John Leos’ biggest fan.
Amazing. Voice of OC writes a long article about the “hidden hand” of Disney in the Anaheim City Council elections because the company has spent about $189,000 supporting two candidates, Jordan Brandman and Steve Lodge.
But no mention that the Orange County Employees Associations — with a little help from other government employee unions — has put $188,000 behind just one candidate: government union activist John Leos.
Oh wait — scratch that. That was the public number yesterday. Today, the OCEA Independent Expenditure Committee reported a late contribution of $250,000 into the “Committee to Support John Leos for Anaheim City Council 2012” — which itself is controlled by the OCEA..
Yes, you read that right. Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. But when you don’t have to ask your members’ permission before spending their money on campaigns, it’s amazing how quickly government unions can build a big a campaign warchest.
That brings government union spending for Leos at $438,000 — and $300,000 of that from OCEA. That isn’t counting the direct contributions that make up a majority of Leos’ meager fundraising.
Is there some spending threshold the OCEA and its fellow government i have to cross before, say, the Orange County Register comes to its sense and re-considers its endorsement of John Leos? There has to be some level of cognitive dissonance at work for the OCR editorial page to push for Prop. 32, and also push for a candidate who is completely dependent on the kind of union political spending the OCR wants to end? Any second thoughts as to what OCEA wants badly enough from a Councilman John Leos that is willing to spend at least $300,000 to elect him?
Cynthia Ward blasts the candidates supported by business and other community groups in Anaheim and then makes nauseous excuses for Tait/OCRegister/OCEA sponsored (bought and paid for) candidate Leos who now has at his disposal nearly $400K – and we are supposed to believe based on her claims, that he will be an independent voice for fiscal prudence. These funds don’t even count the captain transparency mail they funded for him ealier this year to improve his name id and prep him for another candidacy. She has as much credibility as her convicted felon blog buddies – save it for Save Anaheim Cynthia Ward!
I trust voters in Anaheim will see right through this attempt. And finally we now have proof of what many of us have thought for along time, Mayor Tait and Supervisor Nelson are in bed with the public employees Unions. Both Tait and Nelson have endorsed the OCEA-funded candidate.
I did not know I was running for anything. So if the intent is to influence voters, coming after me is the political equivalent of spinning your wheels. Don’t get me wrong, please proceed with that plan, the more of your time you want to burn through coming after me, the less time you spend doing something that actually helps your candidates. I do not know a single voter out there who says they were going to vote for the candidates whose signs were on my lawn until they saw how hated I am on the comments section of an obscure blog. Annoying? Sure. But not effective.
That reminds me, I am out of signs, need to get more. These silly things are going like hotcakes. You have a lovely day.
Cynthia – we thought you were “outa here” – if that’s the case, why do you keep posting – go on – get outta here!
As for Tait and the Register – they have some explaining to do.
Leos is getting $400K from OCEA/Labor Fed and he is the “independent” candidate they are looking for. Let’s review the record (actual facts) –
John Leos’ background/agenda includes:
-Long-time OCEA Board of Directors and PAC Board member.
-Opposes contracting out of any city services.
-Supports massive tax increases in Anaheim – including gate taxes at the Angels Stadium, Honda Center, and Disneyland Resort.
-Supports carving Anaheim into districts.
-Supports an oversight commission for our Police Department with subpoena powers and other legal authority.
-Strong supporter of Yes on 30 and No on 32.
Am I missing anything else? Get ready for the flood gates of USPS to open up – OCEA and Tait are working overtime to flood us with $400K in mail hoping to obscure these facts and sell Leos to the Anaheim electorate as the conservative candidate. Give me a break!
Voters won’t be buying what Tait is selling. I guess if I was Mayor Tait and had caused riots in my town, I would want to divert attention too.
$250,000!!! That’s more than the OCEA spends every year funding the Voice of OC, which never reports on how much OCEA spends in Anaheim politics, or anywhere else.
Good point Howard K. Voice of OC is the….. Voice of OCEA. It is funded by the Unions, a claim they don’t even challenge.