Mark Spannagel was designated for discipline by the CRA board of directors for being a central figure in the consultant manipulation and endorsement fraud that beset the CRA in addition to his gross misbehavior at the 2011 April CRA Convention. The Yuba CRA was chartered by Karen England in 2007 for two purposes – one was to send delegates for Mitt Romney to the 2007 CRA Presidential endorsing convention and the second 2007 purpose was to screw over Dan Logue (by sending LaMalfa / Jim Nielsen staff as delegates to the local CRA endorsing convention to stand up for Sue Horne). The Yuba CRA is not the only CRA unit ever to be chartered for purposes of a campaign – but unlike Placer, which was chartered to help Rico Oller in 1996, the Yuba CRA has existed as a zombie unit for awakening every time its’ consultant masters needed it to produce a result.
Despite the rantings of some – people like David Reade, Mark Spannagel and Karen England earned their tickets out of 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.
Mark Spannagel was the President of the Yuba CRA Unit for 4+ years. The evidence gathered against the Yuba CRA follows:
This dubious unit appears to be controlled by persons outside Yuba County who have never shown any interest in recruiting actual members from the territory claimed by the unit. The unit does not even appear to operate in its own territory. Long-time unit president Mark Spannagel (who lives in Placer County) even refused to cash the dues payment that he received from would-be CRA members Paul and Marcia Myers, who are well-respected officers of the Yuba County Republican Party.
Assembly members Dan Logue and Rick Keene joined this unit on-line, through the CRA website. As in the case of Yuba County residents such as Paul and Marcia Myers, these two legislators were never notified of any unit meetings, which suggests multiple violations of Section 10.05 and Section 10.04 concerning meetings and elections.
The Yuba County CRA unit is not listed on the Yuba County GOP website and its activities (if any) are not announced at Yuba County Republican Central Committee meetings.
This unit sent Meg Whitman staff members to the 2010 CRA Convention as Delegates, even though they were listed as living in Diamond Bar and Hacienda Heights. This suggests that they were not properly elected as Delegates under Section 10.04.
When contacted by the Credentials Committee for the 2011 Annual Convention, this unit’s officers refused to provide records of membership or bylaws, in violation of Section 10.07.
In the local endorsing conventions in which the Yuba County Republican Assembly has participated, their delegations have consisted of Legislative staff members, as witnessed first-hand by several CRA officers. It has often been said that none of the Yuba County Delegates ever seem to come from Yuba County. The unit has never endorsed in local Yuba County elections in the entire time it has existed.
The unit lists exactly 25 members, all with expiration dates of 1/31/2012. A majority of the members live outside Yuba County, which will come as no surprise to anyone who has ever seen one of their delegations to an endorsing convention.
This Unit is easily one of the biggest frauds in the CRA – the evidence is self-evident.