Andrea McElroy, OCGOP chief Will O’Neill.
We discount at our peril Will’s determination to keep Newport an OCGOP fiefdom.

So! Ten more days in the Newport Mesa USD special election – an election that’s costing the district half a million and didn’t need to happen, but here we are. Tuesday June 10 we’ll find out whom voters in & around Balboa & Corona Del Mar prefer on their school board – the solid Kirstin Walsh or the controversial Andrea McElroy.

Sometimes when you write a timely story like the one I did May 10, “Twelve – Count ’em, TWELVE Lawsuits against Newport ‘Businesswoman’ Andrea McElroy,” it can be a little like tossing a big rock into a pond – first you see the ripples spreading out, and then you might also see some interesting, disturbing creatures rising up to the top! Rising to the top, blinking their bleary bloodshot eyes, and spoiling for a fight! Well, such was the case in May.

1. The LA Times picks up my story

Four days later, professional journalist Eric Licas (left) who covers Newport for the LA Times / Daily Pilot, having had time to research each of Andrea’s 12 lawsuits and get statements from her side, put out his version of the story. And as fine and thorough and fair as Eric’s story was, even more enlightening was the “story behind the story” provided by his editor Carol Cormaci.

From Carol we learn that as soon as Eric contacted Andrea for her side of things, she ran off to WILL O’NEILL for guidance and protection – Will the chairman of the OC GOP, Will who apparently recruited Andrea for this race, and Will who lest we forget used to be Mayor of Newport Beach.

Cormaci (right) felt that, by pursuing the story of Andrea’s legal troubles, they had “poked the bear,” and O’Neill tried to “warn Licas off” of the story. Was Will growling like a bear, claws upraised? Carol does not say. Andrea then had her attorneys send the Pilot a stern letter. Good thing that, as Cormaci says,

“Licas is a serious reporter. He was not deterred, but instead determined to fairly and accurately report the legal woes McElroy/Young has seen over the past several years, including a large claim against her that had not been settled as of the day the story was published.”

Still I think, dear reader, that it’s worth mulling that over: Will O’Neill, head of OC Republicans, DID NOT WANT LICAS TO WRITE THIS STORY, AND DOES NOT WANT YOU TO READ IT. That’s your OC GOP of today – no arguments based on fact, just attempts at censorship.

We’ll get back to Will O’Neill momentarily, but first:

2. Andrea Dismisses all her Lawsuits!

Yeah, right. The way Andrea dismisses 12 lawsuits against her in 16 years, you just know she wishes she was a judge. (Don’t rule anything out in THIS county though!)

Don’t you love it when a politician calls a story they don’t like a “smear?” A “smear job?” They can’t refute it so it’s a smear, or a “hit job.” As though that meant anything, but at least it sounds dirty and mean. Maybe insulting the messenger will change things, so she calls us a “far-left blog.” Actually we’re more of an anti-corruption, anti-incompetence, anti-culture-war blog. Ask around, the Democrats hate us almost as much as the Republicans.

Andrea tells Licas that a mile-long snail-trail of litigation is just part of doing business in California: “business owners here are often targets of frivolous litigation… false and malicious accusations like those being leveled against me.”

Well, I don’t want to dwell on Andrea’s lawsuits too much because we ALSO wrote about her dismal record as a business owner AND her cavalier failures filling out her campaign forms, but still: No, it is NOT normal to have THAT many lawsuits against you in the recent past. And some of them had nothing to do with her businesses, some of them were just for not paying rent.

Let’s hear from Judge Lynne Riddle (right), a retired school teacher and federal judge, as well as a district 5 voter who plans to vote for Kirstin Walsh:

“The two most recent [lawsuits] seem most concerning because they contain allegations – yes, just accusations — much more severe than commonplace failures to pay one’s business and residential rent debts. More severe because in those two, in addition to claims for breach of contract and breach of Ms. Young’s/McElroy’s personal guaranty of her company’s debts, were claims for conversion, tortious interference with contract, fraudulent conveyance and conspiracy. These allegations arose, both plaintiffs asserted, from Ms. McElroy’s conduct during their contracted business dealings.

• “In this context, conversion alleges that one party in a relationship of trust – a fiduciary relationship – took, without consent and benefited personally from, assets or benefits belonging to all partners.
• Similarly, tortious (meaning wrongful) interference with contract generally connotes one party, without consent, taking a partnership to benefit only herself, not her fiduciary partners.
• Fraudulent conveyance is a tort – a wrongful act – arising where one party transfers assets to another person or entity for the purpose of defrauding creditors.
• Conspiracy – well, the word gives you the gist – is a secret plan with another to do – perpetrate, we lawyers like to say — a wrong or harm upon another…”

Judge Riddle wrote a lot more HERE about these lawsuits, all of it troubling, which you could read if you have the time, but I would like to move on…

3. O’Neill wants another Schoolboard Playpen!

Used to be, like only a decade ago, school board trustee was what it’s supposed to be, a non-partisan, non-political position. Used to be, you couldn’t even tell what Party a trustee was, they did what was best for the kids and the schools, they tried to save their districts money, they followed the law, they didn’t care about making headlines and getting on TV.

But in this county at least, the GOP doesn’t believe in that anymore, and neither does their new chief Will O’Neill. I hear that Will is furious about Philip Stemler‘s loss last year, in a different area of Newport, same school board. So now Will is doubling down on getting THIS seat, for Andrea McElroy – it’s just that he forgot to do his due diligence, his “vetting” of a very flawed candidate. Oops!

Putting aside the worry Newport conservatives oughtta have over Andrea’s legal and financial chops, the signs are all there that O’Neill wants to turn NMUSD into another Culture War Battleground – like Orange USD & Placentia-Yorba Linda USD were till recently, and like Capo USD is now. Andrea’s statements have mostly been cautious so far – because Newport is not Gilead – but here she is at right hanging with kindred spirits Sonja Shaw (terror of Chino) and CUSD culture warrior / president Lisa Davis.

Is this what Newport parents and voters want, to be the next School Board making news for all the wrong reasons, and wasting wads of money on suing and being sued? I’m guessing maybe not – we’ll see June 10. But it would be exciting for Will O’Neill.

4. Developers & Unions:

Why are they bankrolling Andrea?

So, I haven’t made it down to Newport this month, but I’ve been hearing from a lotta people down there, and they say the district is plastered with her signs. Some even that were posted too high, illegally, and the city had to take them down – checks out! But who’s paying for all these signs and mailers?

Good news – Andrea, maybe hearing of an FPPC complaint about her failure to report any spending on campaign materials SINCE MARCH, has finally filed an amended 460. It includes unpaid bills of nearly $5000 presumably for merchandise purchased from Code Four, the airshow operator that owns the Huntington Beach council. Still doesn’t seem like enough money to buy all the signs she has posted everywhere – she must have gotten a very sweet deal. .

Andrea has nearly every major developer in Newport Beach bankrolling her – why do developers care who’s on school board? She also has Newport’s Police and Fire Unions (cough “associations”) – why do THEY care who’s on school board? The answer is, they want to keep Will O’Neill and his all-Republican city council happy. (And they have deep, yet hungry, pockets.) I’m told Will O’Neill has taken full control of the police & fire PACs, who don’t even interview candidates any more, they just do what he tells them. That way lies cushy contracts!

That’s what it’s like in a one-party town. Follow the Pied Piper to a Culture War Mecca with Andrea McElroy voting on the school board’s finances.

OR NOT! Maybe it’s time for Newport voters to shake things up and show some independence? That would be a hoot to see, June 10. As Carol Cormaci wrote, “NMUSD Voters Will Get the Board They Deserve.”

Shop at Flair Play!

See, we are not meanies, we don’t hate Andrea. We don’t think she should be on any school board, but we want her business to succeed! So if you’re a lady who plays tennis, pickleball, or golf, we encourage you to check out Andrea’s line of Foxy Activewear – you could do much worse.

And we remain the only outlet who gets Andrea’s business name right – FLAIR PLAY! Not “Fair Play” like the lamestream media (Times, Register) has it. I mean, we are Office Space fans, we know FLAIR when we see it!

VOTE! by June 10.