July 2011 Archives

My Analysis of the New District Lines in Placer

Kevin Hanley, Placer County Local Elections, Placer County Republican Party Comments Off

Jul 292011

AD01 – Has no incumbent and basically starts east and north of Auburn and goes to the Nevada border in Placer. The population center is Shasta County. So, look for someone from that area – Shasta is known as a home to a lot of more “Moderate” Republicans, so there could be an interesting Primary depending on which candidates emerge. (aka some gun-toter from Lassen etc. jumps in with some money) AD01 has some of the poorest areas in the state in it – areas destroyed by the insane environmental policies of California that have killed logging and mining.

AD05 takes in Auburn and some area west of Auburn and meanders south in the mountainous region of Central California. This could be a natural for Kevin Hanley – long rumored to be looking at an Assembly run. Kevin is a Conservative – but is far from a bomb-thrower. The district may be the most Conservative Assembly District in the State.

AD06 is Beth Gaines new home. It is South Placer – stopping at the Newcastle / Penryn / North Lincoln area to its’ east. It also includes Fair Oaks, Folsom, Orangevale and El Dorado Hills. This is an R +20 seat and the makeup of the area may portend to a primary challenger against Beth Gaines – who did not have a strong showing in Placer County 2011 against a Democrat that did not campaign. However – if anyone takes Beth Gaines lightly, they have another thing coming. If a Democrat decides to take a run at this district, I will enjoy shredding them on this blog.

SD04 – This is all of Placer minus Roseville and un-incorporated western Placer County. It extends from Tehama County all the way down to Carmichael – in a gerrymander only a politician could love. This also pits Ted Gaines against Doug LaMalfa – unless Ted Gaines moves. In my opinion, Doug LaMalfa is entrenched and Ted Gaines will have an uphill battle at best to deal with him in a primary.

SD01 – This is the other 80% of Placer and extends all the way to the Oregon Border. It takes in Siskiyou, Shasta, a slice of Butte and all the tiny counties that share borders with the State of Nevada until it hits its’ southern end in Placer. Like AD01 – there is no incumbent, so who will move to run there? Rumor has it that Ted Gaines is looking at houses in Granite Bay or Rocklin…

CD01- Herger. Takes in about 20% of the land mass of Placer, but about 7% of the population and extends all the way to Oregon Border. If Herger gets a primary challenge, I will be surprised. If Herger retires at this point, I will be surprised.

CD-04 McClintock – takes in 90+% of Placer’s population and stays mountainous to the south. This is a 46+% Republican District and is very conservative. Rumors of primary opponents abound, but can a moderate like Denham or a Moderate-Conservative like Lungren take out McClintock in a primary?

None live in CD-04 so who cares about the residency crap.

These new lines are just as absurd as the old lines were. Prop 11 changed nothing at all.

As a side note – nothing happens to the balance of power on the Placer GOP Cent Com as the ex-officios are in place until after the June Primary.

And now for the Latest Labor Union Dirty Trick

Big Government, California State Budget, Campaign Finance, SEIU Comments Off

Jul 292011

The latest is claiming if you sign a petition for a referendum or ballot measure, you could be at risk for identity theft.

The Sacramento Bee Capitol Alert just posted a story on a new radio ad being aired by a shadowy group claiming as such.

Now these are the battles we should be fighting.

Excerpting the article:

The spot claims to be paid for by a group called “Californians Against Identity Theft.” The coalition has no website and has not filed a campaign committee with the Secretary of State, though the content of the ad likely would not trigger disclosure requirements because it does not mention a specific measure or candidate.

The group does not appear to have any ties to legitimate organizations dedicated to protecting consumers from identity theft. A spokeswoman for the San Diego-based Identity Theft Resource Center disputed the premise of the ad.

Later in the article is this gem:

Derek Cressman of government watchdog group Common Cause said he was “hard pressed” think of a situation where signing an initiative petition led to identity theft. He said the ad sounded like an attempt to “provoke a fear” to discourage people from signing petitions.

And then there is the SEIU – imagine that…

Supporters of the so-called “paycheck protection” measure, which would also restrict political contributions by unions and corporations, have reported spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on paid signature gatherers to secure a spot on next year’s ballot. The effort has sparked at least one labor-backed campaign to prevent the measure from qualifying.

SEIU California is dispatching its own representatives to the streets to persuade voters not to sign petitions. The union has sent members a toll-free number to report canvassers circulating petitions for the measure, urging them to dial in “if you see someone trying to fool voters in your community into signing away our rights.”

Disagree with David Reade / Karen England or Mark Spannagel and the FBI will “Investigate” you.

David Reade, Karen England, Mark Spannagel Comments Off

Jul 282011

The following is the text of an email I sent to hundreds of people. (Speaking of why I am skeptical that the Good Senators can negotiate any sort of peace on the Placer GOP)

In a recent article in the Marysville Appeal-Democrat, Mark Spannagel was quoted as saying that “Members of the Placer County Republican Central Committee, including Park, are under investigation by the FBI and state Fair Political Practices Commission.” David Reade re-affirmed Spannagel’s Statement in his quote in the article.

You need to know that this is a complete and total lie, similar to several equally as absurd claims that we have heard at our Central Committee meetings this year.

First, I just contacted the FBI to find out if I was the subject of an investigation. They confirmed that they do not have a file on me and they are not seeking any information from me.

Second, I can confirm that I have never been contacted by the Fair Political Practices Commission in my life. The organization’s website has never listed me as the subject of any investigation. We all know that the Placer County Republican Party has been subjected to routine audits and investigations several times since I have been around it – but that does not mean that any “members” are under investigation. As far as I can tell, no one is being investigated and there are no grounds for any investigations.

Third, I have confirmed from former staff members of Senator Rico Oller that David Reade circulated false rumors that Rico Oller was being investigated by the FBI back in 2000. Apparently, he felt that this unethical campaign practice was appropriate because Rico was running for Senate against his father-in-law, Bernie Richter. Eleven years later, Rico and his employees have never been contacted by the FBI.

Apparently, Mark, Spannagel, David Reade and their ally on our Central Committee believe these kinds of unethical attacks are appropriate for a volunteer organization. David Reade, Mark Spannagel, and Karen England recently had their membership removed from the California Republican Assembly for fraud and misconduct.

It is also a shame that the above three appear to believe it is in the best interest of the Republican Party to continue to breathe life into non-scandals in an effort to gain political advantage. Their actions are making in nigh-on-impossible for Ted Gaines and Doug LaMalfa to negotiate any sort of peace.

If the lies and personal attacks in an around our Committee meetings do not stop, we may need to consider similar action that the CRA took. At some point, we need to draw a clear line between political disagreements and smear campaigns based on lies.

Aaron Park
Member, District 2
Placer County Republican Central Committee

CRA Fraud Expose Part 5 – David Reade and the Yolo CRA

California Republican Assembly, David Reade, Karen England, Mark Spannagel Comments Off

Jul 272011

On the exact same day – 9/8/2007 – the Yolo CRA was chartered along with the Sutter, Tehama and Yuba CRA by Karen England (who was a then-CRA Vice President).

Like Yuba – Yolo has existed as a Zombie club for service to its’ master, David Stafford Reade, listed as its’ President. This is the third unit in Northern California that was targeted to be re-organized by the CRA. While some have tried to spin the 7/23/2011 board meeting as a lynching, or a bloodbath, the intention is to get Real activists involved in these units.

What David Reade, Mark Spannagel and Karen England did to the CRA in Northern California should have been grounds enough to expel them from CRA, but their behavior and the lawsuit added an exclamation point.

The Yolo CRA may well be the most grotesque example of fraud any California GOP organization has ever seen:

They are not listed on the Yolo GOP website, Consumnes RA President Carl Brickey has not been able to get them to participate in local endorsing conventions and two years of calls from CRA SD-09 director Steve Macias regarding when the club is going to meet have not been returned. This suggests multiple violations of Section 10.05 Meetings.

When contacted by the Credentials Committee, they refused to provide records of membership or bylaws. This is a violation of Section 10.07 – (Availability of Records)

Official CRA Records do not back up the unit’s claim of 45 members for the 2011 convention. There have been no new members join since 2010 – suggesting that growth from 35 to 45 members is impossible (they reported 35 members for the 2010 Buena Park Convention)

Unit lists David and Amy Jackson as members – the only Republicans in California with that name at the same address live in Kingsburg. When called said they had not been CRA members in over 8 years as told to Paul and Joel Olsson. At that, their dues expired in 2010 – but they were submitted as alternates. Violation of section 4.01 / 4.03 / 4.06 / 13.10 (Membership, Membership Dues, Delegate Fraud)

Unit lists Calvin and Christine DeKnikker as members. Cal DeKnikker is a client of ours and when I called him, he said he has never been a CRA Member. He put that in writing in an email. Violation of Section 4.01 / 4.03/ 4.06 (Membership Fraud)

Karen and John England are listed as members without notifying the Placer RA of their intent to transfer. Their daughter, at the same address is listed as a member of the Norco RA. Violation of Section 4.06 (Illegal Transfer) Karen admitted to this during the credentialing process at the 2011 convention.

Irregularity: Yolo sent three senior Meg Whitman staff to the 2010 CRA convention as delegates. They are all ex- Pete Wilson people – Michael Saragosa, Justin Smith, and Todd Cranney. This suggests violations of section 10.04 club elections of delegates.

Yolo RA listed Pete Conaty as a would-be alternate, his name is not on their official CRA roster. Violation of Section 4.01 / 4.03 / 4.06 / 13.10 (Membership, Membership Dues, Delegate Fraud – Laurie Conaty is listed as a paid member as a single.)

The above irregularities suggest that this unit has never elected it’s delegates and also suggests that they did not pay dues to the CRA nor did they collect dues. Consistent with other suspect units – the bulk of their membership renews 3/31/2012, suggesting they paid dues after the deadline to submit their delegation if they paid their dues at all. This is a violation of Section 4.03 membership Dues, 4.08 Remittance of Dues.

In the local endorsing conventions that Yolo CRA did participate in, their delegations consisted of legislative staff as witnessed firsthand by several CRA officers. The Yolo CRA has never endorsed in local Yolo County elections the entire time it has existed.

Finally, their roster does not list a single real member outside of West Sacramento. The north part of Yolo County is where most of the Republicans in Yolo live – it would be impossible as a practical matter for a County-Wide club in Yolo County not to have a real member in Woodland, much less Winters or Esparto. Again, this suggests the fraudulent nature of this unit.

With the elimination of the known fraud – this unit has at most 38 members. This means they would only be eligible for 5 delegates instead of the 6 they attempted to send. This is a violation of section 13.08 representation.

As a footnote – George and I will be filing a complaint with the FEC against the Romney for President campaign. The Reason? They wrote the check for the 75 delegates they paid for in 2007 out to the Placer County Republican Party – not the Placer CRA. They also reported it as such on their filings.

Since David Reade, Karen England and Mike Spence have attempted to spin that check as another example of misdeeds in Placer County – we will clear our name regarding this issue at Mitt Romney’s expense.

David Reade and Mark Spannagel Highlighted all over North State Media

David Reade, Karen England, Mark Spannagel Comments Off

Jul 262011

UPDATE: Bruce Ross of the Redding Paper jumped in to the fray:

http://blogs.redding.com/bross/archives/2011/07/gop-group-boots.html

Title of article: GOP group boots Chiefs of Staff

The article is linked here. Please also note that the only responses from Spannagel and Reade were to reference the FPPC investigation of the Placer GOP Cent Com – that was based on an anonymous blog comment and the “FBI Investigation” alleged by (you guessed it) Karen England.

Please also note that Karen England refused three times to tell anyone who she spoke to at the FBI when asked directly. As a side note, Karen was also expelled from the CRA for 10 years.

As a key note – Reade, Spannagel and England did not receive any support from anyone against the proposed CRA action against them.

Chiefs of staff for two Yuba-Sutter area state legislators have been booted from a conservative grassroots organization over claims they committed membership fraud and were disruptive.

The board of the directors of the California Republican Assembly voted 36-2 in separate motions Saturday to expel Mark Spannagel, chief of staff to state Sen. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, and David Reade, chief of staff to Assemblyman Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber.

Aaron Park, sergeant at arms for the CRA, said Reade manipulated units of the assembly to get the group’s endorsement for Mitt Romney during the 2008 presidential primary. And Reade and Spannagel submitted records of association members who weren’t actually affiliated at all, Park said.

“These instances go back as far as 2007,” said Park, adding Reade is expelled for 10 years and Spannagel for five.

The expulsions do not affect either man’s position with LaMalfa and Nielsen nor their status as registered Republicans, Park said. Reade and Spannagel can appeal their expulsions when the statewide assembly meets for a convention, which could happen in either November or January.

Spannagel said he hadn’t attended the meeting where the expulsion vote happened.

“If that’s the way they want to go, that’s the way they want to go,” he said. He pointed out members of the Placer County Republican Central Committee, including Park, are under investigation by the FBI and state Fair Political Practices Commission.

Reade said he’d also make note of the ongoing investigations.

“The once venerable California Republican Assembly has fallen into disrepute under the current rogue leadership,” he said. “They’ve lost any legitimacy as an organization, and it’s sad.”

Former CRA President Mike Spence and U.S. Rep. Tom McClintock have recently criticized the CRA’s current leadership for infighting and moving to purge some members rather than reform itself.

Once called by Ronald Reagan as the conscience of the Republican Party, the California Republican Assembly bills itself as the largest conservative grassroots group in the state.

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