I Did Not Know This About Democratic Operative (Active in OC) Sue Burnside! Who’s Hired Her Again?

By
Greg Diamond
– August 8, 2017Posted in: "The OC", Fresh Juice

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Sue Burnside (center) at a dinner for “the Victory Fund “– but not THAT local OC “Victory Fund” … so far as I can tell, at this point.

From today’s The Nooner by Scott Lay (with some minor spell-checking and final-line emphasis added):

CAUGHT: The Huntley Hotel in Santa Monica is in trouble with the FPPC for asking employees to contribute to a political action committee and offering to reimburse them, reports Taryn Luna in the Bee. The committee was formed as an astroturf campaign to oppose an expansion of a neighboring hotel that would have eclipsed the ocean views of rooms at the Huntley. The FPPC will consider an astonishing $310,000 fine at its August 17 meeting, which the Huntley has agreed to.

The owner has also negotiated for an additional $10,000 fine.

The astroturf campaign was organized by longtime LA political operative Sue Burnside, who is known for hardball politics and walking the ethical tightrope.

It’s always nice to see the FPPC enforcing the laws against this sort of chicanery, but that’s not what got my attention.  It’s that last paragraph, about Sue Burnside.  I know that name!

While OJB has focused disproportionately on corrupt or otherwise disgusting Republican consultants over the past seven years — Dave Gilliard, Dave Ellis, Brett Barbre, and some others whom I’m either unsure are actually consultants or unsure are actually Republican — we don’t want to give the impression that everything is clean on the blue side of the aisle.  I’ve been hearing the name “Sue Burnside” a lot over the past few years, and I know that her firm is involved in some current campaigns.  But I’ve never heard until now that she is so well-known for “hardball politics and walking the ethical tightrope” that a normally stolid guy like Scott Lay can say so without even seeming to tremble.  Everybody knew this but me?  Darn!

Now if I could just remember who has hired her, and what they think about her reputation.  (And, uh, whether she’s walking the ethical tightrope — what could Scott mean by that? — for any of them.)  I suppose that we can check the records , now that they’re in, and ask.

Turns out that Sue Burnside is among other things, a lesbian activist with an LGBT political advocacy group called “Victory Fund“– which at least freaked me out because that’s the name of the PAC that DNC Member/Consultant Melahat Rafiei has run for former DPOC Chair Frank Barbaro, which just seemed unlikely to me.  I presume that there’s no connection, except for perhaps a trademark infringement case or something like that.  Anyway, judging by its home page, this group sounds like a good one and is presumably not part of what Scott Lay was referring to by an “ethical tightrope.”  OJB will follow up with the Nooner author.

About Greg Diamond

Somewhat verbose attorney, semi-disabled and semi-retired, residing in northwest Brea. Occasionally ran for office against jerks who otherwise would have gonr unopposed. Got 45% of the vote against Bob Huff for State Senate in 2012; Josh Newman then won the seat in 2016. In 2014 became the first attorney to challenge OCDA Tony Rackauckas since 2002; Todd Spitzer then won that seat in 2018. Every time he's run against some rotten incumbent, the *next* person to challenge them wins! He's OK with that. Corrupt party hacks hate him. He's OK with that too. He does advise some local campaigns informally and (so far) without compensation. (If that last bit changes, he will declare the interest.) His daughter is a professional campaign treasurer. He doesn't usually know whom she and her firm represent. Whether they do so never influences his endorsements or coverage. (He does have his own strong opinions.) But when he does check campaign finance forms, he is often happily surprised to learn that good candidates he respects often DO hire her firm. (Maybe bad ones are scared off by his relationship with her, but they needn't be.)