Steve “Chavez” Lodge is a Very Bad Man (Part Three): He Lied About His Residence — and Much More!

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We were all looking at Lodge’s LEFT hand, but is the RIGHT hand yanking on his victim’s testicles? (This question posed by Greg, not Cynthia.  And the story’s mostly about other stuff.)

integrity

 noun in·teg·ri·ty \in-ˈte-grə-tē\                  

1
:  firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values :  incorruptibility

When one’s outer actions match one’s stated values, they are said to have integrity. One would pray we find integrity in our elected leaders. Let’s provide an integrity test to someone who would LIKE to be an elected leader, here in Anaheim’s Happiest Pork Trough on Earth.

Steven Albert “Chavez” Lodge — Wandering Vagabond?

On August 18, 2014, SA”C” Lodge told a court he was a resident and elector of Anaheim as a plaintiff in suits challenging the ballot statements of Council hopefuls James Vanderbilt and Doug Pettibone.

Petition Filed: August 18, 2014

Hearing Date: August 27, 2014

Hearing Time: 10:00 a.m.

Department: C14

Judge: Franz Miller

On August 25, 2014, Lodge closed escrow on a home in Murietta.

On August 27, 2014 Lodge had a court appearance in which his no longer being a resident of Anaheim was not raised. The other issue that never came up was where he really DID live.  Lodge was NO LONGER at the Anaheim Hills address where he was registered to vote — but he had not officially changed his address. And obviously he had not yet moved into his Murietta house.

SO WHERE DID HE LIVE?

In November 2014, Lodge voted in the Anaheim General Election, casting a ballot from his Anaheim Hills home base, according to the OC Registrar of Voters public records.

Problem:  

The Anaheim Hills house was sold July 2014, following the end of his marriage. If Lodge remained in Anaheim/Anaheim Hills, he did so at an address that was NOT his Anaheim Hills home. Registrar of Voter records show he did not change his address to reflect another home, despite having plenty of time to do so before the November 2014 election.

Lodge OWNS a HOUSE in Murietta; He contradicts himself as to where his HOME is 

Lodge told the GOP Central Committee in August 2016 that he bought the Murietta house as an investment, he claimed there was a tenant in the house, and that the house was now offered for sale, a claim backed up by OC Political in their Live Blogging recap of the endorsements.

“Cynthia Ward accuses Chavez Lodge of carpetbagging from Murietta and being a lobbyist who profited from Anaheim transportation projects.

Chavez Lodge says he is not a lobbyist, as he is in public affairs. He says he has been in Anaheim for the last 12 years and the Murietta house (a rental property) is for sale.”

Problem:

Public records show Lodge purchased the house with a VA loan.  (Docs will be provided.) His right to do so is secured by his service in the military, which nobody disputes.

HOWEVER…the VA is not in the habit of loaning on ‘investment” properties, and indeed they look askance at the Veteran NOT being the owner-occupant.

Public records show Lodge took the “Homeowner’s Exemption” on his property tax. (same property docs)  Obviously the Murietta house is NOT his primary residence if he was still voting in Anaheim Hills, and/or later from West Anaheim.

One’s Income Tax filings tend to MATCH property tax filings or the inconsistency triggers an alert to the filing agency.  I am not saying I have personal knowledge of his income tax filings, I am merely sharing the usual and customary process when one files income taxes by the now popular computer programs.

AT THE VERY LEAST Lodge appears to have potential challenges with the Veteran’s Administration and the Riverside County Tax Collector, and just maybe the Orange County Registrar of Voters. Only Lodge knows if he also has potential issues with the California Franchise Tax Board or the IRS.

But I am sure Lodge has a very valid reason for these inconsistencies. He always does. None of them are EVER his fault.

WHAT WAS TODD SPITZER THINKING?

In 2013, Lodge was appointed to the Orange County Waste Management Commission by County Supe Todd Spitzer. Now I am NOT going to take the cheap shot with the expected “trash” joke, it is simply too easy. What I WILL point out is the fact that Lodge has no professional experience in this particular field, and one has to wonder why he would select the most unglamorous commission to be appointed to. Seriously, I thought my beloved Cemetery District service hit top marks for Not-Sexy, but the County’s trash service has to one-up burials, by a bunch.

Unless …

None of this would have ANYTHING to do with Pringle’s client (Anaergia Services, LLC) needing the Waste Management District to hand-hold the Anaheim Energy sludge-factory bio-solids plant on Lakeview would it?  Nah, how could I possibly be THAT cynical?

Remember, Lodge had ALREADY filed a statement of intent with the City Clerk in February 2013 for the 2016 election!

So Spitzer’s November 2013 appointment of Lodge to a Commission for which he has no professional expertise is hard to overlook as a mere coincidence.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

9:30 A.M

BOARD APPOINTMENTS

http://cams.ocgov.com/Web_Publisher/Agenda11_05_2013_files/images/O00113-001385E.PDF

http://bos.ocgov.com/legacy3ts/newsletters/vol1issue43.htm#4

In 2014, Spitzer and Lodge ?renew their vows”

Jan 14, 2014 for term ending 1/15/15

Lodge used the same resume, no updates, and at the time the Anaheim Hills house was still reportedly in use by Lodge, and presumably the woman (not his wife) named in a Police report that documented Lodge’s scratched face after a domestic dispute.

http://cams.ocgov.com/Web_Publisher_Sam/Agenda01_14_2014_files/images/O00113-001387E.PDF

January 12, 2016 Spitzer re-appointed Steve Lodge of “Anaheim Hills” to the Waste Mgmt board, once again.

https://docs.google.com/gview?url=https%3A%2F%2Focgov.granicus.com%2FDocumentViewer.php%3Ffile%3Docgov_98c68f3a1aff3e67c0c107dda5f04946.pdf%26view%3D1&embedded=true

http://cams.ocgov.com/Web_Publisher_Sam/Agenda01_12_2016_files/images/O00115-001492E.PDF

Steve’s all-new resume for January 2016 no longer mentions WHERE he lives!

However, those who were present at the OC GOP Central Committee endorsements meeting a few months ago might recall Lodge claiming he had BEEN living in West Anaheim long before filing for the 1^st District Council seat — and that he got the apartment on Magnolia only because the “person he was with” did not want any part of “THIS” while making a gesture sweeping the room. By “this”, one may assume his partner did not want to be subjected to the process to which Lodge subjected HIMSELF by applying for the GOP endorsement.

The GOP lacks subpoena power and did not demand Lodge submit himself for examination. But my point is either he lied to Central Committee AND the WAND Candidate Forum to claim he had been in West Anaheim longer than he has been, or he lied to Todd Spitzer/County staff to claim he was still a resident of Anaheim Hills and the 3^rd BoS District. The far more likely scenario is he lied about BOTH and was living in Murietta until Jordan Brandman was done jerking the chains of his own constituents on the maps and sequencing for Districts.  Then, once The Peoples Map was settled and Lodge knew where he COULD live, he hightailed it down the 91 freeway, shooting PAST Anaheim Hills into West Anaheim to find a rental application he could cover on his Police pension, in addition to covering the Murietta mortgage.

CATEGORY: Consent Calendar

 RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Yes, the Waste Management District only requires appointees to be residents of OC and not the District of the appointing Supe. But Spitzer has been reported infuriatingly interfering with the appointment of representatives of OTHER Supes’ selecting residents of HIS District without his “buy in” so I get to use this opportunity to take a swipe at Spitzer’s hypocrisy.

While I am at it, I want to take a swipe at Spitzer’s lack of judgment in placing Lodge, someone with a widely reported lack of moral compass, into a position of advising a government agency concerning a critical service to the public. Could he truly not find someone of better character to represent the citizens of his own District?

Prior to Spitzer’s appointment of Lodge, the media and courts had ALREADY widely published Lodge’s sordid history in 2012, including the OC Weekly’s Scariest People listing!

The media provided plenty of background check on Lodge, with multiple sources revealing his past run-ins with victims-I mean, the public-and all conveniently excused away by Lodge in one form or another. Of course his excuses would be readily acceptable by the best-selling author of, “Adventures in Fanny Packs and Sporks.”

WOULD LODGE KNOW THE TRUTH IF IT BIT HIM?

During the August 2016 GOP Endorsement process, Lodge refuted Central Committee members’ concerns of his serving on the Police Union Pac for Santa Ana. If one is not to accept public employee union funds, being in charge of doling them out would certainly be a no-no. Yet Lodge told the GOP the Association was NOT a “Union.”

Yet the Resume Lodge submitted to Spitzer’s office self-reports his union ties;

Key responsibilities and selected accomplishments include:

• “Acted as liaison between city leaders and union officials”
• “Negotiated Police Union Contracts with City Government representatives from 1985 to 2008.”

At the same Central Committee meeting;

“Cynthia Ward accuses Chavez Lodge of carpetbagging from Murietta and being a lobbyist who profited from Anaheim transportation projects.”

“Chavez Lodge says he is not a lobbyist, as he is in public affairs.”

One of the items of “evidence” Lodge produced in his fight to use “Chavez-Lodge” on his 2012 Ballot Statement was a contract with Hill International, outlining his work and compensation package, which gives him a PERCENTAGE of any work obtained by Hill through the actions of Lodge.  There is NO QUESTION that Lodge received his percentage of the Hill International contract (amounting to roughly $9 MILLION) to study the “next phase” of the Resort Streetcar, ARC, approved by Anaheim City Council in early November 2012.

During the ridiculously over-hyped challenge to Lodge’s ballot statement in 2012, Lodge’s own legal statements provided FALSE INFORMATION to “support” his bogus use of a name not used in his entire adult life — at least not that he could prove. Ultimately his claim of having testified in court under Chavez-Lodge was merely hearsay, he provided not ONE slip of paper to prove such a claim. The judge then determined that BECAUSE it was UNCERTAIN which name he had used, the Judge was ordering the use of “Steven Albert Chavez Lodge” on the ballot, an outcome that turned his moniker into the punch-line for a joke. But because Lodge clearly had other income from Hill International, he could NOT use “Retired Police” in his title.

In his own court docs, signed August 24, 2012, Lodge said his campaign opened January 2012 in the name of Chavez Lodge and all materials and online accounts were marked as such. He did not use Chavez on his campaign filings until the first week in August 2012, coincidentally changing to his suddenly recalled Latino-ness the same week of the Cook Auditorium special meeting to try scraping folks off the ceiling after the July City Hall protests and Gail Eastman’s famous “thank-God-for-the-riots” post.

His online profiles were changed TO “Chavez-Lodge” later — but earlier versions were “LODGE.”

Lodge told the courts his primary source of income was his pension from the Police department:

“I do not possess a more recent, intervening principal profession, vocation, or occupation.”

“I am not an employee of any company, corporation, or business and receive no benefits from any other organization.”

Lodge was splitting hairs. His gig as “VP of Public Affairs for Hill International” was an independent contract; thus he was not an “employee” despite being PAID under CONTRACT. While he claimed to not receive benefits from any other organization, which one could take to mean no tangible benefits like PAY, I am sure he meant they don’t provide a benefits package such as insurance — and he is perfectly happy to let people make those assumptions. But the idea of his telling the “truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth” is out the window.

He even produced “print it yourself” wedding invites to look like his wedding invitation showed Chavez Lodge was getting married.  But someone present at the event tells me that “STEVE LODGE” got married that day, without a “Chavez” at the altar.

Reviewing Lodge’s record in 2012-2016, we can see that Lodge lacks INTEGRITY. His word is as useless as his attempts to control his temper. If he cannot keep his stories straight or his hair-trigger anger in line while he KNOWS he is being watched by voters, how does anyone expect him to be a reliable leader once granted the seemingly unlimited powers of elected office?

Frankly, the man scares the Hell out of me. For those reading this blog for any length of time you know very little scares me. This guy takes the prize. By a bunch.