Caronistas prevail over a broken OC GOP
I had a feeling when I showed up to tonight’s Republican Party of Orange County Central Committee meeting that the Caronistas were going to get their way and obtain an endorsement of their candidate. They did – but in the process they tore the Central Committee asunder. I hope they are happy with the sorry results.
I also ran into Carona’s PR flack, Jon Fleischman, as we walked into the lobby of the Irvine Hyatt Regency. “Why do you say bad things about me?” asked Fleischman? I told him it was just politics, but by the end of the evening I had a better answer for him – “because you and your ilk sicken me!”
The crux of the meeting was a motion presented by the Central Committee endorsement committee – you know the one that features Caronistas Fleischman and Mike Schroeder – the same two guys who refused to recuse themselves at their endorsement committee meeting, instead voting in favor of their candidate and ultimately asking the Central Committee to reconsider their request to endorse Carona.
The endorsement committee met last week to consider a letter of complaint written by Carona political consultant Matt Holder. Whitacre was notified on a Friday afternoon about the Monday meeting, and as such he had very little time to mount a defense. At the meeting he was given all of six minutes to refute the two pages of charges.
Whitacre maintained all along during Monday night’s Central Committee meeting that the matter should have been investigated by the party’s ethics committee – but he was rebuffed at every turn. He also published and distributed an amazing packet of information that effectively answered all the charges against him – but it was all for naught. The packet was one for the ages – it included:
1. A personal email from Santa Ana Chief of Police Paul Walters indicating that he was pulling his endorsement of Carona – an endorsement he was forced to make, many believe, by Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido.
2. A letter from Santa Ana Councilman Mike Garcia, indicating that he knew nothing about the Walters endorsement.
3. An email from Santa Ana Councilman Jose Solorio rebutting a diatribe that appeared in OC Blog. He, like Garcia, also indicated he knew nothing about the Walters endorsement.
4. A media advisory dated March 20, indicating that a judge had deniged Carona’s emergency request to strike a ballot statement sentence written by his opponent, Bill Hunt.
5. A letter from Lewis K. Uhler of the National Tax Limitation Committee, indicating that Carona did indeed oppose Prop. 75, up until a month before the election. Hunt on the other hand supported it all along. Uhler was not aware of any attempt by Carona to make public his alleged late support for Prop. 75.
6. A letter from Oscar Garza, a Latino Republican who ran for the Santa Ana School Board, indicating that he sought Carona’s endorsement but was told that the supposedly Republican Sheriff was instead supporting MECHA member John Palacio, because they “go back a long time from Boy Scouts.”
7. A flier from the Palacio campaign showing him shaking Carona’s hand with the Carona quote “I endorse John Palacio and urge his re-election.”
8. A flier asking voters to vote against the recall of Santa Ana School Board member Nativo Lopez, with a picture of Lopez and Carona, and the text: “Sheriff Mike Carona supports Nativo Lopez.”
9. Another flier with the same picture and Carona endorsement of Lopez.
10. And another one.
11. And another one – this one with a different picture of a seated Carona and a gloating Lopez.
12. And the front page of Lopez’s newspaper “Union Hispana” featuring a full cover picture of a smiling Carona shaking Lopez’ hand. The picture also included text indicating that Carona was opposed to the recall of Lopez.
13. An O.C. Register article indicating that Santa Ana voters received calls asking them to vote against the recall of Nativo Lopez – the calls were allegedly made on behalf of Carona, even though Fleischman denied any connection, of course.
14. The packet closed with three pages of Carona misdeeds.
The meeting lasted way too long, as the Caronistas repeatedly denied motions that ran counter to their goal. I was particularly disappointed that they did not allow secret balloting to take place. There was a lot of pressure from leading county Republicans, including Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, to support Carona. He actually got up and said that Carona helped to fight illegal immigration. I wonder if he meant the same Carona who was pictured shaking Nativo Lopez’ hand in the above-referenced packet? Rohrabacher also said that we need to look past the mistakes made by Carona as no one is perfect. I guess Jack Abramoff’s best friend would know all about that.
In the end, the Caronistas barely won the 2/3 majority vote they needed. I was very proud of those who stood against the machine – and I took note of the voters who stood for Carona, and the speakers who defended him. I was shocked in particular that Kathy Tavoularis, a member of the Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger campaign, took sides, standing up to defend Carona. That won’t help her or Schwarzenegger in Central Orange County.
It should be noted that Otto Bade, a past candidate for the 69th Assembly District, showed up to the meeting and voted for Carona. Whitacre refused to support the Bade campaign after it sank in one scandal after another (sound familiar?). Bade finally got his revenge.
Wiley Drake, an outspoken minister from Buena Park, immediately resigned from the Central Committee, after the vote, and told those in attendance that he would be leaving the GOP – a party he has belonged to since 1964. Lupe Moreno got up and also resigned from the Central Committee. Tim Whitacre picked up his materials and walked out, and many of us followed him. Jon Fleischman, on the other hand, was later seen in the hallway smiling broadly while chatting with John Lewis, Carona’s consultant.
The whole meeting was a sham, and the net result will be that most GOP activists in central Orange County won’t be working with the OC GOP anymore. Indeed, once they start touting RINO Lynn Daucher in the 34th State Senate District, they will lose even more support. What a mess – and all for Carona, a guy who only panders to the party when it suits his whim.
Dr. Jo Ellen Allen tried, at the end, to say a few nice words about Whitacre, but he would have none of it – and I don’t blame him. When I had the chance to speak to the Central Committee members tonight I reminded them that Whitacre led the effort to recall Nativo Lopez from the Santa Ana School Board – but that effort was only necessitated because Carona helped him to get elected in the first place. Tonight Whitacre was crucified and Carona was handed an illicit endorsement. This action will tarnish the OC GOP forever. Their new logo ought to be a rotten orange.
Although, I am not necessarily a defender of Sheriff Carona, I will say perhaps his endorsement of Nativo Lopez, was not really an endorsement for the man himself. Perhaps he saw there was no need to get rid of a school board member and wasting thousands of tax dollars to have the same result in the school board.
The hateful republicans got rid of their nemesis, but did SAUSD prevail?
Art,
What probably hurt you was that you focused too much on Nativo Lopez rather than focusing on the actual misdeeds of Carona himself.
All you did was make Nativo into a boogie man, sound like you are trying to rehash old memories instead of focusing on why Carona is bad. Who cares about Nativo, focus on the real issue at hand. Focus on how Carona has abused his office, focus on the screw ups of the people he hired. Focus on all the invetstigations of corruption.
I am tired of the Hunt camp talking about Nativo, Nativo, Nativo. Focus on the man Hunt wants to beat. I want to support Hunt, but you make it harder and harder when all you do is try to make a boogie man out of Nativo Lopez. I think I can divide the Reps into to camps- the corrupt(Schroeder, Fleischman) and the shortsighted(Whitacre, Moreno).
The Message,
You’re probably right – but it was the Lopez endorsement that first convinced me and Whitacre to dump Carona. As I cited in my post, there are three pages of Carona scandals on top of the Lopez endorsement – but that information was passed out at last night’s meeting. The Central Committee members chose to overlook it.
Luis,
Ironically, today Lopez is more powerful than ever. I believe he was the force behind the recent protests, although the only proof of it came on a KFI broadcast that was attested to at OC Blog. Whatever the case, Lopez is still causing trouble, albeit on a grander scale…
Art,
You are probably correct, however, I dont believe the issue is Nativo and his rise to fame. The issue is why Carona should not be re-elected. Stating he supported Nativo, perhaps does not justify a good reason to choose Hunt instead.
I would focus more on his lack of leadership, corruption, and lies. That, I believe is much more significant, unless of course the only thing being true is Nativo’s endorsements? I hope that not the only factual piece of the entire argument. I really dont know.
I’m still disappointed at the fact that I was not able to speak to the committee.
My speech, that I had spent about 2 hours working on, was going to be damned good and it may have turned the vote a little towards our way.
Sadly, the Powers That Be had their way and let Erin Runnion speak last month, even though she isn’t a “member” either.
Otto should not have been there either. If only I was the 69th Ex-Officio.
Luis,
Given that Carona was seeking the endorsement of the OC GOP, I think it was highly relevant that he has a track record of backing Democrats like Lopez and Palacio. (I realize that Lopez is now a member of the Green Party, but back when Carona endorsed him, he was a Democrat). To make maters worse, Carona refused to support more than one Latino Republican candidate, instead supporting Palacio and Lopez.
Art,
One of the areas that needs reform is the level of partisanship from the Sheriff and DA’s office. One of the reforms I would like to see from a new Sheriff is making the office non-partisan. I don’t want to see Schroeder or Fleischman running the show. I also don’t want to see Whitacre or Avila running their own show for Hunt. THis concerns me that nothing will change under Hunt, just the cast of characters. And the partisanship being displayed by the Hunt camp truly disturbs me.
The Message,
I agree that the level of partisanship in the Carona office is unacceptable. Hunt was quoted in one of the papers yesterday asking why the GOP finds it so important to control the Sheriff’s and DA’s offices. Thus I doubt that he intends to follow Carona’s partisan path.
I hope that the next Sheriff will hire only those who are suitable for the jobs in question. I would prefer to see career law enforcement specialists and other qualified professionals working in the Sheriff’s office, as opposed to partisan hacks like Fleischman.
Art, You and Tim have some political power with grass root Rep. activists in Central O.C. especially S.A. What are you going to do to let them know they just got you know what, you know where, from the powers that be? You must keep beating the drum and turn your anger into action. Please don’t give up Art!!!!
12:33,
Thanks for the kind words. I spoke to Tim this morning – he is definitely not going to give up. He will keep working hard for Bill Hunt, and I think he will also keep helping Rosie Avila, Lupe Moreno and Ryan G. Williams.
As for myself, I will be focusing on helping Moreno and on writing for this blog. I was also appointed yesterday to the OC GOP Central Committee, to fill a vacancy reated when noted GOP volunteer Abie Garcia resigned. With Moreno resigning as well, we now have another spot to fill on the Central Committee, for the 69th A.D.
Actually Art, it was Ralph Martin who was quoted in the OC Register. HEre is the snippet:
Ralph Martin, a Los Angeles sheriff’s commander who is also running, said he was shocked there’s been so much interest by the party in a nonpartisan race.
“You have to ask yourself: Why is it so important for them to control the sheriff’s office and the District Attorney’s Office?” he said.
I do hope Hunt feels the same way though.
Sounds like the Carona people out-manuvered Whitacre. That’s politics and it’s ugly!
Art,
Thank you for you honest posting of the Central Commitee Meeting and this unbelievable do-over endorsement of Carona. It is truely a sad day when an endorsemnent becomes such an uneccessary evil dividing the Republican Party. This manipulation
of authority and Commitee members
will never be forgotton.
Tim is a man of integrity, and true character, and so is LT. Hunt.
Hunt never asked for the endorsement because he knew it would NOT BE ETHICAL when several republicans were running for the office of Sheriff.
This DO-OVER ENDORSEMENT of Carona was nothing but a well thought out plan to manipulate the system and good people.
The truth always comes out.
Thank you for your honest reporting
of the issues and PLEASE don’t lock me out of your blog as JUBAL did. It’s really sad it had to come to this, as some people just can’t handle the truth, and would rather post horrible comments tearing down fellow republicans and good men like LT Bill Hunt and Tim Whitacre. It is a David vs Goliath story and we know who wins!
Take Good Care
The Central Committee endorsement will be an albatros around Carona’s neck and Schroeder and Fleshboy will rue the day….Baugh can’t be happy with the brouhaha. Unless he was told it was “just routine”.
Wait until more “stuff” about Carona’s “Reserves” come out. It’s all about timing…..
Scott Baugh is very much used to bending if not doing even more to the law.
I still have a hard time figuring out why the all-powerful Carona team failed to get their supporters to the first endorsement meeting.
Were they simply overconfident?
After failing him the first time, Carona should have fired them all. Perhaps he won’t learn until it happens again on election day.
10:14,
Good point – and perhaps if Carona is forced into a runoff you might see some changes in his campaign staff. Or they might hold the course.
More importantly, Schroeder’s actions at the Central Committee meeting this week angered and upset a lot of people. There will be deep repercussions.
Unfortunately, you’ll have to explain to the average Republican what a Central Committee is and who Schroeder is first.
Congratulations Art on your appointment to the Central Committee. Does this mean you’re not going to Wylie Drake’s change your registration party this weekend?
What does this mean for Republicans for Correa? Will it be under new management or will Schroeder crack the whip?
Bladerunner,
Thanks. Well, if Moreno can beat Daucher, then I don’t have to worry about whom I will be backing in the general.
If Daucher wins, well the good news is that I just found out this week that I live in Ackerman’s district. So I don’t have to vote for her! Because of course I wouldn’t were I given the chance…
From what I have heard the Carona people at one point were NOT going to go for the endorsement and then at the last minute Shroeder would not back down and they found themselves at the meeting trying to wing it. With Adam Probalsky (the reincarnation of Randy Smith) not there to round up votes it was a lost cause.
Since I missed the meeting, I would like to know the agenda order of two items: the election of the new central committee members; and the revote to endorse a candidate for sheriff.
Thank you.