Update: It is late and I will re-post on this tomorrow. Wanted to let you know that Blogs are lighting up about this Southern California Democrat trying to buy an Assembly seat: http://redcounty.com/content/orange-county-democrat-dumps-75k-ie-beth-gaines
Ahmandson used to give tons of money to the CRA. He stopped doing so abruptly several years ago. Ahmandson is now registered Democrat.
For some reason – he decided to open a bank vault against John Allard:
A conservative, Christian philanthropist has poured $75,000 into a new round of mail pieces and radio advertisements backing Republican Beth Gaines in the 4th Assembly District.
California Taxpayers Advocate, an independent expenditure committee with a history of supporting Republican candidates, has reported spending nearly $32,000 on campaign literature and $35,000 on radio advertisements in advance of next Tuesday’s special primary, according to campaign finance filings on the secretary of state’s website.
The expenditures were financed by a $75,000 contribution to the committee (listed on the second page of the report) from Fieldstead & Co., which manages the assets of the family of Howard F. Ahmanson Jr., an Orange County millionaire known for funding conservative political and religious causes.
Independent expenditure committees can raise and spend unlimited funds to support or oppose candidates as long as they are not coordinated with the campaign.
Gaines is one of eight candidates running for the seat vacated by her husband Ted Gaines’ election to the state Senate. If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote on Tuesday, the top two vote-getters advance to a runoff May 3.
Wait, so a so-cal democrat is bankrolling Beth Gaines?
Ahmanson is not really a Democrat. He’s a very wealthy, very eccentric conservative who got mad at the GOP for a reason which escapes me at the moment, and decided to switch parties out of spite.
Editor’s Note: Ahmanson’s connections are equally as interesting as the fact that he is a Democrat.
According to Wikipedia:
In late 2008, Howard Ahmanson,… announced that he switched parties and is now a registered Democrat
Given the fact that Beth Gaines also lauded Jerry Brown at this morning’s Roseville Chamber of Commerce forum – you have to wonder.
So I’m supposed to be ok with this guy from southern california spending thousands of dollars to elect a puppet for whatever cause a southern california democrat cares about because he’s what? Eccentric? Who cares, he’s a democrat.
Why did she laud Jerry Brown? That seems odd. It must be some sort of last-dirch strategy because she is definitely a conservative, there’s no arguing that point. Ahmanson was always a fervent and staunch Christian conservative but he is…well, weird, for lack of a better word. I can’t remember what the kerfuffle was about, but maybe it had something to do with Prop. 8 or gay marriage. I’m sure if you Googled it it would come up. Anyway, he got mad at the GOP and re-registered as a Dem out of spite.
Aaron,
What I have heard is that the CDP is hoping that Beth is the top vote getter. Since there is only one democrat running and so many Republicans, there is a strong likelihood that the democrat will come in second. The CDP sees Beth as a very weak candidate and if she wins they will pour in money and resources to try and put this seat in the D column. Could Ahmanson be helping in this effort?
Editor’s Note: This stacks up to be similar to what happened to Andy Pugno in AD05. Difference? Pugno was a much stronger target than Beth and it took $6million to beat him. Beth would be far less costly.