San Clemente: Your Intrepid Blogger Spoke to Jim Bieber, and Let’s Make Sure That The Focus is Correct and That The Facts Are Correct

I want to reiterate again – I have no dog in the toll road fight. I live 450 Miles away as you in Orange County all know. My issues are simple. Bill Brough in my opinion is an abusive alcoholic, he needs to go. Gene James in my opinion is an Abusive Jerk and quite literally based on his own words the 20 year old kid Jackson Hinkle is an anarchist-socialist that is being used as a puppet by some leftist interest groups. Regardless of how you feel about Abortion and Gay rights – Jackson Hinkle can not be trusted by anyone to do the right thing.

Take a look at his shirt. He appears to have attempted to hide this photo – similar to his leftist facebook rants.

There are other candidates running for Assembly (such as Lori Davies) and City Council in San Clemente (see also Christina Stetler) for starters.

While I believe that the Gene James endorsement is a black eye for the OCGOP, I wanted to clear the air specifically about Jim Bieber. I asked him directly if he was working for, being paid by or consulting for Gene James. He answered no. What Mr. Bieber does as a private citizen is his business. I disagree with his choice of Gene James, but it is his right to make it – it is however, based on what Mr. Bieber told me not accurate to call him Gene James’ consultant or campaign manager. He has been an active volunteer.

Jim Bieber gave me specific information about his past work for the Toll Road People. He moved to San Clemente 15 years ago, and discontinued working for the Toll Road people within a few years of moving to San Clemente (at least 10 years ago). He was clear with me that the issue was the decision to target the connection with I-5 in San Clemente. He described some background issues that occurred (such as poor communication, misrepresentation, etc) that were subjective – but his opposition to the Toll Road and withdrawal from consulting/contracting with them were clear.

Many of Jim Bieber’s critics may be surprised to know that Jim is of the opinion that the TCA people made a deal with the enviros that involved a “payoff” to groups like the Surfriders. It sounds like Jim Bieber’s opinion of things Toll Road is not far from the views of 90% of San Clemente.

I’d suggest that the opponents of Gene James (and other candidates) keep their focus on the actual candidate.

Jim Bieber may disagree with me on this –  but after talking to him and getting his side of the story, I am pretty clear that there was bad behavior all around and both Jim and Gene were animated at the OCGOP meeting. I have a copy of the police report that was filed against Gene James and it is missing any proof of the allegations. In the case of the report against Gene James which precipitated the confrontation at the OCGOP Meeting does not look like it was actionable as it was missing key elements of a valid complaint. That said, people are adamant about Bieber, James and others yelling, acting aggressively, etc. Jim Bieber insisted on the phone with me that he was not.

That said, the OCGOP meeting appeared to be quite heated – which is not unusual at all for a cent com meeting. It also appears that people’s complaints about said meeting were ignored by Fred Whitaker the OCGOP Chairman.

Having seen videos of Gene James’ behavior, I will also disagree with Mr. Bieber’s characterization of James. Bieber did indeed defend James on his phone call, making specific points about what he thought of James’ behavior and countenance.

I am writing this post, however as I’ve known Mr. Bieber for many years and wanted to make sure he got the opportunity to give me his side of the story and to correct some assertions I made about him working for Gene James and to set the record straight about his “affiliation” with the Toll Road people.