<3
W
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!
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Thank You!
<3
W
Crooks
Monday, November 1, 2010
On the Carpet
On the Carpet
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 2010-11-01 20:34.
These guys need to be called on the carpet. Its absolutely crazy that this type of thing has gone on and that the OC GOP almost endorsed Dumitru and gave a freebie to his buddy. Its embarrassing to the Party, the City and all other elected leaders that you can hold out your left hand and slap your colleagues with the right.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. AND pick taxpayer funded paychecks while you're at it. There's politicking at its finest.
A Janet Nguyen Connection?
The Story Continues
http://redcounty.com/content/janet-nguyen-connection
A Janet Nguyen Connection?
By Chip Hanlon | 11/01/10 | 10:52 AM EDT | 2 Comments
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I'm glad someone else wrote about this because I wasn't sure how I was going to...
So, it's out there. A new connection has been drawn about who might have been behind the strange circumstances of Atlas PAC playing campaign finance footsies with the OCEA.
Late last night, El Tib wrote here about a theory that 2 different people called me with over the weekend: they said the trail in my article was interesting but that I had jumped to entirely the wrong conclusion about who put Atlas and the OCEA together. They asserted that the trail leads to Supervisor, Janet Nguyen.
Since I think this theory is being advanced out of a camp at least close to, if not part of, the guys in Orange, there's some reason for initial skepticism. But at the same time: if they didn't pull this whole caper, then they should be looking to set the record straight, so let's break it down.
Janet's a supporter of both Harry Sidhu and Jon Dumitru because they were both early endorsers of her, so a possible motive/tie exists. Atlas and Janet are apparently also close. So far, I'm open to this theory.
Next, it does make little sense that Denis Bilodeau would have had something to do with the June I.E. that hit his own boss, Shawn Nelson, the strange Atlas-OCEA tie I wrote about in my first post on this topic. If you wanted to let him off the hook entirely, you would then let him out of having done anything wrong in the October I.E. like this:
- Sure, CR&R contributed to it, but what would you expect? Cavecche (the target of that IE) originally voted against their contract.
- So what if Bilodeau did introduce individual donor Elaine Raahauge to this IE committee? Everyone knows he's a friend of Dumitru so there's nothing wrong with his bringing someone he knows in to support such an independent expenditure.
Reach-y? think it's unlikely he wouldn't know that the I.E. was also being funded heavily by the OCEA, but the explanation above is certainly possible.
It's much harder to think Dumitru had no knowledge of any of the connections in both I.E.s to the OCEA, but let's just say for a minute that's possible, too.
Then the Janet Nguyen theory looks very interesting, even I would have to say. If I came to the wrong conclusion in those earlier posts, I'd have no problem doing a mea culpa and issuing a public apology to Bilodeau and Dumitru.
At the same time, if I'm Janet Nguyen and my name just got brought into this mess for no reason whatsoever, I'm blowing a gasket immediately-- and the jig will be up for those trying to float the theory of her involvement.
Bottom line is this: at a time when conservatives are unified in the idea that public employee unions are devastating this state financially, some Republicans around here are playing games with them in a way that shows they simply cannot be trusted-- at the very least on the issue of these unions.
The guy who could clear all of this up quite easily, of course, is Lee Lowrey. Did he know he was working with OCEA (he contends he didn't)? If not, who introduced you to their front PAC, CCFG?
Because this fact remains: Lowrey funneled OCEA money through Atlas in June, and he partnered Atlas with them again in October for an I.E. The who, why and how, if I'm wrong, is his to clear up.
Or, maybe the once-conservative Atlas has changed its charter and just forgot to tell everyone...
I'm done writing about it (except for the conclusion, when it comes), but not done probing.
Also, I'm looking forward to our network admin figuring out today who put the intimidating/threatening messages through our comment system. Keep in mind, friend, you're not dealing with a one-man blog, here. The writers and, more importantly, the financiers behind RC will be most interested in those results. It probably means I'm closer to the mark than some think, and that this entire post was unnecessary.
Oh, well... we'll probably know soon, depending on Nguyen's reaction to her name being tied to all this.
http://redcounty.com/content/janet-nguyen-connection
A Janet Nguyen Connection?
By Chip Hanlon | 11/01/10 | 10:52 AM EDT | 2 Comments
ShareThis
I'm glad someone else wrote about this because I wasn't sure how I was going to...
So, it's out there. A new connection has been drawn about who might have been behind the strange circumstances of Atlas PAC playing campaign finance footsies with the OCEA.
Late last night, El Tib wrote here about a theory that 2 different people called me with over the weekend: they said the trail in my article was interesting but that I had jumped to entirely the wrong conclusion about who put Atlas and the OCEA together. They asserted that the trail leads to Supervisor, Janet Nguyen.
Since I think this theory is being advanced out of a camp at least close to, if not part of, the guys in Orange, there's some reason for initial skepticism. But at the same time: if they didn't pull this whole caper, then they should be looking to set the record straight, so let's break it down.
Janet's a supporter of both Harry Sidhu and Jon Dumitru because they were both early endorsers of her, so a possible motive/tie exists. Atlas and Janet are apparently also close. So far, I'm open to this theory.
Next, it does make little sense that Denis Bilodeau would have had something to do with the June I.E. that hit his own boss, Shawn Nelson, the strange Atlas-OCEA tie I wrote about in my first post on this topic. If you wanted to let him off the hook entirely, you would then let him out of having done anything wrong in the October I.E. like this:
- Sure, CR&R contributed to it, but what would you expect? Cavecche (the target of that IE) originally voted against their contract.
- So what if Bilodeau did introduce individual donor Elaine Raahauge to this IE committee? Everyone knows he's a friend of Dumitru so there's nothing wrong with his bringing someone he knows in to support such an independent expenditure.
Reach-y? think it's unlikely he wouldn't know that the I.E. was also being funded heavily by the OCEA, but the explanation above is certainly possible.
It's much harder to think Dumitru had no knowledge of any of the connections in both I.E.s to the OCEA, but let's just say for a minute that's possible, too.
Then the Janet Nguyen theory looks very interesting, even I would have to say. If I came to the wrong conclusion in those earlier posts, I'd have no problem doing a mea culpa and issuing a public apology to Bilodeau and Dumitru.
At the same time, if I'm Janet Nguyen and my name just got brought into this mess for no reason whatsoever, I'm blowing a gasket immediately-- and the jig will be up for those trying to float the theory of her involvement.
Bottom line is this: at a time when conservatives are unified in the idea that public employee unions are devastating this state financially, some Republicans around here are playing games with them in a way that shows they simply cannot be trusted-- at the very least on the issue of these unions.
The guy who could clear all of this up quite easily, of course, is Lee Lowrey. Did he know he was working with OCEA (he contends he didn't)? If not, who introduced you to their front PAC, CCFG?
Because this fact remains: Lowrey funneled OCEA money through Atlas in June, and he partnered Atlas with them again in October for an I.E. The who, why and how, if I'm wrong, is his to clear up.
Or, maybe the once-conservative Atlas has changed its charter and just forgot to tell everyone...
I'm done writing about it (except for the conclusion, when it comes), but not done probing.
Also, I'm looking forward to our network admin figuring out today who put the intimidating/threatening messages through our comment system. Keep in mind, friend, you're not dealing with a one-man blog, here. The writers and, more importantly, the financiers behind RC will be most interested in those results. It probably means I'm closer to the mark than some think, and that this entire post was unnecessary.
Oh, well... we'll probably know soon, depending on Nguyen's reaction to her name being tied to all this.
Mutant Ninja Turtle Mike's Pity Party
Dumb and Dumber strike again!
Dumb and Dumber strike again!
Submitted by Pitchforks (not verified) on Fri, 2010-10-29 20:11.
Nice job Chip - i have to admit these jokers have done a pretty good job trying to cover their tracks. All I can say is COWARDS - stinking, low down COWARDS. These aren't men, no real man would who had an honest beef with policy or direction would do such a thing - they would stand up and say their peace in the light of day.
And as for Atlas, Mr. Lowery should be questioned by every member of his Board.
CR&R should lose their contract after Cavecche wins and if she has a majority vote on the Council. Absolutely crazy.
And last, but not least, isn't this the third time Bilodeau has embarrassed his boss? I believe they made a law about that and he's sitting on a full count. Dumitru doesn't even rate.
The OCEA Did a Favor for Who? The trail continues
http://redcounty.com/content/ocea-did-favor-who
The OCEA Did a Favor for Who?
By eltiburon | 10/31/10 | 11:53 PM EDT | 0 Comments
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I want to thank Chip Hanlon for taking the lead role in examining the questionable link between the Orange County Employees Association and the California Homeowners Association.
In addition to hitting the current Mayor of Orange in her re-election bid, the California Homeowners Association also dropped nearly $26,000 of IE against Andy Quach, Tyler Diep and Bruce Tran in Westminster.
Chip already reported on where the California Homeowners Association received its funding, mostly from the following committees: Atlas PAC, California Citizens for Fair Government PAC (CCFG), and the Committee for Improved Public Policy.
I've checked form 460 for the Committee for Improved Public Policy and did not discover anything because most of its donors are from San Francisco or Los Angeles. This is probably a donor-swap scheme. However, what is interesting is that this committee also gave Supervisor Janet Nguyen $1,700; Matt Harper $500 (Janet's deputy chief of staff); Tony Lam $1,000 (Janet's Airport Commissioner).
The Orange County Employees Association, which does not even represent any union in the City of Westminster, should not have any financial interest in this area. So the first question that comes to mind is why would OCEA waste money in Westminster? Did OCEA do it at the request of a certain political ally who is sympathetic to their cause?
In 2008, the OCEA dropped a negative mailer Diep when he first ran for the Westminster City Council. Then according to my sources, it was told that OCEA went after Diep and his mentor Assemblyman Van Tran as a favor for Supervisor Janet Nguyen.
I know that Assemblyman Tran and Supervisor Nguyen tried to work things out for the sake of unity against Loretta Sanchez, but apparently that "peace agreement" did not extend to the rest of the Trannies.
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