This just came out, anonymously, on Reddit, and is now all over Twitter. We’ve covered Leandra Blades, the “colorful” Placentia / Yorba Linda USD trustee, a couple of times, and we know she’s the kind of extremist-slash-prankster we do NOT want on Orange County school boards – she was included in our “Insane Coup Posse” when she took a “girls’ trip” to the January 6, 2021 Insurrection, and we covered the time she went to the Orange Street Fair with her teenage son to harass the OUSD Recall signature-gatherers, and watched approvingly as her son signed a fake name on their petition (and then went back and tried HARD to scribble out his signature when someone told him that was illegal, read it all HERE.)
And now she’s running for re-election against a worthy Marine reservist named Misty Janssen, and THIS just came out, anonymously, on Reddit, ostensibly from an old friend of Leandra’s who no longer supports her. (Sounding like all the former Trump staff who urge us to just say no.) Can we verify it? Not yet, but many details do ring true. The author is requesting anonymity because of their “fear of what Ms. Blades might do if re-elected,” and has asked for “help sharing this message based on everything they’ve seen over the past four years.”
So the Orange Juice Blog is doing our little part with that, and we hope to hear from readers who can verify it (or disprove it) further. If the author could reach out to us we guarantee their confidentiality, and here goes, emphases added:
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I am a Yorba Linda resident who was once a very strong supporter of Leandra Blades (the current PYLUSD Board President). Now I want to make sure my fellow Yorba Linda citizens know who she really is before casting their vote in this year’s election.
I was instrumental in helping her get her current seat on the board when she first ran to be a PYLUSD school board trustee in 2020. I was at her house the night when she won the election.
I was very close to Leandra and her other supporters back then and know details about her personal life such as that she was previously married to someone named Brian Joy. None of her sons belong to her current husband David Blades. One of her sons has a different father from her other two sons and was conceived in the back of a cop car, and it was a major disappointment for her when her son who plays baseball was never recruited by any of the D1 schools. When I say I know her well, I know her very well.
[ED Note: That sounds like the hapless baseball-cap-wearing teenager whom Leandra watched, smiling, as he committed felony fraud at the Street Fair last year signing the name Billy Hamilton – a popular center-fielder – on the recall petition.]
I have been inside her home and have seen medals with swastikas hanging on her walls next to her bathroom that were awarded to her husband’s grandfather who served in Germany during WWII. Her husband’s grandfather got them for helping out with the war effort as a medic. I want to add that I have never personally seen Leandra or her husband act blatantly racist in other ways, but I have definitely seen some Nazi medals hanging on the walls of her home.
Leandra had very high political aspirations and dreamed of making it all the way to Sacramento someday. Her plan was to first make it on to the Yorba Linda City Council. She eventually wanted to replace Phillip Chen in the state assembly before taking Young Kim’s position in the United States Congress. However, when she announced her plans to run for City Council, she was told by the GOP to stay where she is and not to run. She is considered by many in the GOP as an embarrassment and there are numerous Republicans who just want her to go away.
I know all the details of how Leandra ran her last campaign. When it comes to crafting one of her spin posts, she would start by sending a message to a team of supporters via Signal or Telegram where Leandra would tell them the details of the post she wanted them to make for her on social media. I know that nothing was allowed to get posted on her Yorba Linda Uncensored Facebook group that she did not want. Despite the name, it is the most highly censored community Facebook group in Yorba Linda.
I know about all of the unscrupulous strategies Leandra used in the last election in order to win. Leandra would drive around town late at night in order to destroy either her own signs or to hide her opponents’ signs. Leandra would mark up her own signs with spray paint so that she could make a post the following day blaming her opponent for ruining her sign. She has a sign in this election that is in the same location as a sign she ruined in the last election that was also marked up in this one as well. I know the reason she marked up the sign in that location in the previous election is because it is somewhat hidden from the view of people’s homes.
I won’t go into the details of what caused me to become so opposed to her since I cannot do so without giving away my identity, which I am reluctant to do since I know how vindictive and spiteful she is as a person. However, I will say that I am not the only person who once fully supported Leandra Blades who completely opposes her now.
Nearly everyone who worked in her last campaign (except for perhaps Karen Farley) has since either distanced themselves from her as much as possible or have come to completely oppose her as much as I do. She has lost most of her mom group that she used to hang out with back then. There are many people who were extremely close to her in 2020 who cannot stand her now.
Many of her endorsements in this election are coming from GOP members who only endorsed her because they know it is easier to endorse than have her retaliate. People in the Republican Party know Leandra Blades throws massive temper tantrums when she does not get her way.
She is known by Republicans as someone who will ruin the reputation of any GOP member who gets in her way and does not give in to her demands. She will go so far as to make up complete lies about other Republicans just to destroy their reputation. People have seen her do this many times. That is one of the reasons why so many of her previous supporters no longer support her now.
When it comes to the 2024 school board elections, I do not recommend anyone vote for Leandra Blades. As a person, she is not somebody you want to support. From what I have seen, as much as Leandra tries to smear her opposing candidates, the opposition’s campaign is gaining support and has fiercely loyal teams. That is not the case for Leandra Blades.
Even though my views tend to politically align with Leandra’s in many ways, I would never vote for Leandra Blades ever again. She should not be in any position that impacts the lives and well-being of so many children and their families.
On Tuesday, the following was added to Reddit by someone who knew Leandra in Paramount [The Comments are worth reading too]:
I need to share that Leandra Blades has a history of extreme bullying behavior in local elections. I’m normally not a spiteful person, but Leandra disparaged my family & friends so much, in past elections, I feel like this is warranted.
I’m actually the one who exposed Leandra during the last election about her shooting and killing an unarmed homeless man. She comes from a small town called Paramount and we know her better than anyone. I find it interesting that Leandra kept stating she “retired from Downey police department”. She was a liability to the force. Who retires in their 30s? [Ed. Andrew Sarega?]
Back then, Leandra went by Leandra Weisenburger. She comes from a political family, so her family is well known in our city. Leandra started a political page on Facebook that was disguised as a community page. This was a 1st for our community. It was called “Make Paramount Positive Again”, but it became clear very shortly it was a political page with a very negative tone.
On the page, Leandra backed the Teachers’ Union because they endorsed her father’s run for school board. She also bullied a teacher in our district so badly, the teacher ended up retiring early due to the abuse. The teacher’s name was Lisa Lappin, and she recently passed away from cancer.
Leandra hid anonymously as the administrator of her Make Paramount Positive Again page, but soon she was exposed as the one behind it. While running the page, Leandra would respond from both her personal profile and through the Make Paramount Positive Again profile. There were times when she would have conversations back and forth by herself as both Leandra Blades and Make Paramount Positive Again. [Ed. Sounds like Cunningham/Jubal on Red County!] I noticed Leandra has since deleted the whole page, but I have screenshots [below.]
So Leandra’s Grandfather, Daryl Hoffmeyer, was on city council for many, many years (we have no term limits). Lisa Lappin exposed something major happening in Paramount. Our air was poisoned by the metal companies in our city with Chromium 6…the same toxin as in the movie Erin Brockovich.
Lisa Lappin believed the air gave her cancer. There was an offending factory close to one of our schools where the principal, VP and numerous children (around 8?) were diagnosed with cancer.
Turns out that the city council were aware of it, but chose to ignore it. It got to the media and was a huge scandal for our small community. You can Google it and also Google Leandra’s grandfather, Daryl Hoffmeyer. Once people found out, Leandra’s grandfather was barraged with anger. He never ran for city council again.
During this time, Leandra used her community page to bully our community calling it all fake news about the toxic air… even though the Air Quality Management District had monitor readings, data, and proof. We even got representation from the Erin Brockovich Attorney and won a class action lawsuit against the offending companies. We each got thousands of dollars in settlements. It made me so mad that people were dying (like Lisa Lappin and my family members), and Leandra made posts calling it fake news.
Leandra was trying to put her family members in a better light, but her bullying tactics backfired, she was exposed, and her father ended up losing his bid for the school board in a very embarrassing way. Her father’s friends ended up pushing her out of our city (figuratively). We’ve not had anymore drama since Leandra left and our elections have been civil.
Leandra is considered to be an embarrassment to her family. It is very sad to see Leandra tarnishing what is left of her family’s reputation. Leandra continues to cause chaos in the Yorba Linda community from what I’m reading. At least the Yorba Linda community is starting to open their eyes to it.
Screenshots
[the redacted name in these screenshots is the late teacher Lisa Lappin.]
The Times on Lappin’s brave fight against Carlton Forge Works, 2014
This is nothing more than a political hit piece on Leandra filled with straight up lies and propaganda from Misty‘s Campaign. It couldn’t be any more obvious. You guys are looking more and more desperate as the Election draws near. What more are you going to do? You’ve already slashed tires, keyed cars, stolen or destroyed Leandra’s signs and banners, put up slanderous handmade signs all over Yorba Linda, and now you’ve made up this completely fabricated story that is about as low as you can go. Disgusting.
Karen, Karen, Karen.
Projection is big these days, in politics! It’s when you accuse your opponent of doing what you’re doing yourself, probably because you figure, why wouldn’t they?
LOL. Karen.
The person who posted this reached out to me. They sent me evidence of who they are and their relationship to Leandra. They even explained why they were doing this. They want me to post a video about her, but they wish to remain anonymous. I am hoping to get more concrete information from them to substantiate some of their claims. This is not just some random person taking shots at Blades. I would be more than happy to share what I have if you like.
Thanks for the info (which I just received.) So this story IS legit, as I suspected. Can’t wait to see your video!
Hey, I’m ALL FOR Toxic Leandra (at least as a nickname for her. I guess I shoulda put that in quotes.
Let’s recap:
An anonymous troll is pushing accusations against Blades from an anonymous source. The anonymous troll assures is this is legit because the anonymous source (so courageous) says it is.
Vern re-publishes it while admitting he has no idea whether or not it is true. Not a good defense against “reckless disregard for the truth.”
Now Vern claims the story is legit because the anonymous troll says that the anonymous source says it is true.
How pathetic from all of you.
Au contraire, shitheel. I know exactly who the source is, and how they would know all this, and what sort of consequences they would face if I blew their cover.
Before I knew for sure who wrote this, I admitted I couldn’t be sure it was reliable. Now I do know. I think I should rewrite my intro now.
Call all of the dictionaries, we have a new perfect definition of irony!
Again, Vern, you have admitted for a third time that you published this post from an anonymous source without knowing whether or not it was true. And we’re supposed to take your word for it that it checks out? Like you’re infallible or something?
And while you’re engaging in unsubstantiated rumor-mongering, you’ve censored my comments. You published one and then unpublished it. You refuse to publish a third comment calling out Greg’s ignorance of the 1988 poll guards incident.
Isn’t it ironic, as Alanis would say.
You really wanna know who that author is, don’t you? Well, too bad. We grant anonymity to people who have good reasons. I mean, look at you… Leandra?
My point, which you keep dodging, is you are publishing accusations when you have no idea whether or not they are true. Because you WANT them to be true.
And you’re a censor (you don’t like talking about that either). You’re tolerant of weird comments by crazy trolls but you’re afraid of intelligent criticism. That says a lot about you.
I know who the accuser is and I have pictures of them with Leandra.
And there’s the sleazy, cowardly “I’m going to imply Blades is a Nazi while saying that’s not what I’m saying” smear tactic, that you amplify.
Blades’ husband has medals his grandfather earned while serving in the Werhmacht in WW2. Since these are from the Nazi era, they have swastikas on them. Your anonymous source made sure to include that. KNOWING all the Haters would use that to point Blades as a secret Nazi, while pretending that isn’t what he/she was doing.
Of course you go along with it.
We’ll see if you publish this, since you censored my previous comment where I brought this up.
Still I think MOST of us, if we had a grandfather’s Nazi medals, would keep them in a drawer somewhere, not display them on the wall downstairs for all guests to see.
I know, how cheeky and un-PC of Leandra!
Why are you putting up with this coward? Delete delete delete this bullshit.
We did? Gee, I don’t remember doing any of that!
Leandra is a flaming turd, though.
That’s pretty lame stuff.
Anyhow, you had me at Jan 6.
The best reasons to vote against Leandra and for Marine reservist Misty Janssen are not in this article, but on Misty’s “About Me” page:
https://www.misty4pylusd.com/
Prioritize Kids and Teachers
In the last 17 months, our district has lost 5 out of 6 high school Principals, multiple Assistant Principals, dozens of teachers, and all of our Assistant Superintendents. This amount of turnover is unprecedented. I want to ensure that the school board supports our educators and staff so our children have the best teachers in Orange County.
I want to make PYLUSD a destination district again – for students and teachers alike.
Fiscal Responsibility
Every dollar the district spends should directly impact the quality of our students’ education. Very recently, without a needs assessment,cost-benefit analysis, feasibility study, or input from stakeholders, the PYLUSD Board majority, led by Leandra Blades, approved a $3.2 million dollar contract after receiving only one bid.They didn’t wait for anyone else to submit a proposal and they didn’t try and negotiate any of the terms of the contract. That is unprecedented and irresponsible. I will ensure that this project is properly reviewed by an accounting firm and that wasteful spending on unnecessary vanity projects become a thing of the past.
Education over Politics
Divisive partisan politics have no place on a school board. I will serve all parents and students fairly and enthusiastically regardless of political affiliation. I will gladly collaborate with anyone who wants to see our children succeed in the classroom and life.I don’t have a hidden agenda. I’m running as an independent candidate and have no direct association with any party or outside organization. I’m not interested in using this role as a stepping stone into higher office. My only focus is restoring the academic integrity that has always been the hallmark of our district.
Promote Transparency and Accountability
As a School Board Member, I will prioritize transparency in all decision-making processes. I will listen to the concerns of all parents, teachers, and community members and work collaboratively to address them. I will ensure that stakeholders and parents are regularly informed about district news through official communications – not personal Facebook pages. Parents also have the right to see – and contribute to – the plans for major projects before the district begins them. I will also hold regular town hall meetings so that stakeholders and parents can ask questions directly and give feedback on the direction of PYLUSD.
I had already read the anonymous post and the ensuing discussion over there on Reddit. Glad to see it again here. I will not be voting for LB. Thanks, OJB!
Publishing hearsay as fact is libel Hope you are insured but you aren’t You have a lawyer on your staff and he didn’t flag this? You guys are screwed
Yeah sure. The three-paragraph intro is very clear that this is something someone wrote that rings true but we can’t yet verify. Now go away Karen.
Just guessing, but are you also a hair restoration expert?
Ahaha. Good one. Do you also appraise old paintings?
Uh oh, we’re screwed. Might as well add some more!
Hey I had no idea that Leandra was a cop in Paramount who got fired for shooting and killing an unarmed homeless man! And then went on to shill for a local chemical plant that was giving Paramount residents cancer. (Read update.)
Will you post this????
Police cleared in fatal shooting
DOWNEY – Downey police officers acted in self-defense when they fatally shot a man last October at a homeless encampment near Firestone Boulevard and Old River School Road, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.According to a letter from district attorney Steve Cooley and addressed to police chief Rick Esteves, Manuel Tovar Vargas was armed with a 28-inch long stick and a box cutter when he was shot by Cpl. Leandra Weisenburger and Officer Mathew Bassi. The incident started at about 6:41 p.m. on Oct. 12, when Downey firefighters responded to a palm tree fire near railroad tracks along Firestone Boulevard. Capt. Dave Holcombe asked Vargas if he wanted to remove his belongings before they doused the flames with water, the letter states. Weisenburger and Bassi then arrived on scene. The DA report says Vargas was holding a stick when police officers contacted him. “Weisenburger attempted to ascertain from Vargas how the fire started,” the report states. “There was some difficulty communicating with Vargas due to his thick accent. Vargas wanted to know whether there was a problem and who called the officers to the location. “When the officers asked Vargas for his name, he became agitated and raised the stick. Vargas produced what they believed to be a knife from his pants pocket and advanced toward the officers. “Weisenburger repeatedly ordered Vargas to ‘Put it down!’ Bassi yelled out ‘Manos!’ and ‘No! No! No! No! No!’ Vargas refused to comply and continued advancing toward the officers. “Fearing for their lives, Weisenburger and Bassi fired their service weapons striking Vargas.” The DA report also quotes a local resident who reported hearing a female voice yell “Put that down! Put that down!” A short time later, he heard three gunshots. The same witness also reported hearing Holcombe, the fire captain, yell “Drop the knife” five or six times before the shooting. A 28-inch long stick, an opened box cutter and a closed folding knife were recovered at the scene. “The evidence examined shows that Manuel Vargas was armed with an opened box cutter and a stick,” the report states. “Vargas ignored multiple commands to drop the weapons and advanced on the officers. The officers in fear for their lives responded with deadly force. “We find that Corporal Leandra Weisenburger and Officer Mathew Bassi acted in lawful self-defense and in defense of others,” Cooley concluded in his letter. “We are closing our file and will take no further action in this matter.”
********** Published: May 24, 2012 – Volume 11 – Issue 06
I got home from working/driving four hours and saw your goddamn comments. I’m not always sitting at home free to mind the blog. I’ll read em later. (Deleted your stupid one saying I’m “too chickenshit to post the truth.”)
Off to a candidate forum, hope my guy does well!
Weissenburger. Someone from Weissenburg. Literally, White Town. Hmm.
Vern, a bigger story you might pursue is the fact that Misty is endorsed by former board members and a former superintendent who between 2009 to 2011 borrowed via municipal bonds $48.5 million which will require the taxpayers of the district to pay total debt payments of $439.2 million. Yes that is right, we are going to pay over 9 times the amount borrowed to pay off the debt. I sought out Misty to ask her why she would see the endorsement of these former board members who have placed our district in such dire financial conditions. Our conversation ended when she realized that I had all of the correct information regarding these bonds, and she could not bull$hit me with bogus facts. She then said that she was in the middle of completing a Masters thesis and then promised me that she would get answers and be prepared to talk with me about our district’s massive debt in three weeks. Vern, it has now been 8 weeks and still no follow up from Misty. Maybe you can get answers for the taxpayers. #1 – Why did those former board members borrow at a rate of 7.8% when the average municipal bond rate at the time was 5.25%?? #2 – Why did they agree to pay the bond underwriting firm a commission of 1.12% when the average bond underwriting commission was .67%?? #3 – Why did they agree to issue bonds that were non-negotiable and cannot be paid early, as when municiple bond rates dropped below 3% in 2017 we could have re-financed the debt from 7.8% ??? #4 – Are they proud of the fact that the Los Angeles Times named the 2011 bond issuance the 8th worst municipal bond issued in California in the decade?? #5 – Did those former board members and past superintendent realize that starting in in 2036 we as a district will be paying over $35 million per year in bond debt payments. Vern, Misty Janssen has dodged getting me the answers. Maybe you a hard hitting journalist can get the taxpayers of our district answers to those questions.