The San Diego RA – like the Camp Pendleton Unit existed as a zombie unit used by political consultants to engineer endorsement outcomes. The San Diego RA was de-chartered unanimously by the CRA’s board of directors at the 7/23 board meeting.

The purpose of this expose’ is to reveal the fraud that many of us on the Contract with the CRA team knew existed. By exposing this fraud for all to see – it lays out a clear and compelling case for the reforms being enacted by the team that wants to see the CRA return to its’ role of pre-eminence in the California Republican Party.

When contacted by the Credentials Committee, this unit’s officers refused to provide records of membership or bylaws, in violation of Section 10.07.

The unit submitted Misty Tienken (a Legislative staff member) as a Delegate to the 2011 CRA Convention.  When asked, she was not able to answer simple questions about when her unit met, how she was elected as a Delegate, or who was the leader of the unit.  There is no evidence that this unit met and elected Delegates in accordance with Section 10.04.

Three members on the unit roster with expired dues were Convention Delegates on the “Romney List” from the 2007 Presidential Endorsing Convention: Paul and Peri Ann Allen from Sacramento and Robert Statham from Orangevale.  The delegate registration fees were paid by the Romney for President campaign.

This unit’s Delegate List for the 2011 Annual Convention was faxed from John Bovee’s Sacramento office, suggesting that they did not meet and elect their Delegates in accordance with Section 10.04.

Strangely, the annual membership dues for all 15 members listed expire on the same day: 4/30/2012.  This suggests that dues were paid after the CRA Convention in April, but there is no evidence of such payments.  There is no evidence that this unit collected the mandated annual dues from its members ($25 per person, plus $10 for each additional person from the same household) and remitted those dues to CRA.

The CRA Membership Records indicate that the unit fell below the minimum threshold of eleven members at some point in 2008 or 2009, which is a violation of Section 6.03.

The unit lists Rorick (or Rory) Luepton as a member, but Mr. Luepton is also listed as the Vice President of the Stanton Republican Assembly, with a different address on the Stanton roster.  This appears to be a violation of Section 4.06 concerning duplicate membership.

Furthermore, there is no record that this unit participated in any of the CRA Conventions between 2007 and 2011, in violation of Section 6.02.

The Camp Pendleton RA is part two of the San Diego Fraudres.

Next to the Yolo RA – the Camp Pendleton unit was the most egregious unit dealt with at the 7/23 Board meeting. It was de-chartered by a 36-2 vote of the CRA’s board.

You have to ask yourself as you are reading this series of posts the obvious questions about those who have launched hysterical attacks against those of us cleaning up CRA. What commentary on their character does the below laundry list of issues elicit?

The Camp Pendleton Republican Assembly had not sent delegates to any CRA Convention since 2007, in violation of Section 6.02.  In 2007, they sent Markham Tuttle and Glen Richardson from El Dorado Hills and John Cooley from Granite Bay as delegates.  El Dorado Hills is 509 miles away from Fallbrook and Granite Bay is 508 miles away from Fallbrook.  Those three purported delegates were on the “Romney List” of 75 paid in delegates to the 2007 CRA Convention.

The foundation of the Camp Pendleton Republican Assembly appears to have been fraudulent.  Records show that four chartering members lived at the same address: 3223 Brushwood Lane in Fallbrook.  Their dues all expired on 9/17/2006.  In addition, the unit lists two members (Blake Dorman and Blake Donners) from the exact same address of a condominium condo complex in Irvine, with no apartment number.  Both were founding members of the unit and it appears likely that they are the same person.  In addition, two other people from the same neighborhood in Irvine were founding members as well.  While the facts are still unclear, after several years, it appears that there may have been membership fraud.

This unit was also engineered to take up one-third of the surface area of San Diego County.  The CRA Board of Directors may wish to consider whether or not this unit was created for the nefarious purpose of preventing other Republican activists from participating in this extraordinarily large and populous territory.

Twelve unit members’ annual dues expired on 9/17/2006 and the dues for the three “Romney Delegates” expired on 10/1/2008.  It appears that there were fewer than eleven remaining members on the unit roster after that, in violation of Section 6.03.

This unit’s Delegate List was faxed from John Bovee’s office in Sacramento, suggesting that they did not meet and elect their delegates in accordance with Section 10.04.  In 2007, the Convention fees for the three “Romney Delegates” were paid by Romney for President, Inc.  Their distance from Camp Pendleton gives reason to believe that the unit did not comply with Section 10.04 in 2007, either.

There is no evidence that the Camp Pendleton Republican Assembly has held quarterly meetings in accordance with Section 10.05.

The dues of the current members all expire 5/1/2012, which suggests that their dues were paid after the April Convention in Sacramento, but there is no evidence of such payment.  There is no evidence that the unit had fifteen dues-paying members, as they claimed, during the April Convention.  There appear to be violations of Sections 4.01, 4.03, and 13.10.  There is no evidence that this unit collected or remitted the annual membership dues required under Section 4.03 and 4.08.  The Board should also consider the odd timing of the reported expiration of members’ dues (which all expire on 5/1/2012) and the lack of a unit checking account (which raises questions about how dues were collected and paid).

When contacted by the Credentials Committee, the leaders of this unit refused to provide records of membership or bylaws, in violation of Section 10.07.

At the 7/23 CRA Board meeting – it was revealed that a mathematical analysis of listed members versus dues money collected yielded a severe disparity between what was collected in dues versus what should have been owed based on what the records indicate the CRA’ s membership to be.

This means that many of the units that the “other side” is complaining about the removal of may well have never paid a dime in CRA dues while being used for years to manipulate CRA endorsements. It just does not stop.

Alpine Heights was de-chartered unanimously by the CRA Board – meaning that several on the “other side” supported the action.

Records suggest that the Alpine Heights Republican Assembly had not sent delegates to a CRA Convention before the 2011 Convention.  This is a violation of Section 6.02 (Convention Participation).

Evidence suggests Alpine Heights Republican Assembly did not elect their delegates in accordance with their own bylaws.  Their delegate roster was hand-written in the same handwriting as three other units and faxed in from John Bovee’s office in Sacramento.  This suggests possible violation of Section 10.04 (concerning the election of delegates by the club).

It appears that Alpine Heights Republican Assembly has not met since they were chartered and has no meeting minutes.  At the convention, their Designated Representative (Collin McGlashan, who lives 527 miles away in Sacramento) was twice asked directly if the unit met and he refused to answer.  It appears that this unit is not meeting, which is a violation of Section 10.05 (concerning quarterly meetings for chartered Republican Assemblies).

When contacted by the Credentials Committee, the unit’s officers refused to provide records of membership or bylaws, in violation of Section 10.07 (concerning the availability of records).

The Alpine Heights membership roster contains exactly 15 members, all with dues that expire on 5/1/2012.  This is the only unit for whom the CRA Membership Records do not contain any individuals whose dues have expired.  This uniform date implies that their dues were paid after the April 2011 Convention, but there is no evidence of such payment.  It appears that there has been a violation of Section 4.08 concerning the remittance of dues to CRA.  This discrepancy over dues also calls into question the eligibility of the unit to send any delegates to the CRA Convention.

There is no evidence that this unit complied with the requirement for each member to complete a membership form in accordance with Section 4.01, one of the oldest provisions of the Bylaws.

There is no evidence that this unit collected the mandated dues from its members ($25 per person, plus $10 for each additional person from the same household).  There is no evidence that the unit paid dues to CRA (in violation of Section 4.03).

What does it say about the character of someone who sought to rely on a string of fraud similar to the above in order to gain political power?

On the exact same day – 9/8/2007 – the Yolo CRA was chartered along with the Sutter, Tehama and Yuba CRA by Karen England (who was a then-CRA Vice President).

Like Yuba – Yolo has existed as a Zombie club for service to its’ master, David Stafford Reade, listed as its’ President. This is the third unit in Northern California that was targeted to be re-organized by the CRA. While some have tried to spin the 7/23/2011 board meeting as a lynching, or a bloodbath, the intention is to get Real activists involved in these units.

What David Reade, Mark Spannagel and Karen England did to the CRA in Northern California should have been grounds enough to expel them from CRA, but their behavior and the lawsuit added an exclamation point.

The Yolo CRA may well be the most grotesque example of fraud any California GOP organization has ever seen:

They are not listed on the Yolo GOP website, Consumnes RA President Carl Brickey has not been able to get them to participate in local endorsing conventions and two years of calls from CRA SD-09 director Steve Macias regarding when the club is going to meet have not been returned. This suggests multiple violations of Section 10.05 Meetings.

When contacted by the Credentials Committee, they refused to provide records of membership or bylaws. This is a violation of Section 10.07 – (Availability of Records)

Official CRA Records do not back up the unit’s claim of 45 members for the 2011 convention. There have been no new members join since 2010 – suggesting that growth from 35 to 45 members is impossible (they reported 35 members for the 2010 Buena Park Convention)

Unit lists David and Amy Jackson as members – the only Republicans in California with that name at the same address live in Kingsburg. When called said they had not been CRA members in over 8 years as told to Paul and Joel Olsson. At that, their dues expired in 2010 – but they were submitted as alternates. Violation of section 4.01 / 4.03 / 4.06 / 13.10 (Membership, Membership Dues, Delegate Fraud)

Unit lists Calvin and Christine DeKnikker as members. Cal DeKnikker is a client of ours and when I called him, he said he has never been a CRA Member. He put that in writing in an email. Violation of Section 4.01 / 4.03/ 4.06 (Membership Fraud)

Karen and John England are listed as members without notifying the Placer RA of their intent to transfer. Their daughter, at the same address is listed as a member of the Norco RA. Violation of Section 4.06 (Illegal Transfer) Karen admitted to this during the credentialing process at the 2011 convention.

Irregularity: Yolo sent three senior Meg Whitman staff to the 2010 CRA convention as delegates. They are all ex- Pete Wilson people – Michael Saragosa, Justin Smith, and Todd Cranney. This suggests violations of section 10.04 club elections of delegates.

Yolo RA listed Pete Conaty as a would-be alternate, his name is not on their official CRA roster. Violation of Section 4.01 / 4.03 / 4.06 / 13.10 (Membership, Membership Dues, Delegate Fraud – Laurie Conaty is listed as a paid member as a single.)

The above irregularities suggest that this unit has never elected it’s delegates and also suggests that they did not pay dues to the CRA nor did they collect dues. Consistent with other suspect units – the bulk of their membership renews 3/31/2012, suggesting they paid dues after the deadline to submit their delegation if they paid their dues at all. This is a violation of Section 4.03 membership Dues, 4.08 Remittance of Dues.

In the local endorsing conventions that Yolo CRA did participate in, their delegations consisted of legislative staff as witnessed firsthand by several CRA officers. The Yolo CRA has never endorsed in local Yolo County elections the entire time it has existed.

Finally, their roster does not list a single real member outside of West Sacramento. The north part of Yolo County is where most of the Republicans in Yolo live – it would be impossible as a practical matter for a County-Wide club in Yolo County not to have a real member in Woodland, much less Winters or Esparto. Again, this suggests the fraudulent nature of this unit.

With the elimination of the known fraud – this unit has at most 38 members. This means they would only be eligible for 5 delegates instead of the 6 they attempted to send. This is a violation of section 13.08 representation.

As a footnote – George and I will be filing a complaint with the FEC against the Romney for President campaign. The Reason? They wrote the check for the 75 delegates they paid for in 2007 out to the Placer County Republican Party – not the Placer CRA. They also reported it as such on their filings.

Since David Reade, Karen England and Mike Spence have attempted to spin that check as another example of misdeeds in Placer County – we will clear our name regarding this issue at Mitt Romney’s expense.

Mark Spannagel was designated for discipline by the CRA board of directors for being a central figure in the consultant manipulation and endorsement fraud that beset the CRA in addition to his gross misbehavior at the 2011 April CRA Convention. The Yuba CRA was chartered by Karen England in 2007 for two purposes – one was to send delegates for Mitt Romney to the 2007 CRA Presidential endorsing convention and the second 2007 purpose was to screw over Dan Logue (by sending LaMalfa / Jim Nielsen staff as delegates to the local CRA endorsing convention to stand up for Sue Horne). The Yuba CRA is not the only CRA unit ever to be chartered for purposes of a campaign – but unlike Placer, which was chartered to help Rico Oller in 1996, the Yuba CRA has existed as a zombie unit for awakening every time its’ consultant masters needed it to produce a result.

Despite the rantings of some – people like David Reade, Mark Spannagel and Karen England earned their tickets out of the CRA.

While some have tried to spin the 7/23/2011 board meeting as a lynching, or a bloodbath, the intention is to get Real activists involved in these units.

Mark Spannagel was the President of the Yuba CRA Unit for 4+ years. The evidence gathered against the Yuba CRA follows:

This dubious unit appears to be controlled by persons outside Yuba County who have never shown any interest in recruiting actual members from the territory claimed by the unit.  The unit does not even appear to operate in its own territory.  Long-time unit president Mark Spannagel (who lives in Placer County) even refused to cash the dues payment that he received from would-be CRA members Paul and Marcia Myers, who are well-respected officers of the Yuba County Republican Party.

Assembly members Dan Logue and Rick Keene joined this unit on-line, through the CRA website.  As in the case of Yuba County residents such as Paul and Marcia Myers, these two legislators were never notified of any unit meetings, which suggests multiple violations of Section 10.05 and Section 10.04 concerning meetings and elections.

The Yuba County CRA unit is not listed on the Yuba County GOP website and its activities (if any) are not announced at Yuba County Republican Central Committee meetings.

This unit sent Meg Whitman staff members to the 2010 CRA Convention as Delegates, even though they were listed as living in Diamond Bar and Hacienda Heights.  This suggests that they were not properly elected as Delegates under Section 10.04.

When contacted by the Credentials Committee for the 2011 Annual Convention, this unit’s officers refused to provide records of membership or bylaws, in violation of Section 10.07.

In the local endorsing conventions in which the Yuba County Republican Assembly has participated, their delegations have consisted of Legislative staff members, as witnessed first-hand by several CRA officers.  It has often been said that none of the Yuba County Delegates ever seem to come from Yuba County.  The unit has never endorsed in local Yuba County elections in the entire time it has existed.

The unit lists exactly 25 members, all with expiration dates of 1/31/2012.  A majority of the members live outside Yuba County, which will come as no surprise to anyone who has ever seen one of their delegations to an endorsing convention.

This Unit is easily one of the biggest frauds in the CRA – the evidence is self-evident.