Capitol Resource Institute

Retrospective: Why the AB1266 Referendum Effort Looks Dubious Part 1

Dec 212013

Those of you watching the AB1266 Referendum know that on 12/20 – they had Pacific Justice Institute file a lawsuit for them today. I suggest that they (the 1266 people) had PJI do it as I have known for years that Brad Dacus is very close to Tim Lefever and Karen England. (I briefly lived in Brad Dacus’ house until he got married years ago)

Emails and conversations with activists show that there was little, if any separation in people’s minds between AB1266 and Capitol Resource Institute. The steering committee included three people with long-time ties to CRI (Tim Lefever being one of them). Since CRI had exactly similar patterns with similar fundraising er. referendum efforts in the past – (we will recount those soon) all the similarities were present. These include subletting space so the addresses of the referendum and the CRI were almost the same, and paying “expenses” of CRI employees (perhaps their salaries based on what we’ve seen in records) out of said effort and apparently using common email lists to solicit donations for said effort.

Another detail – the law firm retained to do this lawsuit for PJI on behalf of CRI/AB1266? Sweeney and Greene.

This is the same law-firm that was retained by Karen England to threaten this blog and was also used to sue the CRA twice. Yes – these paragons of conservative values sued the California Republican Assembly twice – in an attempt to take it over.

It has gotten back to this blogger that the people behind the AB1266 referndum who may or may not include Karen England and Frank Schubert have been calling donors both in an attempt to sabotage fundraising to qualify a back-up initiative when this mismanaged disaster fails to qualify and claiming that people are lying about Karen England.

It is amazing that a woman with such a pattern of psychotic behavior is still obsessed with what people think about her. (So much so that she spent several hundred dollars paying a lawyer to threaten us)

The AB1266 people did try to separate Karen England from the campaign (somewhat).

However, the past history with failing to qualify a referendum against SB777 and SB48 caused many to be skeptical of this effort.

Worse, the Capitol Resource Institute appears to have filched $120,000 off of the Prop 8 effort in 2008, refused to cooperate with other Prop 8 aligned groups and an investigation revealed that over half the money appears to have gone straight back in to the CRI.

In politics, I have learned that people have to learn the hard way. They always have to experience it themselves.

So – if anyone reading this blog is questioning, in future posts, I will be laying out the myriad of evidence that both Karen England and the CRI itself appear to be frauds.

Please note that I am writing these blogs knowing full well that the thin-skinned Karen England has a sue-happy reputation despite the fact that it is always others suing to advance her interest.

The latest lawsuit where the PJI is suing Tulare and Mono County to count their petitions is in my opinion a politically-timed effort to save face by the proponents of this train wreck.

If they really cared about overturning AB1266 – they would be throwing their support behind an initiative. However, the history – which will be recounted here – appears to be the reason why they are pulling out all stops to save their credibility.

Attention LGBT Community – You have nothing to fear over the AB1266 Referendum

Dec 112013

What?

If you read the spin coming from the Capitol Resource Institute (er the Ab1266 Referendum) – you would believe that they are getting screwed by the California Secretary of State.

There is a problem – there is nothing in State Law that mandates a complete count of signatures.

This has not stopped the AB1266 Referendum Team from calling volunteers and donors in a specific effort to cover for their failure and bungling of the referendum. (I’ve been pinged by a few)

In particular, one bit of specific intel suggests that Karen England herself is calling people specifically telling them not to donate to any sort of effort to file an initiative against AB1266 (which would be a backup if the referendum failed). They need money for lawsuits don’t you know.

Please note that the Capitol Resource Institute failed to qualify a referendum against SB777 or SB48 – in both cases, they did not qualify to file an electronic report, so there is no accounting for where the money went.

There is a paper trail related to their Prop 8 effort – an effort that appears to have been to benefit the CRI and no one else as evidenced by the CRI’s refusal to participate with the other players in Prop 8 and their campaign finance report that indicated that nearly 60% of the money raised paid salaries of CRI employees and expenses of CRI.

The AB1266 people are claiming Karen England was not involved. This is false based on the intel we have received.

The AB1266 people are claiming that the CRI was not involved, yet the AB1266 effort sublet space in the same office as CRI and the CRI’s President, Tim Lefever was on the steering committee for the referendum. Gina Gleason, the proponent is a long-time ally of Karen England.

Whether or not CRI gets any of the money from this AB1266 effort does not remove their fingerprints. (I’d also love to open the books to prove that there was no transfer of money when this is all done)

Based on what I know, it looks like the bottom line is that the AB1266 Referendum is running a full-scale blitz to save face and to kill any effort to try and create a back-up initiative to be present if and when the AB1266 Referendum fails.

They appear to believe that face-saving lawsuits are more important than our children.

In this case – the LGBT community has nothing to fear. Karen England is doing her best to make sure nothing gets on the ballot unless it is what she controls.

We in the CRA are familiar with this – She and Tim Lefever sued CRA twice. They sued CRA before and after her attempted coup in April of 2011. Once they failed on all accounts – they participated in starting a rival group in an effort to dilute the influence of CRA with Mike Spence as it’s leader. (Spence was also on the steering committee for the referendum.)

She has had a pattern of trying to take over organizations, then trying to destroy them when she fails to take them over. (If you can’t control it, destroy it)

All that being said, the AB1266 Referendum effort appears to have ignored offers to help from the CRA as well, despite what several of their leaders did to CRA in the past…

It appears there is no honor in the family values racket.

Stop SB48 Referendum Epic Fail

Capitol Resource Institute, David Reade, Karen England 2 Responses »

Oct 262011

The Capitol Resource Institute did it again. Like with the SB777 referendum – they screwed up another one, or they ran another fund-raiser.

However, this time – the insider community is abuzz as it has become apparent to many that it appears that they may never have been serious about the effort in the first place. Add to this, they are struck with an FPPC complaint for being a non-profit engaging in political activity and we have issues.

We have been documenting the activity of the Capitol Resource Institute because we believe they are a fraud. We also believe, based on our compilation of data and anecdotes that the Capitol Resoruce Institute has established itself as a fund-raising operation first and foremost.

We now have a pattern of three issues – SB777, Prop 8 and now SB48 where the Capitol Resource Institute appears to have utilized a hot-button issue to profit itself.

In the expose on the fake Prop 8 website ran by the Capitol Resource Institute – I observed some patterns that repeated with the SB48 referendum:

1. CRI employees were apparently taken off the CRI payroll and paid through the campaign.

2. The address of the Stop SB48 and the CRI were the same for all intents and purposes.

3. There was no public accounting of what was done with the money raised – only scrutiny and research in to the fake prop 8 website exposed what was done.

4. According to volunteers that were present in the Stop SB48 headquarters – the effort was disorganized and there was no serious, coordinated or sustained effort to validate signatures that were being gathered. In addition – it appeared to the same source that the “staff” didn’t really seem to care about what was coming in the mail – and the error rate on the petitions was well over 50%.

This would lead one to believe that the Stop SB48 effort was a fundraiser for the Capitol Resource Institute and not a serious effort to do anything.

I have heard charges leveled myself from Consultants and Conservative Activists about the CRI and its’ activity that suggest that the opinion expressed here on this blog is not unique.

It certainly makes sense how David Stafford Reade and Karen England could accuse their political enemies of fraud, money laundering, influence peddling and the like – they seem to be familiar activities based on what I have observed, found, been told, and have experienced through the eyes of others.

Sad.

Placer Central Committee Update – What on Earth Happened to Karen England?

Beth Gaines, Capitol Resource Institute, Dan Logue, Doug LaMalfa, Karen England, Placer County Republican Party, Ted Gaines Comments Off

Oct 132011

Last night the Placer GOP Central Committee met. They endorsed Assemblyman Dan Logue for re-election last night. As usual, the liberal Republicans voted no: Auburn Mayor Mike Holmes, Jon Green, Liberal Tax-Raising Lincoln City Councilmember Spencer Short, Cheryl Bly-Chester, Senator Doug LaMalfa (via alternate Murriel Oles) and one or two others. Senator Ted Gaines and Assemblymember Beth Gaines both courageously abstained via their alternates.

In addition: Karen England’s short and miserable career on the Placer County Republican Central Committee came to an ignominious end last night, when her position became vacant because she has missed so many meetings. Reasonable people everywhere are breathing a collective sigh of relief…

In the California Republican Party – Karen England would be the political equivalent of the St. Louis Rams (who are 0-5 this season and are looking to join the 2008 Detroit Lions as the only 0-16 teams in NFL history)

Karen England has now been kicked off the local Central Committee, kicked off the California Republican Assembly’s State Board of Directors, kicked off the National Federation of Republican Assemblies’ National Board, and formally expelled from the California Republican Assembly organization for delegate fraud and other well-documented offenses too numerous to mention here. In 2010, she resigned from the California Republican Party’s State Central Committee, in time to avoid being removed from that body for running a “campaign” against the nominee of the Republican Party. Years earlier, she had even resigned from the Placer County Republican Assembly’s Board of Directors. I could go on, but I think readers are sensing a pattern already. . .

For those who don’t know Karen England, I should explain that her sole “contribution” to the Placer County Republican Party has been making vicious personal attacks, supporting liberals, spreading false accusations, as well as drinking beer and getting belligerent at Central Committee meetings. She has consistently opposed conservative candidates for Central Committee positions, while claiming to be a conservative herself. Once, she even set a new record for hypocrisy by nominating two different conservatives for a single vacant position on the Central Committee, and then she voted against both of them and supported the liberal alternative. Even her liberal allies on the Central Committee are unlikely to miss her!

It would be tempting to call her just plain nuts, but there always seems to be a method to her madness. Her strange behavior seems to be closely correlated to the fund-raising operations of the Capitol Resource Institute and its various front groups and affiliated entities.

Just this morning, the newspapers reported that her StopSB48 campaign had failed to raise sufficient signatures to force that horrible new law onto the ballot as a referendum. The failure of the campaign came as a surprise to absolutely no one, other than the unfortunate donors to the StopSB48 campaign itself. That campaign may not have achieved its alleged purpose, but it certainly raised a great deal of money for those affiliated with the Capitol Resource Institute, which Karen England runs.

I suspect that we will hear more about that later, since there was a recent press conference stating that the Capitol Resource Institute is being investigated by the Fair Political Practices Commission and perhaps other law enforcement agencies.

Karen England herself admitted to having been questioned by the FBI, although at various times she has pretended that the FBI was questioning her about Central Committee activities from 2008, which is nonsensical because she was not even affiliated with the Central Committee back then. Two of Karen’s allies who are also Board members of the Capitol Resource Institute even accused this blogger of being investigated by the FBI, but I called the FBI myself and confirmed that I am not under investigation for anything.

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the “visit” from the FBI to Ms. England’s house. I have yet to see Mulder and Scully show up at my door.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for Karen England to apologize for anything that she has done. That is not her style.

Capitol Resource Institute Slammed with FPPC Complaint

Capitol Resource Institute, Karen England Comments Off

Oct 062011

Those of you that read this blog know about the rampage jihad against the Placer County Republican Party.

Now, The Capitol Resource Institute now finds itself embroiled in a politically-motivated FPPC investigation. The CRI is trying to qualify the SB48 referendum…

Leave it to the Organization Equality California to light up Karen England and the Capitol Resource Institute. CalWatchdog covered the story here and I have pulled out some excerpts:

The FPPC complaint charges that Capitol Resource Institute has been financially supporting the ballot initiative campaign. Karen England, executive eirector of CRI, said that is not the case. “Stop SB 48 leases office space from us,” she said. “They paid CRI up front for office rent and postage. And our employee was taken off the payroll and went on the the Stop SB 48 payroll right at the beginning of the campaign.” England said that she is even an unpaid volunteer for both CRI and the Stop SB 48 campaign.

When the Capitol Resource Institute ripped off the Prop 8 Campaign for $120k and I had a look at the campaign finance reports – the same pattern enumerated above repeated then. They used a “popular” issue on the right to raise money with and effectively paid the CRI’s bills with the money raised. (Click here to see my investigative report on the Capitol Resource Institute’s fake Prop 8 website)

But England said the campaign has not done anything to violate the campaign laws. “We have gotten thousands of small donations from people all over the state,” England said. “We haven’t hit the $1,000 or $5,000 thresholds for reportable contributions.”

This means that the CRI’s latest fundraiser is not going so well as they have not collected any substantial donations or those donating are giving checks below the threshold so they aren’t written about…

The CRI / Stop SB48 Campaign is claiming they have enough signatures gathered to qualify the initiative. I have seen little or no campaign activity from them at all, which gives me pause.

The moral to this complaint against the CRI is that their executive director has pointed the self-righteous finger at her political adversaries alleging many of the same complaints that the Capitol Resource Institute is now beset with. What’s worse for the CRI is that Equality California probably has far more evidence for their FPPC complaint than the anonymous blog comment that was the spiritual foundation for the rampage jihad against the Placer County Republican Central Committee.

What comes around goes around – and this is sad, because the SB48 referendum is a righteous cause.

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