CAGOP Asylum Update Part 2: CRA Endorsements and Some More From Your Intrepid Blogger

 California Republican Party  4 Responses »
Jan 222023
 

No matter how frustrated I get with things CAGOP, I just can’t seem to help myself but to get involved in it. As such, here I go again…

Yep, that is your intrepid blogger talking to Mark Spannagel at the Spring 2022 CRP Convention in Orange County

Northern Region Vice Chair:

Despite the frustrations of many, I refuse to disavow my friendship and relationship with the Dahle family. They are good people and I am proud to have helped Brian all those years ago beat Charles Munger, David Stafford Reade and company. The Dahle’s have always had a complex relationship with the CAGOP.

I Helped elect Laurie Wallace in 2021, I have known her for a long time as a conservative stalwart. She and the Dahle’s are at odds with each other. While I disagree with how Laurie has attacked them publicly in CAGOP meetings, this is about the only issue I have had with her first term as the Northern Vice Chair. Laurie has worked to legitimize and rehabilitate several county parties in the North of California. This is more than I had seen any Northern Region Vice Chair do in the 20+ years I have been around CAGOP Politics.

Were it not for the open warfare with the Dahle’s, this endorsement would have been simple and out months ago. With the Dahle’s appearing to have withdrawn from things CAGOP in the 2023 convention, this endorsement became simple again. Laurie has worked to build the CAGOP in the North of California, this is what a Regional Vice Chair is supposed to do. My hope is that Wallace will stay focused on building the CAGOP and will leave the disputes out of that job.

It is possible to be friends with both sides of a political dispute. Note that Erik Brahms stuck a Dahle sticker on me, even as I was wearing a nametag for the Jenny Rae Le Roux campaign! (LOL)

This photo was taken after I spent about 45 minutes talking to Mrs. Dahle and their daughter over a cup of coffee at the Spring 2022 CAGOP Convention. 

Central Region Vice Chair:

I have known Craig DeLuz for 20+ years. It was so long ago that one of his children was not in school yet. They are now both grown and fine human beings. So are Craig and Sobna. While time and distance and the divergence of our lives has seen us take different paths, I still remember when Craig and I were the anchors of the “Western Alliance of Bloggers”. This was a group started in 2002 when Blogging was in its’ infancy. Some of you may know and remember Andy Nevis, he was part of our group as well as Katy Grimes. (Yes THAT Katy Grimes)

I am surprised that in his mid 50’s that Craig is taking his first stab at party office, he could have and should have done this years ago. Craig is now best known for his work on the second amendment and for his video work on behalf of the California Republican Assembly. (CRA)

I am not sure why Craig is being opposed, as he has a real track record on behalf of the party and conservative causes that goes back as far as your intrepid blogger. However, in the world of consultants and control, an activist heritage is the worst thing possible.

The single most important attribute Craig has is that he is a voice of unity. The Conservative movement needs more like Craig and so does the California Republican Party.

California Republican Assembly Endorsements:

Chair: Mike Cargile. Others running: George Yang, Rob Bernosky and the incumbent Jessica Patterson

Vice Chair: Mark Wright Others running: Corrin Rankin

Secretary: NO ENDORSEMENT Candidates: Randy Berholtz (inc) and another guy from down south

Treasurer: NO ENDORSEMENT(!) Candidate: Greg Gandrud (inc) and no one else

County Chair Association Chair (aka CCA Chair) NO ENDORSEMENT Candidates: Anna Kramer, Michelle Guerra, John Dennis, Dwight Williams

North Coast Vice Chair: No Endorsement Candidate: Bryan Pritchard and some other guy that ran for congress

Northern Vice Chair: Laurie Wallace. Other Candidates: None

Central Vice Chair: Craig DeLuz. Other Candidates: Former Central Vice Chair Lisa Moreno

One final word about Shasta County that makes the story even worse. After appointing 5 delegates to serve her consultant masters, Cathy Kneer resigned off of the committee entirely, not just as Chair.

Somewhere in the middle of all this, we are supposed to win elections, have some sort of political party, turn voters out, register voters, etc?

See ya soon folks!

As the Asylum Door Starts to Swing Open, Your Intrepid Blogger Introduces 2023 CAGOP Officer Election Drama!

 California Republican Party  3 Responses »
Jan 212023
 

The CAGOP is having officer elections again and I am pissed. WARNING: EXTENDED RANT COMING…

I’ve written ad-nauseum about the current leadership of the CAGOP. Some of the highlights from the 2021 CAGOP Convention included the Staff of the CAGOP taking several overtly biased actions including allowing the LAGOP Chair to appoint 22 Jessica Patterson votes to fill vacancies. (The LAGOP later amended their by-laws to make that legal in 2023, thus admitting that we caught them. This also proved the CAGOP staff and credentials committee was complicit in a cover up) It also featured Modoc County getting crushed by the CAGOP, whilst Yuba, Tehama and Glenn were allowed to stand after committing similar violations of state law and their own local by-laws.

After blowing my stack repeatedly at the staff of the CAGOP for ignoring requests for information, the FBI showed up at my front door.

Just when I was thinking that the theater of the absurd was going to be a few notches lower… WELCOME TO 2023.

I have gotten several forwarded emails that the California Federation of Republican Women is in a near total meltdown. Lovely. I guess with the CRA growing and mostly harmonious, some other group had to fill the drama void.

I have gotten several forwarded emails that the County Chairs Association is also in a similar state of turmoil, with most Chairs ignoring communications and the State Party Staff being forced to communicate in lieu of the revolutionaries whose coup a few months ago was poorly executed and legally questionable. (see also defective notice, failed quorum calls, etc) Apparently, the revolutionaries are now fighting amongst themselves.

I got the DAMMED FBI CALLED ON ME while I was HELPING THESE PEOPLE!!! In 2021, we stopped a couple of piss poor rules changes. We exposed several bad actors, and got Lani Kane and Laurie Wallace Elected. Hell, Stephen Frank got 423 Votes – THE MOST EVER FOR A CHALLENGER AGAINST AN INCUMBENT CHAIR (at least in the time I have been around).

And for what? The CCA Meeting debacle? Drama? Infighting?

Let’s start with Chair. Mike Cargile – who I like and have helped in the past is running. You may remember that he was lynched in 2020 during his CA35 race without a hearing. In 2022 Cargile flipped off the CAGOP rather than defend himself.

George Yang. What?

Rob Bernosky. What?

Cargile rattled Norma Torres – a literal Salvadoran Communist from the home of MS13 – so bad that she torched him in the #CA35 race, long considered a safe seat. Go look up the results, Cargile WAY overperformed there and Torres spent a lot of money.

So, in all, three people want to run against Jessica? Where the hell is the unity? Oh, that’s right all those people your intrepid blogger helped in 2021 are fighting amongst themselves. What the F— did I put myself at personal risk for again?

Vice Chair. Mark Wright vs Corrin Rankin. I’ve written about this before. I just do not see Mr. Wright as Vice-Chair material statewide. Northern Region Vice Chair, yes. State Vice Chair, no.

Add to this, it has gotten back to me that people who may or may not be the Violin Wielding Peter Kuo have been making racist whisper attacks against Corrin. This is ironic as Kuo and his crew accused your intrepid blogger of Racism when I was torching the guy for his ties to Red China. Note, those ties to Red China were used in hit pieces using Peter Kuo against Kevin McCarthy years later.

“Corrin only cares about Black People”. “Corrin is rude and pushy”. IT IS 2023, NOT 1953. GROW THE F— UP PEOPLE. These are two of the oldest anti-black attacks in the book. Any of you repeating these whispers better hope to GOD your Intrepid Blogger does not find out. If I do, you will be in lights.

I know Mark Wright is not involved in this, as I know his integrity. That said, he needs to reach out to his crew that think this is a smart way to do business and stamp this out now.

P.S. This racist bulls–t is not original, people have been whisper attacking Harmeet Dhillon for being Sikh at the National Level to damage her attempt to get elected RNC Chair. God help them if they get outed.

Treasurer – who the HELL in their right mind is going to run against Greg Gandrud? Are you kidding me? He has been a stalwart conservative and one of the few independent voices on the CAGOP’s board of directors! Has the asylum door swung so far open that even HE is under attack from his right? Gandrud is known for annoying CAGOP staff because of all the questions he asks about the reports and book keeping. This is a picture perfect treasurer.

(Or perhaps these people are libertarian anarchists planted in the CAGOP to cause chaos – the more and more I see the stupidity, the more I believe this)

Secretary – Similar to the rant about Gregory Gandrud, Randy Berholtz has also exhibited an independent streak on the board. While Berholtz is softer spoken and less demonstrative than Gandrud, he is similarly conservative. Yet – some dude from Imperial County has decided to challenge Berholtz from his right.

But the horses–t does not stop at the state officer level… how about some County Party garbage!

Modoc County Organized. This time there should be no excuses to strip them of their 5 delegates in 2023.

The now former Chair of Shasta County, Cathy Kneer appointed 5 delegates a week before resigning in Jan. She had told people in October she was leaving. Thus, her act was premeditated and unethical. The establishment will argue that this is allowed under the by-laws. Just like getting wasted off of booze or pot, having an abortion, cheating on your wife, etc… is “legal”. This just further proves that the establishment do not care about county parties and those delegates to the convention to deliver proxies are all that matters. Screw the local guys. Since the Shasta by-laws were written by their establishment handlers to only call for an organizational meeting once every 4 years, there may be no recourse. However, anyone that cares about local parties should know and be outraged at what was done in Shasta County.

The people I talked to in Shasta noted that Shasta County got 8 delegates in 2021. Why did Kneer only appoint 5 in 2023? This is because many establishment counties turn in paperwork THAT IS NEVER VERIFIED (ahem, I got that in writing shortly after the FBI visit) to use provisions in the state by-laws to appoint more consultants and staff to the party. I mean Santa Cruz County got 8 delegates in 2021. If anyone believes they have precinct captains in 50% of their precincts with 15% GOP Registration, I have a nice padded cell for you on K Street.

Remember Glenn and Yuba County? The Conservatives took both of those counties over. In 2021, just to show everyone who was boss, the current Chair of the CAGOP appointed their officers to the proxies and credentials committee after both counties were exposed for violating state law. Now, those counties are no longer fraudulent shells that deliver a dozen proxies. There are real people there.

In Alameda County, there was an organizational meeting. Long time Chair Hugh Bussell was ousted. In a similar move to Cathy Kneer in Shasta, Bussell, knowing he was going to lose his re-election appointed 5 delegates to the CAGOP right before the officer election. Two of those delegates were from Southern California, underscoring the establishment meddling and control of Bussell.

The difference is that in Alameda, they actually had to organize per their by-laws and that committee has a case to gut the actions of Bussell and his handlers. See the letter from David Chan, the new chair of the Alameda GOP.

The Alameda GOP and the Shasta GOP will be forced to appear before the same proxies and credentials committee that listed paid establishment proxy gatherers Scott Winn and Corey Uhden as members. I will await further judgement but I am skeptical that either county will get fair treatment as this committee was a flaming pile of biden in 2021.

A lot of people were upset over the Lassen, Sierra and Plumas GOP being essentially Brian and Megan Dahle. I am being told they still are and that efforts to organize those committees have been fruitless. (By either Dahle’s crew or the other side)

In other counties, the transition of leadership has been much more tranquil. For example, in Stanislaus County their longtime Chair Joe Day gave way to Joel Campos with a unanimous vote.

Lake County elected Bryan Pritchard Chair.

I have been told that the SFGOP and the Marin GOP have a lot of drama that is being fueled by a bunch of Steve-Bannon Hair-on-Fire election fraud mavens. Those people could very well be getting encouraged in their efforts by people with personal axes to grind.

FYI – SFGOP Chair John Dennis is the adult in the room. People that care about the CAGOP need to vote for him to become CCA Chair.  I know the players and I know 100% where the attacks are coming from… sour grapes over past elections. I ran Steve Frank’s campaign and I do not have a grudge against anyone that did not support him, neither should anyone else.

Your intrepid blogger is just getting started. Any of you are welcome to call me or email me ANYTIME to explain your side, lobby me to supporting something or someone, etc. The more information I get the better these blogs will be. I am VERY disappointed with what I have seen happen and wish I did not have to write this blog…

P.S. Full disclosure: John Dennis has purchased advertising on this blog in the past for his CA12 Campaigns.

Placer County Political Update: As the Wheels Begin to Spin for 2024

 2024 Elections, Placer County Local Elections  No Responses »
Jan 182023
 

The older I get, the more fun I have at the expense of the self-important. Where does your intrepid blogger show up next?

Here are some races your intrepid blogger is watching:

Placer County Supervisor District 3 and 4. With District 1 and 2 in the hands of solid conservatives and District 5, ably represented by Cindy Gustafson, all eyes are turning to D3 and D4.

While the far left of Placer County was celebrating Carol Garcia getting drawn into Sup D1 (she was in D4 for the last 20 years), they forgot that each district has 70 some thousand people. Suzanne Jones has been an Exxon-Valdez-style disaster of a Supervisor. She is going to get lit up like a Christmas Tree; it will be awesome as she does not have the Kirk Uhler Boogeyman and a democrat party Presidential Primary to draw out the enviro-nimbys in more significant numbers than the sane.

One candidate is relatively unknown but is a part of a local conservative group that has talked to many people. I have seen dozens of alleged self-funders over the years, and many, if not most, never write the check. Some do, and this unknown candidate could be one of them. If she does, this would instantly make her viable.

Roseville City Councilmember Bruce Houdesheldt is also making calls.

Either would be a significant upgrade from Suzanne Jones, who appears to have no core and also appears to have missed a few floors of the intellectual skyscraper.

The bottom line is that the people who filed tons of campaign finance complaints and celebrated defeating Kirk Uhler will have a far worse problem in 2024. They have a candidate who lacks almost every characteristic you need to mount a successful defense. The smartest thing Suzanne Jones could do is re-register democrat.

IN Sup D3, we will have a complete and total mess. Rocklin Councilman Ken Broadway and Former Rocklin Councilman David Butler lead the field. The token democrat is an unknown planning commissioner appointed by Jim Holmes. Holmes is the incumbent in Sup D3 but was also drawn out of his district.  The token democrat has been appearing at events all over the county in an attempt to try and ingratiate himself to people. The only reports your intrepid blogger has received about the guy is that he is full of himself. I am shocked, I tell you, Shocked.

Apparently, Jason Paletta learned nothing from his disastrous run in 2022. He has told people he is running for Sup D3. If Paletta is dumb enough to file and actively campaign, he will get wrecked.

Others are talking about running as well. However, there will be two vacancies on the Rocklin City Council! Why wouldn’t one of these other people look at that?

Then, there is also a vacancy in the Placer County Water Agency on D3 as the incumbent was also drawn out of his district. The boundaries of PCWA are the same as those of the Supervisor Districts.

Between the above and the potential vacancy of Bruce Houdesheldt and the upcoming vacancy in West Roseville due to term limits, there will be a lot of fun coming in 2024 – beyond the Presidential Election.

Right On Daily Special Commentary Post: My Mixed Emotions About Speaker McCarthy

 2024 Elections, Kevin McCarthy  10 Responses »
Jan 072023
 

One of your intrepid blogger’s many friends sent me this meme. I could not stop laughing.

I remember Kevin McCarthy. He came from the Bill Thomas, Mark Abernathy squish machine in Kern County. When McCarthy was first elected to the Assembly, you knew he was ambitious and would quickly climb the ladder of leadership.

And he did. Permanent Minority Leader in the Assembly, Congress, then up the leadership ranks.

Regardless of the hyperbole, as someone who has watched Kevin for 20+ years, I can tell you with certainty why Kevin got put through a meatgrinder. Kevin McCarthy and Bill Thomas before him have always had an antipathy for ideological conservatives. McCarthy and his crew (Think Andy Gimmecandy, David Stafford Reade, Jeff Randle, etc.) have assaulted Conservatives for years in safe R seats.

Kevin McCarthy’s second sin is that he likes to control stuff. Wars have been needlessly fought in GOP Organizations between Kevin’s crew and the activists. The war in the College and Young Republicans of the 1990s was slightly before my entrance into the scene in 1997, but I heard a ton about it. I watched and was in the middle of an unfolding CRA drama with his fingerprints on it. The CYR / YRF Merger and the lawsuits were other needless fights.

The current CAGOP Chair and staff are basically all adjuncts of McCarthy. Jessica Patterson got her start in that machine.

You’d think, then, that I’d declare war on Kevin McCarthy and root for him to fail. Nope. McCarthy needs to succeed as Speaker of the House for the benefit of Republicans everywhere.

The net end effect of the war that caused 15 ballots before McCarthy finally was elected speaker was critically essential and represents a seismic shift in the GOP political scene. If you are opposed to McCarthy, stop for a second and consider the following:

McCarthy agreed to put several members of the Freedom Crockus on critical committees. Jessica Patterson has retaliated against Conservatives the entire time she has been chair; she could learn from McCarthy and do the same in California. Jim Brulte and other chairs before him used to give CRA members slots on CAGOP committees. McCarthy agreeing to do this at the federal level means that he was willing to cede a lot of power to the party’s right wing. That is healthy.

McCarthy agreed to several specific demands for investigative committees – including a committee that will investigate the FBI and other corrupted government bodies that have become the Gestapo for the democrat party. This never happened under previous GOP speakers; they have largely taken token measures.

Lastly, if you have read the Right on Daily Blog for any length of time, one of my biggest criticisms of the GOP is that the leadership (almost always squishes) spends too much money and effort on Safe R seats in an obsessive rampage against ideological conservatives. One of the first concessions McCarthy made was an agreement that the Leadership Fund would concentrate only on “target” seats.

Lastly, I am thoroughly disgusted with the behavior of Matt Gaetz. It seemed abundantly clear that his opposition to McCarthy was personal, almost as if he blamed McCarthy for the investigation into sexual misconduct against him from a couple years prior. After vote 14, it was clear that Gaetz had lied to McCarthy about what he would do, which precipitated the confrontation on the floor of Congress. In addition, Andy Biggs and Matt Gaetz were sending fundraising emails bragging about mucking up the process. This self-aggrandizing deceit is another example of so-called values conservatives lowering themselves to the level of the democrats they purport to fight.

Had I been a member of Congress, I’d have approached Kevin McCarthy with a list of things I wanted to see. Once I made a deal with him (in writing), that would have been the end. I am proud of the 14 that did so and exacted several critical concessions (including a slew of rules changes) and then honorably held up their end of the bargain once McCarthy and crew agreed with them.

The people criticizing the 14 need to understand how to govern. The people that still hate Kevin McCarthy after all he did to give the right of the party more of a voice than they have had since 1994 just want to fight and burn stuff down. At some point, when the fight is over and the anger abates, you have to govern.

McCarthy got his ass kicked and was held accountable in a short and very public spectacle for all of this stuff and more. It’s over. McCarthy was elected speaker fair and square, and it cost him a lot.

Kevin McCarthy gave a speech as Speaker for the first time after vote 15. It was clear he had learned some lessons, and the direction of it was consistent with anything and everything your intrepid blogger would want as someone comfortably on the social right of America. It is incumbent upon all of us to do what we can to help McCarthy succeed. Does this mean I endorse Kevin McCarthy? No. It means I want him to succeed, and I will do my part to help Republicans win office. If Kevin does his part and honors his agreements and commitments, I will wholeheartedly endorse him for re-election in 2024. That is fair and constructive.

I hope those of you reading will agree and do the same.