As a former unit president of the California Republican Assembly, CRA, this is not a political story I relish sharing. On or after Sept 27th five “shell” CRA units were created to increase the chances of Corona City Councilman Jeff Miller, candidate for the 71st A.D., to get the CRA endorsement at the November 9-11th Sacramento CRA Convention. These units are Circle City RA, Citrus RA, Corona Hills RA Norco RA and West Corona RA. On Sept 28th three additional “shell”units from the Corona area were added. They are Rimpau RA, South Carona RA and Temescal Valley RA.
According to the most recent CRA Newsletter, dated Aug/Sept 2007, none of these eight new units existed. The other Republican candidates in this race, to replace outgoing Assembly Member Todd Spitzer, are RSM council member Neil Blaise, Mission Viejo mayor pro-tem John Paul Ledesma and Irvine City councilman Steven Choi.
CRA policy is that each credentialed unit can send five voting delegates, in good standing, to the convention with voting powers. Instead of one unit in Corona it appears that eight units were created to multiply the number of potential voters from this area. The other CRA units participating in this vote are each included in the overall area covered by the 71st AD representative. They include my old unit (the Saddleback Republican Assembly), Anaheim, Ladera Ranch, Orange/Villa Park, RSM and Tustin. A total of six units with a maximum of 30 delegates.
It is worth noting that of these new units some of the presidents do not even live in Corona. i.e. South Carona president Jeff Gibson is from Cota de Caza, Temescal Valley president Susan Gibson-Heins lives in Huntington Beach, Circle City president Paul Harrison is from Costa Mesa, Rimpau president Brandon Powers is from Diamond Bar and West Corona president David Posey is from Arcadia.
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BULLETIN! THIS SHELL GAME GOES FAR BEYOND THE 71ST AD. DELEGATES OF THESE NEW UNITS WILL ALSO BE PERMITTED TO VOTE IN THE PRESIDENTIAL CONVENTION WHERE THEY MAY BE MITT ROMNEY SUPPORTERS. THEY SHOULD NOT BE PERMITTED TO CAST VOTES FOR ANY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE.
AS STATED ON THE 71ST THE SAME APPLIES AT THE TOP OF THE TICKET. AS OF NOW I DO NOT HAVE A HORSE IN THE RACE. LARRY GILBERT HAS NOT SELECTED HIS CHOICE FOR PRESIDENT.
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Do the math. If Orange County has six units eligible for voting and Corona adds eight of it’s own it illegally tilts the playing field. If the city of Corona with 144,000 residents can create eight units than Mission Viejo, with 100,000 residents, can itself re-draw the boundaries to create five units with up to 25 delegates.
Ask yourself the following questions.
1) How many meetings have these new clubs held?
2) What experience does the new Board, and unit presidents, have as they vote in the next two weeks.
3) Were these new units and their Boards created by simply calling people from a listing of registered Republicans in Corona?
4) Who are the new Board members, when were their dues paid and by whom?
Folks it’s called politics. Do whatever you need to do to win the endorsement.
What is sad is that this story could destroy future endorsements of the California Republican Assembly. I will certainly send copies of this post to CRA leaders for their immediate corrective action. None of these new clubs should be permitted to cast votes in the 71st AD race this session.
Note: I have reported in the Orange Juice blog previously that while this is my AD I have yet to commit to any of the candidates listed above.
Sounds like the bylaws need to be changed. If this is legal to do under the rules, then shame on the other candidates and their handlers for not knowing how to play ball.