Someone Wanna Tell Me What the $#&#% Happened in Placer County? Rocklin. (Need I Say More?)

 2024 Elections  6 Responses »
Dec 032024
 

Matthew Oliver does not have a lot of support in Rocklin anymore. The Placer GOP endorsed only Oliver for Rocklin Council in 2024 and Oliver finished last by a mile.

Interesting how when Matthew and I got sued and named as co-defendents that the Sacramento Bee went after him far more than they did me. Odd.

The BIA – Building Industry Association in the Sacramento Area has had their coming out party as liberals, there is no other conclusion someone could draw from what they did. They poured money in to DeMattei and Karen Alvord. But their best work was on destroying Matt Oliver, who regardless of his flaws is a conservative. (Similar to Pete Constant who they opposed, but did not attack – but had the unions not attacked Pete, my guess is the BIA would have)

Matt Oliver got hammered, and my client Ken Broadway beat him by 6,000 votes in a vote for 3 Rocklin City Council Race. It is clear that Matt has had his time of prominence and people in Rocklin just don’t like him very much any more.

I met Dave Bass for the first time in person recently. I can see why the American Council tapped him to be their attorney. Mr. Bass is a complicated man, but is very intelligent and engaging. I’d hate to be a criminal that finds themselves in the defendant chair when this dude has the case. Bass prosecutes fraud and other white collar crime in Sacramento County. I could also see why the establishment in Rocklin took to him as quickly as they did. I wish the Placer GOP people would have given Bass a chance, he’s the real deal.

Greg Janda has always done way better in Rocklin and this time was no different – Janda was in first by over 2,000 votes while only about 500 separated Bass and Broadway for second and third. Broadway drew the third slot which is the worst position possible in a 4 candidate race. All three incumbents were shunned by the Placer GOP and all three incumbents raised a ton of money.

Intrestingly most of the same Rocklin Establishment preferred Mike Murray for Placer D3 Supervisor to Anthony DeMattei. DeMattei is basically the second coming of Jim Holmes.

Why did Mike Murray lose when he seemingly had a lot of advantages? Other than the BIA who gave DeMattei $5,500, DeMattei did not have a lot of money.

One has to conclude that the negativity surrounding Matthew Oliver spilled over on to Murray. Both were endorsed by the Placer GOP and in many people’s minds they were connected to each other.

But Mike Murray did not know what to do once he finished first and was thusly the front-runner. Why do I say this? Remember that establishment I keep writing about? You gotta kiss the rings, especially when running for major office. Now, the BIA being one of these interests was already showing a hard left lerch when Murray made it easy to go DeMattei by meeting with few if any of their people.

A lot of people suggested a lot of things to Mike. I am not sure what Mike did with any of the advice he was given.

The people that helped DeMattei should enjoy working with Crazy Suzy even more now that she has an accomplice on the board of supervisors.

The development community stood to gain a ton if Measure B passed as the road construction would have allowed a lot of development. There was not a whole lot of engagement outside a decent sized donation by the BIA crew with Measure B. That part beyond pouring money in to lerching Placer County left is perplexing.

Fotunately for Placer County – Cindy Gustafson stopped the third NIMBY Vote from coming to the Placer Board of Supervisors. Bonnie Gore and Shanti Landon will find themselves in the crosshairs for sure in 2026.

With regard to the Rocklin School Board – the Teacher’s Union and affiliated Trotskyists were thwarted in their bid to install more of the proliteriat on the RUSD. I guess they will have to endure the horros of a board that does not take orders from the Politboro and actually cares about what kids are being taught! (The Horror!) Thank you Joe Patterson for spending some money in Rocklin to protect that board from the CTA.

So you had the BIA and Public Employee Unions from the left and elements of the Placer GOP from the right contributing to lerching the local governments in Placer County to the left. Ugh.

Now you know a little more about What the $#&#% Happened in Placer County in the 2024 election cycle.

P.S. This blog is a pre-endorsement of Shanti Landon and Bonnie Gore. I pity the fool(s) that attempt to run against either of them. See below for what happened to Jack Duran who Bonnie Gore unseated. Can’t wait for more…

Someone Wanna Tell Me What the $#&#% Happened in Placer County? (Part 2) Hi Wayne! and Election Fraud?

 2024 Elections  8 Responses »
Dec 022024
 

Wayne Nader ran for Placer County Supervisor in SUP D5 as a full-portfolio NIMBY, BANANA, etc. He was a champion of trees and wildlife, so he said. But your intrepid blogger found out that he was a developer in a past life and it was party time.

That is correct, Mr. Nader. I am the person responsible for turning your campaign 2200 degrees. I know that Mr. Nader has told people it was Keeeerk Yeeewleeeer who wuz behind the attacks. Unfortunately for Wayne, my artillery was able to reach that part of Placer even easier than other parts, and these mailers literally wrote themselves:

When I designed this mailer, I was pretty surprised that the “Republican” in the race was actually the more liberal of the two. Nader was an original Jim Holmes supporter, and I have always known him to be Pro-Choice and socially liberal. But seeing the rest of the package was unnerving. The above was sent to inform Republicans of who Nader is and the next was all about Nader’s history as an eeeeevil developer.

The problem for Mr. Nader is that he got rich selling land. Land that was used to build tract housing in North Lincoln – everything people in Sup D5 hate. Whoops.

I do not fault the Placer GOP for endorsing Nader – he is a registered Republican, but they should have stayed out of the race as the non-Republican was more conservative by far!

Bad Wayne.

But then there is the curious case of how Mr. Rico Suave Anthony DeMattei beat Mike Murray. Before I break that down – I need to point something out to the election fraud crew. Many are upset that John Duarte and Michelle Steel have both fallen behind in the late ballot counting and are screaming foul play. Allow your intrepid blogger (who has seen actual cheating) to point out the obvious about the legitimacy of the defeat of both of them (should it happen).

In AD 36 – A D+10ish district, Republican Jeff Gonzalez is beating Communist Joey Acuna by 5,000 votes and the margin is changing little either way with additional ballot drops. This is a flip and Gonzalez got limited support in his effort. Update: Gonzalez got $1.36MM from the caucus.

In AD47 – Greg “Landslide” Wallis of the 86 vote win in 2022 was TRAILING TWO WEEKS AGO. But he caught and passed his commie-pinko opponent and now he is leading by 5,500 votes! This is a hold of a gerrymandered to be dem district! YAY GREG!

In AD58 – Clarissa Cervantes, part of a powerful dem family in Riverside County has been defeated by Republican Leticia Castillo. Castillo was not supported by anyone on the R side, and was outspent 15-1. This is also a flip.

In AD74 – which now tilts Dem, Laurie Davies survived $1Million+ of Dem IE Money and is winning by 3,000 votes. (This gives you some flavor for how obscene it was to dump $200,000 in to a Roseville Council Race)

Two other Republicans were heavily supported in attempts to turn dem districts and both got hammered by 8 points.

IN SD37 – Stephen Choi who few gave a chance of winning, hammered his pinko opponent by 5,000 votes.

(PS In AD07, Josh Hoover who won narrowly in 2022 HAMMERED his opponent by 16,000 votes in Sac County)

The three flipped leg seats are the first such wins since the 1980’s for the GOP in California. Note that AD74 and SD37 share territory with Michelle Steel who is losing her seat in Congress.

If there was election fraud these 5 races would not have turned out the way they did.

Perhaps when you are disappointed with the results, take a look at the money, the candidate and what YOU could have done to change the outcome. (Such as run down to San Joaquin or Orange County to cure ballots for Duarte or Steel?) Election Fraud only happens if you let it – such as running laps on McCarran with your Trump Flags while dozens of Dem Operatives are dragging ballots out of people… think it through.

In the case of Jeff Gonzalez, he is a fantastic candidate, fantastic story and he worked his ass off.

In the case of Wallis and Davies – they both knew they were going to get hunted down so they raised a ton of money, dug in and did their respective Jobs.

In the case of Leticia Castillo, a determined woman who was an anti-corruption crusader sold her message in a lopsidedly democrat district. Your intrepid blogger wrote about Clarissa Cervantes several times – including the slap on the hand she got for her second DUI (that we had to out before the local media corrected themselves admitting it was #2). The dem machine asceeded to the Cervantes family and pulled the levers to nominate her. Gallagher and crew should write them a thank you letter.

Stephen Choi? This guy has upset the best political thinkers at least twice that I can recall. Hat tip to him. Well done sir.

Next up, let’s talk Rocklin and SUP D3. Someone Wanna Tell Me What the $#&#% Happened in Placer County? rolls on…

Someone Wanna Tell Me What the $#&#% Happened in Placer County? (Part 1)

 2024 Elections  4 Responses »
Dec 012024
 

There are many people who are going to take credit for Measure B’s Failure. One will be the CRA’s former Pol-Pot Bellied Information Minister, Thomas N Hudson. Based on my knowledge of him, my guess is he is drinking himself to sleep every night, believing that his red-faced rant at the August Placer Central Committee Meeting that bullied people into silence at the Placer GOP Meeting was the difference maker in the Measure B race.

Bullying only works for so long and at that only with a willing audience.

Measure B failed because the inertia of “It’s a Tax” was not overcome, I made my case here for why this distasteful tax was the answer to the transportation ills of Placer County. It is that simple. Perhaps another 10 years of being stuck on CA-65 will change people’s minds. Who knows…

I have known many of the Placer GOP types for years. I consider most all of them friends. I am disappointed in what they did in the 2024 election cycle, to say the least.

When you are stuck in Traffic on 65 and I80 in Placer County, be grateful for the $20 a year you saved by voting no on B.

While the Placer GOP did send two text messages in to Roseville Council District 5 and a busy slate mail card on behalf of Pete Constant – half the Committee, led by the Moms for Liberty  supported deranged Trump-Hating NPP Councilmember Krista Bernasconi’s sock puppet Nick Busse. A man, Pete Constant who once raised money and produced mail for that group was abandoned by this faction that appears to be addicted to chaos. Read that again, Pete Constant raised a bunch of money for the Placer GOP in past cycles, designed and produced their mailers and had half the group turn on him. What a terrible look for the Placer GOP.

Some damn interesting allies many in the Placer GOP had this cycle. See Also Mike Madrid in the AD01 race as well.

I saw at least 4 liberal democrats win School Board Seats in Placer County while people were fixated on West Roseville. The teacher’s union spent big and there was not much of a response. We are lucky those commies did not pick off more seats in School Districts.

Before anyone celebrates the win of Jonathan Zachreson over Pete’s wife Julie – dont forget that $200,000 of Labor Union Money rained down in to the district against Pete Constant. Anyone that thinks the all out assault against Pete did not also take out Julie as well has not studied politics. Zachreson’s mailers were terrible and absent the outside intervention, that race would have turned out differently. My experience with Zachreson in Statewide California Politics is worse than his reputation locally.

What was sad to witness is that the Placer GOP has regressed back in to the same motif as the 2002 iterration of the committee. Lots of good people, lots of bad choices and a couple of really bad people making it even worse.

The Placer GOP Endorsed David Fennell for Senate. He lost by 50% Districtwide.

The Placer GOP Endorsed Tenessa Audette for Assembly. She lost by 20.5% in the near-final tally.

The GOP Majority was lost on the Roseville City School District. The Teacher’s Union kept their stranglehold on the Eureka USD. The Central Committee celebrated unseating Scott Otsuka on the Dry Creek School District who did not campaign and did not raise a dime. Some dude whose name rhymes with a bowel movement cracked the 5-0 GOP Roseville Joint Union High School District Board. I am trying to get a line on the Auburn Area but it looks like some losses occurred there too.

Nick Busse finished 3rd, this despite $200,000 being spent destroying Pete Constant who finished second.

The Chairman of the Placer GOP Lost his Fire Board Seat.

What where these people doing?  I am really confused, the Placer GOP had a ton of money and a lot of momentum and it appears the proverbial wall was hit.

What happened in Placer hits home for me because people thought Trump was winning Washoe County. Late in the Race, the Harris Campaign and affiliated entities flooded the zone with money and a fever pitch last minute GOTV/Harvest drive. While the Washoe GOP people were hving flag rallies running laps on McCarran – the Dems were harvesting them out of Washoe County. (Trump ended up losing Washoe by 1,000 votes and the Washoe GOP is screaming election fraud when it was easy to see what happened) I can’t help but see a lot of the same dynamic here in Placer.

In Part 2 and 3 of this series, Your intrepid blogger is going to go over Placer SUP D5, D3 and Rocklin. Stay Tuned.

Some After Election Commentary Part 4 – the AD01 Race And It’s Consqeuences, My Closing Thoughts and Lessons That Can Be Learned

 2024 Elections  38 Responses »
Nov 092024
 

I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve learned a few things – many the hard way unfortunately. I wish people I cared about would stop making the mistakes I did.

There are some truths about being effective in politics, and this post is as much about AD-01 as it is about politics in general. So many people wrongly think being effective means you have to squish out. Heather Hadwick got a ton of institutional donor support from people that knew she is an Evangelical Christian, Pro-Life, Pro-Gun and is a conservative on pretty much all issues.

1. Tell the truth to would-be supporters. Period.

When Tenessa visited with various groups she would change her presentation to fit the group. While some of this is perfectly fine and normal like selling product to different groups – what I am referring to is running to the right of your opponent in the district while attempting to get to her left in meetings with Sacramento types. People talk. Inconsistincies get vetted quickly. You will always be better off telling people stuff you think they may not want to hear, you will earn respect. Just be consistent.

If you get caught in inconsistencies by influential people especially, it is fatal to your campaign.

2. Make endorsement decisions based on fact, not feeling.

I have lampooned several people on this blog, but have never once voted for a democrat over a Republican. But, in a primary – an endorsement should be based on viability as much as it is on conservative bona-fides. If an endorsement is an emotional decision, it can be embarassing when vetted. I don’t think a lot of people would be happy knowing they aligned themselves with Mike Madrid!

3. Rumors are bad. Just don’t engage.

There were several things that were said during this campaign by LaMalfa’s Staff, former LaMalfa Staff and other aligned electeds that were untrue. While this is commonplace in a campaign, why lower yourself and ruin your own reputation doing what others do? The 4H club lie that was started in Modoc County, the Pro-Choice Lie and others are examples of people’s bad behavior. A Campaign is not worth your integrity, or in the words of JD Vance, “Not worth losing family and friends over”.

Whisper campaigns only hurt you, they don’t help you. The taint will stick with you for years if you get mired in it.

4. As a candidate or supporter, make wise spending decisions.

Sometimes, you don’t have a whole lot of money to run your campaign with. It sucks and happens to a lot of candidates. A couple of the mistakes I saw in this campaign were classic. You don’t send scattershot advertising, you make your resources count by focusing on one or two mediums if that is all you can afford. 93 points of TV or a thin radio buy for 3 weeks on one station is not an effective use of money. (You need 300 points or more if you do TV) I also saw mailers to single counties in addition to the very small media buys.

There is no way Dave Gilliard was involved in the decisions I saw being made. He is a professional and is effective for his candidates.

On the same note, the El Dorado GOP sent a slew of text messages. Text messages by themselves are ineffective. I was told by an insider in El Dorado County that their county party was unable to afford a slate mailer. The Nevada GOP got $5,000 from the Yuba GOP to backfill their spending on AD-01. What other races in those counties could have been more directly and positively impacted with that money? In Placer, the Teacher’s Union took out a few incumbents. While the committee there did a better job IMO with their money, how distracted were they with AD-01?

5. Don’t forget – life goes on after the election is over.

I’ve written many times on this blog, that I made a lot of mistakes early in my career. In politics you rarely get a chance to make ammends. Screwing up really bad and making a campaign a personal mission or vendetta will have lasting conseqences. Don’t forget that sometimes, you may find yourself on the same side later on as some people you think are the spawn of satan in the current campaign you are working on.

There have been many times in my career when I have worked with people that had been on my blog in the recent past. Be careful, words matter a lot.

6. Don’t forget your purpose.

Why are you involved in politics? What are you trying to accomplish? Heather Hadiwck is going to take a significant pay cut to be a member of the legislature. She had a specific set of reasons that caused her to run. She articulated those several times in several places. Water, Fire, Crime, Economy. What I never saw from her was a self-aggrendizing agenda.

This is an excellent litmus test of a candidate. Investigate why they are running and test the depth of their knowledge of the issues they are campaigning on. I will submit that one of the overriding issues in the AD-01 Race is that you saw specific communication on specific issues versus an endorsement list. For the same substance reasons President Trump won re-election over a way better funded candidate with a slew of celebrity endorsements is similar to Hadwick’s victory over an opponent who seemingly had the whole political world in AD-01 on her side.

If a candidate speaks in terms that make you feel good, versus talking about issues that make you feel like you need to ask follow-up questions, that should set off alarm bells. Familiar is not good, being challenged or learning new stuff from a candidate is what you should look for.

Why are you involved in politics? What are you trying to accomplish? You should vet every candidate with those two questions first and foremost.

I need to finish up with some comments about Bethel Church and the American Council.

The American Council seems to be an effective group, but sometimes they make reactionary, quick decisions. They did so in this race as vetting would have shown that there was more than one Conservative Evangelical Christian running. I sincerely hope that group learned a few things from this cycle and their process. My opinion was they should have stayed out of AD01 due to their being multiple choices.

As I worked on this campaign, I continually heard from people in the community about their resentment over Bethel Church attempting to wield a lot of influence in local politics. Opinions were rife about why they were doing what they were. What I know for a fact is that some, not all of Bethel’s leadership are all about the New Apostolic Reformation Movement. The biggest problem I have seen when Churches get overtly involved in local politics is that they often make bad candidate decisions that taint the reputation of the church.

It pains me as an Evangelical Christian to have to take on Churches and Christian Groups on this blog. But, it boils down to one key thing – where was God in the decisions? Did they pray for wisdom? Did they seek God’s will before entering the fray? I did not like hearing what I heard about that large Church in Redding. It was sadder still to talk to good people driven further away from potential faith by what they saw happening.

Heather Hadwick Won. I hope there will be some way forward with the people that went all out for her opponent. I also hope that Heather’s opponent seeks God’s will in her own life, prays for wisdom and is able to move on well from this experience and will not repeat the mistakes that were made.

God’s will is what’s best for you – I hope all of you reading will seek that out.

The end.

Some After Election Commentary Part 3 – the AD01 Race And It’s Consqeuences, Who Spent What, Where? Follow Some of the Sub-Plots Too!

 2024 Elections  6 Responses »
Nov 082024
 

Did you know there is a tribe in Redding and a tribe nearby in Tehama County as well?

Yep – the Tehama Tribe is known as the Paskenta Band on Nomlaki Indians. You see their outfit on I5 a few miles south of Red Bluff. I am going to write a separate post later about all of their coordinated “Independent” Expenditures on behalf of Dave Gilliard’s clients. (I think they are coordinated, which, if I could prove my opinion true… would be illegal) Audette used Gilliard off and on in her ill-fated run for Assembly. (See Part 4 of this series coming shortly)

Then there is the Win-River folks in Shasta County. They want to move their Casino to a nice spot with frontage on I5 in the South End of Redding. Just two problems, Paskenta (aka Rolling Hills Casino) does not want the competition and the proposed Win River Site borders the land of one Red Emmerson of Sierra Pacific Industries. (Wait, you mean there is ANOTHER multi-millionaire NIMBY in the North State? I thought they were limited to Granite Bay!?)

While Ms. Audette’s supporters decry the Sacramento people that spent money on Heather Hadwick, they aligned themselves with some fascinating people! Here is the 6-30-2024 filing from the Paskenta Tribe. You will see payments to a Grassroots Lab Sacramento, CA 95815. Now just who is this Grassroots Lab:

Wait what? The Trump-Hating Co-Founder of the Lincoln Project??? That’s right! Boy do bad endorsements boomerang! The rag-tag band of Trump-Loving-Beyond-Everything-Else patriots that endorsed David Fennell (well some of them) and Tenessa Audette found themselves on the same side as Team Kevin McCarthy / Doug LaMalfa and now the Lincoln Project!?

The thought of Mike Madrid looking at election returns makes me laugh out loud and I am not even a huge Trump Fan. But the thought of all my friends in the North State aligning themselves with the crew that has been screwing them for years in party politics and an outfit that hired the worst-of-the-worst nominally GOP consultants is absurd. Madrid is probably needing therapy as he holds himself out as an expert in Latino outreach whilst watching the object of his rage (and paycheck) win a record level of support with Latino voters in 2024… as a bonus he is also watching the object of his IE work in AD-01 go down in flames as well.

The Paskenta Crew spent about $70K on Tenessa Audette through their own PAC.

But Wait! There’s more!

Paskenta dropped another $25K in to some radio ads for Tenessa! They used a firm run by Jason Scalese. Scalese is a good dude, and a conservative. He is part of the Scott Winn, Corey Uhden crew that run proxy drills for the CAGOP. (There’s that nexus again) I woof on Winn and Scalese sometimes, but on a personal level they are good guys. Their problem from where I sit is their allegiance to the McCarthy/LaMalfa establishment that kept Jessica Patterson and crew in power over the CAGOP. It is what it is, they have a right to a paycheck and nothing they did was unethical at all – I just am sitting here in amazement that their sworn enemies in CAGOP politics found themselves in the same trenches in the AD-01 Race. While Scalese was opposed by these folks for CAGOP Platform Committee, he was perfectly fine to align with against Heather Hadwick.

It is really hard to complain about the GOP-Leaning California Alliance for Progress and Education PAC pouring $151,000 in to Heather Hadwick knowing that nearly $100K was put in by a tribe on the other side that had a clear agenda for an Assembly District their facility is not in. Bonus, the CAPE PAC lit up Tenessa Audette to the tune of $34K+ as well. (More on that in a bit)

One of the many lies spread in the campaign was that CAPE PAC’s money came from Insurance Carriers.

Number 1, they spent money on 5 different races of which AD-01 was one.

Number 2, their main donors were pretty easy to see: Keeping California Working (A Coalition of Insurance Agents (like me), Technology, Energy and Health Care Providers), The Realtors, the Police Chiefs, The New Car Dealers, Anheiser Busch, Peace Officers (aka PORAC), a couple of Health Care Companies like Atria and Davita, but my favorite of all was the Committee to Support the Alliance of California’s Farmers and Ranchers.

Not a bad group to have helping you. I guess the nearly 80,000 miles Heather Hadwick put on her car was actually to be out there meeting people and showing up to stuff after all. Instead of attending events with the same 300 people outside of AD-01, Hadwick was out meeting with stakeholder groups like the Cattlemen’s Association, Fire Protection Groups and the like.

Audette, when she went to Sacramento did not do well (more on that soon). No wonder their crew ended up needing the support of a Tribe with an ulterior motivie in a vain attempt to counter-balance the law enforcement groups and business groups that were helping Heather Hadwick… who is pro-life, pro-family and pro-gun. Wait, you mean these Sacramento Swamp people aided a Conservative?!

The best attack line used against Heather Hadwick was a mistake on a candidate questionnaire in Modoc County that listed her as Pro-Choice. I was asked about it 9 months ago by a party insider and confirmed to them that it was a mistake. Nothing in Hadwick’s history indicates that she is anything but pro-life, but this mistake was ceased upon and spread like wildfire. (Yes, it was also spread by Erin Ryan, Brenda Haynes and others in team LaMalfa as well)

The County Parties also chipped in to help Audette. While I will not have the full scope of it until the year-end reports, it appears that several committees aggregated $20-30K+ worth of “member communications” on her behalf as well. They mostly sent blast text messages touting her long endorsement list, some posted a lot on social media as well. I saw three county parties put out slate mailers which are common, but most are too busy to have meaningful impact.

Most noteworthy was seeing Nevada County empty their treasury to Audette with a $4500 check. A couple of days later the Yuba GOP (which is in AD03, not AD01) that had also endorsed Audette, sent the Nevada GOP $5,000. This backfilling of money allowed Nevada County to produce their slate mailer for October.

The questions I have about the County Party Endorsements are simple: Why so much focus on AD-01? El Dorado County sent at least 10 unique text messages in to the district, where did the money come from? Did the County Parties sacrifice supporting local Republicans (many who were getting targeted by unions) in favor of AD-01? The bottom line is over $700,000 was spent on AD-01 in the aggregate, imagine what could have been done with that money elsewhere?

What impact do these decisions by the County Parties have on their ability to be effective or taken seriously in the future?

Your intrepid blogger is rightly concerned about the decision making and the ability of these folks to advance the party going forward – even more so as there is going to be a near complete turnover of CAGOP leadership and staff one way or another in March.

Part 4 is coming next where I wrap up this commentary on the AD-01 Race.

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