The Finale of the Wasted Republican Money Series: Beth Gaines AD-06.

 Beth Gaines, Charles Munger, Connie Conway  Comments Off on The Finale of the Wasted Republican Money Series: Beth Gaines AD-06.
Nov 302012
 

Andy Pugno had to be stopped at all costs. How dare anyone take on an incumbent. If an incumbent was beaten by a challenger, that would set a precedent. The problem is that we now live in a Prop 14 world, this “top-two” system invites challenges to incumbents.

So, the story of what happened in the primary is that Connie Conway made a deal with the Devil, Charles Munger. Munger wanted to put a conservative head on a stick. Connie Conway wanted to protect her leadership vote – Beth Gaines, since Alan Mansoor was deemed to be a jerk, he was served up to Prince Charles as the main course. (This claims in this paragraph are sourced by several political insiders)

Munger came after Mansoor with $700K, and Charles Munger showed up in time to rescue Beth Gaines from a well-funded challenger that was getting traction, Andy Pugno. The added bonus? Charles Munger got revenge on his detractors in Placer County and got to light up the author of prop 8 – a measure that Charles Munger vicerally opposes. It is unclear if Munger was directed to attack the Placer GOP Central Committee by Republican Leadership or just Dave Gilliard – but mounting evidence shows either or both to be the case.

While the Republicans lost three seats in the Assembly and narrowly held two others that should have not been close – Connie Conway get her wish. The most incompetent Assemblymember in California was re-elected. Even the Sacramento Bee referenced that Beth Gaines is unable to answer questions with staff present and that the district deserved better.

Now, California gets to enjoy one-party rule, but Munger got his man, he was able to keep the author of prop 8 out of the assembly.

Here is the tale of the tape for how Beth Gaines was kept in office:

California Association of Realtors: $35,906.41

Golden State Leadership Fund $25,693.51 – this is the PAC funded by PG&E/Dentists/San Manuel Indians

California Senior Advocates league $37,578.86

Howard Ahmundson $60,412.14

California Optometric Association $4,500

Charles Munger $316,297.74

California Tribal Business Alliance $50,000

The Total = $530,388.66 in independent expenditures IN THE MOST REPUBLICAN ASSEMBLY DISTRICT IN CALIFORNIA!

The sad commentary on this race is that Placer County’s Republican Central Committee was ground zero. What has happened in Placer County is a microcausm of what is wrong with the state GOP.

However, Beth Gaines is the poster child for what is wrong with those in leadership of the GOP. Beth is incompetent, unqualified and those of us that dared to stand up have been attacked for it and likely in the twisted thinking of Charles Munger and Republican leadership – those of us that supported Beth Gaines’ opponents are the problem and they were justified to call in $530,388.66 in support for Beth Gaines while leaving other candidates to the wolves.

Here is the final Book on SD-04, AD-05 and AD-01, speaking of wasted money in R vs R races.

 Charles Munger  Comments Off on Here is the final Book on SD-04, AD-05 and AD-01, speaking of wasted money in R vs R races.
Nov 292012
 

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People hate Rico Oller. I get it. However, what a waste – especially in light of the disasters in AD-32 and AD-65. and the near disasters in AD-36 and AD-40.

In SD-04 – I got multiple pieces of mail from the CAGOP. Their goal was to get Liberal Republican Jim Nielsen to 50%+1 to avoid a runoff. Nielsen also got $294K from Charles Munger for his campaign. Do not forget Jim Nielsen’s role in the attempted destruction of the CAGOP Platform. What happened is that 44K got transferred from the Doug LaMalfa-associated PAC that Munger helped fund (with the California Association of Realtors) late in the cycle from the AD-01 campaign once it became obvious Rick Bosetti was losing badly.

In AD-05 let’s take a look at all the money spent on stopping enemy of the people Rico Oller:

$61,104.56 in attacks by the Mother Lode Taxpayers Association. (This was formed and/or controlled by Assembly-member Kristen Olsen staffers)

$154,712.96 in support for Frank Bigelow by the California Realtors Association

$368,222.48 in attacks by the California Senior Advocates League PAC

$75,160.75 in support for Frank Bigelow by the California Senior Advocates League PAC

$105,096.22 in support for Frank Bigelow by Californians for Fiscal Accountability PAC – this is the same PAC, funded by SEIU/AFSCME / Public Employees / Dentists /Realtors that attacked Craig Huey in AD-66 with $508,271.99…

$16,733.91 in support for Frank Bigelow by the Golden State leadership fund – this was funded by PG&E / dentists / San Maunel Indians / Far-left Groups

Grand Total – $626,317.92 in to stopping Rico Oller in addition to the money raised by Bigelow himself.

In AD-01 – $515,000 total spent attempting to stop Brian Dahle.

Donors: Charles Munger $175K (VIA spirit of democracy)

California Association of Realtors: $310K

PG&E $5,000

Dentists: $25,000

As I noted earlier – I saw that $44k was transferred late to the Jim Nielsen IE PAC (funded by Charles Munger)

Total Wasted: $1,391,317.90 on these races alone.

By the way – that runoff they were trying to avoid in SD-04? Nope, Nielsen didn’t get to 50%+1. So, even the cover excuse didn’t pan out.

And, the Coup d’etat? Beth Gaines…. up next.

Update on the Wasted Money in Rep Elections: Charles Munger Edition

 Charles Munger  1 Response »
Nov 282012
 

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Charles Munger appeared to be obsessed with Northern California Races and also appeared to target a certain kind of Republican.

First off – he dropped $250K in to Jim Nielsen SD-04 as I detailed previously. Nielsen’s opponent was to have been Dan Logue – the author of Prop 23 that would have repealed AB32. The party line once Dan Logue dropped out was to prevent the cost of a runoff election. EPIC FAIL. There will be a runoff as Nielsen missed the required 50%.

He Dropped a total of $316,297.74 in to Beth Gaines AD-06 (at the direction of Connie Conway) – Gaines opponent, Andy Pugno wrote Prop 8. (More on this later)

Charles Munger designated Gregg Imus for destruction in CA-08 with $717K. Imus helped found the minutemen. That race was won by liberal Republican Paul Cook.

Munger spent $175K against Brian Dahle – Brian Dahle is a Conservative Christian.

Munger spent $564,732.47 on Rocky Chavez in an R vs R race in San Diego while so many other districts fell to dems. Chavez’ opponent, Sherry Hodges is also a Christian whose donor list looked like a lot of Pro-Family Conservatives.

Munger indirectly participated in the AD-05 Race, which will be the subject of its’ own post.

Munger spent $65,447.26 on William Batey in AD-61 – Batey got crushed.

Munger spent $1.2 Million on Far-Left Republican Abel Maldonado. Maldonado got smoked by 9.5%.

Add in the $700,000 Munger spent attacking hard-core Conservative Alan Mansoor in Southern California in the Primary and there is a disturbing pattern.

Charles Munger ignored AD32, AD41, AD65, AD66 – two of those were Republican Districts that needed to be held that were lost. Charles Munger also ignored AD36 and AD 40 – two Republican districts that were nearly lost because Munger and the Republican leadership cared more about the Republican vs Republican races in AD01, AD05, AD06 and AD76.

Charles Munger ignored Kim Vann, Dan Lungren, Ricky Gill, Brian Bilbray, Mary Bono-Mack and Tony Strickland. Three were incumbents and three were designated target Congressional races that the GOP needed. Instead, Munger chose to spend $717K attacking one of the founders of the minutemen, Gregg Imus.

At the same time, Munger kept pouring money into Abel Maldonado while Bilbray, Bono-Mack and Lungren all lost by narrow margins. Maldonado lost by 9.5%!

My latest investigation uncovered additional money from Munger that was chipped in to the above races plus the $400,000 in additional money chipped in to the California Senior Advocates League PAC. Again, that PAC was used to attack Sherry Hodges, Andy Pugno and Rico Oller. (And the Placer GOP Central Committee that Tea party Recruits of Liberal Republicans are bragging about) Munger also dropped $250,000 into the Reform California Now IE Committee.

The more disturbing Pattern is that Charles Munger appears to hate conservative leaders. His victims include a founder of the minutemen, the author of Prop 8 and several known Conservative Christians – that isn’t an accident.

It appears that Charles Munger is indeed obsessed with re-making the GOP in to his own image, and recent comments he has made in the media make it appear that he is happy to see the GOP in a super-minority in California.

Munger had harsher words for the leadership of the Republican Party, whom he termed at times banal and thuggish. He argued that party leaders have waged a “civil war” against Republican legislators and donors, which has led to the “utter and total collapse” of the state Republican Party.

This comment is absurd, or is indeed indicative of Charles Munger’s mental illness. One man’s issues are quite a different matter than taking and throwing every other conservative leader in to the same mistake.

Charles Munger did the very thing he is pointing the finger at others for. (aka inciting a “civil war”) Don’t kid yourself – after spending millions hunting conservatives – he is pointing the finger at conservative leaders for the problems he helped create with his money and all of the initiatives he supported. (and, don’t forget what he did in Placer County.)

Update on the Wasted Money in R vs R Races- Who is the Reform California Now IE Committee?

 California Republican Party, Charles Munger  Comments Off on Update on the Wasted Money in R vs R Races- Who is the Reform California Now IE Committee?
Nov 272012
 

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This is another one of those names that I kept seeing running expenditures in target races and also was seeing their money pop in to other PAC’s.

Reform California Now IE Committee is also known as California Now Independent Expenditure Committee.

The list of suspects includes some names that you’d expect – and a lot more:

California Dental Association – $100k

Anthem Blue Cross – $100k

California Alliance for Progress in Education

JobsPAC – $255k

California Association of Realtors PAC – $675K

Phillip Morris $396,702.00

The Irvine Company

Enterprise H0ldings (monterey)

Chevron $1,750,000

Sempra Energy 125K

Alex Spanos

California BIA $75K

Farmer’s Insurance $125K

Charles Munger $250K

Personal Insurance Federation $150K

Anheiser Busch

Associated General Contractors $50K

New Majority PAC $115K

Small Business Action Committee $34K

California Apartment Association $90K

California Farm Bureau $60K

California Charter Schools Association $75K

—-

Most of the money from this PAC was sent to other PAC’s – including the California Senior Advocates league PAC, a primary vehicle used to attack conservative Republicans in races.

However, a bunch of Money was sent to Citizens Against Wasteful Spending PAC, a vehicle used to fund attacks against Fran Pavley and to Support Todd Zink in a target State Senate Race.

Another wad was sent to the Inland Empire Taxpayer’s Association for the ill-fated Jeff Miller for State Senate Campaign.

And, yet more money was sent to Citizens for California Reform, a PAC used to attack Kathleen Galgiani and support Bill Berryhill for State Senate.

It is easy to conclude that the Reform California Now IE Committee was used to fund the various efforts on behalf of Republican State Senate Candidates plus was also used to attack conservatives in some R vs R Assembly races.

Update on the Wasted Money in R vs R Races: AD41 / AD66 / AD61 / AD67 / AD65

 Charles Munger, Connie Conway, Dave Gilliard  Comments Off on Update on the Wasted Money in R vs R Races: AD41 / AD66 / AD61 / AD67 / AD65
Nov 262012
 

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Of these Four – Only AD67 was an R vs R race. However, these districts illustrate the further consequences of Connie Conway’s deal with Charles Munger and the self-focus of the GOP leadership.

Craig Huey in AD66 got left to the wolves. He lost by about 9 percentage points and could have won easily.

A PAC calling itself Californians for Fiscal Accountability spent $508,271.95 attacking Craig Huey. A look at their donors reveals a list of suspects that should surprise no one:

California Association of Realtors, California Dental Association, the SEIU, AFSCME and the Educational Employees Union!

What was spent on Craig Huey’s Behalf? Zero. Nada. Zilch. But – Huey did indeed have a RINO challenger in the Primary to bleed money off of him.

Once again, Craig Huey is a Conservative Christian and, therefore was likely never given serious consideration for support by GOP leadership.

AD41: Donna Lowe also lost by less than 10. This district was identified as a “target district” yet Lowe did not receive a dime in independent support from anywhere.

AD61: This is a district that got attention by Charles Munger. Batey got a little bit of money from Howard Ahmundson in the Primary in support and got $65,447.26 from Charles Munger via the Spirit of Democracy. However, William Batey was a train-wreck and lost by 21 points. Again – the one race that money was spent on ended up being a complete disaster.

AD67: This race pitted a Dave Gilliard Client, Phil Paule against Melissa Melendez (endorsed by CRA) in the runoff. Phil Paule was the establishment choice.

True to form – Howard Ahmundson rode in on behalf of a Gilliard Client – in this case with $34,000 attacking Melendez and $16,500 on behalf of Phil Paule. Again, this was a waste of resources in an R vs R race.

This race featured the usual Dave Gilliard dirty tricks – a racist mailer against Melissa Melendez and an organization pulled their endorsement of Melissa Melendez late in the campaign. I believe that this was at the behest of Dave Gilliard as I have seen this pattern repeat itself several times, especially when Gilliard’s client is losing.

Melendez ended up winning by a fairly comfortable, yet close margin.

AD65 – this is a seat that the dems snaked by about 5,000 votes. This was the Chris Norby seat. It is the opinion of this blogger that the Republican leadership was still angry at Chris Norby for beating their heir-apparent in 2010 and left him to swing. Also, Norby is very conservative so the chance of Munger helping him was nil.

The Orange County Police Officer’s Union came after Norby (to settle a score dating back to when he was supervisor?) with $123,098.36.

JobsPAC and Howard Ahmundson came in way late with a combined $35k on Norby’s behalf – way too little, too late. I’ll bet Conway wishes some of the millions spent in R vs R races found its’ way to AD65? What about the $65k wasted on Batey?

AD41 – Lowe down by 9.5

AD66 – Huey down by 9.5

AD61 – Batey down by 22 with support

AD67 – money wasted on an R vs R race

AD65 – Republican Seat Lost because of too little, too late support.

But, they stopped Rico Oller, Andy Pugno, Sherry Hodges, Gregg Imus (all of whom are Conservatives and leaders)!?

To be continued…

 

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