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OC Republican Assemblymen Allan Mansoor, Jim Silva, and Chris Norby - on the fence!
Santa Ana Republican activist Mike Tardif wants you to know he’s DROWNING under a DELUGE of Tom Daly mailers. And we progressive Democrats have been bitching about it here for weeks. Glossy, well-produced, full of half-truths and lies, these mailers – like the equally deceptive and well-done Tom Daly TV spots the whole county has been subjected to – are credited to Jobs PAC, a “bipartisan coalition of California employers.” Only close readers of blogs like this, or people with the time and wherewithal to do their own research, know that Jobs PAC is mostly oil companies like CHEVRON, tobacco companies like PHILIP MORRIS, insurance companies like FARMERS, and real estate interests, all of whom hope to get special favors if and when Daly is elected and his progressive foe Julio Perez is defeated.
Just as irritating to SOME, although much smaller in bulk, are the numerous mailers sent on Julio’s behalf by coalitions of UNIONS, under the equally anodyne rubric “Orange County Dignity PAC.” I mean, who doesn’t like JOBS, who doesn’t like DIGNITY? But a lot of people would take an ad with much more salt, if they knew it was from Chevron or public employee unions.
Meanwhile down in Costa Mesa/HB/Newport, rightwing assemblyman Allan Mansoor is getting SWAMPED by hundreds of thousands of dollars of ads attacking him and lauding his moderate Republican opponent Leslie Daigle. These ads come from something called “Spirit of Democracy California,” which is actually nothing but the very controversial moderate Republican reformer Charles Munger Jr, a billionaire associate of Warren Buffet. But only the wonkiest among us know that fact.
Just think how much more of an open, honest discourse it would be – for ALL of us – if the Daly ads were festooned with the logos of Chevron, Philip Morris, and Farmers Insurance; if the Perez ads featured the logos of the public employee and other unions; and if the attacks on Mansoor featured the grinning bowtied mug of “RINO” reformer Charles T Munger? Y’know?
That’s exactly what the California DISCLOSE Act (AB 1648, Brownley) is attempting to enshrine in law. It’s something everyone who cares about transparency and honesty in our politics should be for, no matter how left, right, Republican, Democrat, or independent you are. And it’s on the Assembly floor today, having passed through all necessary committees. *Update – it’s up for a vote FRIDAY June 1.
But at this point it is behind ONE VOTE. Not a SINGLE REPUBLICAN has agreed to vote in favor of it. (Why not? We’ll look at that below.) San Diego Republican Nathan Fletcher is a co-sponsor…but then he left the Party and became an independent – D’oh! However, we do have three Republican Assemblymen in our own fair county who have at least been considering doing the right thing, breaking with their Party, and supporting transparency in our politics: Costa Mesa’s Allan Mansoor, Huntington Beach’s Jim Silva, and Fullerton’s Chris Norby.
Allan Mansoor, as of this eleventh-hour writing, seems the most open. His constant buzzword since being elected to the assembly has been “reform,” although many of us mean several different things when we use a word like “reform.” Still, Allan is finding out what it’s like to be the nonstop target of attacks from a mysterious, endlessly funded source, calling itself “Spirit of Democracy California.” How would YOU like it if you woke up every morning being savaged by the “Spirit of Democracy” – especially when you know it’s really a billionaire Republican who basically wants Republicans to compromise more with Democrats? (I mean – I also want them to, but I can see how aggravating that would be to a hardcore rightwinger like Allan, and how it might drive him to back this reform.) Call Allan NOW. (916) 319-2068.
Jim Silva was (along with the dearly drip-parted Duvall) the only OC legislator with the common sense and independence to vote – from the beginning – against the sale of the OC Fairgrounds, which is how we became friends, and how I ended up posting a very positive interview with him here. He also loves to talk about “transparency” – transparency which would have prevented the Fairgrounds Swindle from the beginning, transparency without which Arnold would never have attempted to “slease” our public buildings (another thing Silva and I both fought against), transparency which is the hallmark of the California DISCLOSE Act.
When we spoke to him, he said he was still making up his mind about this bill. And (more than once) he told us the (obviously very traumatic to him) story of how one time he was attacked with a cartoon showing him to be a puppet of the unions – and months later, it turned out this attack secretly came from “the unions” themselves! Rather than responding “Huh?” we pointed out, “This is exactly what the California DISCLOSE Act would have prevented!” A devious attack like that, if that’s actually how it went down, wouldn’t even have happened if the perpetrators were required to identify themselves.
If you’re a constituent of Silva’s – i.e. in Huntington Beach, Westminster, Seal Beach, Cypress, that whole area – he needs you to call him NOW at 916-319-2067 to put some steel in his spine. He is termed out and not running for office this year – how could the GOP punish him? He does plan to run again, for Correa’s old Senate seat, in two years, but really, who would still hold this vote against him then? Many of us would remember it positively. I have a feeling things are going to be very different – especially in terms of Republican LOCK-STEP DISCIPLINE – by 2014.
Then there’s Chris Norby, (916) 319-2072, who has always seemed to be one of the more honest and independent Republicans in our Assembly. When Jerry Brown and Sacramento Democrats joined him last year in his opposition to Redevelopment Agencies, he was the only Republican Assemblyman to not play partisan games by suddenly reversing himself to defend the RDA’s. (Eventually others joined him.) My colleagues met recently with his top Fullerton aide Bruce Whitaker (also a Fullerton councilman; and, like Norby, a close associate of Tony Bushala’s – watchword transparency, accountability, you know – THAT Bushala?) Bruce seemed receptive and gave us the impression he would try to convince Norby to vote in favor, but then on further contact Bruce said he had “concerns” with the bill’s “fairness.”
Well, that’s exactly what we’d like to discuss, whatever legitimate concerns there are. We want this to be a BIPARTISAN bill and we’re open to any reasonable amendments from Republicans that won’t destroy the bill’s effectiveness. It IS too late to put in amendments THIS WEEK, but if it passes the Assembly it will move on to the Senate where it COULD be amended, and then will need to come back to the Assembly in its final form. Thus, any Assembly Republicans who vote for it now can make it clear that they will vote against it later if it’s not amended the way they want. This is standard practice.
Pretexts, quibbles … and the Chamber of Commerce.
Why are Assembly Republicans so lock-step against this sensible reform bill, and why are Silva, Norby and Mansoor so cautious about bucking their Party on this? They claim, without much justification at all, that the bill is tougher on corporations than on unions. For one thing, there’s talk about LOGOS. The bill would require a company’s or union’s LOGO to be placed on an ad they pay for. Republicans pull out a very small violin and lament over how much work, meaning and value go into a company’s logo, how extremely sacred and personal the little suckers are. Well. If it comes down to giving up the logo for a few Republican votes, maybe that could happen.
Grasping for straws, they stammer, well, not everybody knows WHICH unions are (the currently demonized) Public Employee Unions. The ones that are should have to make that CLEAR, they caterwaul.
Weak stuff. There are no good arguments against this bill, except the one that someone of whom you are a wholly owned subsidiary really doesn’t like it. And the California Republican Party is a wholly owned subsidiary of the California Chamber of Commerce (along with the rotting corpse of Howard Jarvis Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.)
And, although the bill would constrain unions equally as much as the Chamber’s corporations, it’s the LATTER who fight transparency tooth and nail. That’s because their financial power over our politics is 17 TIMES that of the unions, and they want to keep it that way.
Let’s hope that one, two, or three of our OC Republicans do the right thing today Friday. What would Hiram Johnson have done? What would Teddy Roosevelt have done? Let us hearken back to a time when not all Republicans were spineless corporate whores.
Now let me go check if the vote has happened yet…
[UPDATED Wednesday night. Vote will be Friday. Make those calls Thursday!!! Thank you.]
Two more Daly mailers today – actually, one is a slate mailer from an organization which is trying very hard to make you believe that they are the CA GOP (but they are not) – headlined by Elizabeth Emken for US Senate. Daly is listed for support on this mailer, but nowhere does it indicate that he is a Democrat.
The second Daly is a 4 full page glossy with “Republican” headlined on every page. Again – nowhere does it indicate that Daly is a Dem.
At the Tardif residence we are bracing for the next Daly tsunami of mailers.
Thank you. How did you like your star billing in my story?
52 Facebook likes for this one, Vern? Nice use of a wish, but go easy on the genie!
It’s been passed around a lot, not that you could tell from the paucity of comments. This happens sometimes.
I call that a success.
That’s fine – I prefer the appellation of “conservative Republican” or “Conservative Republican.“ Should I go with the lower case or the capitalized “c.” Not sure about “activist” either – I am just a shadow of your activism Vern. However, I did had out bumper stickers for Richard Nixon in 1960.
I would like to thank Mr. Daly for the pot holder – it came in handy this evening for my hot plate of baked beans – Bush’s of course.
Just noticed – you handed out bumper stickers in 1960? Damn, how old are you? I was still a fetus for a good portion of that year.
(You shoulda seen me back then, man, I was so cute – I had this my little hands up like this, a big giant head, I looked like .. well, you know, I looked like a fetus!)
Thats because you’re a boring liberal sh@@! Your like the House Wife’s of Orange County!
So you’re saying that over 60 people have Facebook-liked this story, and over 150 people have read it, because I am a boring liberal shit?
Delightful as always. Come back again in another six months.
The truth is that ALL of the republicans of Orange County are false! From TOD to who EVER! RINO”S!
One thing that I respect from the stupid demorats is that they are loyal to their stupid core. And republicans, especially in Orange County, pander to who ever will fund them fast!
And bye the way, like NBC, CNN, this blog has got BORING, because of the left leaning! The left is just boring!
The grammatical stylings of MQ, how I haven’t missed them.
I thing id shuld bee tha falouny to bitche abaut thoe spelling…… Onanster!
Ife yuo are suche goode speller wryte someting whot pepole can relate too!
“Meanwhile down in Costa Mesa/HB, rightwing assemblyman Allan Mansoor is getting SWAMPED by hundreds of thousands of dollars of ads attacking him and lauding his moderate Republican opponent Leslie Daigle. These ads come from something called “Spirit of Democracy California,” which is actually nothing but the very controversial moderate Republican reformer Charles Munger Jr, a billionaire associate of Warren Buffet. But only the wonkiest among us know that fact.”
*Chairman Vern, you are so swilled in partisan you can’t see or won’t see the forest for the palms. Leslie Daigle has been only responding to a blanket of hit pieces coming out of the Mansoor camp. They started it and Daigle has had to find ways to respond in kind.
Meanwhile, Michelle Quinn is right on track and we welcome her back. Anonster can go pount sand…as he normally does…. with literally no effect we can see.
Anonster is really offensive…..in almost everything he says. It must be from storming the bastille one too many times in the middle of the night. His Repressed Hostility continues to grow and grow like his nose.
You obviously think I favor Mansoor over Daigle. REALLY?? Nobody who’s been on this blog for more than a month would think that. And you two have been here … HOW long?
It shouldn’t be too hard, if you catually read this story, to see where I’m coming from – I am showing that it’s important to people on left right and center to know who is behind the political ads they’re reading, and I’m specifically trying to get Allan Mansoor’s vote on this important piece of legislation.
If I lived down there I’d vote for Bob Rush, the only intelligent candidate … but Leslie would be an improvement over Mansoor. Meanwhile, what is Quinn right about? That we are a very boring liberal blog? I wish you wouldn’t encourage her, she never makes a lick of sense. And as for Anonster, she can take care of herself.
Besides that, the Mansoor ads attacking Daigle were not relevant to this story, as you could tell where they came from – the Lincoln Club, and the OC GOP mainly. Scott Baugh, Allan’s puppetmaster. (Oh wait … I’m still trying to be nice.)
*Chariman Vern,
Appreciate the deference and explanation. Kind of you. The reality is that we do like to vett “the rest of the story” when we see it. The battle going on in the 74th is actually an interesting test of strategies and tactics. We know you understand that out of the three candidates running….two will survive to run in the final in November. The power brokers backed by Scott and the boys have unleashed a barrage of hit pieces against Daigle. They have used some very unattractive photographs and a whole bunch of rhetorical attacks without much foundation. Daigle withdrew recently from a League of Women’s Voter Debate in South County that drew 50 people because both Alan and Bob had been ganging up with impunity and no matter what she did….it would have been a loser. She actually did the right thing ….in our opinion.
Don’t forget …the game is to get into the final. Also, Mansoor looks rather weak, resorting to attack pieces during the primary. He will have some tall explaining to do in the General, “if” Daigle survives the primary chase. We believe she will.
Anyway, we believe this type of strategy is probably going on in a variety of Districts around the State.. All in all, it will be very interesting to see how it all pencils out.
As far as Michelle is concerned: Being contrarian seems to be a major requirement here on the “OC”…and in that regard we have found nothing that obnoxious about Michelle’s comment history. Much different we may add from “Anonster” who has this striking resemblance to someone who used to reside on this blog. There is a cruel and nasty streak that seems to permeate the writing. Man or woman….why does Male Pattern Baldness come to mind…..and a brutal disregard for others? Even Stanley in all his upheavels…….keeps a certain decorum. Not so with Anonster and we can’t help but point that out.
In any regard, your writing Chairman Vern has become entertaining, enlightening and less partisan than in the past. We find that to be a very positive outcome, that we hope will continue gratuituously.
“we have found nothing that obnoxious about Michelle’s comment history”
Some of MQ’s comments from just this post;
“Thats because you’re a boring liberal sh@@! ”
“One thing that I respect from the stupid demorats is that they are loyal to their stupid core.”
” … this blog has got BORING, because of the left leaning! The left is just boring.”
And I’m “cruel and nasty”? Oh, but then again MQ didn’t call out the Winships on one of their many absurd statements.
Here’s a free tip; Just calling me mean and obnoxious won’t make your idiotic statements any less idiotic. Try admitting you were wrong.
Am I cruel and nasty ……… Hmmmmmm
Yes!
And moron mongoloid too.
You are not cruel and nasty. Not cruel, anyway, and not nastier than the situation warrants!
Drp hmp croat!
What time is the vote?
Has everyone reading this made their calls?
I guess it’s time for another update. I was told Wednesday afternoon that the vote would be Friday … but Wednesday NIGHT I got this:
Hello Clean Money and DISCLOSE Act leaders and phone teams —
You all know what we’re up against in the legislature — some of the biggest-spending and most powerful special interests in California, led by the California Chamber of Commerce. Their largest funders REALLY want to keep hiding their spending on political ads from voters. In the 2010 election cycle, the three largest funders of their PAC were Philip Morris, PG&E, and Charles Schwab. Chevron was in their top 10.
The long and short of it is that opposition from them and others made it impossible for Assemblymember Brownley to amend the bill to be a majority vote to put it on the ballot by the normal Assembly deadline of this Friday.
So Assemblymember Brownley has bought the bill additional time by amending it to be an “urgency” bill. Urgency bills are bills that have special rules because they require a 2/3 vote to pass — which of course AB 1648 already has. Due to those rules, they can stay alive past the normal June 1st deadline for passing the Assembly.
Given the usual 12 day requirement before final votes on bills amending the Political Reform Act by with 2/3 votes, that means the earliest AB 1648 would be able to come up for a vote again will be June 12th. One potential benefit of that is that it puts it past the June 5th primary election, when it’s possible the election results will change the voting dynamic on a couple of Republicans.
We’re looking at all of the options and the next steps of the strategy given this change in the bill. So everybody go ahead and take a little time off from the phone banking until we can tell you what the next steps are.
In the meantime, pat yourselves all on the back for the incredible work you’ve been doing. I’m seeing that between Callfire and Pepvan callers there were at least 68 completely new constituents of Appropriations Chair Felipe Fuentes that either said they’d call or were directly transferred to his office. That’s a lot of calls from a notoriously non-political district!
On top of that, Speaker Perez’ office received over SIX HUNDRED calls from all around the state — 450 of them from petition signers who got our emails asking them to call (the other 150 from a great blast from Russ Feingold’s Progressives United organization today). That’s nearly one call every two minutes. And that’s on top of hundreds of calls that you phone-bankers generated.from constituents to our Republican targets in the couple of weeks before that.
So they’re definitely all on notice at the Capitol that the people are watching them.
Whether that will be enough to pass this game-changing bill in the face of such fierce opposition from Big Money special interests still remains to be seen.
I’ll give you all a further update as soon as we know more.
*We would advise not having Anonster baby sit your grandkids…any time soon!
What a sweetheart!
Winships…..Remember this thread ?
“Demagogoue; Now we have you figured….you are either po white trash or a high yella that thinks your stuff don’t stink. *Have another at Pat O’Briens on us. We are not suggesting put any money on the horse…by the way…because this not going to be Thriple Crown winner… especially eating Louisiana Blue Grass. It is Kentucky Blue Grass you nerd cake….Kentucky! Meanwhile, don’t be trying to swim that Indian River with 50 pounds of chain either..”
Or this one?
“*Dr. D., you are clueless as well. We lived in Mississippi in 1965 and 1966…when working for North American Aviation in Picayune at the Static Test Facility. We had the guys that were killed as us to go on the March to Selma and Jackson. They were paying $100 dollars a day and “the colored girls” you could handle. We had to turn them down since we were trying to send a man to the moon at the time.”
What a class act you two are. I’m sure that the parents of your grandkids just cringe when they have to leave you in charge.
You might not have noticed, but, those jelly beans your kids give you have little numbers and letters on them. You gotta be less offensive when you’re well medicated.
I’m glad that everyone here is so capable of taking care of themselves — it makes me feel less guilty about how hard this made me laugh. Carry on!
*Oh Demagogue, you and your wonderful pals. It just goes to show….that it doesn’t matter what political party you belong to…….stupid is as stupid does!
Close your eyes and touch your nose…. bet you can’t do it especially in a crowded room.
Remember, you are….who you hang with. Get it?
Oh Winships, you and your esteemed cohorts…. the Quinn and the Exile.
I’m sure that you would be proud to show up at the yacht club with them in your entourage.
What fine company that you align yourselves with. Maybe you should court the brilliant mind of the Great Juan to round out your hateful little think tank.
Another Daly mailer today – this one is amazing! An eight page fold up glossy with the word REPUBLICAN in bold large headline. Again, no mention that Daly is a dem. Is Daly ashamed to be a Democrat?
“Is Daly ashamed to be a Democrat?”
Asked and answered, counselor! Hey, can you get us a pic of that? Is this piece solely on Daly? My God, it’s going to be great spending the next fice months asking him to denounce it!
And in this one, his funders continue to LIE and say that Republican Joe Moreno isn’t running. And this Daly cat says he’s gonna “clean up Sacramento” with his old mop? (Thanks for sending me and Greg the PDF, Mike.) As Greg cracked, he probably meant he aims to “clean up IN Sacramento.”
One of us should write about this. Still lying to Republicans about Joe, ashamed to admit he’s a Dem. You or me on this, counselor?
*Demagogoue: Let’s see …and you hang with Diamond and Anonster? Dude…..
get a bigger tent before you cast your pearls of wisdom on the rest of us.
This stuff is gonna be fascinating to all the people across the state, who are reading this story to find out about the California DISCLOSE Act. Any comments about the legislation?
Dr. Vern. Just when we have been praising you so much you come up with egg drop soup….or rather chicken chow mein. Too many points going in too many directions for most folks to get a grip on.
Here is our suggestion: Split your post. One for beating up on Republicans of all stripes and One for the Legislation being considered..
Our problem with Assembly Legislation has always been trying to figure out what actually passes….gets to be law without State Senate Approval. That process does not seem as clear cut as one may like. The Feds seem to know how to do it better somehow. The State….eh….OK who runs Cal-Trans? Who can legislate the use of their funds? The Assembly and the Senate? Obviously the Governor can Veto any thing he wants….but what does it take to have an “Urgency Bill” and who cares anyway?
We really need to help the folks out regarding the State of California Legislative Processes. You would think, with all these great minds on this blog…..someone could put an entry together that cuts through the nonsense and puts it into Laymen terms, something halfway intelligent – for the great gray mass of voters out there in the hinterland.
If you read the story again, every paragraph, every sentence, had to do with this legislation. When I beat up on Republicans it was at the end, for their always opposing anything that makes the Chamber of Commerce uncomfortable. And I’m obviously hoping they prove me wrong.
You guys jumped in to defend the honor of Leslie Daigle, whom I never attacked.
Dr. Vern,
As Dirty Harry said: “Who is going to stand up for the victims?” The Chamber has a track record as long as your arm. They are always on the wrong side of just about everytning….but….they have deep pockets and a long reach. Hard to fight City Hall…they say. Do you honestly think “any” elected from any party is going to stand up to the Chamber of Commerce on some innane policy issue? As they say: There is no percentage in that game! Two folks you don’t want to upset: The NRA and the Chamber of Commerce – right or wrong!
Do I think any elected from any party is gonna stand up to the Chamber of Commerce on any issue?
YES! The Chamber opposes transparency and the DISCLOSE Act. Every Democrat voted for it anyway. So did Republican Nathan Fletcher, who was shortly thereafter hounded out of the Party. One reason I’m a Democrat.
“The NRA and the Chamber of Commerce – right or wrong!”………. Hmmmmm
It is public sector unions stupid!
*Dr. Stan……what? Are you blind? Public Sector Unions are always Number 1…..but you knew that! We were just mentioning “the Unmentionables” that are the typical 500 pound Gorillas. King Kong? Everyone knows that! But what about the Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Medical, Big Banking and of course the Big Institutional back-ups to Calpers and Calstrs? Hardly anyone mentions those folks.
“But what about the Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Medical, Big Banking and of course the Big Institutional back-ups to Calpers and Calstrs?”………. Hmmmmm
What about them?
You can’t mix Private sector with the Public one!
Private sector is self regulated by way of gains and loses. Last Friday is a good example.
Therefore, what ever evil the private sector commits we all gain from it if we are invested.
In contrast, what ever evil the public sector commits we all lose from it if we have income to be taxed.
So I am only concerned about the public sector and consider the private one as all fair game.
*Dr. Stan,
Some very good points we must admit. However, it seems that you are saying the same thing we have been saying for years: When you put Public-Private Partnerships together….get ready for the public ot bend over! The 73 Freeway, the 91 Freeways..and a variety of other so-called…..”join public funds together with private industry running the organizations”. Sounds way too much like the New Jersey Turnpike for our liking! The New Jersey Tollway has been paid off for 40 years and they just raised the rates for trucks.