AD01 Update: Where I See Things Currently

 2024 Elections, AD-01 Race, Heather Hadwick, Tenessa Audette  11 Responses »
Jul 072024
 

Pictured, Heather Hadwick in Dorris, CA parade on 7-4-2024. Two Days Later She was in Alturas, CA (7-6-2024). The prior week featured events in Central Siskiyou and Shasta County.

Tenessa Audette was at at least two events outside of AD-01 in the same timeframe, including the fireworks show in Rocklin.

The battle lines are drawn in AD-01. It is going to get uber nasty in the fall, make bank on it. Dave Gilliard who is Tenessa’s Campaign Consultant is ruthless and has a history of over the top attacks, especially when he sees momentum shifting. Gilliard also has a ton of clients in the North State as well, because he is one of the better at this game on the R side in California.

There has already been a whisper campaign being promoted among the ranks of a prominent Northern California Politician, by his staff and other acolytes. The rumor is false, but originated with a deranged officeholder long affiliated with said politician. At the end of the day these people are doing it because of long standing resentments over Brian Dahle defeating the political establishment over a decade ago to gain his first election to AD-01. At a time of my choosing, I will name names and provide specific details if necessary. These sorts of things are common in local politics and the North State with all the small towns (except for the crime riddled City of Redding) may as well be a giant local election arena.

Heather has met with and secured the endorsements of several in the logging/timber industry, while Tenessa Audette has been fighting one drama-filled Redding Council Meeting (while the city burns with crime) after another.

The best most recent endorsement Tenessa secured was a group controlled by long time friends and people associated with Dave Gilliard.

The bulk of Tenessa’s endorsements have been from Republican Groups whose memberships are peppered with people who hate Brian and Megan Dahle. Several never bothered to interview Hadwick. As I track the public appearances of both candidates I note that most of Tenessa’s announced events are with those or similar groups.

Another common thread is beyond the irrational hatred of Brian and Megan Dahle, is the “Heather is not showing up to anything”. That sentence should be re-stated as follows, “Groups who have endorsed Tenessa are complaining that Heather is not going to their events”.

So while Tenessa was at some Patriot Group in Yreka, Heather had a meetings with stakeholders inside AD-01 and was in Alturas for a parade. (see the above comments about Loggers)

These are two radically different approaches from two Radically different candidates.

Heather is a Rancher that lives in Alturas. Heather grew up in Siskiyou County. Tenessa grew up outside of AD01 (think bigger city California), and her carefully crafted biography omits that fact. Heather’s Son is a skilled marksman and Heather has been part of the NRA for years. It is debatable if Audette even owns a gun.

In the coming week, Heather will be at more events inside AD01 and meeting with more stakeholders inside AD01 and Tenessa Audette will be at the RNC Convention off the campaign trail. Tenessa promotes her delegate status to the CAGOP on her website. Welcome to the party Tenessa, I was a CAGOP delegate for 20 years and never once used it to promote myself.

This fall, you will find out which strategy works better – meeting with stakeholders inside of AD01, meeting with disparate groups inside of AD01 or spending the bulk of your time with Republican Party types sometimes relying on them spreading rumors to advance you. Having been a Republican Party Type for years, (see also 20 years around Cent Coms, 15 years as an officer in the CRA, etc.) I can tell you that I agree with Heather’s approach more.

There will be more endorsements coming soon for Heather. These will be beyond the Ag Commissioners, Loggers and Mark Mezzano endorsements of the recent weeks.

Shasta County Update: Audette Meltdown, a Crime Wave in Redding and Dan Sloan Ejected as Shasta GOP Chair and Here Comes the General Election

 2024 Elections, AD-01 Race, Tenessa Audette  3 Responses »
Apr 192024
 

Tenessa vs D’Acquisto regarding the removal of a planning commissioner. Watch her interrupt and run over the top of him at the 1:18 mark. It appears that Tenessa has been getting more aggressive with people in public lately. (Tenessa is the Mayor and D’Acquisto is a Redding Councilmember)

What seems to be at work is the 3-2 majority that is derided as being from Bethel Church. They are systematically removing people, stopping development, and the like.

Allow me to suggest to Ms. Audette something to be focused on instead of shutting down the fairgrounds, micromanaging staff and interrupting colleagues from the deius:

Yeah that’s right 93% of American Cities are safer than Redding, Ca.

Mayor Crime wave has herself far worse problems than Mike D’Acquisto talking about the Bethel Juggernaut. (Don’t forget that Ms. Audette was talking about being Mayor months before being elected mayor – suggesting insider dealing – aka a Brown Act violation)

Quoting the linked information above:

With a crime rate of 36 per one thousand residents, Redding has one of the highest crime rates in America compared to all communities of all sizes – from the smallest towns to the very largest cities. One’s chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime here is one in 28. Within California, more than 91% of the communities have a lower crime rate than Redding.

((SNIP))

For Redding, we found that the violent crime rate is one of the highest in the nation, across communities of all sizes (both large and small). Violent offenses tracked included rape, murder and non-negligent manslaughter, armed robbery, and aggravated assault, including assault with a deadly weapon. According to NeighborhoodScout’s analysis of FBI reported crime data, your chance of becoming a victim of one of these crimes in Redding is one in 160.

Ouch.

I think the ruling junta on the Redding City Council have some explaining to do, and perhaps Mr. D’Acquisto and Mezzano are completely justified in their withering criticism of the majority!

There were more meltdowns beyond Tenessa shouting down a colleague on the council… last night the Shasta GOP voted to remove Dan Sloan as Chair.

Less than an hour after being removed as Chair of the Shasta GOP by a 15-3 Vote, Dan Sloan sent an email. I have gotten this email more than once. I will excerpt the email, but anyone that got it will know exactly that this is true:

Greetings, Committee,

The meeting tonight included bylaw violations. The committee did not vote to suspend the Bylaws with a 2/3 vote before removing the chair on an interim basis. I confirmed with fWin Carpenter that the 2/3 verbiage and comments were NOT part of that discussion.
Dan Sloan ran for supervisor and some ugliness in his background was exposed. There was a trail of financial and behavioral malfeasance documented in what I saw. Regardless of the rheem of court documents I was sent, it is clear that Sloan only stepped up to serve as Chair of the Shasta GOP in order to set up his run for office.
–
It is clear I am not alone in the opinion based on the 15-3 vote.
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So the committee, fed up with the drama and infighting decided to deal with it and let the drama continue in the mayor’s office instead. It appears that Sloan still thinks he is chair of the committee even after losing on a 5-1 margin.
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Let me assist the former Chairman with a Robert’s Rules lesson (and the Shasta By-Laws are governed by Robert’s Rules).
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#1 when removing an officer you do NOT need to suspend the bylaws, in fact, it is quite the opposite. It is the by-laws that defer to Robert’s Rules for removal of officers unless the by-laws specify a process.
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#2 Removing an officer (or most other 2/3 votes) does not need to be noticed and can be done from the floor. The reason why endorsements are different is because that process is typically enumerated in a group’s by-laws.
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#3 There is no requirement for comments on any motion.
–
The email continues:
–
I just spoke with John Dennis in San Francisco and informed him of the committee’s desire to learn more about the 10% “ask” on the speaker series. John and I spoke for a while about the situation and timeline. I am in favor of the 10% contribution.
Dan Sloan is likely going to have another restraining order levelled against him if he continues acting like the Chairman of Shasta County.
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It sounds like there are a lot of issues there. I do not envy the new Shasta GOP Chair’s life the rest of 2024. Yikes.
–

In addition, NeighborhoodScout found that a lot of the crime that takes place in Redding is property crime. Property crimes that are tracked for this analysis are burglary, larceny over fifty dollars, motor vehicle theft, and arson. In Redding, your chance of becoming a victim of a property crime is one in 33, which is a rate of 30 per one thousand population.

Importantly, we found that Redding has one of the highest rates of motor vehicle theft in the nation according to our analysis of FBI crime data. This is compared to communities of all sizes, from the smallest to the largest. In fact, your chance of getting your car stolen if you live in Redding is one in 223.

They have got a lot of problems out there. We need strong leadership in Shasta County. I hope the new chair can help. I hope we get Mezzano and D’Acquisto some help and we need Megan Dahle and Heather Hadwick for adult supervision at the state level. Yikes.

AD-01 Update: New Details Emerge on the Insider Dealing in Redding. Why Did Tenessa Audette Call Herself Mayor 2 Months Before?

 2024 Elections, AD-01 Race  4 Responses »
Jan 222024
 

https://krcrtv.com/news/local/city-of-redding-may-be-sued-over-alleged-brown-act-violation

 

The following was lifted from Nextdoor and the author is Kathryn McDonald (the same person quoted in the KRCR News Story).

Redding City Council Brown Act Violation:

Some of you are aware that I submitted a “cure and correct” demand to the Redding City Council concerning my belief that Council Members Audette, Winters, and Munns violated California’s Brown Act when they selected Audette and Winters as mayor and vice mayor on December 5. Local station KRCR interviewed me and then posted a written piece to their website on Friday: https://krcrtv.com/news/local/city-of-redding-may-be-sued-over-alleged-brown-act-violation

The posting on their website included my cure and correct demand letter in the pdf link at the bottom of their piece. What they did not post was Audette’s Late Contribution Report from October 2023 in which she identifies herself as mayor of Redding a full two months before she was selected as mayor on December 5. Please note that the KRCR piece includes information about pending litigation that will apparently be on the agenda in closed session prior to the City Council meeting on January 16. I want to make it clear that I did not provide that information to the KRCR reporter nor was I aware of this agenda item. I plan to reiterate my belief that the Brown Act was violated during public comments at the January 16 City Council meeting. It would be helpful if you could also speak to this issue at the Council.

Blogger’s Note: The significance of Tenessa referring to herself as Mayor two months before it became official can not be understated. It shows a pattern suggesting that the votes were lined up well in advance. When you are an amateur at politics and begin to engage in dishonest at best, likely illegal activities, you make elementary mistakes that betray your motives and actions.

This sort of violation of the Brown Act, that mandates all of these sorts of local government actions are done during public and open sessions of the applicable boards, if proven could be a felony. The felony, if proven, is that it appears that Tenessa arranged with two friendly councilmembers to make sure she had the 3-2 majority to be appointed mayor of Redding. Talking to more than one other member of a board about an issue is also a violation of that law. (Unless the board is only three members, then you can’t talk to anyone at all)

Why does this matter? In California, you get a ballot title on the ballot. Three words that describe your occupation or office held. Mayor of Redding is much better than Redding City Councilor.

P.S. We’ve already seen that the interim City Attorney thinks this is a problem for the City.

Things that make you go hmmm…

AD01 Update: Brown Act Violations Behind Tenessa Audette Being Appointed Mayor of Redding?

 2024 Elections, AD-01 Race  2 Responses »
Jan 132024
 

There is a belief in the three non-Tenessa camps that her appointment as mayor was more about her campaign for assembly than the City of Redding. Being Mayor would lead to a more effective ballot title for Tenessa’s Assembly race.

And the article is linked here for attribution.

REDDING, Calif. — The City of Redding might be sued soon over the Redding City Council’s recent election of Tenessa Audette as mayor.

In a controversial vote on Dec. 5, 2023, Audette was chosen as mayor.

Redding local Kathryn McDonald sent a letter to the Redding City Council on Dec. 29, alleging the council’s selection of Audette, and Julie Winter as vice mayor, violated the Brown Act.

Now, what is amazing is that the Redding City Attorney appears to believe that Audette and her two allies on the Redding Council Broke the law. KRCR, the media outlet posted the internal letter from legal counsel to the city council.

“the City Council’s exposure to litigation is significant.”

Here is the money quote from the article:

“Jack Munns said, ‘We’re doing what we think is right.’ And then he immediately took those words back and said, ‘We’re doing what I think is right,’ which led me to believe that he knew what the other two [Audette and Winter] thought, which would be a violation of the Brown Act,” McDonald said.

Given what D’Acquisto and Mezzano had to say at the meeting where it happened, I think it is safe to bet that the “Significant” exposure to legal action is borne out of common knowledge that this appointment was a foregone conclusion. While not unheard of, it could very well have been done illegally. Munns appeared to let the cat out of the bag.

And, the Redding City Council is having an emergency closed session meeting on 1-16-2024 to address this issue. I have a solution: Step down Tenessa.

Right on Daily Update: Endorsement of Jeff Moss for Placer D4 Supervisor + Other Fun Stuff! (AD01, SD01, etc)

 AD-01 Race, Placer County Local Elections, SD-01 Race  4 Responses »
Dec 272023
 

It is very simple. I have known Jeff Moss for 20 years. While I have not had a ton of interactions with him in that time, what I remember well is he has been on the right side of every issue conservatives care about. The most memorable one for me is when he was a part of dealing with the Fire Unions and their demands for pay and benefits that would have forced huge tax increases on the residents of the district.

He has also been at odds with the leftists, NIMBY’s and Enviros. The fact that the community was able to so quickly rally around him is further indicative of the life he has lived.

With regard to Karen Henson who I am un-endorsing in favor of Moss. She had ample time and opportunity to make a campaign for herself. She failed to do so. I liked her, a lot.. but she is not a good or viable candidate. It is purely that.

AD-01 – the two democrats, five republican nightmare scenario that was constantly used as a reason why endorsements had to be made never materialized.

Only Tanessa Audette, Heather Hadwick, Mark Mezzano and Melissa Hunt filed for election. While I am drawing a retainer from Heather Hadwick, allow me to as unbiased as I can offer an analysis:

Tanessa is from Bethel Church in Redding. This Church is a gigantic block of voters in AD01 and it appears that Tanessa believes she will get them all (or most of them). Remember, both Dahle’s got over 80% of the vote in Shasta County and it was believed that Bethel was the reason. While Tanessa still works for Brian Dahle, she is not Brian Dahle and those kinds of phenomena rarely transfer to non-family member candidates. Bethel is also a lightening rod in the community and is a source of controversy.

As I filter through the information about Tanessa, she’d like to believe that the four county GOP endorsements she has were about her, but they were more about anti-Dahle sentiment than anything. (El Dorado could be an exception to this)

My main concern about Tanessa is when she is fully vetted, it is not going to end well. How far do her opponents and detractors go in their efforts to stymie her campaign?

Mark Mezzano is a candidate that should have been formidable. He has strong support in Shasta County from several on the GOP there. It appears that many if not most of Melissa Hunt’s core supporters have jumped in to Mark’s camp. That said, time and again, I have been treated to stories about Mezzano meeting stakeholders and fumbling time and again. Mezzano’s failure to advance to the top tier is 100% on him. He has a resume and would otherwise be qualified were he not saddled with the flaws he has as a candidate.

Melissa Hunt. She hates Les Baugh. She reportedly has launched in to tirades in public and on the phone when people have attempted to talk to her about her campaign’s failure to launch. Anyone that hates Les Baugh has a screw loose. It is clear that she filed for the election to give everyone the middle finger. When she finishes 4th in March she will most likely get even angrier.

Heather Hadwick. I work for her. She is the Bomb. I can’t be objective in my comments about her because I think she is a fantastic and overqualified candidate. She is also working very hard doing the things a candidate needs to do in order to be formidable.

Absent my bias, it is clear that Heather Hadwick is the front-runner because the people I know that do not support her are opposed to her for reasons outside of anything directly related to Heather, her platform or resume.

My guess is Tanessa and Heather are the two that advance to the fall melee.

As a side note, Doug LaMalfa endorsed a series of candidates for Supervisor in Shasta County. All are part of the “Anti-Bethel” crowd and to the best of my knowledge all are hostile to the Dahles. Nice to see there are still tribes in the North State.

Speaking of the Dahles, Megan Dahle and the troubled David Fennell are all that filed for the SD-01 Tilt. The race goes to the November Runoff and Fennell gets hammered worse than the Niners got by the Ravens on Christmas. Twice.

Party Time.

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