Jerbal will shill for a few shekels
Alas poor Matt “Jerbal” Cunningham. He has devolved into nothing more than a paid shill for his candidates.
Remember that huge scandal last week when Supervisor Chris Norby’s lame campaign staff sent an email plea for funds to a number of County workers, with regard to his campaign for Clerk-Recorder? Here is how Jerbal reported it over at the Red Klownty blog:
There was a tempest-in-a-teapot last week over the fact that some of the 3,000 or so e-mails sent out by Supervisor Chris Norby’s OC Clerk-Recorder campaign — touting his fundraising and asking for a donation — went to a few county employees.
Some in the fringe-o-sphere went so far as to claim those employees would be intimidated into donating, out of fear that failure to give would land them on any upcoming layoff list, which is absurd.
Absurd? I had calls from terrified County workers who were also quite angry to have been on Norby’s email list – without permission. Trust me, he crossed the line. That he will likely get away with it is testament to our lame Republican District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, who campaigned on a promise of NOT investigating crooked politicians.
Norby has ZERO experience in the Clerk-Recorder’s office, with the notable exception of having had to go there to get FOUR marriage licenses.
His opponent, Hugh Nguyen, worked there for 12 years – and is currently the Assistant to the County Clerk.
Why is Jerbal shilling for Norby? Because Norby’s consultant is John Lewis – and Jerbal always does as Lewis bids him too.
How revolting.
Perhaps the Clerk-Recorder’s building has a nicer lawn than the Old Courthouse when it’s time to sleep one off.
“There was a tempest-in-a-teapot” Jerb has used this phrase before and he’s like the ONLY writer I’ve seen to latch onto such a funky phrase repeatedly. Is this even pithy or even clever?
Oh, and instead of shoring up Norby’s email, maybe Jerb can finally send out a tweet about his candidate, John Campbell’s meeting tomorrow in Tustin. Unless of course, he’s embarassed to notify constituents of the luncheon featuring that rep.
What’s Campbell paying Jerb for if he can’t even sent out a twitter or tweet on his behalf. I thought Jerb was the slick cyber expert paid to help with that kind of stuff. No mention on any websites about tomorrow’s meeting, either. tisk tisk.
Red you are sooooo fringe-y.
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Red you are sooooo fringe-y.
David,
Um.. thanks? I guess?
Or is that some kind of code for “your slip is showing”? 😉
Why would the DA investigate anything in this instance? There isn’t even a remote chance a law was broken, let alone a criminal violation. The law related to sending fundraising to governmental workers has a significant exception to it for mailers sent to a wide audience, which likely would fit the facts here. It would be a total waste of taxpayer money to investigate this.
And as for being a shill for Clerk-Recorder. Pot, meet Kettle.
#6,
Most legal experts agree that what Norby did could be construed as being illegal.
All we need is for ONE brave County worker to go to the D.A.
This email was a form of intimidation and it should not be tolerated.
I am surprised that Lewis’ campaign staffers are so lame. What is Norby paying them for? He is getting amateur hour service from these clowns!
Red, coming from the Red County Compound it could be construed as a compliment.
Art,
You are flat out wrong about “most legal experts” agreeing on that point. I don’t know who you are taking about, but I assure you that your comment is based on speculation, not having actually talked to any “legal experts”. Here is the relevant code provision:
Govt. Code sec. 3205(b) A candidate for elective office of a local agency shall not, directly or indirectly, solicit a political contribution from an officer or employee of that agency, or from a person on an employment list of that agency, with knowledge that the person from whom the contribution is solicited is an officer or employee of that agency.
(c) This section shall not prohibit an officer or employee of a local agency, or a candidate for elective office in a local agency, from requesting political contributions from officers or employees of that agency if the solicitation is part of a solicitation made to a significant segment of the public which may include officers or employees of that local agency.
(d) Violation of this section is punishable as a misdemeanor. The district attorney shall have all authority to prosecute under this section.
First of all, all press reports indicate that Norby had no requisite “knowledge” – it was a stupid f-up. Dumb, yes, but “knowledgeable”, no. On that point alone, there is simply no liability. Second, even if there was the requisite knowledge, which no facts suggest, then subdivision (c) excepts this activity as the solicitation was sent to literally thousands of individuals. Again, stupid – absolutely, criminal – not even a remote chance.
Why don’t you call a spade a spade. You don’t support Norby – fair enough. Neither do I. But you have a total conflict of interest in supporting his opponent, taking his opponent’s advertising (or giving an in kind on this site for his advertising) and simply concocting allegations that are not even remotely true in the hope that some county worker will go to the DA. (For the record, the statute above doesn’t take into account whether county employees felt “intimidated”.)
I would pity someone who did that based on your prompting. The whistleblower would wind up having to publicly identify themselves since an accused has a constitutional right to be confronted by their accuser. Then I suspect after Norby WON the case, there would be a good shot at a slander/lible action, false statement action, improper use of prcess action (or any other number of claims) against the bozos who tried to drum up this idiocracy.
I love this site, but cut the crap. Your comments make you look dumb and like the very schill you claim Cunningham to be.
Section C has been interpreted by the FPPC to cover mailings such as newsletters, resident mailers, door hangers or other material that is not specifically sent to a particular group or targeted addressee. These requests for donations could not have been known by the campaign that the recipient was an employee of a restricted organization.
In this case one could make the argument that the campaign committee accessed county emails for the only purpose a committee is formed, to raise and spend money to benefit the candidate. This would seem a question that should at least be posed to the FPPC for a ruling by one of the other candidates in the race. This need not come from an employee. A complaint from an employee would be a County employment issue not an FPPC issue.
Have any of the other candidates asked for FPPC to make a ruling?
just…asking?
#9,
Did Jerbal talk to any County workers who received this email? I did. And they were pissed and very upset.
Have you talked to any County workers about this? Why don’t you do that and get back to me?
So what constitutes a mailer to a “significant segment of the public?” Let’s see the list of folks who received this email! We live in a very highly populated county. My guess is that this email did not in fact go to a significant segment of the public.
And of course Norby didn’t know about the email – he is MIA from his campaign. If he gets elected he won’t have a clue about the Clerk-Recorder’s office either!
As for Hugh Nguyen, what is your beef with him? He is experienced and bright and unlike Norby he has a ton of ideas as to what to do to improve the Clerk-Recorder’s services. Why not back someone like that, who is NOT a career political hack?
#10. I am aware of the advice letters you are identifying, however, the FPPC isn’t the body authorized to bring criminal enforcement under this statute. The FPPC only has auhtorization to enforce the Political Reform Act, found at Govt. Code 81000 and following. Your point, however, is well taken. Someone probably should have done their homework before hand. My simpler point was that this hardly rises to criminal conduct.
Art: Again, whether or not county workers were (or were not) “intimidated” is totally irrelevant to the issue of whether that code section was violated. Your point about what constitutes a “significant segment” is a good one, and #10 gave some examples, which though illustrative are not comprehensive of what may fit that category. But that would assume that a prosecutor could get over the “knowledge” requirement – also unlikely.
I have no beef with Nguyen. But I also have no conflict of interest in piming him (as do you) or Norby (as does Cunningham). I just think the chatter about this issue is flack that detracts from the real issues in the election. Granted, we’re all adults here and can filter opinion. But when it comes to something like this, more knowledge of the actual law is helpful. Not citations to unnammed “legal experts.”
#12,
Here is what the Register reported:
“It is a murky area,” said elections-law attorney Dana Reed. “It’s up to someone’s opinion whether 5 percent is significant or not. But it’s certainly a lot better for him than if 95 percent went to county employees.”
Elections-law attorney Steve Baric agreed the law was unclear.
__________
To be clear, I am NOT paid by Nguyen, unlike Jerbal who is a paid shill.
I am backing him because I think he is the right man for the job. Ask Jerbal why he is backing Norby? That would merit the same response as asking Norby why he is running – a blank stare.
You yourself have now admitted that the issue of whether the email was sent to a significant segment of the public is real. Holder says it went to several thousand people. Well then, to whom did the emails get sent?
And as for the knowledge issue, if Norby did know that the email list contained County workers then he is stupid. If he did not then his handlers are stupid. Either way Team Norby is stupid.
Red, you might be interested to know that Cunningham is over at his tumble weed factory having a one-man dialog on this topic. He even took a shot at me for not defending The Lewis F-up just because Chris Norby got stuck with the bill! Incredible!
I really believe the poor fellow is having a breakdown, or maybe a personality crisis of some kind. Maybe a new character is trying to emerge.
Would you and Art pul-ease stop being so mean and cut out the “Jerbal” jokes, at least for a while? Thanks in advance!
Wow david,
What are you saying? There’s a REAL tempest going on over at Jerbal’s teapot blog?
And please be fair…. Tony’s doing it too, and you’re not telling him to make nice! http://www.friendsforfullertonsfuture.org/2009/the-fart-boy-hard-at-work/
David,
Poor Jerbie! I’d hate for him to do anything silly, say with lethal sedatives…
That picture of him with the whiskers must have pushed him over the top!
It’s not nice. It’s sympathy. But telling Tony Bushala what to do is like trying to control the surf.
2 Good rules to follow in a campaign, everything gets apporved by the candidate and if it may break the law don’t do it.
Anything else is at least dumb and possibly criminal.
Chris Norby is such a loser.
I have been working for the County for over 5 years and I can’t believe this guys is not going to get in trouble for what he did. He knew what he was doing. I guess you can do whatever you want and get away with it when you are a supervisor!
Chris Norby shame on you!