Steve Frank posted some more stuff about the LAGOP. Some of it is deceptive and false. Given that Mr. Frank is attempting to lead the conservative opposition out of the morass in the CAGOP, objectivity and accuracy are paramount. Allow your intrepid blogger to help.
LAGOP Chair Tim O’Reilly Allows NON Republican to VOTE on Central Committee
As far as I can tell only one California GOP organization allows a NON REPUBLICAN a vote in its Committee. LAGOP Chair Tim O’Reilly told folks that Nathan Hochman, an NPP, is STILL an Ex Officio of the LA Committee. His reasoning is that Hochman was the GOP nominee for AG in 2022, hence is an ex officio, regardless of his current status.
Yet, on Monday night Hochman proudly stated he was voting for Biden against Trump. He never answered the question if he was also voting for Schiff against Garvey. He did not mention a single Republican he was supporting for office.
O’Reilly would not allow the LAGOP members to ask questions of Hochman. Instead he had one member ask pre-determined questions. Folks had to shout out questions to Hochman or demand he answer questions one on one—but not during the meeting. Oh, again the LAGOP did not have a quorum to do all its business. Of course, under these circumstances, why waste the time?
Rounding off the numbers, O’Reilly finally admitted the Committee had $18,000 in the bank—and still owed one person $16,000. It is so bad that at the end of June the LAGOP is closing its San Fernando Valley HQ and moving into a joint center in Long Beach—the very south end of a county that is bordered on the north by Lancaster—80 miles away. He did announce how much two of the recent fund raisers made—but REFUSED to tell how much two others lost.
Remember it was O’Reilly that tried to pass a Democrat Lite Platform for the CAGOP. He also stopped the LAGOP from endorsing a Republican for DA—since he was supporting a Non Republican, Nathan Hochman. Now he is working hard to close the CAGOP by CUTTING 16% of the delegates to the CAGOP—while the Democrats continue to increase their numbers (currently the CAGP has 1440 members and the Democrats State Party has over 3200). At every turn O’Reilly is working hard to demolish the California GOP, its credibility and its volunteers.
#1. Hochman, his Ex-Officio spot became vacant when he left the GOP. I have checked and Hochman has not voted on anything. IF Tim O’Reilly actually said Hochman is still an ex-officio, he was wrong, but the hyperbole about Hochman still voting on the LAGOP is untrue.
#2. Lack of Quorum, was this because of a boycott led by Steve Frank and David Hernandez? There is always more to a story.
#3. Why is Steve Frank protecting Keith Cascio. No one knows the real financial numbers because Cascio refused to do his job and went berserk when people asked him simple questions. That should have been the story. Instead, Frank spun this as O’Reilly being dishonest. This is a terrible abortion of journalism and a complete cheap shot.
#3A. Moving the HQ, the part Steve deliberately omitted is that the LAGOP had donated (or heavily subsidized) office space for years by Andy Garakhani and others, this is well-known all over. With Andy withdrawing from the CAGOP political scene it makes sense that this arrangement goes by the boards. This was spun as some sort of failure by Tim O’Reilly, that is a deceptive lie.
#4. Platform, O’Reilly was wrong to support the garbage platform. The Republican DA candidate was a complete disaster and would have gotten steamrolled by Gascon! It was correct to stay silent when your candidate is a disaster, but the implication of Steve’s post is that O’Reilly was in the bag for Hochman and made sure the Republican candidate got screwed over. That idiot did not need Tim’s help. Lastly, regarding the by-law amendments, O’Reilly deserves all the criticism over those.
Time and time again, the legitimate criticisms that Steve Frank makes against Establishment people get lost and muted in a hail of half-truths, cherry-picked facts and/or outright lies. If Frank and crew want to have a legitimate chance of ousting the establishment at next March’s convention there needs to be a strict adherence to facts and not the grifter-style clickbait.