Nov 242023
 

So, Bill Brough got fined $100,000, not $90,000, by the California Fair Political Practices Commission for violating campaign finance laws.

The tape of the meeting is here. It starts at 12:24 appx. The comments about Brough’s behavior are staggering.

The comments included, “Most Egregious Conduct, Abuses of Public Trust I have ever seen”, and others along the line of it looks like he defaulted because we (the FPPC) have had a terrible record of collecting debts. “Intentional Obstruction”, “Falsifying Records” are other terms you hear used…

At about the 21 Minute Mark, the chairman of the commission talks about how Bill Brough defaulted on the repayment plan. He then talks about Brough hearing about the FPPC collecting less than 3% of items that go in to collections. The chair continues that he thinks Brough decided to stop making his monthly installments. At the 23 Minute mark, the chairman lowers the boom on Bill Brough.

These items are significant for the LA Times article that follows:

Please respect the LA Times Paywall and access the article here.

In the case of the FPPC’s campaign finance investigation, Brough initially agreed to a payment plan for a $47,000 penalty. But after making a payment of $7,500 in April, according to the filing, he stopped making payments. Brough said he stopped making payments in order to enter into a settlement with the FPPC and make the investigation stop.

“It went on and on for four years,” he said. “I just wanted to go on with my life.”

The commission responded by more than doubling the penalty amount, levying the maximum fine for the charges. In a public meeting last week recommending Brough’s fine, FPPC Chairman Richard Miadich increased the fine from a recommended $90,000 to $100,000 and made the unusual motion to direct staff “to make this a priority matter for collections purposes and to pursue any and all means at your disposal to ensure we recover the full measure of this default.”

Note Bill Brough’s dishonesty in his comments to the LA Times. If you watch the comments of the chairman of the FPPC, they believed as did the investigators that Brough stopped making payments because he thought he’d evade collections. Brough has learned nothing from his fall, and apparently he has enablers that got him a job as a lobbyist/consultant in Orange County as well.

…The FPPC, which oversees candidates and campaign finances, found multiple discrepancies in the reports from Brough’s 2018 and 2020 campaign committees.

Brough used a total of $17,303 in campaign funds for personal expenses and failed multiple record-keeping requirements, even as his campaign treasurer warned him about violations, according to the FPPC’s report.

“I need all of your receipts ASAP — you’ve gone mad with the [credit] card use and I have one silly receipt for every ten expenses,” treasurer JenEve Slater wrote to Brough in 2018, the FPPC investigation found.

The unusually large FPPC fine is the latest allegation of misconduct against Brough, who was accused of sexual harassment by four women in 2019, prompting Orange County Republicans to call for him to not run for reelection. Brough said in a phone interview with The Times on Tuesday that he is no longer in electoral politics, though he works as a political consultant and lobbyist.

When I spoke to the reporter at the LA Times, I was explicit that I felt this was only partial justice because I believe that Bill Brough raped at least one woman, beyond the sexual harassment mentioned in the article. Given that the victim is still awaiting justice and the case shows open/suspended at the County of Sac there is no way to FOIA the records around it.

Back to the LA Times:

Another international trip brought Brough to the Netherlands for an Internet Marketing Assn. conference. After attending a two-hour conference, which ended with tastings at a local bar, Brough spent several days touring the area, according to the documents.

“Investigation revealed that Brough was visiting the region with his wife, for her birthday — and he asked the IMA if he could stop by … while he was in the area,” the FPPC document said.

In another instance, the FPPC reported that Brough used campaign funds to purchase a $1,300 custom cigar humidor, a custom bourbon barrel bar cabinet, a portable ice maker and a compact refrigerator, which he listed as office expenses but then took home when he left the Assembly.

The FPPC investigation began in 2019, after conservative political consultant Aaron Park filed a complaint, alleging that the politician had used campaign funds to pay for a trip to Boston with his family to attend a Red Sox game, as well as other extravagant spending.

He’s a victim of a witch hunt, I tell you. Cha-Ching another $5K fine.

Park told The Times on Tuesday that he had helped Brough get elected but soon changed his mind about the assemblyman once he heard allegations about campaign finance impropriety as well as sexual assaults.

Yep – there’s that $5000-fine-inducing Bourbon Barrell. (Photo was taken at Brough’s forced-retirement party at his capitol office)

Brough was stripped of his committee assignments in the Legislature in 2020, after a state investigation found that he had made unwanted advances on several women, including an Orange County supervisor.

Park, a political watchdog, began digging into Brough’s financial history and, after 20 hours of research, filed a complaint with the FPPC.

“I’m seeing stuff on his social media like the Red Sox game that he went to, and it corresponds to campaign expenditures and stuff like that out of his controlled accounts,” Park said. “I’m going, there’s no way in hell that’s a campaign expense.”

Park said he has filed many complaints to the FPPC over the years, but this “by far was the largest penalty I’ve ever seen.”

Someday, Trish we will get you justice. For now, we have to be thankful that some justice has finally been served.

I would be remiss if I did not finish this blog by saying Thank You to the LA Times for this article and to the reporter for her professionalism and legitimately good thoughtful questions. I have attacked the LA Times on this blog many times, but they deserve credit when they get one right. This is one of those times.

Jan 222021
 

Fire them all.

This is Trish Todd

The Voice of OC followed up on the last Orange County Register story about John Moorlach and crew smearing Trish Todd – who I believe was raped by the Sociopathic Bill Brough in 2015.

We’ve been laying out the timeline and facts while Fred Whitaker has accused her (and your intrepid blogger) of libel, Clark has allegedly been calling people and both Clark and Moorlach have been taking a bath in a pigsty. Moorlach and Clark’s comments to the media have been absurd. They are in a five-star mess of their  own making.

But when he was asked about allegations that his chief of staff told Todd not to report the rape allegations, Moorlach told the Orange County Register during an editorial endorsement meeting that Todd was a “disgruntled” employee who was not his “best hire.”

Todd says that was an attempt to smear her reputation.

“[Moorlach] told the Orange County Register Editorial Board he was not supportive of hiring me and he had to deal with poor performance by me and these were documented in my personnel file,” Todd said in a statement this week.

“[Moorlach] knew what I knew. That was a complete lie,” Todd added. “He also could not do anything to correct the record because despite my giving him a complete release to disclose my personnel file, there was not anything in there he claimed was in there.”

Through a representative, Todd released documents from her personnel file – including a letter from Moorlach saying “her skill set is far advanced,” so she should be paid an amount that’s “higher than her current salary would allow.”

For those of you unable to click on the link to the letter John Moorlach wrote praising his “disgruntled” former employee – I decided to provide a nice screenshot of it.

So, it looks like John Moorlach is a filthy liar along with Fred Whitaker and Tim Clark – both of whom were reputed to be telling people on the OCGOP during the jam-down of their endorsement of John Moorlach that the “Rape Stuff” was from a source that was not credible and/or a disgruntled former employee.

Now we know why Moorlach has been as quiet as a church mouse lately after digging himself a rehtorical trench for the last two months:

Moorlach declined to comment Thursday on Todd’s allegations about how he handled her rape claims, and whether he feels he handled the situation appropriately.

“I’ve been counseled not to talk,” Moorlach told Voice of OC.

It looks like Tim Clark missed the memo when he was whining to the Orange County Register what a victim he was/is last week in the first story about Trish Todd’s personnel file.

But – it appears that Fred Whitaker is back in his spider hole as well:

Orange County GOP Chairman Fred Whitaker, who has been trying to unite Republican voters around Moorlach, didn’t return phone messages seeking comment on the allegations and whether the party is investigating.

Ego is a powerful and destructive force. The defect in most people about how they’d rather die or get wrecked than admit fault or change course recurs with alarming frequency in politics.

Enter the OC Communist Party:

“By continuing to stand with John Moorlach despite months of overwhelming allegations, the OC GOP is perpetuating a toxic attitude toward women,” said Ada Briceño, chairwoman of the Orange County Democratic Party, in a statement earlier this week.

“It’s wrong, and it’s up to all of us to change it. The OC GOP should rescind its endorsement of John Moorlach; it is the morally responsible thing to do,” she continued.

Moorlach’s “professional retribution” against Todd makes him “unfit to represent any Orange County resident in public office,” she added.

Allow me to express my shock that I am in agreement with the OC Dem Party on all counts of the previous snippet. Shame on the OCGOP for being asleep at the switch.

Then there is this:

“I believe her, and I’m grieved by the pain she carries to this day,” Moorlach said in the opinion piece, regarding Todd’s rape claim against Brough.

“You can only look with respect at the bravery of any woman who files charges alleging rape and willingly suffers that deep loss of privacy to stop a criminal.”

Three days later, Moorlach described Todd to the Register as a “disgruntled” employee who was “assertive,” “strong willed” and not his “best hire.”

Whoops. Click here to see Trish Todd’s open letter to John Moorlach that Moorlach is hiding from replying to.

Now the behavior of these people is pulling down the entire OCGOP, all because they were so fully invested in a political has-been they refuse to see the flaws in.

There’s more coming on the Trish Todd story as I have her entire personnel file now.

Dec 302020
 

Blogger’s Note: It has been eye-opening to look at several counties and see that 10 have no elected members and thus, due to a by-law change Jessica Patterson and her team got passed in 2016, those couties are stripped of their representation to the state party. In addition Yuba County has one elected member, the Father of a paid staffer of Jessica’s Campaign manager. As of ths posting of this blog, I have identified an additional 6 county parties with 6 or less elected members. I believe there are as many as 10 more in that category. I just need to confirm with the county elections offices as most do not post Central Committee Elections results. The 17 counties with 6 or less members is a disaster that CAGOP Chairwoman Jessica Patterson must be held accountable for.

Contact
stephenfrank@sbcglobal.net
(805) 795-1271
Counties Will Be Partners With The State, Not Subjects Of The State
The letter below is just one of numerous examples of how the State Party would not allow the Counties to help their candidates or grow.  Instead of the California Republican party giving “permission” for a County to send letters to registered voters, they should be providing the information and training so the counties can do it themselves.

The counties can move quicker than the State Party and its staff.  The counties priority is their county.  The State GOP has targeted races and other priorities.  We strengthen counties by giving the tools to win elections.  We weaken counties by taking the tools away and having just one entity in charge of all 58 counties and how they communicate with voters and campaign for candidates.

From the letter, “Eventually, our Chair, found that the State did now allow us autonomy with the PDI program but they’d be happy to do the mail merge along with other tasks for us.  I’m not sure if there was a cost involved.  However, they would not allow any letters and/or mailings to be sent out by our individual Members without their State GOP approval for each item.

As Chair, I will change this—counties will be partners with the State, not subjects of the State.

Steve Frank

Coordination between County parties and the California Republican Party.

I’ve been a member of the XXXXX County Republican Central Committee for about a year and a half now and one of the tasks I was assigned when I was appointed was how to best utilize the PDI List.  The CC had access to the List for several years but nothing had been done with it so I accepted the assignment.  I immediately saw the value with its huge amount of voter data and a Google search turned up info on, of all things, Obama’s community organizing program. I know …I know ….. but it gave me an idea:))

I looked up data on each of our  Central Committee Members and most belonged to separate Precincts.  There are about xxx Precincts in XXXXX County and they average about xxx voters each so  I printed out a Voters List for each Member’s Precinct.  At the next monthly meeting, each Voting Central Committee Member immediately “and surprisingly” became a “Precinct Captain” I presented each Committee Member with a packet that contained a list of all the Voters that lived in the same Precinct that the Member resided in, along with a sample Letter they could mail to each Voter, or give directly to them if they chose to walk their Precinct.  At that time we were in the process of planning the Annual BBQ, so this was the focus of the letter.  The Members were excited about the program, even a bit of an applause after I presented it. I was thrilled:))

I’ve attached the sample letter I included with my initial presentation to the Members.  I told them they could use it as is, or make it their own verbiage; that it should be a letter from them personally to their GOP neighbors and wanted them to be comfortable with it.  The entire program was to let the Voters know there was someone on Central Committee they could come to with questions and/or concerns and to invite them to our meetings, the BBQ and other functions.  Also, the BBQ was a huge success which we can trace to the efforts of the Precinct Captains roll-out.

Things went along smoothly, except there were several Members who wanted to be able to mail merge the Voters List and I wasn’t able to do this.  I also wanted to be able to do a “walking list” and an email list from the PDI program but found it very difficult if not impossible.  So I paid my $20 and signed up for a class specifically related to the PDI program that the State GOP was sponsoring.  Problem was the class was postponed several times as I recall and eventually cancelled.  They offered a refund, but all I was interested in was the training which was never received.   Eventually, our Chair, found that the State did now allow us autonomy with the PDI program but they’d be happy to do the mail merge along with other tasks for us.  I’m not sure if there was a cost involved.  However, they would not allow any letters and/or mailings to be sent out by our individual Members without their State GOP approval for each item.

My question to you was whether this is something you could help us with if you were elected to the State GOP position or if this was a golden rule not to be messed with.  I believe it’s important that the Central Committee Members, who are elected by their “neighbors” should be allowed to communicate with them without having to get approval to do so.

At the present time our little program has grown to over xxx Precinct Captains involving xxx Voters.  The goal of course is to have xxx Precinct Captains but that’s pie in the sky for sure right now as we’re just trying to find our way through the maze and negativity we’re facing here in XXX County.

Thanks for reaching out and I’d appreciate your thoughts on this.  I hope this information has been helpful.

Steve Frank
Candidate, Chair of the California Republican Party

To support me, go to www.frank4leadership.com.

Dec 232020
 

Blogger’s Note: I Believe after deliberately delaying the delegate appointment forms release and stonewalling the announcement of the convention – Patterson’s campaign sent an email and miraculously the delegate appointment notices went out a few hours later at about 10PM today. (This is called abusing incumbency and CAGOP resources) As we predicted, the delegate appointment forms will hit between Chirstmas and New Years in a move we believe was done in an attempt to have some people miss their forms and not make their appointments. NOTE: We re-wrote the boring boiler-plate “all the leaders are supporting the establishment email” that we’ve seen for years with important information everyone should know. What is posted here is what should have been sent out by the “leaders” of our state party…

It is now 17 lost in the legislature. But Hey – we gained back 4 of 7 lost seats in Congress! Yay Team!

Dear Republican Leader:

In two short years, Jessica Millan Patterson helped drive the CAGOP to depths never before dreamed possible. After the 2018 elections, the pundits declared the Republican Party dead. They claimed we were in a death spiral, incapable of winning again. Gavin Newsom’s inauguration was covered more like a coronation by the press, and California Democrats touted the opportunity to remake the state in their progressive vision.

They were right. Jessica Patterson has helped them acehieve total dominance of California Politics!

On their watch,  Governor Newsom and California Democrats have demonstrated ineptitude of the highest magnitude. State government cannot provide unemployment benefits and drivers licenses. Their arbitrary COVID-19 policies are killing businesses and the jobs that Californians so desperately need. Iconic California corporations have backed up the moving trucks and are heading out of state. Governor Newsom told you that you couldn’t dine at a restaurant, but then partied with lobbyists and political consultants, running up a bill costing more than $10,000 for a swanky dinner at the French Laundry.

Is this the California we want to leave to our children and grandchildren? No, neither do we, and that’s why firing Jessica Millan Patterson is so important.

Jessica Millan Patterson and the California Republican Party have been getting their asses kicked by the Democrats for two years, and if the 2020 elections are any indication, we are on the right track to achieve total anhiliation in just a few years. Here’s how we score it:

  • Added 4 Congressional seats after losing 7 the previous cycle for a net loss of 3: Grade F
  • Added an Assembly seat by a fluke of the top two after two GOP Assemblymembers bolted the party: F
  • Lost two State Senate Seats in 2020: Grade F
  • Registered 624,000 new Republicans, overtaking NPP and restoring our two-party system, While the Democrats Rolled Up 1,833,000 Registrations for a net loss of 1.2 Million! Grade: F
  • Outside interests raised $37.5 million passed through the CAGOP to support GOP candidates, communicate with voters and get them to the polls. GOP Team Grade A+, Jessica Patterson Grade: N/A
  • 17 County Parties have 5 Elected Members or Less with 10 having no elected members! Grade F
  • Refused to take a stand to defend women related to the Bill Brough scandal! Grade F
  • Allowed 4 CAGOP delegates (including Lincoln Project Leader Mike Madrid) who openly supported Joe Biden to Remain in the Party! Grade F

As the GOP leaders in Congress and the California Legislature, we ask you to join us in enthusiastically endorsing Steve Frank for California Republican Party Chairman. The 2022 election is already underway, and under the leadership of Steve Frank, the California Republican Party would be poised to reverse the fauilres of 2020 and to start winning again!

Thank you for everything that you have done to try to create California Republican Comeback. We need Steve Frank if we are going to take the fight to the Democrats, start winning elections and to help make our state a place where people can live, work and raise a family.

Kevin McCarthy
House Republican Leader

Shannon Grove
Senate Republican Leader

Marie Waldron
Assembly Republican Leader

Donate to Steve Frank                                                                                   Endorse Steve Frank

Dec 192020
 

A hollow endorsement and some deceptive fundraising emails is the extent of the support for the Recall from the State Party.

However, here is Travis Allen. This is what should be done: (Note the key difference between this fundraiser email and the CAGOP’s fundraising emails – leave a comment if you figure it out)

 

Take Back California
Steve,

Gavin Newsom is at the end of his rope. Time after time, he scoffs at Californians and subjects us to strict executive orders from his office.

Shortly after photos surfaced of Gavin Newsom’s hypocritical French Laundry dinner party and exposed him as having lied about the details, he imposed another strict lockdown on the state that comes with unwarranted regulations on businesses and an illogical districting of counties.

How long will Californians continue to sit back and be content with being lied to? The answer: not much longer.

The combination of his lies and ignorantly constructed COVID regulations has given rise to the most successful recall initiative against a California Governor in 17 years.

Organizers of this recall effort report they have more than half the petition signatures needed to put the recall on the ballot, but there is a still a long way to go until the March 17th deadline.

Take Back California PAC is fully supportive of this recall, and we urge you to download, sign and mail back the petition.

 DOWNLOAD THE OFFICIAL RECALL PETITION → 

Our economic and personal freedoms, and our very livelihoods are at stake; we must recall our heretic Governor Gavin Newsom in order to save them.

This may be our only shot at this… so please download, sign and return your petition to help the recall qualify for the ballot before the deadline.

Thank you,

Take Back California PAC

CONTRIBUTE →

 

 

 

PAID FOR BY TAKE BACK CALIFORNIA PAC
FPPC ID# 1406793