadsheet I link to at the top of this post and look at that donor/member list, you see some of the finest conservative names this county has to offer-- great, great folks whom I think very highly of, personally. I sincerely don't like having to even bring the Atlas name into all of this, but there was no way around it. I've called around a lot this week and am 100% certain its members had no idea any of this was going on; it's pretty clear this was a short-sighted decision by one or two people at the top of the group who either:
- truly had no idea the OCEA was the source of all CCFG PAC funding
OR
- who did know and who carelessly put the reputation of Atlas at risk on behalf of a friend.
Either way, it is clear someone brought CCFG to Lee Lowrey and Atlas. At the end of yesterday's post, I said the shady OCEA funding trail lead to one person. Actually, it pretty clearly leads back to one of two (or perhaps both) people, both of whom happen to sit on the Orange city council. Actually, the question of "who set up this OCEA/Atlas PAC funding scheme all boils down pretty simply:
It's either Jon Dumitru who lined all of this up and who's violating all sorts of campaign laws regarding independent expenditures as a result
OR
It's Denis Bilodeau, and he is simply a bald faced liar on the topic of how he deals with public employees unions.
Which is it, fellas?
Either way, you look like a couple of self-proclaimed anti-public employee union holy rollers who are, in fact, anything but.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Riverside County DA sends investigators to Northern California political consultant's offic
http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_News_Local_W_investigate04.46e4d78.html#end
12:02 PM PST on Thursday, March 4, 2010
Special Section: San Jacinto Corruption Probe
SACRAMENTO - Riverside County district attorney investigators showed up last week at the Northern California offices of a prominent Republican consulting firm and a bookkeeping business linked to a defendant in the campaign-finance prosecution of several Inland political and civic leaders.
Gilliard Blanning and Associates of Rocklin and the KAL Group of Willows have advised dozens of candidates and campaign groups in the Inland area and around the state over the years.
During the 2008 election cycle, the companies worked for a committee involved in the hard-fought Republican primary for Riverside County's 37th Senate District between then-Assemblyman John Benoit and former Assemblyman Russ Bogh.
District attorney investigators spent part of last Thursday at Gilliard Blanning's office.
The same day, members of the district attorney's political corruption unit served a search warrant at the KAL Group, according to government records.
A spokesman for Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco would neither confirm nor deny last week's activities. David Gilliard, a GOP campaign veteran, has not returned several phone calls in recent days. KAL Group owner Kelly Lawler also has not returned requests for comment.
In November, Pacheco's office announced a 155-count indictment alleging that nine people, including four of the five San Jacinto City Council members, conspired to skirt campaign contribution limits and funnel money into the 2006 Assembly candidacy of San Jacinto Councilman Jim Ayres.
Neither Gilliard Blanning nor the KAL Group was part of the indictment. State records show that neither business was involved in the 2006 Assembly primary race at the heart of the November case.
Speculation in political circles has centered on ties between the two firms and Stephen R. Holgate, one of the defendants in the Riverside County case.
In spring 2008, Holgate, an Inland developer and former CHP officer, largely bankrolled a pro-Benoit campaign committee called Conservative Leaders of America, giving it $100,000.
Almost all of the advertising money went through Gilliard Blanning. The KAL Group, the committee's treasurer, was paid about $2,000.
The committee paid for a barrage of TV ads and mailers promoting Benoit or opposing Bogh.
Bogh is a close political ally of Pacheco.
Benoit's consultant in 2008, Jim Nygren, said Wednesday that he has not had any communication with Pacheco's office.
Rocklin police Lt. Lon Milka said officers assisted the Riverside County investigators at a Rocklin address that matches that of Gilliard Blanning and Associates.
A report from the Glenn County Sheriff's Department said two sheriff's officials accompanied the investigators to Lawler's home office in unincorporated Willow
By the way, I had to laugh when I saw that Gilliard describes himself as a “Republican-Libertarian” on his Facebook page. You have to check out his “Facebook Friends.” They include: Adam Probolsky; Bert Ashland (an O.C. lobbyist who was appointed to a County Commission by Supervisor Janet Nguyen); Brandon Powers (who allegedly gave the infamous Duvall sex comment audio tape to Jon Fleischman); Curt Pringle; Dana Rohrabacher; Diane Harkey; Prop. 8 instigator Jeff Flint; Jeff Miller (who used to employ Brandon Powers – and who was the guy Duvall was talking to about sex with lobbyists); Jon Dumitru (aka the Turtle Eater); Jon Fleischman; Ken Lopez Maddox; Laura “Mrs. Jerbal” Cunningham; Mark Denny; Martin Wisckol, who pimps for Red County and the Libera OC over at the O.C. Register; Michelle Steel; Mimi Walters; Phil Paule; Rhonda Rohrabacher, who was once busted for political dirty tricks as well; appointed O.C. Sheriff Sandra Hutchens; Shawn Fago; Tim Shaw (who used to work for Supervisor Janet Nguyen and now works for State Senator Bob Huff); and Tony Strickland. The only one missing was Jerbal himself!
Why Did the OCEA Funnel Money Through Atlas PAC? Oh No, Where is this leading? To the Willows Wackos?
Why Did the OCEA Funnel Money Through Atlas PAC?
http://redcounty.com/content/why-did-ocea-funnel-money-through-atlas-pac
By Chip Hanlon | 10/28/10 | 7:39 PM EDT | 6 Comments
As I told the subject of this article, I really didn't want to write about this but since that person's non-explanation was disconcerting and the other party I wanted to talk to didn't reply...
Before I get started, though: for those unfamiliar with Atlas PAC, they're thought of around here as sort of a junior Lincoln Club: conservative, a membership made up of respectable young professionals from around O.C., a group headed up by a guy who most folks around here seem to like. Bottom line: good folks.
The group has also been, as far as I know, pretty in line with most conservatives around here, believing that public employee unions are at the leading edge of bankrupting this state.
OK, so why did the OCEA, the massive association of public employee unions in Orange County, run more than $10,000 through the conservative Atlas PAC during the June primary?
I'm sincerely hoping there's some benign explanation, but here's what I know so far:
- There exists a PAC named "California Citizens for Fair Government" (CCFG) which seems to be entirely funded by the OCEA (see this document)
- Meanwhile, the second largest donation Atlas PAC has received during this cycle came from that committee, CCFG, in the amount of $10,250 (See document here)
- Because the donation was PAC-to-PAC, it would seem it wasn't beholden to any late filing requirements that might have put sunlight on this transaction before the primary. The contribution was made on June 4th, 2010, but wasn't reported as received by Atlas until July 29th.
- Atlas then turned around and spent $9400 on anti-Shawn Nelson hit pieces in an I.E. on behalf of Harry Sidhu in the primary (see that filing here). Apparently the vendor wasn't paid until 10 days after the actual primary, hence the 6/18 pay date, but Atlas President Lee Lowrey did confirm to me by telephone earlier this week that the money from CCFG did come through Atlas explicitly for the purpose of hitting Nelson via an independent expenditure. Sidhu was the endorsed candidate by Atlas, he tried to explain.
But wait... that leaves open a lot of questions:
First, why didn't CCFG just pay for the I.E. itself? Why did it have to first run that money through Atlas?
For that matter, why didn't the OCEA just pay directly for such an expenditure? Why would it need to run that money through any other PAC like CCFG in the first place? After all, it was pretty open knowledge that the unions were all gunning for Nelson in June.
And all of this leaves out the most basic question of all, of course: what the hell was Atlas doing helping the OCEA funnel IE money around in the first place?
Was it for the fee? I mean, it looks to me like $10,250 that came in shrunk to $9400 on the way out-- meaning a tidy little profit of $850 for Atlas. That might not sound like a lot of money, but it would represent the 8th largest contribution the group received in this cycle, if so.
But things get hinkier still. When speaking with Atlas President, Lowrey, a few days ago, he said he had no idea that CCFG was funded entirely by the public employees of OCEA.
That may or may not be true, but let's assume it is.
I then asked him, "OK, well someone introduced you to CCFG. Somebody connected them (and the OCEA) to Altas through you. Who was it?"
No reply.
When I pressed him on this, he made it abundantly clear that the had no intention of disclosing who that person was. I explained to him that by not disclosing that info, it would look like he was hesitant to do so because either A) the passing of money between all these committees represented some sort of campaign finance violation or B) he was protecting someone for whom this would all look terrible.
I suspect it's the latter, and I'll explain why in a minute.
First, I certainly hope it isn't the former; I don't know Lee Lowrey well but I've certainly met him on a number of occasions and he seems like a good guy. Certainly, I don't recall ever having heard anything negative about him from other local Republicans so I hope all this money laundering (sorry, I don't know what else to call it) is all legal, even if questionable, ideologically.
But here's why I suspect he's just protecting someone--the person who brought this OCEA funding scheme to him in the first place: it has to do with the biggest contribution (and corresponding outgoing expenditure) Atlas has been part of this election cycle, one which happened just days ago. That in-and-out financial transaction was for the express purpose of another I.E. in different race, and there is only one person in the entire county (besides Lowrey) that I can very logically connect to both of these strange transactions.
For that person, the one I assume Lowrey is refusing to disclose, the funneling of OCEA money would look particularly awful. I called that person earlier this week for comment, leaving message as to what I was calling about, and so far-- no call back.
I'll write about that most recent contribution tomorrow and try to tie all of this together, but it seems like something stinky is going on. Maybe something very stinky.
There are a lot of terrific local folks who count themselves members of Atlas PAC. If I were one of those members, I'd be asking some very direct questions of my leadership right about now...
By Chip Hanlon | 10/28/10 | 7:39 PM EDT | 6 Comments
As I told the subject of this article, I really didn't want to write about this but since that person's non-explanation was disconcerting and the other party I wanted to talk to didn't reply...
Before I get started, though: for those unfamiliar with Atlas PAC, they're thought of around here as sort of a junior Lincoln Club: conservative, a membership made up of respectable young professionals from around O.C., a group headed up by a guy who most folks around here seem to like. Bottom line: good folks.
The group has also been, as far as I know, pretty in line with most conservatives around here, believing that public employee unions are at the leading edge of bankrupting this state.
OK, so why did the OCEA, the massive association of public employee unions in Orange County, run more than $10,000 through the conservative Atlas PAC during the June primary?
I'm sincerely hoping there's some benign explanation, but here's what I know so far:
- There exists a PAC named "California Citizens for Fair Government" (CCFG) which seems to be entirely funded by the OCEA (see this document)
- Meanwhile, the second largest donation Atlas PAC has received during this cycle came from that committee, CCFG, in the amount of $10,250 (See document here)
- Because the donation was PAC-to-PAC, it would seem it wasn't beholden to any late filing requirements that might have put sunlight on this transaction before the primary. The contribution was made on June 4th, 2010, but wasn't reported as received by Atlas until July 29th.
- Atlas then turned around and spent $9400 on anti-Shawn Nelson hit pieces in an I.E. on behalf of Harry Sidhu in the primary (see that filing here). Apparently the vendor wasn't paid until 10 days after the actual primary, hence the 6/18 pay date, but Atlas President Lee Lowrey did confirm to me by telephone earlier this week that the money from CCFG did come through Atlas explicitly for the purpose of hitting Nelson via an independent expenditure. Sidhu was the endorsed candidate by Atlas, he tried to explain.
But wait... that leaves open a lot of questions:
First, why didn't CCFG just pay for the I.E. itself? Why did it have to first run that money through Atlas?
For that matter, why didn't the OCEA just pay directly for such an expenditure? Why would it need to run that money through any other PAC like CCFG in the first place? After all, it was pretty open knowledge that the unions were all gunning for Nelson in June.
And all of this leaves out the most basic question of all, of course: what the hell was Atlas doing helping the OCEA funnel IE money around in the first place?
Was it for the fee? I mean, it looks to me like $10,250 that came in shrunk to $9400 on the way out-- meaning a tidy little profit of $850 for Atlas. That might not sound like a lot of money, but it would represent the 8th largest contribution the group received in this cycle, if so.
But things get hinkier still. When speaking with Atlas President, Lowrey, a few days ago, he said he had no idea that CCFG was funded entirely by the public employees of OCEA.
That may or may not be true, but let's assume it is.
I then asked him, "OK, well someone introduced you to CCFG. Somebody connected them (and the OCEA) to Altas through you. Who was it?"
No reply.
When I pressed him on this, he made it abundantly clear that the had no intention of disclosing who that person was. I explained to him that by not disclosing that info, it would look like he was hesitant to do so because either A) the passing of money between all these committees represented some sort of campaign finance violation or B) he was protecting someone for whom this would all look terrible.
I suspect it's the latter, and I'll explain why in a minute.
First, I certainly hope it isn't the former; I don't know Lee Lowrey well but I've certainly met him on a number of occasions and he seems like a good guy. Certainly, I don't recall ever having heard anything negative about him from other local Republicans so I hope all this money laundering (sorry, I don't know what else to call it) is all legal, even if questionable, ideologically.
But here's why I suspect he's just protecting someone--the person who brought this OCEA funding scheme to him in the first place: it has to do with the biggest contribution (and corresponding outgoing expenditure) Atlas has been part of this election cycle, one which happened just days ago. That in-and-out financial transaction was for the express purpose of another I.E. in different race, and there is only one person in the entire county (besides Lowrey) that I can very logically connect to both of these strange transactions.
For that person, the one I assume Lowrey is refusing to disclose, the funneling of OCEA money would look particularly awful. I called that person earlier this week for comment, leaving message as to what I was calling about, and so far-- no call back.
I'll write about that most recent contribution tomorrow and try to tie all of this together, but it seems like something stinky is going on. Maybe something very stinky.
There are a lot of terrific local folks who count themselves members of Atlas PAC. If I were one of those members, I'd be asking some very direct questions of my leadership right about now...
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Oh My! Turd Boy DUM I TRU Forgot to pay his Bills! Bad Turd Boy!
ORANGE Mayor Carolyn Cavecche has turned up the heat on her challenger.
Cavecche’s campaign has mailed out a flier to households highlighting Councilman Jon Dumitru’s Chapter 7 bankruptcy 14 years ago.
The mailer claims Dumitru had “dozens” of unpaid credit cards and debts to weight-loss doctors and plastic surgeons as well as the Luxor Hotel and Casino – noting that Dumitru was gainfully employed but “just decided to stop paying his bills.”Bankruptcy records Dumitru provided showed he claimed $49,000 in debt (Dumitru said he actually settled his Luxor bill). His bankruptcy was approved by a federal court.Dumitru, a fire dispatcher, said he was overwhelmed financially then but learned from his experiences.“I had to make a tough decision that has lived with me ever since,” Dumitru said. “That is the reason why today I am conservative on fiscal issues.”Dumitru, a six-year councilman, said he was angry the flier had partial pictures of his bankruptcy records on them.“It dredges up my medical history and says what hospitals I stayed at,” he said. “She published full account numbers that could lead to identity theft.”In an e-mail, Cavecche said her mailer was a response to fliers Dumitru’s campaign sent out on the issue of financial responsibility.“Also, the bankruptcy occurred when he was a candidate for Orange City Council,” Cavecche wrote.
Carolyn Cavecche is running for a third consecutive term as mayor of Orange. Cavecche's campaign released a flier highlighting opponent Jon Dumitru's bankrupty in 1996.
COURTESY CITY OF ORANGe
Denis Mr Burns Bilodeaud has the nerve to call himself a “Taxpayer Watchdog,”
I am told that there is more to the story, but one has to wonder if this is the first of many mistakes that are to come, because Nelson did not hire a conservative to be his Chief of Staff. He hired career political hack Denis Bilodeau.
Remember those greedy Council Members in the City of Bell, who padded their income by belonging to numerous public commissions? Well check out this info, from Biolodeau’s bio:
Denis currently serves or has served on the following committees and commissions throughout Orange County:
- Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority
- Orange County Vector Control
- Orange County Waste Management Commission
- Orange County Transportation Authority (alt)
- San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency (alt)
- Foothill Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency (alt)
- Orange County Sanitation District (alt)
- Orange County Emergency Medical Care Committee
- Orange County Housing and Community Development Commission
- Orange County Water Task Force Member
- Los Angeles and San Gabriel River Watershed Taskforce Member
The Voice of OC investigated Bilodeau and found that he also has an expense problem. ”Orange City Councilman Denis Bilodeau, who also is a director of the Orange County Water District, billed the water agency nearly $3,500 for meetings he either didn’t attend or that didn’t occur, according to official Water District records.”
The Voice of OC also related what Bilodeau had to say about Nelsons’ pension snafu. ”When I ran into Nelson’s chief of staff, Denis Bilodeau yesterday, I asked about the pension and got a rambling, nonsensical defense that sounded like Nelson had mistakenly just filled out the forms he got, which happened to include the option into the pension system.”
And Bilodeau has the nerve to call himself a “Taxpayer Watchdog,” on his campaign website!
Bilodeau also got busted a few years back for stealing one of his opponent’s campaign signs.
Even the Red County blog has piled on Bilodeau, noting these negatives in a recent post:
- On 3-25-2008 Denis Bilodeau voted not to audit the City of Orange from top to bottom in order to improve functionality and possibly find ways to cut costs.
- On 10-27-2009 Denis Bilodeau voted yes on a second vote to put restrictions on parties being held within the Orange City limits with minor changes.
- On 1-26-2010 Denis Bilodeau voted to use the cities power of eminent domain to purchase a gas station.
- On 1-26-2010 Denis Bilodeau voted to use the cities power of eminent domain to take over property for the purpose of a bus stop.
Why would Nelson hire Bilodeau to be his Chief of Staff? It is a real mystery to me. I believe that Bilodeau previously worked for Chris Norby, and possibly Janet Nguyen as well, but trying to figure out all of Bilodeau’s past work is a complete puzzle. He has switched back and forth between being a County of Orange employee and working for politicians.
Did Bilodeau lead Nelson down the wrong path with regard to the pension scandal? I think so. And I would bet that there will be more mistakes to come.
Nelson should cut his losses now and dump Bilodeau. Surely he can find a real conservative to advise him and run his Staff?
Orange County Water District Board Members spending money like water, no one is watching them!
We have Orange County Water District Board Members spending money like water, no one is watching them.
What I have been told by one of his City of Orange Council Members is that, Denis Bilodeau asks for contributions to his relection campaign when you need something from the Board. There is no limit to the amount of money that can be contributed to campaigns on the Water District. Then Denis Bilodeau transfers in $1000 increments to his City of Orange account under peoples names that he does not ask to do so.
This OCWD takes travel everywhere, look Denis Bilodeau went to Sweden for ‘water’! Look at the Foothills Sentury paper from December where he shows his picture with his daughters in Sweden. Now, Denis Bilodeau does not make enough money to go to Sweden and take his family! We are paying for it!
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