Charles Munger

Update on the Wasted Money in R vs R Races – who is the California Senior Advocates League Pac?

Charles Munger, Connie Conway 2 Responses »

Nov 252012

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Remember the PAC that Charles Munger used to buy slates in the Placer GOP Cent Com race? Despite the denials by local tea parties – they are being used by the left of the GOP and Charles Munger like so many others. When Munger was calling the slate mail vendors to get slate cards in the Placer GOP Cent Com race, I was tipped off by a slate vendor.

This is when I discovered the California Senior Advocates League PAC.

The California Senior Advocates League has a bunch of quotes from Liberal Democrats and a list of issues that suggest that they are a left-leaning organization.

I took a detailed look at their donors on the California Secretary of State’s Website:

They took over a Million Dollars from Reform California Now IE Committee (aka CA Now IE Committee) – more on that Committee in a bit.

Jobs PAC (The California Chamber of Commerce)

Personal Insurance Federation (This is the group whose lobbyist is purported to have threatened people in Placer County over the challenges to Beth Gaines)

Charles Munger – $500,000, including a $400,000 check that was not reported until November 8th, the day after the election was over.

Quality Health Care for Californians PAC – a left-leaning PAC (with Union Donors, etc)

Alliance for California’s Tomorrow PAC (funded by the Realtors Assn / Dentists Assn / CA Apartment Assn and others)

Direct Money from the California Dental Association

Are you getting the idea yet? The Realtor’s Association, Dentists Association and Charles Munger were all central to this electoral disaster.

The California Senior Advocates League PAC has several targets in R vs R Races – beyond supporting the attempt to remove the conservatives from the Placer GOP Central Committee using a coalition of Tea Party recruits by Jim Nielsen / Doug LaMalfa and Liberal Republicans.

1. Rico Oller AD05 running against Frank Bigelow. Bigelow certainly led with his left in the fall runoff and he did not sign the no new taxes pledge. The PAC spent $368,222.40 attacking Rico Oller. It also spent $75,160.76 supporting Frank Bigelow. It remains to be seen if Bigelow votes to raise taxes or if it even matters now.

2. Rocky Chavez AD76 – running against Conservative Christian Sherry Hodges. Hodges was designated for destruction by Charles Munger (more on that later) and the PAC chipped in 31,885.32 on Chavez behalf and $29,483.79 attacking Sherry Hodges.

3. Beth Gaines AD-06. Yes, you guessed it. While other marginal districts were being left to the wolves, the CA Senior Advocates league dropped $37,578.86 in to two pieces of mail.

This PAC was also used to fund operations in several Dem districts in the primary. It should be noted that almost all the dem candidates they supported in the primary lost.

To be continued…

Update on the Wasted Money on R vs R Races – Part One – Losing AD32 + AD36 / AD40 Way too close

Charles Munger, Connie Conway 6 Responses »

Nov 242012

I have repeatedly lambasted Assembly Permanent Minority Leader Connie Conway for being stupid and short-sighted.

I decided to start looking in to where the money came from and went in some depth. Charles Munger is not the only one out there that had an obsession about attacking Republicans he wants to exterminate from the party. My investigation has determined that Munger did indeed come up with about $1.5 million more than I previously detected.

However, people need to call the California Dental Association and the California Association of Realtors and thank them for aiding and abeting the California Democrat Supermajority as much as the stupidity of Connie Conway / Charles Munger.

First off – three Races, all of which should have been easy wins for the GOP were turned in to disasters because of the following:

1. Connie Conway was obsessed with defending Beth Gaines and directed IE money there.

2. In my opinion, Charles Munger ignored these three districts because the Republican Candidates were all Conservatives not named Beth Gaines.

3. The California Association of Realtors and the California Dental Association were up to their neck in supporting anyone running against a conservative – whether it meant supporting a RINO/Moderate or a Liberal Democrat.

In AD40 – Mike Morrell, a conservative did not get a dime of IE money. He scraped by with a 2,200 vote win. The local media there declared him the winner as of November 20th. It should not have been this close… but again, like a broken record I look at all the money wasted attacking conservatives in R vs R races.

In AD36 – Ron Smith is hanging on to a 2007 vote lead as of 11/21/2012. This is another supposedly safe R seat. Not a dime of IE money went in to Ron Smith. It is unlikely that the estimated number of provisional ballots will overturn Ron Smith’s win.

In AD32 – the Democrats recognized Connie Conway and Charles Munger’s obsession with RvsR races and they snuck in (aided and abetted by the Realtors) and contributed to a 3,000 vote loss by Pedro Rios.

A PAC called Californians for Jobs and a Strong Economy came after Rios with $42,515.42. The major funders were PG&E and the Realtors and a smattering of corporate PAC’s.

The Dentists themselves attacked Rios with $56,130.00.

A variety of left-leaning PAC’s supported Rudy Salas with $215,791.48

Where was Charles Munger? Nowhere. Where was Connie Conway and Republican Leadership? Nowhere. Where was Howard Ahmundson and the California Taxpayer’s Advocate? Spending all their money in AD67, AD05 and AD06 attacking Republicans in R vs R races.

So, credit the Dems with recognizing the stupidity and jumping in for the bargain price of $215K and defeating Pedro Rios.

Then realize that the Dems could have swiped TWO more Assembly seats on top of everything else!

Congratulations Republican Partisan Officeholders: Welcome to Irrelevance Part 3

California Republican Party, Charles Munger, Dave Gilliard, David Stafford Reade Comments Off

Nov 132012

I am picking on Dave Gilliard because he is the best example in my own backyard of what is wrong with the Republican side of the political system.

Gilliard had a really bad 2012 – like the rest of the party. In the ill-fated AD-08 Race, Gilliard’s client flamed out badly and Dave Gilliard sent out a mailer that made Peter Tateishi look like Emporer Hirohito. Dave Gilliard also sent out a racist mailer against Melissa Melendez who upset his client Phil Paule.

Worse than the $200k that Dave Gilliard took from the California GOP before bailing out on Prop 40 was Gilliard running Independent Expenditures in an attempt to help an entrenched liberal democrat Larry Agran hold on to power in the City of Irvine.

The OC Weekly exposed Dave Gilliard’s role in the independent expenditures on behalf of a third candidate apparently recruited by Agran to split votes away from his real challenger:

To help Daigle wreck Republican Party-endorsed Choi, Agran’s alliance isn’t using a liberal political-action committee (PAC). Instead, the PAC behind Daigle’s pro-Agran, anti-Choi messages flooding Irvine mailboxes is—drum roll, please—a Republican-controlled entity:Dave Gilliard‘s California Homeowners Association (CHA).

So – it should come as no surprise that when the liberal Republicans came calling to run a revenge mission against the Placer GOP – Dave Gilliard was their man.

Are you getting a better picture of the California GOP Train Wreck?

Granted, Dave Gilliard is not 100% of it – because there are several like him.

Witness David Stafford Reade. You would think after getting hammered time and again in the local media, he’d get a clue. All he did was move underground. He still ran campaigns thinly veiled behind Dave Gilliard – you will be hearing plenty more on that as circumstances warrant.

You’d also think with the California GOP being beaten in to irrelevance that people would cut the crap and start figuring out how to circle the wagons. David Stafford Reade is currently working on a slate of moderates to run (as paying clients) for California Republican Party office.

If at first you don’t succeed in gutting the Republican Party Platform, try try again.

It is the next paycheck all over again.

But, then there is Charles Munger. This case is special.

You’d think that even as wealthy as he is – nearly $100 million in to campaigns – including at least $41 million in to this cycle would cause him to cut his losses.

Apparently not.

2012 was a different year – in the past, Munger was reputed to have invested as much as $25 million in to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s initiatives and plans.

Munger also bankrolled some $10-$15 million in to Prop 11 and Prop 14. Prop 14 is our open primary and Prop 11 was combined with another prop to give us the disaster known as the “citizens re-districting commission”.

When I saw that the trainwreck was a team effort – stay tuned…

Did Dave Gilliard and Beth Gaines Violate Campaign Finance Law?

Beth Gaines, Charles Munger, Dave Gilliard Comments Off

Oct 152012

In tracking Charles Munger’s ever-increasing money flow in to politics, I came across a filing for a liberal RINO in CA-08 that Munger has cranked some $410k in to. The filing was signed by Ashlee N. Titus acting as Treasurer as the listed Treasurer is Thomas W. Hiltachk.

Ashlee N. Titus works for the Law Firm that Charles Munger retained to file his campaign finance reports. The Treasurer is Thomas W. Hiltachk, Mr. Hiltachk is a partner in in a law firm with Chuck Bell. Mr. Bell is the California Republican Party’s attorney and is frequently used by Republican officeholders. Ashlee N. Titus is an employee of that firm (it is unclear if she is a partner or not).

Here’s the problem… Ashlee N. Titus is married to Dave Titus, who is Beth Gaines’ Chief of Staff. Since Munger’s I.E.’s go through this office – it is a fair question to ask if Mr. Titus had some foreknowledge.

It is unclear what may have been discussed in their office, but you’d have to think that Charles Munger’s expenditures were a source of discussion at the law firm.

I have noticed that the Pashkenta Band of Indians frequently make independent expenditures on behalf of Dave Gilliard’s clients. That might seem like a very strange coincidence, since it is illegal for candidates or their consultants to coordinate independent expenditures with the people spending the money. Imagine my surprise in hearing that this tribe’s independent expenditures are run by a man whose office is right next door to Dave Gilliard’s. The uncanny timing of these independent expenditures has often aroused my suspicion. Since people often talk to me off the record, I have never discussed the details of this situation in public, but even people without any “inside information” would naturally be curious about what is going on.

As a result, in insider circles, independent expenditures related to a client of Dave Gilliard draw suspicious inquiry from observers.

This connection to the law firm is far too close for someone to not be curious. Beth Gaines is basically the only conservative that has benefited from Charles Munger’s largesse. Was the Titus connection a major factor in Charles Munger’s decision to decide to support Beth Gaines?

I am no expert in campaign finance laws, but I cannot help but wonder if Charles Munger’s independent expenditures for Beth Gaines were truly independent, in the normal sense of that word, when one of his attorneys is married to the Assemblywoman’s Chief of Staff.

Munger Watch Update: The Hunting of Conservatives Continues

Charles Munger 1 Response »

Oct 142012

With the exception of the $100k Munger has pumped in to Beth Gaines, the rest of his Money has gone in to Liberal “RINO” Type Republicans.

Please visit www.mungerwatch.com for all the details and source data.

$406,000 in to Abel Maldonado. Maldo voted to put Prop 14 on the ballot (as did Jim Nielsen) and was a key in the largest tax increase in state history. For good measure, Maldo also voted for Harvey Milk Day.

$410,000 in to Paul Cook, who is running against CRA-Endorsed Greg Imus in CA-08. Munger wants another Michael Castle in Congress.

$150,000+ in to Rocky Chavez in AD-76. Chavez is running against CRA-Aligned Sherry Hodges.

$175,000 total against Brian Dahle in AD-01. Dahle’s opponent, Rick Bosetti has next to no money and has alienated a lot of supporters. So, rich guys like Charles Munger and Red Emmerson (think Sierra Pacific Industries) have joined with the realtors to spend $400k trying to force Rick Bosetti on to AD-01.

Munger-tied Pac’s are spending at least $300k against Rico Oller (endorsed by CRA) in AD-05. The rumor is that the buy will be $600k+ by the time it is finished.

$278,000 on Peter Tateshi, AD-08. Tateshi is regarded as a moderate.

Note that Charles Munger is not supporting a single Conservative in a competitive district against a Democrat. So, his agenda is 100% clear.

In AD-61 he is up to $100k on behalf of liberal Republican William Batey. Like AD-08, this is a squish vs Dem race.

There will be more, we are sure of that.

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