Republican activist fires back at Caronistas
I received the letter below today, via email. It is a very detailed description of the shameful actions of the Caronistas on the OC GOP endorsement committee, on the evening of April 10, when they succeeded in their attempt to revist the issue of endorsing Carona at the next OC GOP Central Committee. Nothing I can write will be as powerful as what you are about to read:
Response in the matter of Republican Party’s Endorsement Committee Meeting, April 10, 2006, 6:00 to 10:00 pm.
Sheriff Carona did not obtain the GOP endorsement last month, which led to the publication of a formal complaint against Tim Whitacre (Bill Hunt’s non-paid Campaign Consultant, filed by Corona’s paid consultant Matt Holder).
This formal complaint was dated April 4, 2006 and sent to Scott Baugh, Chairman of the Republican Party of Orange County.
The complaint was issued stating Tim Whitacre, subverted the endorsementprocess, by making false statements and therefore misleading the central committee when he addressed them on March 20th, thereby preventing the endorsement of Mike Carona by one vote. This complaint letter was e-mailedto Mr. Whitacre in the afternoon on Friday the 7th of April, 2006, giving him two non-business days to prepare a response and appear before a committee on Monday night April 10, 2006.
I am disappointed that Mr. Baugh would even consider referring this matter to any committee, let alone this one, which is represented by Corona’s attorney and key advisors.
Tim Whitacre was required to address the committee, which includes Mike Schroeder, Carona’s attorney, and Jon Fleischman, both close advisors toCarona.
At Schroeder’s ruling, Tim was given only six minutes to present a defense against two pages of accusations!
Tim truthfully argued that the endorsement’s committee did not have jurisdiction on what was essentially an ethics charge brought on by Matt Holder, partner in Lewis Consulting and hired gun for Carona, and, who is not even a member of the central committee – he’s an alternate.
Tim asked that since it was unprecedented for the Endorsements Committee to hear an ethics complaint, the committee should abide by Ethics Committeeby-laws, which provide for any committee member who works for either campaign; publicly endorses either campaign; donated to either campaign; or volunteers for either campaign, to recuse themselves.
The only one, who did recuse, was Lupe Moreno, who has openly endorsed Bill Hunt for Sheriff. Neither Mike Schroeder or Jon Fleischman, who both work for Carona, would recuse themselves and in fact were the maker and second to the motion to fly Tim up the flagpole from the complaint filed by Matt Holder – hired gun for Carona.
It was clear that these men orchestrated this event; utilized Tim as the scapegoat to obtain an unprecedented second chance for Carona to receive the valuable endorsement of the County Party.
When it was time for Central Committee Members to comment, three member sstood up said great things about Tim and his years of committed volunteer service to the OC GOP as well as attested to his integrity. No one spoke upon behalf of Carona.
Mike Schroeder was clearly making some things up as he went along, upsetting Tim to the point that he very vocally and out of order, called Schroeder a liar on more than one occasion. Fleischman was no better with his comments, both pontificating for easily 15 minutes each.
I could not believe what I had witnessed at this meeting and how deeply affected I was by the manner in which this meeting was conducted. It was the most underhanded example of a well planned out ambush against Tim’s character, in order to enable them the second opportunity to re-vote on the Sheriff’s endorsement.
I now have such a clear picture of the underhanded and dishonest lengths that Mike Carona’s paid staff will go and do in order to get an endorsement.The fact that they are willing to split the Republican Party, cause division, and question Tim’s long time record of credibility was shocking.
During the ‘hearing’, Mike Schroeder let it slip that he, in fact, wrote the letter that Matt Holder signed. So after the meeting, I asked Mr. Schroeder when was the first time he saw the letter? He stated, “After it was published.” I then asked, “So you had nothing to do with this letter before it was published”. Let’s just say he didn’t even look me in the eye when he said, “No.” I can say from certainty that this letter was drafted by a legal professional and I believe it was Mr. Schroeder. I then wandered over to Matt Holder and asked him, “Can you just verify that you are a paid consultant for Sheriff Carona?” He was indignant and stated, “I sure am – and proud of it.”
Tim did the best he could with the time he had but it was clearly a railroad job with the outcome pre-destined. Last night, Tim unfairly took a big one on the chin for everything good the GOP is supposed to stand for, as well as for the men and women in the Sheriff’s Department who have rejected Mike Carona and have endorsed Lt.Bill Hunt. Tim didn’t have a chance, but he stood tall. I am so sorry and embarrassed to have witnessed what he went through.
Mrs. Cheryl Atkinson, Concerned Republican
I have known Tim for a long time. We do not always agree but one thing I can say for him is, he’s a very good man.
Even during the recall of Nativo Lopez, Tim drove all over Santa Ana with his trunk full of cold water and snacks to eat. He did not just feed and water his side, he always came over to us and made sure we were okay as well.
There were many times I was real thankful to see Tim arrive because I knew he would offer us all something to drink & eat.
Another thing, the one thing that sticks out the most in my mind was when Tim stood up to a couple of the hired petitioners on that were hired on his side, who were verbally abusing a couple of the ladies on our side to tears in front of the Vons at Bristol & MacArthur. They didn’t see Tim came up from behind them and were abusing us for being Mexican. Tim grab the clipboards out of their hands, put his hand in their faces and said “These people are fellow residents of my city. They are every bit American as you. Get your racist asses out of here now and if I see you anywhere in my city after 5PM today, I will stop my car and kick your @#$$@!#$
heads in”. He then said to us, in Spanish, please forgive me on behalf of them, I didn’t hire them directly, but I just fired them. He then gave us all his cell phone number and told us that if anyone else came near us in that fashion, to call him personally and he would come over and handle the matter himself. He put his arm around the two ladies and stayed with us a little while. We never had a problem after that.
Even though we were on opposited sides, I respect that man so much. He told us that being American has nothing to do with skin color or ethnic. He said to us “you are not Mexican American you are Americans of Mexican roots theirs a big difference” I never thought about it like that before. We felt so proud because of his kind words.
Los pinche calbrones que estan castigando a Timoteo son muy malos y espero que El Senor que esta en cielo esta mirando todo y nada mal va a pasar a este caballero.
You are all beginning to see that the “leaders” of the OCGOP are interested only in keeping their friends in business with lots of political clients.
A Republican friend of mine was considering running for local office a while back. He’s part of a very wealthy prominent South County family. This friend was able to get a meeting with Chaiman Baugh due to his prominence. In the course of their meeting it became very clear to my friend that Baugh saw him only as a potential self funder. Baugh did not offer any insight into the politics of this city, nor did he inquire as to my friend’s political leanings. Instead, the ENTIRE meeting was about which consultants my friend “HAD TO HIRE” (most of them presently on Carona’s team) in order to get party support.
My friend left the meeting disillusioned about the county party. He’s reconsidering running for office, and thinking about re-registering as a Decline to State.
Art—You didn’t like the Centerline Light Rail. Well, you just saw the Schroeder Heavy Railin action.
Bladerunner,
Too true – I used to think highly of Schroeder, but now I have come to realize that he is not that different from the Mafia Godfathers you read about in the paper.
Power corrupts, as they say, and corruption is the status quo at Carona’s office. What a shame!
“In the course of their meeting it became very clear to my friend that Baugh saw him only as a potential self funder.”
That’s exactly what young Ryan ahs encountered with the OCGOP. They are not lifting a finger for him.
It’ll be sad if he wins and the party starts taking credit for it. Their voter-registration program will be considered a self-titled “success.”
Pfft. Please.
[My friend left the meeting disillusioned about the county party. He’s reconsidering running for office, and thinking about re-registering as a Decline to State.]
Tell your friend to register DTS and email me about my contacts with the OCGOP and which “pollster” I was recommended to hire.
Re: Tim Whitacre. I met him last November at Mike McGill’s fundraiser and have found him to be a straight shooter, typical of a Marine. It’s too bad he is not available for hire to help me.
How about you Art? Are you available?
9:29,
I am always happy to help out candidates. You can email me at apedroza@earthlink.net. I have severe time constraints – but advice is free…
I was told that Lupe Morena, after recusing herself, stated that she will not support Hunt or Carona. She was seen speaking with Ralph Martin who attended the fiasco where Whitacre was railroaded. I am not a Hunt supporter and am totally disillusioned with the Carona/Schroeder/Fleshboy camp. So is Moreno backing Martin??
Flashboy abuses his office by operating the blog from it. Somebody needs to ask the County Grand Jury to investigate. Also the other government employees on his bolg need to be investigated.
10:19,
I have not heard that. As far as I know Moreno is backing Hunt.
Martin is a very decent candidate – but he just doesn’t have the momentum that Hunt does. Let’s face it – votes for him will only strengthen Carona. We need to get behind one of Carona’s opponents in order to defeat him. For me that means voting for Hunt, even though Martin is if anything better qualified than all of the candidates, including Carona.
This is just one more example of the scizophrenic nature of our GOP leadership.
We can’t get good candidates and line up behind them when the Committee is so busy being divisive.
No, Lupe Moreno is not backing Martin. She just said what she said, without thinking, to show her disgust at what was going on and to show that she was “neutral” that night.
Lupe Moreno is a staunch Lt. Bill Hunt supporter.
Hey Tim, when you’ve had enough with the unprincipled Republican Party, the door is wide open for you here at the Libertarian Party!
the local party has lost it’s way. where is mike capizzi when you need him. i real da would be investagating flashboy for misusing the taxpayers money. a real da would be looking at the inherent conflict of interest concerning schoeders postion with the sheriff and his wife’s as da spokeperson. what has our county become.
tim is a good decent guy who works for nothing and is always there to help. same with lupe.maybe schoeder should explain his “exploits” with female crp employees.
yeah, but what was Lupe wearing? And Tim for that matter? Inquiring minds want to know…
Art Pedroza: you are really a hypocrite!! If Martin (whom I have not met but hear good things about) is truly the most experienced candidate and “better qualified” (your own words)than Hunt and Carona, then why wouldn’t the party back this guy?? Oh yeah, you’re helping Moreno, who also realizes this and knew what she was saying at the “Whitacre Hanging” but is too afraid to admit the truth and stick to it.
This is exactly the reason why so many of us are disillusioned with the current state of the OC Republican Party. Let’s stick with “Dornan”, oh I meant “Carona”, then we’ll ask ourselves in June, “What Happened”??
Can’t we cut Carona and Schroeder loose and get back to our core beliefs? Baugh must know this is getting out of hand and he better get control soon or face loosing more ground. The Harkey machine didn’t pass the smell test and I sense a tide turning.
9:07,
How am I a hypocrite? I have said before that I like Martin and he is well-qualified – but he has very little poltical momentum as compared to Hunt. I don’t want to vote for a guy who cannot win. I want to defeat Carona, ergo I am supporting Hunt. What part of that am I not making clear?
The only thing Martin is better qualified at than Lt. Bill Hunt, is being a Deputy Sheriff in Los Angeles. There, he has 30 years of experience.
Lt. Bill Hunt has over 20 years experience right here in Orange County. Additionally, Martin can’t begin to come close to Hunt in the various positions he has served in, such as SWAT etc. If Martin were to win, someone would have to show him where the light switches are. Lt. Hunt already knows that plus where are the areas that need improvement and how to do that as well. Most importantly, the AOCDS endorsed Lt. Bill Hunt over Martin or Carona. The Deputy Sheriff’s of Orange County know who’s best qualified to lead them
Why is anyone surprised at this action?
Certainly not those of us who are GOP’s who went to a couple of Central Committee meetings and left in disgust.
I told my wife after the second one I felt like I was attending an ugly convention plotting to take over the world.
I now take my cues from the OC GOP. I see which republican they are supporting and then vote for the other person.
At the general election I pick and choose without regard to party.