Posted on 08/01/2003 6:31:04 AM PDT by Conservomax
An aide to Orange County Executive Edward Diana is under fire after he and his friends invited some of the nation's brightest Young Republicans to what was advertised as a booze-soaked sex bash in Boston. The controversy surrounding Diana's 24-year-old staff assistant, Karl Brabenec, started at the Young Republicans national convention July 11, when his friends distributed fliers "for lots of beer, liquor and sex" at a party dubbed, "Karlpalooza '03." Since then, copies of the incriminating invites have surfaced in Orange County, prompting cries of disgust from women's groups, county legislators and fellow Republicans. The furor reached a fever pitch yesterday as Diana asked Brabenec to step down as president of the Orange County Young Republicans, while letting him keep his $38,789-a-year staff job. Diana was not available for comment yesterday, but released a written statement: "There is no excuse for the fact that an inappropriate flier was distributed by friends of Mr. Brabenec without his knowledge," Diana said, in part. "As the father of two young women, I am morally upset by the content of the flier and expressed my outrage to Mr. Brabenec." Diana also asked Orange County Young Republicans Recording Secretary Jimmy Karalis, 26, to resign from his volunteer spot on the county's Foreign Trade Zone board. Karalis took the rap for "Karlpalooza" in a written apology to Brabenec yesterday. Brabenec was unavailable when visited by a Times Herald-Record reporter at the county executive's office yesterday morning. He later took the afternoon off. Brabenec issued his own statement: "I had no prior knowledge of this flier as it was created and distributed by friends of mine as a joke," he said. "However, I truly believe the content was completely unacceptable and in bad taste. I offer my sincerest apologies to any people it may have offended." While Brabenec called the planned bash – to mark his 24th birthday – a "surprise," the event has been listed on the Young Republicans Web site for weeks with instructions to "call Karl" at his home number in Slate Hill. And others who attended the convention in Boston, including former state Young Republicans Chairman Steve Neuhaus of Chester, said Brabenec was standing with Karalis and fellow YR member Joseph M. Petriello as they passed the party invitations among the crowd at Boston's posh Park Plaza hotel. Private social mixers – so-called "hospitality parties" – are common at events like the Young Republicans convention. Usually, they have light-hearted themes, like the Silicon Valley Young Republicans' "California Blackout Party." But when hotel managers saw the content of some fliers going around, they closed all the convention's hospitality suites. By that time, New York state Young Republican leaders had already canceled the Karlpalooza event and issued Orange County's Young Republicans a stern warning. Brandon Nielsen, who heads the rival Orange County Young Republican Federation, was also there. "There's the proper way to do things," he said. "And then there's the Karlpalooza way to do things."
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