As of today, despite the mounting list of issues with Bill Brough, the Orange County Republican Party leadership has done nothing other than a milquetoast comment and a bunch of no comments. Could there be a connection between this refusal to lead and the thousands of dollars Mr. Brough has donated to the OCGOP? It is a fair question.On Monday 6-17-2019, Lisa Bartlett, a Supervisor told her spellbinding story to an audience that sat in stunned silence about Bill Brough’s Harassment and unwanted advances toward her.
Rather, OC Supervisor Lisa Bartlett spoke out forcefully against endorsing Bill Brough to a stunned audience. She detailed in graphic terms the incident of Sexual Assault/Harassment that she personally endured at the hands of Mr. Brough.
It is clear to this blogger that Brough has had enablers covering for him for years. It is also clear that Brough has had a litany of issues related to intoxication and his out of control behavior that occurs once intoxicated. Sans proof (aka the victims talking to me, or documented evidence of criminal/civil proceedings) I’ve stayed quiet.
The OC GOP sat in stunned silence as Lisa Bartlett opened up publicly for the first time about the alleged incident that was widely known but never confirmed by Mrs. Bartlett. The stunned committee voted Unanimously (save one holdout) to refer Brough’s endorsement to the endorsement committee for a “Closed Door Investigation”.
This story was broken on the Right on Daily Blog 40 hours later despite attempts by the OCGOP Leadership to “Keep it in the Family”.
Against Assemblymember Bill Brough, at least two more alleged victims have come forward to your intrepid blogger regarding their stories. This brings us to a total of three women that your intrepid blogger is aware of. (as of 6-20-2019) I have yet to meet the person that filed the claim with the assembly rule committee that appears to have been stuffed. Right On Daily wrote about a female victim that was later quoted in the Los Angeles Times.
That story was written here on 6-20-2019 several days before the LA Times.
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.
On 6-21-2019 The Orange County Register weighed in, quoting Right on Daily as a source. They also got bill Brough to confirm the existence of at least one complaint to the Assembly Rules Committee by a female victim. (We now know there were at least 2 more).
6-24-2019: The Sacramento Bee and the Voice of OC joined the chorus.
Then on 6-26-2019, Right On Daily began an investigation of Bill Brough’s campaign finance records. We learned that his portable bar (called a Burbon Barrel) appears to have been paid for with campaign funds.
We also learned that the embedded picture corresponds to a family trip paid for by the campaign account to a RedSox game.
Once the shock wore off regarding such blatant abuses of his donors, we dug further.
$1800 to the Capitol Grille.
$1200 to Mastro’s Steakhouse.
Both events claim 3-4 attendees.
$2360.80 to El Niguel Country Club for what turns out to be a retirement party for a former Chief of Staff that used to live with Brough in his Sacramento apartment. (That is affectionately referred to as Brough’s Rager Pad)
Is Bill Brough covering up other personal expenses in these blatantly large payments?
Then we detailed $13,400 in payments to Verizon Wireless, suggesting that Bill Brough has straight out been paying his families’ phone bill with his campaign funds.
In addition to the previous revelation about the “Burbon Barrel” we learned that Brough may well have purchased a Cigar Humidor and hundreds of dollars worth of cigars with campaign funds as well.
We could very well have a second Duncan Hunter type scandal in the ranks of the GOP legislators in Southern California.
Meantime, our investigation shows Brough has written several checks to the Orange County Republican Party. We Challenged the leadership of the OC GOP over why they are refusing to protect women, including volunteers and political staffers (let alone Lisa Bartlett who is a Supervisor), preferring instead to say No Comment. The LA Times story detailing several sordid stories was replete with cowards in local government in Orange County that refused comment as well. Cowardice enables evil, this has been a pattern throughout history.
We now know that Brough may have dozens of campaign finance violations. Some may well be crimes as well.
We have two women on the record with their incidents of harassment, which include physical confrontation.
We have three more women (one of whom talked to your intrepid blogger several days before the LA Times) who are known to have filed complaints regarding Brough’s actions.
The incidents are at different times in different places and have corroboration.
Yet, Fred Whitaker and the OCGOP Leadership are enabling Bill Brough by doing nothing… Is Fred Whitaker just a coward or has his silence been bought? The Rank and File OCGOP Member should call for and vote for Fred Whitaker’s removal along with that of Bill Brough.
… to be continued.
