Carly Fiorina: Win at all costs?
Posted on 05/09/2010 8:59:35 PM PDT by Syncro
Posted on 09 May 2010 by admin
Carly Fiorina: Win at all costs?
California Senate Race 2010: Carly Fiorina and the GOP Launch Last-Minute Back-door Attack on Chuck DeVore
By Jane Jamison, Copyright 2010, UNCOVERAGE.net
Apparently, the Republican party “establishment” in California has forgotten about Ronald Reagan’s 11th commandment: “Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican.” It was postulated by Reagan after he was viciously attacked in the primary for the California governor’s race in the 1960s. (Read his whole speech about it here.)
What is happening right now in the California Senate race is something that voters in the Golden State need to know. It is beyond “speaking ill” of another Republican. Carly Fiorina and certain factions of the GOP establishment nationally and in California are using their money and connections to smear conservative Republican candidate Chuck DeVore just before absentee ballots go out. It won’t matter later if Chuck’s name is cleared later. The damage will be done. This kind of tactic should offend most voters if they know about it.
Here is what is happening:
In the past few weeks, internet bloggers have begun posting stories that California GOP Senate candidate Chuck DeVore is “under investigation” by the Federal Election commission for allegedly “misusing public funds” by having two of his Senate campaign staff on his California state assemblyman state payroll.
An investigation by UNCOVERAGE.net this weekend shows that in the waning weeks before the June 8 primary race for California Senate, the big-money Carly Fiorina campaign and its “operatives” are trying to knock out her grassroots Tea Party competitor in the race, Chuck DeVore, with allegations that appear to be coming from an “independent” “citizens” group. There’s also a barrage of supportive “blogging” for Fiorina to advance the story, which is doubtfully “independent” in nature.
The most recent blog rumor, this one at Redcounty.com, offered no links to any documents. It was given a prominent position on the website, titled with a fore-boding “Sounds Like A Possible FEC Investigation Into DeVore.” The basis for the rumor is what purports to be an “insider” memo from the Fiorina campaign’s Martin Wilson dated April 22, 2010:
“An independent group, California Citizens for Ethics in Government, has called on the California Attorney General and the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to investigate whether Chuck is using public dollars to subsidize his campaign. We’ll let the guardians of the public fisc do their job and not speculate about where this may lead.” (original underlining)
Another website which appears to be a dentist’s blog with Carly Fiorina advertising around the edge, picked up the story with this title:
“CA-Sen: Chuck DeVore Misused Public Funds? The answer may be yes if the facts in the below embedded complaint are indeed true.”
The blog then supposedly “linked” to what it called CA Attorney General Complaint Against Chuck Devore.
Click on that link and what is found are two letters, one to California attorney general Jerry Brown (who is a Democrat running for governor) and another to the Federal Election Commission. The letters request that an investigation be started into Chuck DeVore’s purported misuse of government funds by having his volunteer campaign staff on the payroll of his state assemblyman’s office.
But this is where the “independent citizens’ group” story unravels:
–First of all, these letters are REQUESTS that DeVore be investigated. There is nothing anywhere that confirms an investigation by the state attorney general or by the Federal Elections Commission is underway. The blog headlines which imply FEC or attorney general’s investigations are ongoing are false. They are proliferating anyway.
–The RedCounty.com blog, (which has been linked or posted on various other websites as a reference piece, has been disseminated widely in the past 24 hours) purports that the complaints against Chuck DeVore are from an “independent agency.” That is simply not true.
The “citizens” group which sent the letters demanding Republican candidate for Senate Chuck DeVore be investigated for a possible crime has ties to the Carly Fiorina Republican Senate campaign, and to the California Republican Party. It could be that this interconnection of the three may itself be improper or illegal under election laws. At the very least, this is a bullying tactic that California voters deserve to know about before they vote in this primary.
A simple Google search shows “California Citizens for Ethics in Government,” which wrote the letters, has no website. The letters demanding investigations are dated April 6, signed by “Bob Davis,” the president of the organization with an address listed in El Dorado Hills, California, a suburb of Sacramento.
A listing at Campaignmoney.com shows “California Citizens for Ethics in Government” is a 527 political organization set up in 2008 by Charles H. Bell, Jr. who gives an address of 455 Capitol Mall, Suite 801, Sacramento.
See California Citizens for Ethical Government at campaign money.com
Opensecrets.org defines “527” political committees:
“ 527 committees are tax-exempt groups established to raise unlimited money for general political activities, such as voter mobilization efforts. They are prohibited from directly supporting or opposing a specific candidate. Here’s what the most active 527 groups have brought in and spent this cycle.”
Prohibited from supporting or opposing a specific candidate?
The office address at 455 Capitol Mall, Suite 801 is actually for the law firm of Bell, McAndrews and Hiltachk, LLP, where Charles H. Bell, Jr., is senior partner. Again, Mr. Bell is listed as the contact for “California Citizens for Ethics in Government.” Who is Charles Bell?
Charles Bell’s bio at Republican National Lawyer’s Association says:
“Mr. Bell is the General Counsel to the California Republican Party, and has served in that role for 23 of the past 29 years. He has counseled many California candidates and officeholders, including current Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Governors Pete Wilson and George Deukmejian, Attorney General Dan Lungren, and many of the State Assembly and Senate Republican Leaders since 1980. Mr. Bell also has represented the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee on California matters, as well as a number of federal candidates and officeholders. Mr. Bell has served as counsel to numerous political action committees, lobbyists and lobbying firms, corporations and trade associations.”
Opensecrets.org’s records show Carly for California’s 527 committee is the 7th largest in the country right now, with $3.5 million dollars in donations and $830,000 in expenditures.
Only 527s such as the Obama-loving SEIU (Service Employees International Union) and the pro-abortion Emily’s List have more money than Carly’s group.
A check of Carly for California’s FEC filing shows it uses the same address as the “California Citizens for Ethics in Government”: 455 Capitol Mall, Suite 801, Sacramento.
When contacted by Saturday by telephone, Mr. Bell confirmed his law firm represents the California Republican Party, Carly Fiorina’s Senate campaign, the Meg Whitman for California governor campaign, and “many others.” He said he is “only” the “treasurer” of the “California Citizens for Ethics in Government” and that the group’s president, Mr. Davis would have to discuss the accusatory letters about Chuck DeVore written by the group to the state attorney general and FEC.
When asked if he thought it might be a conflict of interest for him or his law firm to be representing Carly Fiorina for Senate and the California Republican party, and to be listed as the contact for a “citizens” 527 group which was trying to initiate a criminal investigation against Carly’s opponent in the Senate race, Mr. Bell said he did “not appreciate being cross-examined.”
I probably also mentioned something about the ethics and advisability of the California Republican party “eating its own” before Mr. Bell hung up on me.
I have not spoken with “President” Bob Davis of the supposedly “independent” citizens’ committee which is attacking DeVore. I think we know what we need to know. The law firm which represents the well-oiled Carly Fiorina campaign, and the state Republican party, has also created this thinly-veiled “citizens” committee which is viciously attacking the other Republican candidate in the California Senate race, Chuck DeVore, one month before the primary. Lovely.
This is “astro-turf” against “grassroots” in California Republican politics. The establishment good ol’ boys have decided that Carly Fiorina should win this race and they are now pulling out all stops to see that it happens.
Here’s some of the background that California voters need to know:
The procession of endorsements from out of state carpet-baggers to campaign for Carly Fiorina is a RINO rhumba dance: John McCain (for whom Carly worked in 2008), Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell, you get the picture.
This week, Sarah Palin burned her Tea Party bridges around the country by going full-in for Carly. Since Sarah feels she must be loyal to John McCain for pulling her out of Alaska and into the national klieg-lights, she apparently feels she must also support McCain’s aide, Carly. This seems odd since Carly dissed Sarah for “not being qualified” to run a big company during the presidential race. Fiorina was back-benched by McCain after the flub, and dubbed “Joe Biden-like” for her public speaking gaffes.
(Knowing that about Carly, the idea of the brain-foofing Fiorina debating the hormone-raging “Don’t Call Me Ma’am” Barbara Boxer for the U.S. Senate race in California is a really bad visual. Talk about “lose-lose” scenario for California.)
Very important background to know:
The good old boys at the National Republican Senatorial Committee believe they know best for every state in the country. After brilliantly driving the John McCain presidential “run/walk” off the cliff in 2008, they pushed Charlie Crist in the Senate race in Florida. A young new conservative, Marco Rubio, was already in and raising money, but suddenly, Rubio was going to have spend a lot more money. Rubio has, and he went from nowhere to 30 points ahead of Crist last month. Way to call it (again) John and Rob!
Crist, as the “anointed one,” pocketed loads of NRSC cash, but just switched parties to an independent/”traitor” after Rubio cleaned his clock in the polls. Now NRSC chairman, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, is whining they should get their money back. Duh.
The NRSC also began manipulating of the California Senate race to beat incumbent Barbara Boxer began last year. Chuck DeVore was running for the Senate all by himself, a Ronald Reagan conservative. He’s a state assemblyman, not a millionaire.
The “geniuses” at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, are Sen. Cornyn and his disastrous former Texas staffer, Rob Jesmer, who was “peter-principled” up to the NRSC when Cornyn eked into the chairmanship. (more on Rob Jesmer.)
After messing with the Florida Senate race, Jesmer and Cornyn got it into their well-coiffed heads that there needs to be a “moderate” vagina GOP candidate to run against Boxer in California. DeVore was the “out man” from that point on and the race became much more expensive for him.
Eventually getting the “coronation” from the NRSC was Hewlett Packard’s fired CEO, Carly Fiorina. She has a $21 million dollar “parachute” from HP burning a hole in her Prada ® bag, apparently. From a Cornyn/Jesmer perspective, it’s always better to have a candidate who will “self-fund” with her own millions so the national committee doesn’t have to, right? Invoking Joe Biden again, Fiorina gave them all a headache by holding back her own cash for awhile. She did eventually pony up.
In the meantime, Chuck DeVore scrounged $1.8 million the “hard way.” That’s more than has been raised by the supposed “front-runner” Republican, Tom Campbell.
See latest campaign reports here.
The NRSC’s guidelines are such that it is not supposed to “play favorites” in contested races. So it was a little embarrassing that Carly Fiorina (uh oh, Joe Biden again) bragged publicly last October that she was “recruited” by the NRSC to run for Boxer’s seat. DeVore had a big “I told you so.” The NRSC even had to “help out” a hopeless candidate in the CA-SEN race after Fiorina’s “gaffe” by offering an embarassing fig leaf to the what’s-his-name by letting him use a Sacramento office for a news conference….to show how objective and nice they are. Chuck has understandably declined to meet with NRSC. He probably feels they will just run back to Carly with the oppo and rightly so.
The OC Register blog’s “WatchDog” discussed the allegations of “misuse” of government funds with the DeVore campaign last month when the “citizen’s” group letter first came out. The allegations stem from two employees of the DeVore campaign who are volunteering their time on the campaign, yet are paid staff in his state assemblyman’s office. You can read the whole discussion here from OC Watchdog April 15, 2010 and here.
For the record, Fiorina’s people told the OC Watchdog it’s just a coincidence that the “citizen’s group” shares an address with Carly’s campaign attorney. (crickets chirping.)
I’m no attorney or investigator, so I make no legal conclusions about whether there is anything improper about DeVore’s handling of his staff salaries. The explanations given to the OC Watchdog seem very thorough and clearly the campaign is aware of the laws and feels it has followed them. It is also not unusual for state employees to work on the campaigns of their employers. If the boss gets elected to the next best job, the loyalists move up and along for the ride to the big show. DeVore’s staffers say they work for little pay because they believe in him.
Ok thx. What did you find unappealing specifically?
Simple: He's desperate for air time and that is how his consultants get paid. The consultants aren't using the Tea Party like they should be because they don't make money that way. DeVore needs somebody so he has little choice. Were we on FR and elsewhere doing OUR JOB of consolidating the base instead of waiting for the media to give him traction, we'd be a lot farther along.
This is, after all, about self-government.
Thank you.
It was an unfortunate comment made in ignorance.
But I refuse to grovel in politically correct repentance.
> She damn near ran HP right off of a cliff. But before she did that, she bought plenty of private jets and laid off 20,000 hard-working Americans.
Precisely. It’s bad enough that she’s a RINO, but she’s freaking incompetent as well. I have friends who worked at HP who know the whole story. I want this woman NO WHERE NEAR power in CA.
Sarah is way off base backing this woman.
An endorsement by a Tea Party organization, even the largest, is not necessarily indicative of overall Tea Party support. No one owns the Tea Party “movement” but a lot of groups are cashing in on the name, pols included.
Exactly, people are responding as if the race is between fiorina and devore alone. Tom Campbell is the real rinoschnitzel in the race. Chuck devore had his chance and by his hannity appearance would be dead in the water. If you want another whining Lugar/Voinovich/specter type republican in the senate, keep undercutting fiorina on degores behalf.
Yes they did, especially Mr Jefferson.
Look folks Devore was polling at 13%. That’s the bottom line. Campbell, a RINO, was on his way to winning the GOP primary without some intervention.
In her Facebook post, Palin made it clear that she was playing the part of a deus ex machina to try to change that inevitability, for as she put it (paraphrased) Campbell is no different from Boxer.
Fiorina is not perfect. But she is a fiscal conservative and she is now only a few points behind Campbell in the last poll taken, before the Palin endorsement. Palin did not hide her hope that her endorsement could put Carly over the top and was not disingenuous.
Now to those who now want to call Palin a RINO. Are you really kidding me? Calling Palin a RINO is like calling Obama a moderate. It has no basis in fact and there is no empirical evidence to support this assertion.
Finally there are three legs of the stool: fiscal, national defense and social.
I will fully admit that Carly is a social moderate, but she is pro-life. She is not my favorite conservative but certainly is better than Campbell and Boxer and as for Devore you can attest to his credentials until you are blue in the face but after months of campaigning and only polling 13% Devore has to get out of the way. He had his chance to gain traction; apparently he has not gained enough traction.
Uh...No.
We’re not playing that game anymore.
Let Boxer return to the Senate while California falls into the abyss.
If Fiorina is there when California fails, and it will fail, then the GOP will be complicit no matter what flimsy grounds are lodged in associating blame.
When California goes under, can’t pay its bills, lays off tens of thousands, severs thousands of contracts, threatens bankruptcy over existing union contracts, all of which are for its good, we as conservatives want to be there to look the Leftist democrat socialists in the face and hold them accountable.
And when it fails, we don’t want to be looking at the likes of Fiorina who will be busy dancing to a Schwartzenegger jig of “Obama! Bail me out! Bail me out! Bail me out now!”.
So let Boxer return, she’s a good punching bag for us.
I know it’s counterintuitive, but this go-round ain’t our turn. Focus instead on Feinstein, the state legislature, county governments, the Cal Secretary of State and the Cal AG. One Senator is not going to change California.
Otherwise get behind DeVore and hope you get a conservative in. Fiorina is a disgusting pick and Palin has suffered and will suffer because of it.
Never vote for anyone other than a tested, experienced and validated conservative. Send all others to Rahm Emanuel where he can joust with their management and cause untold millions of Americans to be outraged with the moronic dems. Case in point: Obamacare has galvanized people in opposition and many have found a home in the Tea Party as a result.
Don’t try to dilute us with RINO infusion. It doesn’t work and never will.
The whole idea of true conservatism and a Christian America, which I think FR is all about, is that we should be able to reason things out – hence the idea of “forum.” "Policy" that cannot be reasonably supported seems to go against what I think FR stands for.
I agree with what Reagan once told a Senate sub-committee before he had ever run for any office: that we shouldn't ban or be afraid of opposing ideas because if what we believe is true, we should be able to win in the discussion forum of ideas.
I am running into Campbell supporters on several threads, throw that in with posters that are saying that a Boxer win is part of a wise, greater strategy, and it makes for me being amazed.
Just saw this, LOL.
And posted on the same day, too.
LOL
Good thoughts. I especially like:
“The California TP should make the federal government a pariah for decades. Anything federal should be greeted with skepticism and derision.”
I’m skeptical that the Tea Party can successfully mount its own campaigns any time soon, unless they displace the Republican party. That will be quite a feat, as the Republicans are naturally benefitting from the RATS tomfoolery. Displacing and replacing the pubbies could take a generation or never happen.
I think we need to work on taking it over from within - and everyone needs to understand that - we need to be very public about it all - just like in all these primary battles (it’s GOOD that we’re finally having them - even if we don’t have a perfect strategy we’re pursuing) - this time in earnest (as opposed to half baked efforts in the past.)
I donno. I pondered your questions as well. If the TP folds in with GOP, then they alienate independents and fed up democrats. I am thinking more 3rd party with 2nd opinion support tentacles into the 2-party system.
IMO the 2-party system has failed and is in danger of collapsing.
The registered voter breakdown is:
democrat 36%
republican 33%
independent 31%
and poll estimates of those percentages have the Tea Party breakdown at:
democrat 8%
republican 15%
independent 23%
Thinking creatively I could see a TP as a backstop party, a party with a doorman who answers the door knocks of disgruntled dems and republicans who are TP qualified. Granted that would require hierarchy and TP internal voting networks, but it’s not impossible.
The idea would be for TP members to run for GOP or dem offices, then have a door open back to TP if the stink of RINO or dem socialism gets too thick. IOW a santuary or backstop. So we would have designators:
Senator Commie (D, NY)
Rep. RINO (R, MA)
Rep. OldDem (D-TP*, GA)
Sen. Rockstar (R-TP*, WA)
and then we would have the special reserve category:
Sen. F*ktheRNC (TP*, CA)
The whole idea being we got an army of middle finger salutes for the morons in the 2-party cabal including NGO players like Goldman Sachs and Soros.
Hostage - this is all well and good for us, for TP insiders - but will it play out in the public, among those who might sympathize with the TP, but are not involved finacially or committing time to it, nor do they see us (yet) as a legit 3rd party replacing a 2nd party.
The times in US history when a new 2nd party has emerged (Whigs - Republicans) have been times of tumultuous change. We may be close or rivaling those times, but social upheaval will need to be seen as inevitable - imho, for the Republicans to be displaced by the Tea Party.
Here’s the reality:
“In the history of the United States, not a single third party has come close to winning the presidency, only 7 3rd parties have even won a single state’s electoral votes and only 5 third parties have won even 10% of the vote.”
Almost ALL conservative electoral power now resides, and will reside in the Republican party after the 11/2010 smackdown of the socialists.
From there, how do we get to the ‘Tea Party’ and do we really need to? That’s my point - history, the US Constitution, Election law, and even convention (you must poll at least 15% to participate in presidential debates) relegate against an effort to displace one of the two entrenched parties, even if we were well positioned to make such a run.
If it’s very clear to everyone that the R party is being remade by the Tea Party movement, I think we could rebrand it and not have to spend a generation at what might well be a futile task.
What Jim DeMint is doing across the nation to re-invigorate Conservatives in the Senate, is what TPers need to do throughout the Republican establishment.
The establishement is scared of the People. We are in the driver’s seat.
Apparently FR has taken an official position on this race per this ad appearing on threads:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW-daWQdwcw
I don’t see how the above demonstrates Carly is a conservative. This is more of the Rudy/McCain/”Electable” crowd pushing this candidate on CA and FR.
Fine, but I gave you an accurate breakdown of TP political affiliations. Given that 15 of 33 registered republicans are TP supporters, that means about half of the GOP is in the TP camp, and you can start from there.
But there are 8 of 36 dems and 23 of 31 independents that claim to support the TP movement. To ask them to change affiliation is a harder sell than to ask them to continue supporting the TP movement.
I like better the idea of the TP asterisk qualifier for party affiliation that would show that the candidate and the elected have earned the distinction. It would give those distinctive candidates and elected officeholders an edge that could bring incredible pressure on the 2-party system. It could force them to buckle and fold on certain issues.
If say an elected official had the TP* designator indicating that a material part of their constituency held TP values, that official could run to the TP for cover and buck their party leadership. The details of that scenario would have to satisfy such officials that the cover would be reliable and stable.
It would be analogous to organizing a union within both parties, the TP* could effectively go on strike from their respective D or R leadership. And TP dues could cover as campaign insurance in case of such a strike.
In any event the TP is a force, and whether it endures or fades will depend on how well the reasons for its creation are defined, expressed and passed on.
I didn’t agree with Sarah’s endorsement of Perry or McCain. Don’t have an opinion about Fiorina except for the idiots who don’t have a clue about cancer. So what about her endorsements? Let’s hear from you buckos who are critical of her; who is your candidate for prez. Bet you don’t have the juevos to say unless you have your lead suit on. Huckabee, Romney? yuk yuk. It’s belly up to the bar time boys and girls. Those of you making fun of Sarah are the REAL RINOS.
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