June 2012 Archives

Repost: Reade and LaMalfa – Was This a Kick-Back?

Jun 042012

Side Note: Doug LaMalfa said publicly that he is running for Congress to represent the Farm Bureau’s interests – could that be in reference to protecting their farm welfare? It would be consistent behavior from LaMalfa.

If it is ok for a legislative Chief of Staff to be a paid fundraiser for his boss and it is ok for them to run campaigns when they aren’t working those alleged 12-hour days for the taxpayers…

….But former Republican state Sen. Maurice Johannessen doubts Reade’s claims.

“I will never believe that someone who is a total insider can have a consultant business that doesn’t affect his work with the Legislature,” Johannessen said Thursday by phone from his Redding home. “I don’t believe that.”…

Maurice Johannessen’s name amongst hard-core Republicans is mud. He collaborated with Gray Davis on a series of budgets that were the precursors to the train wreck that Arnold gave us – he should know when political deals smell…

An October 18, 2006 article details how Tehama County Supervisors Ok’ed a project that would have cost taxpayers at least 57 million dollars in road improvements to accommodate. The developer only was slated to chip in 10 million of that. Ouch.

It’s bad enough right? Doug LaMalfa wrote a letter of support for what was known as “Sun City Tehama”.

In an investigative report – the Redding Record Searchlight exposed David Reade’s operation again – Reade pocketed $67,000 in consulting fees off of a campaign, unrelated to the Sun City Tehama Project except for one massive problem.

The Developer, named James McKim wrote a $32,000 check to “No on F” Citizens against reservation shopping – a campaign against a proposed Casino in Tehama County. (A good cause, actually) That campaign was run by Reade.

Two months later – Doug LaMalfa writes a letter in support of McKim’s massive project in Tehama County! Whoops!

Leave it to Senator Johannessen to wrap this installment up:

Reade maintains that his work on the No on F campaign, like the nearly $500,000 in consulting work he did while serving as LaMalfa’s chief of staff, was done off the state’s time clock.

Reade said he didn’t raise money for No on F, and he had no idea that McKim gave money to the campaign.

Former Sen. Johannessen doubts that.

Reade, as the No on F campaign’s consultant, “wouldn’t be doing his job” if he didn’t know who donated to the campaign, Johannessen said.

“Anyone with half brain power” also would assume McKim’s donation came with strings attached, Johannessen said.

“People don’t have altruistic ideas when they give that kind of money,” he said.

Liberal with our tax dollars, liberal with the truth – what do you think would happen if LaMalfa was in Congress?

Political Extortion 101 – Jon Fleischman and the “No New Taxes Pledge”

Jon Fleischman, Les Baugh Comments Off

Jun 032012

Pledges. They are worthless – witness Howard Jarvis Taxpayers endorsements in recent years. They have endorsed several marginal Republican Candidates that have made a mockery of their good name. (How dare I point that out) Remember Arnold Schwarzenegger?

Witness all the people who have signed the ATR “No New Taxes Pledge” who have wiped their behinds with it.

So-Called taxpayer groups sprout up like weeds – including the taxpayer group that is supporting Frank Bigelow against Rico Oller.

Jon Fleischman has appointed himself one of the guardians of virtue in the Republican Party with his website and his boorish tactics to coerce Republican candidates in to signing the ATR Pledge or to make some sort of public statement that they won’t raise taxes, ever.

What he does – is to threaten people, he’s done it for years and I believe that I am the first to ever expose this publicly. I have also been told that he engages in similar tactics to sell ad space on his blog.

From: Scott Loenhorst <redacted>
Date: May 14, 2012 11:49:14 PM PDT
To: voteforles@sbcglobal.net
Subject: RE: You have NOT signed the ATR Pledge – so you are willing to raise taxes?

Dear Les,

My name is Scott Loenhorst and I am writing on behalf of Jon Fleischman, Publisher of the widely-read FlashReport Website on California Politics (www.flashreport.org).

We are writing you because you are a candidate for partisan office and according to our records, you have not signed the Americans for Tax Reform’s “Taxpayer Protection Pledge.” We wanted to make sure that you have the pledge available and we would like you to sign it right away. It is our request that you sign and return this form within 24 hours. Let us know if you have any questions.

We believe that it is very important that fiscally conservative candidates present a united front against the onslaught from special interests, who put tremendous pressure on GOP legislators to vote for a tax increase.

The form is attached. Please note that it needs a witness. If you need more information about the pledge itself, you can find more information on the ATR website: http://www.atr.org/taxpayer-protection-pledge

We believe that one of the reasons why Democrats have not raised taxes in Sacramento, is because virtually every Republican legislator in Sacramento has signed this pledge. It might interest you to know that every Republican member of Congress from California has signed.

If we do not hear back from you in this email, we will follow up with a phone call.

Thank you for your prompt attention to completing the attached form. In addition to faxing it to ATR to the number on the form, we ask that you also email it back to us, or fax it to us at 1-928-223-8068.

Scott

PS – Please get back to me as soon as possible, as Jon is getting ready to write a story about Republican candidates who have not signed the pledge, which will be read by local conservative grassroots leaders and GOP donors in your area, and will likely be picked up by the media in your area.

Scott Loenhorst

The FlashReport

Senior Associate
xxx-xxx-xxxx-Mobile

Nice, huh? Sign the pledge or Jon Fleischman is going to “Out” you on his blog. Les Baugh – the client of mine that got threatened is a pastor of a Church in Anderson, CA and believes that there are only two pledges he should ever make in his life – to God and his wife.

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Les pushed back against Mr. Flesichman and Jon in correspondence doubled down on the threat.

–

This pattern of high-minded arrogance is rampant in California Republican Party leadership.

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As an aside – please note that the Flashreport receives roughly 500-700 hits on a normal day. You can look that up on competition intelligence websites… future Republican candidates should laugh off the above threat and run their campaigns.

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The only thing that is a bigger joke right now than these tax pledges is the California Republican Party itself.

Arnold Zeiderman has Handed the Democrats a Hammer

Arnie Zeiderman, Jeff Seaton 1 Response »

Jun 022012

Well, well, well – it did not take long at all for my prediction to come true.

The Amador County Dem Party has capitalized on the cronyism of Arnold Zeiderman and was handing out the literature and displaying the signs of his opponent.

The venue was the Italian Festival in Sutter Creek this weekend – apparently Zeiderman was treated to the Chairman of the Amador Democrat Party lambasting the endorsement of Jeff Seaton and Jeff Seaton’s personal history as an example of “Republicanism”.

Thanks a ton Arnie Zeiderman.

But – Zeiderman delivered the endorsement to his family defense attorney, didn’t he?

If you are a Republican in Amador County – you need to bum-rush the Central Committee Meetings and take that party back.

P.S. Both Jeff Seaton and his opponent are Registered Republicans.

Dave Gilliard + (insert name of candidate) = Scandal

Dave Gilliard, Jim Nielsen Comments Off

Jun 012012

OOPS. This time three clients of Dave Gilliard’s are in the same mess. I am not referring to Gilliard Client Phil Paule and his multiple arrests, Gilliard Client Barbara Ortega and her DUI, nor Gilliard Client Doug LaMalfa and his exploding scandal that has revealed that he may have illegally paid for an attack website put up by his own chief of staff.

I am referring to Jim Nielsen, Bob Williams and the Tehama GOP.

This time the three got caught red-handed circumventing Prop 34 contribution limits using the Tehama GOP as the conduit. Many of us in the North State have known that Dave Gilliard is ruthless and uses whatever means necessary to get paid a.k.a. get his candidates elected – however, in 2012 team Gilliard is getting caught repeatedly.

The Territorial Dispatch set Dave Gilliard, Jim Nielsen and Bob Williams on fire this morning:

Jim Ledgerwood, Vice-President of the Butte County Republican Assembly called for a complete investigation of unethical and possibly illegal activities conducted by the Bob Williams’ Assembly campaign. Legerwood indicated that a formal request to the Fair Political Practices Commission to investigate the Williams campaign for the following potential violations should be filed:

• Violating Laws Governing Independent Expenditures.

According to the Fair Political Practices Commission, the rule regarding independent expenditures is that there be no “coordination” between the candidate’s campaign and those campaigning for the candidate through independent expenditures. Yet, the Secretary of State’s site shows that on Friday, the Tehama County central committee made an independent expenditure of $12,762 for radio advertising and mailers through Gilliard, Blanning and Associates.

This firm, run by Dave Gilliard, also has been serving as the campaign consultant to Williams.

Ledgerwood noted that “Williams campaign team seems to have blatantly disregarded the law in an effort to advance his candidacy.”

• Money Laundering

It is illegal for an Assembly member or state senator to make an independent expenditure on behalf of a candidate or to donate to a committee for that purpose. However, Williams’ campaign directly benefited from a $20,000 donation made by Assemblyman Nielsen to a committee that needed to act in a manner that was totally independent of the Williams campaign.

*** Assemblyman Nielsen has endorsed Williams and Nielsen approved a quote in the very “independent” mailer that his donation paid for the mailer.

*** Nielsen, Williams and the organization supposedly acting independently of both share the same consultant – Dave Gilliard.

Ledgerwood said it was inconceivable to him that Williams, Nielsen and Gilliard and did not know that Nielsen’s $20,000 donation was being used to advance Williams candidacy when the money was spent by a campaign consultant they both employ and that the “independent committee” employs. Ledgerwood said the transactions appear to be a “thinly veiled money laundering scheme intended to allow a Williams supporter to exceed the maximum amount of money ($3900) that could be donated.”

Ledgerwood noted that the Chico Enterprise Record had already editorialized against Williams’ dirty tricks campaign. He said indications that the campaign was violating multiple campaign finance laws showed that Williams was participating in unethical and possibly illegal activities

I still stand behind my earlier post that the Tehama GOP got screwed by the state GOP – but that does not give them license to break the law.

My How Time Files – Jeff Seaton Update

Arnie Zeiderman, Jeff Seaton Comments Off

Jun 012012

There is a reason why a month is a political eternity.

I posted the below on April 24th and the revelations since then have caused me to realize that the below was the tip of the iceberg!

When you are electing a judge and vetting a Judge candidate for a Republican Party endorsement – there is some responsibility for research.

$250k to the Sheriff’s Department, $350K+ to the DA’s Office are two figures that were given to me of the Tribe’s Annual largesse.

Jeff Seaton was not vetted at all. Or, if he was – then that could indeed tell the story of why the Indian Tribe in Amador County appear to be attempting to buy a Judgeship.

The Tribe tosses money around the community like water – so the $1,000 from a Dalton + the $10,000 from the Tribe itself is chump change.

I harken back to the case of Schmitz vs Schmitz. Seaton got fired, and the pattern is similar to the grotesque malfeasance in the Purdue Case. In the letter dated November 4th, 2008 – Schmitz lambasted Jeff Seaton for, cancelling appointments, no-showing, failing to make any discovery efforts, being unprepared in court, and the letter alledues to Jeff Seaton sleeping with the wife of the Schmitz that fired him.

Jeff Seaton forfeited $6100 in legal fees according to the letter.

I have never seen anything like this in the 15 years I have been involved in politics. This letter of termination was entered in to evidence by Jeff Seaton’s Ex-Wife Patty.

You see, Patty had been covering for Jeff Seaton’s behavior as it related to Mr. Schmitz’ anger over the bungling only to get served with divorce papers and kicked out of the law office on to the street in favor of his Mistress. The letter has it all in there.

I had written yesterday that Patty has not come out publicly against Seaton because she wants to be able to garnish his Judge wages to get back spousal support that Jeff Seaton is not paying… (Is anyone surprised that Jeff Seaton wouldn’t pay like he has been ordered to???) Well I also was informed that another explanation is that Jeff Seaton is preparing to appeal the divorce decision of the Appellate Court because he wants to further delay paying Patty the money that is rightfully hers. As a result, the attorney has a gag on her.

Whatever the reason is, Jeff Seaton has some serious integrity issues.

Take a look at the $400,000 in personal debt in the divorce proceedings. $322K is an Equity Line against an office building and the rest is credit card debt.

This guy wants to be a judge? Someone who is $400K in the hole in this economy is compromised.

Here is a 2011 Income Statement from Seaton’s Law Firm, it shows $218K in receipts and about $66K in operating income. How the heck is he keeping current on the debt payments on that $400k on the debt list? The monthly payments on that are almost $3000 a month.

The more research I do on Jeff Seaton, the more questions I am raising.

Just don’t vote for this guy. Just don’t.

Later we found out that the ex-wife of Schmitz gave $150 worth of earrings to Jeff Seaton, seemingly validating the claims made.

In addition – revelations from the 3/20 divorce settlement hearing added volumes to the above – including Seaton losing his office building to pay the ex back for the back spousal support and the revelation as to why we have never heard from Patty Seaton. She stands to gain a lot if Jeff Seaton gets the $178k annual income from getting elected Judge.

In addition, we discovered that there are a slew of delinquent bills plus judgements against Seaton for Court Costs and Legal Fees.

But – Arnie Zeiderman and the Amador GOP stand defiantly behind their man.

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