Caronistas munching on sour grapes
You knew that the Carona team was not going to allow Tim Whitacre, the campaign manager for their top opponent, Bill Hunt, gloat for long after he was able to derail Carona’s hopes for an OC GOP endorsement. Well, the other shoe dropped over the weekend.
Matt Holder filed a complaint with the OC GOP Central Committee’s Endorsement Committee. Holder is employed by John Lewis, the former State Senator who is running Carona’s reelection effort. He is also well known for having married the daughter of Buck Johns, the wealthy and influential Republican donor who is a Carona backer. I believe that Holder’s wife also is the executive director for the Orange County Lincoln Club, which is likewise backing Carona. Oh what a tangled web!
At any rate, Holder’s complaint includes a number of charges – most come down to semantics. You can read the complaint itself at http://blogs.ocregister.com/buzz/archives/Central%20Committee%20complaint.pdf. Holder does note that Carona did not endorse Nativo Lopez, the disgraced and recall Santa Ana School Board member, during the recall campaign against him. Carona did endorse Lopez in his reelection campaign. Many experts believe that Lopez could not have been reelected without Carona’s endorsement. That of course would have done away with the need for the recall in the first place. Holder of course avoids these details.
I suspect that Whitacre has evidence that will defray most if not all of the accusations. I hope that Jon Flieschman, Michael Schroeder, Adam Probolsky and others who work for Team Carona, will recuse themselves from voting on the Holder complaint – if they are on the Endorsement Committee. I doubt they will though, as they are running a scorched earth campaign and are surely out to destroy Whitacre once and for all.
I personally recruited Whitacre to the OC GOP Central Committee many years ago, and he has done so much for the party while I have been away from the Central Committee. He should have received a medal for his work on the Lopez recall alone. It would be a true shame if the Caronistas were to bury Whitacre after all the good work he has done for the GOP.
By the way, in case you missed the latest Carona scandal, the O.C. Register reported last Thursday that an indicted businessman is now saying that Carona should be accountable for illegal campaign contributions that the businessman mande to Carona’s political campaign. Go to http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/local/county/article_1088550.php for the details.
If you would like to attend tonight’s OC GOP Central Committee’s endorsement committee meeting, it will be held at the party headquarters at 6 p.m., at 1800 W. Katella Ave., Suite 210, in Anaheim. I believe that is the SC Fuels building, located just a few blocks east of the Pond at Anaheim. You can call the party for more information at 714-453-0900. As far as I know the meeting should be open to all Orange County Republican Central Committee members – but come down anyway and show your support for Whitacre!
i know Art will be there.
Lupe has said she will be there supporting Tim.
Ryan may be there to also discuss an issue regarding the party.
I wonder who else will be there. Will you be there?
Art:
And exactly why did you feel the need to drag Matt’s wife and in-laws into your post in such a smarmy, slimy way? And by the way, both Beth Holder and her father, Buck Johns — not to mention Matt Holder — have done more to advance the conservative cause every poster and commenter on this blog (and that includes me).
You mean well, Art, but sometimes you show absolutely no class.
“You mean well, Art, but sometimes you show absolutely no class.”
I can name several people who this statement could apply to as well.
Matthew,
I don’t feel that my post was smarmy, but I suppose you might have felt that way for reasons you find to be valid. I thought that it was worth noting that Holder and his entire extended family are backing Carona – and they are all quite influential Republicans as you noted.
I continue to be amazed that so many good Republicans are sticking their necks out for Carona despite his scandalous record. What a waste…if they were to put half that energy into decent Republican candidates like Mike McGill, Lupe Moreno, Rosie Avila, etc. we might actually grow the party in Orange County.
Let’s face it – Carona is not worth it. He has proven that over and over. As Rosie Avila put it, “Reagan would not have endorsed Nativo.” But Carona did…
“…we might actually grow the party in Orange County.”
I do concur with Mr. Pedroza’s statement.
Our party, at the state and local level, needs to realize that spending $250k+ on voter registrations, would be better spent helping to elect great candidates into office.
Our party needs to wake up and stop acting like the minority party.
— brock.
Oh but what will they be wearing? And how many chidlren have they all had?
I guess it only makes sense that a man is crucified during Holy week. I was there and he never had a chance…..You are a good man Tim….
What was the outcome from last night re admonishing Whitacre?
Anyone who has been through this kind of process in the past (as a candidate or campaign staffer) knows that the key to winning is to make certain that your supporters SHOW UP! (Kinda like an election)
People who attend endorsement meetings rarely show up with an open mind and are swayed by the remarks made on each side, however eloquent they might be.
Clearly the Carona team did not manage to get their supporters to the meeting, so now they’ve voted themselves another chance (as I read somewhere on another blog).
As for Cunningham, if you consider Matt Holder’s letter honest and upstanding why do you characterize mention of the prominence of his wife and father-in-law “smarmy” and “slimy”?
And you should keep in mind that a significant number of posters, commenters, and readers on this blog have no interest in advancing “the conservative cause.” Something Republicans in OC tend to forget.
Here’s a brief recap as to what happened last night – Mike Schroeder and Jon Fleischman, both of them Caronistas, pushed the endorsement committee to forward the matter to the ethics committee.
They are going to try to get Carona endorsed at the next Central Committee meeting. This is all of course B.S., but there is nothing that can be done about it.
Shame on Schroeder and his egotistical side-kick Flieschman for not recusing themselves even though they have a vested interest in Carona!
Lupe Moreno was the only committee member who opted to recuse herself since she has endorsed Carona’s main opponent, Bill Hunt.
I encourage all registered Republican readers of this blog to attend the next OC GOP Central Committee meeting to support Tim Whitacre.
Yes, Tim is a loose canon – for corrupt politicians!!!
Tim mislead no one. Tim told no lies.
Charges were trumped up by a Carona Consultant, Matt Holder, one of the guys an earilier poster, Mattew Cunningham, was touting as a poster boy for republican virtues. Then, Mike Schroeder and Jon Fleischman make and second a motion to hang Tim high – at an endorsement committee meeting!!!??? The committee scaled back the motion to recommending for a re-vote, which is exactly what Schroeder and Fleischman wanted.
Like someone else said on OC Blog, this is nothing more than Mike “Al Gore” Carona politics – they didn’t like the outcome so they ignore and change the rules so they can have another shot at the endorsement.
By the way, Tim only had 6 minutes to respond to 2 pages of allegations. A real fair process!
So Shut up, Santa Ana Sara!