I’m sure that Carlos Bustamante and his “mano derecha” Tim Whitacre thought they had the O.C. Libertarian Party endorsement in the bag. However, questions were raised by those in attendance after they left – and the Libertarians quickly realized they were being played. Bustamante did not get their endorsement.
Of more interest are some of the words of wisdom that came out of Whitacre’s mouth during today’s meeting. He said that Bustamante is only two points behind Democrat candidate Tom Umberg. Bustamante then said that if he wins, the rest of the Santa Ana City Council is set to appoint Republican Rob Richardson to replace him. Really? I wonder about that. Pulido is already on the outs with the Democratic Party of O.C. for supporting Bustamante over Umberg. Appointing another Republican to replace him on the council will no doubt inflame the DPOC leaders even more.
Bustamante and Whitacre also took turns ripping Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. This is not the first time that Whitacre has ripped Schwarzenegger, but I was surprised to hear that Bustamante was doing so as well. I thought he had sent out mailers recently depicting him with Schwarzenegger. It figures that Whitacre would push Bustamante to the right – but exactly how does that help him in an overwhelmingly Democrat area like Santa Ana? An area that voted for Schwarzenegger in the recall election.
Inexplicably, none of the other supervisorial candidates were at the meeting today. Guess they had better things to do than stop Bustamante from getting an endorsement that could have put him over the top, if Whitacre’s boast about being just behind Umberg is in fact true. Given what we know about the votes cast thus far, I find it hard to believe. It makes more sense that Janet Nguyen would be the leader and Bustamante would be trailing far behind her and Umberg.
UPDATE: According to comments made on Red County/OC Blog, OC Libertarian Party chairman Bruce Cohen has announced his endorsement of Carlos Bustamante. My question, which still remains unanswered mind you, is how is Carlos even remotely Libertarian? Based on his less-than-stellar voting record on the Santa Ana City Council, how has he best represented Libertarian values to warrant — not only the Libertarian Party’s endorsement, which he failed to acquire, but also — the endorsement of any member of the Libertarian Party who sticks to their party’s respectable ideals? The $1,000,000 question is still left unanswered.
UPDATE 2: The first video is available online. We are trying to load the rest. The video quality is not great but you can clearly hear Bustamante impressing Bruce Cohen. Keep your eye on the breadstick on the table. Thomas had his video camera embedded in the salad.
UPDATE 3: The second video is now available online. The big clip is being edited now and should be available soon.
Well, this just proves what I’ve suspected all along of Bustamante…
That he’s nothing more than an opportunist who would say anything to anyone to get a little more power, a little more influence, a little more moolah.
Sad. : (
That he’s nothing more than an opportunist…
Andrew,
That’s some accusation coming from you, considering you’re supporting a candidate who doesn’t even live in the 1st Supervisor District.
I also heard that Bustamante took credit today for stopping the Santa Ana PIP program. I am sure his allies in north Santa Ana will be thrilled about that…
Another friend also said that Whitacre took Hunt to see the O.C. Libs – so apparently the meeting today was something out of his playbook. No touchdown today however.
Carlos, “He’s a gentleman, he’s respectful and he treats people nicely,” Brandi Lord of L.A. Models tells USA Today. “He’s not known to date around”, looks like a winer
This was a rough day for Bustamonte and company. Did you you see todays front page of the O.C. Register? HUGE story about the increase in Gang Killings in Santa Ana. Talk about an anti-sales pitch for the Santa Ana councilman!
The rest of the SA City Council is poised to appoint Rob Richardson? If Alvarez, Martinez and Tinajero are a part of this back door deal, then hopes of a transparent and progressive council have been dashed.
The blog posting by Art Pedroza is factually incorrect about the Libertarian Party meeting.
I would know.
I Chaired the meeting.
First of all, Mister Pedroza was not there, his friend, Mister Gordon, recent SA Mayoral Candidate was.
Carlos didn’t say a word negative about the Governor. I wish he had.
Tim said he had voted for the Libertarian Candidate, Art Olivier.
But there was none of the ‘ripping’ Pedroza/Gordon are mutually alleging.
Tim also never said what margin was separating Umberg and Carlos. He said it was clooose and held his thumb and forefinger together. He said they could use the several points the LP had.
Finally, the Pedroza blog report leaves the impression Carlos was poorly recieved. He was very well recieved, with several people endorsing him, all the Santa Ana residents I know, saying they would vote for him, and some people even offering to volunteer.
In fact, Carlos Bustamante recieved warm applause before, during and after his speech.
Bruce,
Thomas has video and audio tape of the meeting. Why don’t you talk to him before we escalate this? Otherwise the footage will be up on the net soon.
Mister Pedroza,
I encourage you to post any and all video and audio you have of the event in question.
Thomas (the train) Gordon already did call me.
I’m looking forward to seeing the tape. Thank you.
Bruce,
Tell me, why are you shilling for Bustamante? He does not appear to share any of your Libertarian ideals, to wit:
* He voted to raise taxes on businesses that sell tobacco, to the tune of $600 per year
* He is against the use of medical marijuana
* He loves abusing eminent domain and enriching car dealers – at public expense
* He regularly votes for dumb expenditures on the Santa Ana City Council
* He will probably support the latest Ream Assessment
* He has utterly failed to control our street gangs
Honestly Bruce, what do you see in this guy? Is Whitacre paying you?
Politics is not perfect.
Otherwise we would all only vote for ourselves. Carlos is the best candidate in my opinion. I have no problem with Janet, and do have a problem with Umberg.
My personal endorsement of Mister Bustamante is a signal to all my friends, supporters and fellow party members that Carlos is the best, and MOST Libertarian candidate.
We also supported Moorlach and Norby, with Pat Bates getting quite a bit of help from LPOCers and my own endorsement.
None of these people are ‘perfect’.
However, they are all trustworthy, honest people who’s allegiance to our country, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the concept of minimal government, among other very strong positives.
I put Carlos in the same camp, along with some other compelling reasons.
First of all, no other Candidate has contacted us, or returned our messages. (Except Kermit before he stepped aside for Carlos.)
Secondly, Carlos has made the time to personally discuss with me areas of concern, before, during and after our meeting.
He likewise even took calls from Thomas Gordon, someone who has been his strong detractor.
In fact, the ‘people’ at the LPOC meeting raising negatives about Carlos after he left, were almost all Thomas the Train. Not my membership. I didn’t rule him out of order, but I certainly could have.
Finally, the video that’s online is so short to be worthless. Let’s see the whole thing.
Bruce,
I am not a strong detractor of Carlos.
I like the fact that you respect him and like him, as do I.
We shouldn’t act like children like referring to me as ‘Thomas the Train.’ We need to be civil and respect as I have been with you.
The other video is coming. We’re wokring on posting it shortly, and we’ll provide a link to it via Art’s current post.
I value your opinion and look forward to continuing a civil debate with you.
Thank you Bruce for coming back on to answer our questions. As I see it, you are backing Bustamante because:
1. He is the best candidate in your opinion.
2. He is the best and most Libertarian candidate
3. He is not perfect but he’ll do
4. He is trustworthy and honest
5. He has sworn allegiance to the U.S., our Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the concept of minimal government
6. He returned your calls
7. He spoke to you many times
8. He spoke to Thomas
Did I get all that right?
What about the issues I brought up earlier? He is:
1. For higher taxes (the cigarette tax and the upcoming Ream assessment)
2. He is for eminent domain abuse
3. He is against medical use of marijuana
4. He is for higher minimum wages
5. He is for union-only project labor agreements
6. He is for making it easier to unionize workers in the workplace
7. He has utterly failed to reduce crime in Santa Ana, where gangs and graffiti are out of control
And here are a few new points for you to ponder:
a. He is against immigration reform – which is a concept usually embraced by Libertarians. In fact he is supported by Lupe Moreno, a Minuteman.
b. He backs Sheriff Carona’s policy re checking immigration status in the jails – again a violation of Libertarian philosophy
c. He lied about Rob Richardson replacing him. I know of at least two council members who are not supportive of that idea.
Tell me Bruce – just how does this guy fit in with your Libertarian philosophy?
Why is anyone here even bothering to respond to Mr Cohen? The guy got less than 5500 votes when he was used as the dummy candidate to steal Steve Young votes so that John Campbell could win in the 48th.He was unable to raise a single dollar.He is responsible for infighting within his own party and on the board causing good guys like Dennis Chang to flee OC for more peaceful pastures.Yet again he has dragged down the party because of his ego.
11:36,
You are quite right. Cohen appears to be little more than a Republican tool. His fellow Libertarians need to clean house.
My 3 year old takes better videos. Thomas needs to lay off the wine when he is working?
Bruce Cohen said:
My personal endorsement of Mister Bustamante is a signal to all my friends, supporters and fellow party members that Carlos is the best, and MOST Libertarian candidate.
However, they are all trustworthy, honest people who’s allegiance to our country, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the concept of minimal government, among other very strong positives.
Then please explain to us all Mister Cohen, why Mister Bustamante had child support paperwork filed against him by the County of Orange District Attorney back in 1992 and had his attorneys recently serve notice to all the other candidate camps claiming that if it got out he would sue.Sounds like Mister Bustamante and Mister Whitacre aspire to be like Sheriff Corona and lie, cheat and whore around and expect fools like you to issue press releases proclaiming your endorsment of Mister Bustamante.I wish I was at your meeting so that I could have made my opinion known to all. Bravo Art!