Jun 262019
 

There is an age-old concept in politics about blood in the water from a wounded incumbent politician. It creates a feeding frenzy.

Bill Brough is finding that out right now.

I am not sure why now was the time that people who were holding on to well-known stories are all deciding to unload them. It is easy to be cynical and question motives. Motives are the biggest issue in politics as it is a gigantic chess game of maladjusted extreme personalities.

Perhaps this is why Bill Brough is stubbornly and arrogantly protesting his innocence when he knows full well what he did and has done since he assumed office in December of 2014? It is the old-fashioned trash the source and avoid the issue defense.

The fact of the matter is that I believe all of this to be true and am convinced there is far more out there to be discovered about Brough’s trail of destruction.

Your intrepid blogger has been approached by two more female victims. It remains to be seen if they will tell their stories in a format that I can print.

We’ve been informed of the possibility that text messages and emails may well still exist between Brough and some of his victims of his harassment.

Your intrepid blogger has been made aware that at least two other women that filed complaints with the Assembly Rules Committee against Mr. Brough are going to re-file them and allow the Rules Committee to identify them. (This means no dismissal on a technicality, rather an evaluation of the merits)

Your intrepid blogger has been told off the record by several people with Capitol Connections about Brough’s Apartment that he shared with a former chief of staff that resembled a scene out of animal house. Apparently, it was well known for the ragers that occurred there. It was also well known as a place for “pursuit of a series of intimate personal relationships”. It would be interesting to research a list of Brough’s former staff and see what insights they would offer.

It is also known that Brough used to like to party with other Irishmen. He has been seen partying with Assemblyman O’Donnell and other members of the “Irish crew” which could have included the terminated Sean Doherty whose #METOO file was pretty graphic with multiple incidents that led to his termination by the Assembly Rules Committee. We’ve written about Sean Doherty in the past.

It has also been alleged that some of Brough’s staff (current and former) spend significant time covering for his actions.

We are also tracking down leads on financial issues with Mr. Brough as several people have come forward with stories in that regard. This is significant as the depth of his behavior is laid out – it is beyond partying and misusing his office for “pursuit of a series of intimate personal relationships”.

Finally, political insiders on the GOP side of a aisle are talking openly about what a liability Brough has become. Similar to the scandal-sieged Duncan Hunter, it has taken a constant pounding with verified and factual evidence to shatter the incumbent protection wall. AD73 overlays two Congressional Districts that are in play and Brough is going to be a lead weight on efforts to re-take those seats.

Does this mean a series of GOP leaders are going to call on Brough to Resign / Retire? Given the response of the feckless void Fred Whitaker, I’d be shocked in a positive way to see a rarely seen display of leadership as next to no one I know ever wants to be first. (Again, kudos to Lisa Bartlett for finally telling her story in public)

We are going to have fresh insights on Bill Brough shortly, it is clear to your intrepid blogger that he is attempting to outlast the negative coverage of his foibles. Your intrepid blogger is patient and is focused on the mission – Bill Brough needs to go so those left behind can pick up the pieces.

Jun 242019
 

The Sacramento Bee story has been received by your intrepid blogger over a dozen times. The Sacramento Bee cited the Right on Daily Blog as a source. I normally use the Sacramento Bee as a punching bag because they are so biased, I guess taking on a Republican Assemblymember is what it takes to get a citation.

I’d also like to thank Norberto Santana of the Voice of OC for attribution as well.

Since Right On Daily broke the Bill Brough / Lisa Bartlett story six days ago, we have learned that Orange County GOP Chairman asked those in attendance that Monday evening to not discuss the accounts of the evening. This is key as I had alleged that Fred Whitaker (the feckless OC GOP Chair) was attempting to invoke the incumbent protection plan. Incumbents do not have a right to hold office, they should actually be held to a higher standard of conduct, yet because of the fealty of the establishment to those with titles it works the exact opposite.

The Sacramento Bee story had some interesting nuggets:

Brough denied all the allegations made against him.

“I have been on the end of many political attacks but I will not stand for personal attacks on me and my family,” he said in a statement. “I have done nothing wrong.”

Brough also cited a city memo filed a week after the alleged incident that determined the city “did not have sufficient facts or evidence to come to any conclusions” since no witnesses were present.

Bartlett’s allegation, first reported by a conservative blog called Right on Daily, prompted another woman to discuss a similar incident.

Maria Elena Banks, a Laguna Beach real estate agent who worked on campaigns for Bartlett and Brough, said Brough harassed her about five years ago before he was sworn into the state Assembly in 2014.

Bill Brough also denied there was a complaint filed with the Assembly Rules Committee – he bald faced lied about that. In fact, your intrepid blogger has learned that more than one woman filed complaints on Mr. Brough but the complaints with the Assembly went nowhere (except for one) because the victims did not want their names revealed to Mr. Brough. Remember, in America you are supposed to know who your accusers are so the only complaint investigated was the one we know about and it was dismissed on a technicality.

What else is Brough lying about?

Unfortunately, for a lot of women – coming out in public against an Incumbent (there is that word again) means the end of your employment. If you are a lobbyist, you get fired. A staffer? Kiss off any promotions and being hired on to another legislator’s staff. If you work for a “Third House” group you are also toast. This is what reinforces the bad behavior of so many in the State Legislature as they know they can get away with it. Former Senator Ted Gaines allowed Steve Davey (his former Chief of Staff who was canned for his repeated abuse of staff) to continue his destructive pattern for at least 4 years after the first complaint against him and did nothing.

This is why my informant declined to allow Right on Daily Blog to use her name.

The biggest issue I have with Bill Brough are not the ragers he and his former Chief of Staff used to have in his capitol office or his apartment (according to several sources with first hand knowledge), or repeatedly cheating on his wife (again according to multiple sources), it is the abuse of his office and leveraging of it to enable said lifestyle. My confidential informant was specific that Mr. Brough propositioned her and offered influence and/or leveraging his position on the elections committee in exchange for a liaison (or more than one). If 4 women (Bartlett, the Realtor, My Informant, the person that filed the Assembly Rules Complaint) or more are all alleging Brough made unwanted sexual advances with and without physical contact, several different times (remember Bartlett’s original complaint with the City of Dana Point and the Staffer’s original complaint with the Assembly years ago) – we now have a problem and a pattern over years.

Several people that work in the capitol have come forward to your intrepid blogger with more information and leads regarding the behavior of Bill Brough. We will detail those in a future post.

In almost all incidences of Brough’s behavior, alcohol is involved. This suggests a destructive pattern related to alcohol.

The Bee continued with a fairly detailed story ending with these comments from the feckless void known as Fred Whitaker:

Fred Whitaker, chairman of the Orange County GOP, said the county party will not tolerate harassment but is unaware of any ongoing investigations into Brough’s behavior.

“The Republican Party of Orange County has no tolerance for sexual misconduct,” Whitaker said in a statement. “We are not aware of any pending investigations. All claims of sexual misconduct should be reported to and investigated by law enforcement or state legislative ethics committees to allow for a fair and thorough investigation, so that victims can be heard and an accused can present a defense. If an investigation is initiated, any request for endorsement would be dependent on the results of the investigation. There is no request for endorsement pending at this time.”

Fred Whitaker lied to the Sacramento Bee by omission. He saddled up on a technicality to dodge the question. If he does not Resign in disgrace, the OCGOP should vacate the chair at the next meeting. Whitaker knows full well there is a problem and the committee voted to refer the matter back to the endorsement committee for an investigation – prompting Brough to withdraw his request. The honest answer would have been, “The OCGOP referred the endorsement matter back to the endorsement committee for a review of issues after Mrs. Bartlett’s remarks at the Monday Evening meeting and Mr. Brough withdrew his request for endorsement two days later. As such, there is no current investigation or request for an endorsement”.

Whitaker’s legally-parsed response is yet another example of the moral bankruptcy that is rampant within the ranks of political leaders at all levels. At least we now know where Fred Whitaker stands, avoid the issue at all costs and defend the incumbent.

To be continued…

Jun 242019
 

The AD-73 Race has a personal angle. I went after Anna Bryson and to a lesser extent Jesse Petrilla in that primary. The beneficiary was the beleaguered and now scandal-riddled Bill Brough. Contrary to popular belief I did not work for anyone when I ran that drill.

The AD-73 Race in 2014 was also a personal first. My Wife was attacked publicly by Art Sanchez on the OC Politics Blog and the post was live for about a day before someone called my wife to tell her that her photo was on a blog site from Southern California about some political stuff her husband was doing. Art Sanchez attempted to run over my wife to get to me, as he was a big time Anna Bryson supporter. Art Pedroza (who runs OC Politics) pulled the post and later expelled me from his website.

My Wife has been attacked two more times since then. Once was in 2017 after the 2016 AD06 Primary by people friendly to the winner Kevin Kiley. Kiley’s brother is on staff in a local church we were basically run out of in retaliation for my role in helping one of Kiley’s opponents. The most recent incident was in 2018, by former Chief Deputy Ray Wood, a Chief for the former Sheriff of Riverside County who I helped defeat. They created memes of my wife to troll her ministry page and social media, sent her IM’s and had people call her employer and an attempt to get her fired.

In addition to the attacks on my wife, I’ve received 27 legal demand letters since 2011, been attacked front page above the fold in the Sacramento Bee, and have been banned for life from two blogs and the CRA.

Anyone that thinks I sit in my office lobbing bombs and that it is all fun and games should think again. The political world is full of scum, slime, cowards, backstabbers, hypocrites, charlatans, dirtbags and other forms of parasitical amoeba. If it was not for the fact that I feel called to be in this game, there is no amount of money I could make from anyone that is just compensation. As such, I feel little restraint in how I approach the political blood-sport.

When Art Sanchez did what he did, he signed Anna Bryson’s death warrant. At the time, $400K worth of independent money was pouring in to her assistance. She lost and Brough made the runoff with the democrat. At the time, the battering that Bryson took on the OC Politics Blog was viewed as devastating. In a sense I avenged my wife. I was told later that Anna Bryson’s husband was talking about and researching legal action against me. (As if Sanchez attacking my wife was not enough)

I coined the term “Oligarchy of Controlled Failure” as a moniker for the folks in charge of and profiting off of the CAGOP for the last 20 years. It is the opinion of this blogger they could care less how many seats the GOP has left, if they are one of them. They could care less about the results of the election as long as the checks cash. They could care less if the CAGOP is a carcass as long as they are in control.

I’ve been around the CAGOP for 22 years and have watched the CAGOP lose repeatedly. I’ve seen people get rich off of losing. In 2012, when Luis Buhler directed $100,000 in to the Placer GOP Central Committee race to target myself and three others, I am sure a consultant pocketed several thousand dollars off of that operation. What a waste. Buhler wasn’t done – $3,000,000 plus was dumped in to Central Committee Races in 2016, including Orange County. The goal was to elect liberals and country clubbers over conservatives. These same people engineered the staff infection that is the delegate universe at the state party in order to ensure that Travis Allen was not elected Chair of the State Party. In all, consultants wasted $45 Million of Charles Munger’s money with a ton of it spent picking winners in Republican races.

It appears now that the people that control the CAGOP are obsessed with trying to recruit anyone that is not a white male to run for office. In addition to the stories from SD-05, SD-23 and CA-45 where white males were told not to apply, it appears the same has happened in AD-74. There were apparently several suitors and in particular, two guys that had access to money, had connections and were young and photogenic. They were told not to bother. The establishment decided on Diane Dixon, and rolled off of her onto an unknown trial lawyer by the name of Kelly Ernby. Ernby appears to have some issues of her own, appears to be controlled by some old familiar names in OCGOP politics and is working in the consumer fraud division of the OC DA’s office (the equivalent of being a traffic cop or a meter maid).

I am currently writing about the incumbent protection plan. In particular, I am being made aware on an almost daily basis of the machinations being made to protect Bill Brough (AD-73) and the Scandal-Riddled Duncan Hunter Jr. (who may yet be exonerated) Time and time again I’ve watched and talked to people that knew the incumbent was a feckless, ineffective loser, yet they still endorsed and/or donated to the incumbent. We get what we deserve.

I am currently writing about the CAGOP being broke/bankrupt/cash challenged. The CAGOP had $330K in their State Account as of the 5/18 cutoff. I’ve seen about $150K raised since. The Dems have over $11 Million. The CAGOP has a net $26,500 in their federal account, the dems have $1,500,000. If that ain’t broke/bankrupt, I don’t know what is. It’s wrong and we were told that Travis Allen would cause exactly this if he was elected chairman of the CAGOP.

The inserted photo from Facebook shows that people were attempting to suppress one of the blogs I wrote about the financial condition of the CAGOP by running a spam complaint drill on facebook. Once again, the Oligarchy of Controlled Failure at work.

What I also know is a whole bunch of good people are on the outside looking in. Documents obtained from a FOIA related to a campaign finance caper show that CAGOP leadership were making contingency plans as far back as 2011 in case Central Committees fell in to the hands of “The Tea Party”. (More on that shortly) This solidifies the evidence of contempt for the “little people” by the power brokers. This is also evidence they are willfully attempting to shrink the opportunities for participation in order to control things.

The consultants and staff that control the CAGOP are currently in the process of re-writing the CAGOP Platform seeking to shred the social issues out of it. It is the 1,000 year old argument of how to win elections, compromise or distinguish yourself from your opponents. They choose compromise. This is a subset of how they picked the CAGOP delegates to ensure an outcome from the 2019 Chairman’s election. They have the ability now to realize a long-held dream of shredding the CAGOP Platform and the real grassroots have been marginalized out of the process as the party leadership at all levels marginalize the party statewide.

I am watching the same people doing the same things over and over again. I have a choice, leave the GOP and do something else – or use the platform (Right On Daily) I’ve earned over the last 22 years to hold them accountable in an attempt to change the situation.

Bill Brough’s situation is a microcosm of everything I’ve seen in 22+ years of politics. It is important to get this one right as our numbers are in freefall, and irrelevancy is upon us. Will we acquiesce in the name of expediency or will the weak leadership of this party finally assert themselves? 22 years of experience tells me that we will have to drag Brough out of office in a political bodybag with our own side in the way the whole time.

Jun 222019
 

Incumbent protection. Ever since I got active in the CAGOP – it has been always support your incumbents. This was on display when the Tehama GOP actually reached 2/3 to endorse Bob Williams over Incumbent Assemblyman Dan Logue. The Lawyers at the top levels of CAGOP leadership overturned the endorsement on a technicality so Logue could get the statewide GOP endorsement (which requires no county committees opposed) – further when other Cent Coms deadlocked against incumbents (such as Placer failing to endorse either Gaines) the same lawyers re-wrote the GOP rules to call anything other than reaching 2/3 not acting. Please note – I think Dan Logue is awesome and was one of the best Assemblymembers we’ve had in a generation, but what was wrong is wrong. It is the BS with the endorsement procedures that caused me to abandon support for former GOP Chair Tom Del Becarro long before I knew about his personal issues.

These same feckless leaders of the OCGOP once loved Don Wagner as an Assemblyman, and then he attempted a rematch against Senator John Moorlach a year after losing a special election.  They abandoned and threatened Don Wagner so much that Wagner did not file. A few years later, Don Wagner gets elected OC Supervisor and these people are helping him retaliate against his opponents in the Supervisor race! I have whiplash. Moorlach? Useless to the GOP save a short period of time when he raised a few bucks. Don Wagner had given over $500k to GOP candidates, after the way he was treated, I’d bet he is not that motivated to do a thing now.

Do you wonder why folks like Kevin Kiley (AD-06) and Steven Choi (AD-68) sat on $400K plus in 2018 when their colleagues got smoked out of office? (Beyond Kiley’s own ambition) Why should they help, there are no consequences and they can count on the party establishment’s incumbent protection plan. Former Assemblymember Matthew Harper AD-74 was useless on a party level (actually more so than John Moorlach) and had a horrendous reputation for anger and abrasiveness yet no one in the OC GOP would take out the trash. The democrats obliged and took out Harper themselves.

This willful blindness and refusal to police incumbents has had disastrous consequences. Bill Brough in AD-73 is the latest example. As your intrepid blogger is digging in to the record of Bill Brough going back to the late 2000’s there is a disturbing pattern emerging. It is the opinion of this blogger based on evidence gathered in the background that Bill Brough’s rampage through the lives of women has been enabled by people within the ranks of GOP leadership that have covered for and enabled him.

This incumbent protection plan is quite similar to the democrats being caught (but never held to account by their willing whores in the California media) covering up for one dirtbag after another, only to be forced to throw them over the side when brave people persisted in outing the skeletons. (see also Ridley-Thomas, Dabby, Filner, Wright, Yee, Calderon, Autumn Burke, Bocanegra, Christina Garcia, Bob Hertzberg, Kevin Shelley, Lockyer, Efrain Carillo and even their state Chair Eric Bauman) I’ve been told by several capitol insiders there are at least 20-30 more legislators (all of them democrats) that are dirty as sin.

As to the Republicans, Devon Mathis (AD-26) was found to have been unjustly and falsely accused apparently by a former chief of staff that was fired for actual issues. Former Senator Ted Gaines’ Chief of Staff was fired by the rules committee for years of abuses while Gaines did nothing about it. At least Chad Mayes’ (AD-42) dalliances were consensual.

The Orange County Register wrote an article detailing the OC Supervisor (then councilmember) Lisa Bartlett story regarding Bill Brough’s physical advances. BTW – thank you OC register for the attribution. Having had my stuff stolen for years without attribution (I believe mostly by the Sacramento Bee and Southern California Bloggers), the journalistic integrity of the liberal OC and the OC Register is appreciated.

The OC Register story yielded some key nuggets. They are critical to understanding why Bill Brough is mortally wounded politically.

#1 A Second woman is now on the record. She joins my source and Lisa Bartlett. Neither my informant nor Maria Elena Banks have anything to gain by coming forward.

Another woman, Maria Elena Banks — a Laguna Beach real estate agent who helped with campaigns for Brough, Bartlett and other county Republicans — on Friday described a similar encounter that took place in a Dana Point bar about five years ago.

Banks said Brough put his hand on her leg under her skirt and, without removing his hand, asked if he could come to her house. She said she told him no, and he dropped it.

She added that she’s motivated to speak up now, and to support Bartlett, in part because she hopes to send a message: “This has gotten to the point where I’m tired of guys doing this.”

Sounds awfully familiar to the story I wrote from my informant the former legislative staffer.

#2 Bill Brough has been caught in a colossal lie. He may not have even realize what he did. Quoting the OC Register:

A third woman, who has not been identified, filed a complaint against Brough with the state Assembly. The details of the complaint are not public, but a March 2018 letter from the committee, which Brough gave to the Register, says the state found “the factual findings reported by the investigator did not support a determination that (Brough) violated any Assembly policy.”

Brough said he felt vindicated by that letter, saying the outside investigator found the accusation “unsubstantiated.”

This is critical – in 2018, when Ed Sachs was lining up a primary challenge to Bill Brough, your intrepid blogger did some digging. In that research I asked Brough to his face if a complaint was ever filed with the Assembly Rules committee against him. In May of 2018, Bill Brough lied to my face, denying the existence of an Assembly Rules Committee Complaint when I asked him about it. He also appears to have lied to several other political leaders in the area in denying the existence of an Assembly Rules Committee Complaint – even as the feckless Fred Whitaker is trying to figure out how to maintain the incumbent protection plan.

Please note that Brough’s complaint was dismissed on a technicality. There was only one witness, not two. As I wrote previously, people with knowledge of the complaint indicated that the investigators may well have suppressed testimony from other witnesses and I’ve been informed of the possibility that other members of the legislature may have influenced the outcome as well. At this time, I only have confidential informants but no evidence to support either claim.

As I type this blog, Fred Whitaker is working behind the scenes to stymie any sort of rebellion against the incumbent by the rank and file committee. It is time to shell Fred Whitaker with phone calls and emails. While quick to condemn Chad Mayes, Whitaker appears to be protecting Bill Brough.

Once Bill Brough resigns, Fred Whitaker should resign in disgrace not only because of his refusal and failure to lead – but the shellacking at the ballot box under his tenure as the Chairman of the Orange County Republican Party.

To be continued.

Blogger’s Note – the story I wrote about with a confidential informant former legislative staffer was corroborated by a well-known Orange County Republican Political figure who was an eye witness to part of the incident in the bar in Sacramento. Should I be challenged on the accounts or sued for libel, both the OC political figure and the victim indicated they would back me up.

Jun 212019
 

I was contacted by a member of his staff that indicated his missed vote in committee was due to scheduling and being triple booked (which is apparently common with committee meetings in the state legislature).

This is a video of James Gallagher R-AD03 speaking publicly against SB27, the triggered democrats bill to force the President to release his tax returns or he will not be on the ballot bill.