Anaheim Insider here.
In a condescending, inaccurate mailer funded by the Tait Family Trust, Mayor Tait accuses council women Gail Eastman and Kris Murray of giving a “sweetheart” deal to the city’s public employee unions. The mailer is covered with feminine touches such as hearts, lipstick marks and pink-colored lettering. The Tait family’s mail consultant must have been in a hurry because the tea doilies and aprons were left out.
The Tait camp might want to consider that more than a few women voters are more likely to be offended by the mailer’s chauvinistic tone, which is quite out of place considering the reason Tait’s hand-picked candidate Doug Pettibone dropped out of the race (or rather, was thrown under the bus by the Mayor).
If Murray and Eastman were men, does anyone think the mailer would have looked like this?
The irony is that Mayor Tait, in previous roles as councilman, voted for one of the city’s largest pension increases: the 3@50 (three percent at age 50). Tait also fails to mention that his own part-time council assistant now receives the highest contribution to her pension by the city as a percentage of salary. If Tait is so committed to pension reform, why does he fight so hard to keep his personal city staffer on the pension gravy train?
The reality is that the 2012 pension-reform measure, which Tait opposed, saw Murray and Eastman vote to reduce public-employee pensions for every full-time employee.
In pink text, adorned with hearts and kisses, Tait’s mailer tries to mislead voters into believing “public employee unions” are supporting the two council women due to their approval (part of a 4-1 vote) of an 18-month Memorandum of Understanding with the Anaheim Municipal Employees Association. The implication being made is there was a quid pro quo.
What the Tait family-funded mailer fails to note is that neither Murray nor Eastman have accepted campaign contributions from the AMEA. It’s difficult to have a quid when there’s no quo.
Furthermore, Murray and Eastman have never been endorsed by the Orange County Employees Association, the county’s largest public employee union, with which the AMEA is affiliated. In fact, the OCEA spent yens of thousands of dollars on mailers to Anaheim residents attacking Murray and Eastman for their support of the GardenWalk project, just as Tom Tait has been doing. Those attacks were part of the OCEA-funded “Take Back Anaheim” campaign, which Tom Tait supported. And it was the OCEA that paid for campaign signs promoting Tom Tait’s council slate in 2012, and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to elect Tait’s anointed council candidate that year, John Leos.
When you look at the facts, the council member who has really been the political ally of the city employees union has been Tom Tait!
Both Murray and Eastman are supported by the city’s police and fire associations, but those endorsements have more to do with Murray’s and Eastman’s strong support for public safety, compared with Tait. Does anyone expect the police officers association to endorse a mayor whose sympathies are with relatives of gang members who come to council meetings to attack Anaheim police as murderers; a mayor who feels it necessary to publicly give his guarantee to professional anti-cop protesters that Anaheim officers will not retaliate against them for saying such things? After all, if this IE campaign by the Tait Family Trust succeeds, it will result in electing left-winger Jose F. Moreno, whose heart is also with the anti-police activists; they are certainly supporting him.
In fact, Murray and Eastman recently stood with the Anaheim Police Department to honor Bruno, a police dog shot in the line of duty while protecting his handler. Tait opposed a monument to Bruno and all service animals, at the same time offering support for a public display to glorify gang members who terrorize the city’s most vulnerable neighborhoods. In response, OC District Attorney Tony Rackauckas took Mayor Tait to task for his affinity with Anaheim’s street gangs.
Anaheim voters are sure to see through the not-so-subtle sexism of this mailer. The truth is that the women of the Anaheim City Council have not waivered in their support of taxpayers, neighborhoods and economic development, despite the mayor’s relentless attacks. Tait’s ecord is of joining with public employee unions to attack his GOP colleagues, and now serving as Republican front-man for a union-sponsored initiative intended to produce a Democratic-majority on the City Council. The truth is that more than anyone else, it is Tom Tait, if he is successful in his efforts, who will open the door to union domination of the City Council.
Bam!
I kind of wish Matt would let Zenger and Cantor back in so we could read their whiny comments.
The unions couldn’t ask for a better political dupe than Tom Tait.
This is what the Taits spend their money on – sexist attacks on his colleagues ? What’s worse is Tom Tait is spending his inheritance to lie to Anaheim residents. There is no honor in this and zero kindness.
It takes more than a few hearts to offend me, but I really dislike everone bashing eachother. Stick to the actual facts and throw out any trash in the trash. I think I may speak for a lot of people.
I can appreciate your sentiment.
The actual fact is this mailer falsely states, in so many words, that Murray and Eastman traded their votes for the 2012 MOU with the city employees union in exchange for support. This is an untruth. Neither the AMEA nor the OCEA have endorses Murray and Eastman, nor contributed to their campaigns.
Quite the opposite: OCEA has spent large sums of money attacking both Murray and Eastman in 2012 as part of the union’s “Take Back Anaheim” campaign, which Tait endorsed.
Those are facts. This mailer is a lie.
Fact- Tait recruited a man who assaulted his first wife, was arrested, and plead guilty on domestic violence charges.
Fact – Tait refuses to answer whether he knew of Pettibones record of domestic assault before he recruited him for office and asked Anaheim residents to vote for him based solely on Taits endorsement.
Fact – Tait is spending his family’s wealth to malign and demean two councilwomen.
Fact – Tait is funding campaign mail that purposefully misinforms Anaheim residents.
Tom Tait should answer to the people or Anaheim for his actions. These are not actions you can sweep under the rug because he comes across “as a nice guy.” Actions are louder than words.
As a woman and a working Mom who lives in Anaheim, I find this incredibly offensive. I encourage people to click on the picture and read the full mail piece – “sweetheart deals” “ALOT of love” adorned with hearts and lipstick kisses. There is no way Tom Tait would use these terms and imagery if he was attacking two men. It speaks volumes about his character. Mayor Tait, women make up half of the electorate – I plan to ask all my friends to vote against you. Fortunately, we have two qualified women to choose from! Shame on you and your family!
I’ve just emailed this article to over 100 Anaheim friends and asked them to forward it to their network of friends. People need to see who this mayor really is! Seriously, who has that kind of money to flood our mailboxes with this crap? Anaheim women and moms – let’s engage in this election and make a difference for civility!
I read in the Voice of OC that Tait is claiming he had no knowledge of this independent expenditure, which is funded by his mother and father. Please. The Mayor must take us for fools. He talks to his mom and dad constantly. It was an open secret during the summer that the Tait camp was shopping around for a consultant to handle the IE that Tait now says he knew nothing about.
Tait is claiming it was Mom and Dad not him? What a pathetic statement to make – he’s less of a leader than I ever gave him credit for. What’s next, the dog ate the FPPC letter that said he couldnt legally negotiate with the Angels for a year after he signed over his inherited property next to the Stadium? Own your actions Mr. Tait or as my Dad would tell me, it’s time to man up! And real men don’t hit women!
His parents control the trust? We all know how he became mayor. I suppose this begs the question:
What has Tait accomplished for himself as mayor?
Hint: Asking police, fire and city staff would not be a good place to start