Examining the Red Zone: Pay-to-play Repuglicanism in the OC and HB.

CORRUPTION:  It’s not just for Bell!

… No, ladies and gentlemen, corruption is alive and well right here in the OC, where you ain’t a Republican political operative if you’re not getting lucrative consulting gigs! There’s Scott Baugh, OC Republican party chair, with his 5,000 a month from OCTA. He’s not even a registered lobbyist in Sacramento, yet he gets 60 grand a year from our transportation agency while he rails against public employees’ pensions!

Then there’s Matthew J Cunningham, whom our own Tony Bushala has exposed at length as a hypocritical pig wallowing at the public trough.  In his blogging persona at the Red County, Matt preaches the conservative gospel of limited government and rails against waste and the nanny state, but by day he pulls in $200 grand a year from the big-government Children and Families Commission, doing his trademark “wordsmithing,” updating Facebook pages, and apparently handing out toothbrushes for $200 an hour to hungry OC kids who could really use a little of that taxpayer moolah for themselves.

Oh, and check out Curt Pringle, Mayor of Anaheim, who makes his living as a government relations consultant, as do guys like Orange County Water District Directors Steve Sheldon and Phil Anthony. OCTA chair “Toll Road Jerry” Amante, says he does that gummint consulting stuff too as part of his law practice, and his campaign statements for his failed Assembly campaign were loaded with contributions from contractors for the toll roads. And of course big Dana Rohrabacher has paid his wife, Rhonda, to work as his campaign manager, which was the only job she could take under the terms of her plea bargain agreement.

So it’s interesting to take a gander at campaign statements of two candidates running in Huntington Beach, both of whom have given money for consulting to an outfit called Red Zone Strategies.

(This information is on the candidates disclosure forms that Huntington Beach puts online http://nf4.netfile.com/pub2/QuickNameSearch.aspx )

Poor Billy O’Connell raised $10,000 but $4800 disappeared into the Red Zone and little Billy was left with – get this – only $700 cash on hand as of June 30^th.

Likewise, Barbara Delgleize, a supposed business whiz, planning commissioner, and former President of the Huntington Beach Chamber (really!), was left in a similarly impoverished condition. She raised $19,000 but gave the Red Zone $6400 and was left with a paltry $4600 in cash on hand.

So what is the mysterious Red Zone Strategies that hoovers up this campaign cash?

We don’t know, but they have the same address as Huntington Beach City Council Member Don Hansen.

And a search of the FBN records at the County of Orange shows that Red Zone Strategies is owned by one Sara Hansen of Huntington Beach.

Coincidentally, there is a Sara Crawford Hansen who lives at the same address as Donald Hansen, Jr, Huntington Beach City Council member, and Surf City’s golden boy of the Republican party, being groomed for higher office, or so some say.

Coincidentally, here they both are on “The Facebook.”

We’re not saying that any of this is illegal.  And we’re just POSITIVE this income will eventually show up on Council Member Hansen’s annual disclosure statement, several months after this fall’s election.    But it stinks just as bad as the shit in Bell.

It’s just a diry little secret of Orange County Republican politics.
You pays to be a playa.
You pays Red County.

You pays Red Zone.